Jack could not be for real. First, because she had invited him to breakfast with her kids and he’d accepted. But he had arrived at breakfast in a boardroom-ready navy-blue suit, all the heat of Bruce Wayne or Christian Grey—she couldn’t decide which. In that moment April figured his blue suit was her favorite.
Which was silly because she wasn’t into suits anymore. Not at all. Not when there was any possibility of grape Kool-Aid spilling.
Then he’d poured himself a bowl of Toasty O’s and ate it with her children like it was a completely normal thing to do. Though, he did ask a whole lot of questions when Harmony mentioned Rohan liked to use the Toasty O’s for toilet targets when he peed. Hey, potty training was freaking hard, and he had no ability to aim when he was younger. That’s why April used the cereal O’s for target practice.
Rohan simply continued on with his game apparently.
While Jack chatted about things to pee on with her kid, April scheduled two new meditation session promo posts.
How he managed to not get even a drop of milk on his tie with her kids flinging food everywhere, she did not know.
And, second, he could not be for real because April had just laid out all that needed to be done. She did not have time to sit on the porch and drink her tea. She had time to drink her tea and get things done.
“I just told you all that I have to get done today,” she said, instead of asking what the heck was wrong with him like she wanted to.
He lifted one shoulder. “I’m here to fix things.”
His phone buzzed. He checked it.
“So you keep saying,” she mumbled.
A few strokes to his cell screen, a frown, then a grin, and he finally tucked the phone back in his pocket.
He leaned in, caught her eyes with his, and held them. “We should go outside.”
“For a planning meeting?” At least then she could check that off her list.
Again with the Jack shoulder lift. “Yeah, we’ll plan a little.”
“Aren’t you Mr. Get Things Done?” she asked, rolling her shoulders back to release the tension that was building. “Because I’m ready to start working, and sitting out on the back patio is not getting things done.”
“I’m going to tell you a secret.” He made a come-here motion with his index finger. “Sometimes the way to get things done is to do nothing.”
Funny thing about that…she used to say those kinds of things. Little soundbites of wisdom. But that was no longer the reality of her life and, as she’d recently learned, the way to get things done was actually just to do them.
“I don’t think that means what you think it means,” she said.
His coffee cup in one hand, he snatched her tea from where it sat abandoned on the counter. Then he started toward the door to the backyard. “Let’s go work on a very important lesson.”
“You know I can just make another cup of tea, right?” she said with a huff. “I don’t have to follow you.”
He paused his forward momentum but did not turn around. Instead, he said to the air in front of him, “But you want to, don’t you?”
“Can’t you teach me this lesson after my career is back online,andI fold the laundry?” she asked, but dammit, she was already following him.
“April.” He turned to her and skewered her resolve with his icy blue eyes.
She skewered him right back. “Jack.”
He didn’t seem to mind her skewer, not really, but the hard angles of his expression softened.
“Take a breath,” he said gently, before he turned and, with her tea in hand, finished his trek to the back porch.
April stood still, totally unmoving. Really, her chest probably wasn’t even going up and down. She was a statue.
Because it’d been too long since she stopped to take a breath. Really, breathe.
Because when you took that time, you felt things. Things she wasn’t sure she’d ever be ready to feel.
