Mustering the strength to stop, Bella called for an Uber to take her to the hotel, but Jack refused to let go of her, stealing little kisses while they waited.
After walking her to the car, Jack saw her off, went back to the house and straight into an ice-cold shower.
Chapter 13
Jack and Bella had kept in touch since dinner at his place - the occasional text throughout the day, even if it was just a silly gif or meme they thought the other might find funny. She had never been one of those ‘I have to hear from you every day’, especially neither of them knew where this was going. Jack appreciated that she understood how demanding his job was, what it entailed, and how important the work he and everyone at NASA were doing. He hadn’t been joking about how busy he would be, and that would only intensify the closer they got to launch. Bella’s work had kept her busy as well with meetings, new products to formulate, as well as the daycare center - it was behind schedule, so that was adding stress to her plate.
Homecoming Dance had come and gone, and Jack had sent Bella photos of Sloane in her dress, complete with the shoes she’d loaned her. The whole night had been perfect, and Jack was happy and relieved her first real date had been everything she dreamed it would be.
A few weeks later Jack was preparing dinner for the girls - their favorite stir fry - and called them down when it was ready.
“Piper, pass me the soy sauce please.”
“Dad, these aren’t the chopsticks I like.”
“Do we have fortune cookies for later?”
Chatting among themselves as they ate, Jack was reminded that this was his favorite part of the day. Clearing his throat, he said “Hey. I wanted to talk to you two about something.”
“Sure, Dad - what’s up?”
“So, it’s been five years now that your mom is gone. And I’ve been thinking, uh, maybe feeling, like, I don’t know, maybe I’m ready to date. And I wanted to know how you’d feel about that. You girls are my world, and I don’t want to do anything that might upset you.”I’ve flown to space, launched fighter jets off the deck of an aircraft carrier in rolling seas and I can’t believe this conversation scares me more than those!
Sloane and Piper stared at Jack, not saying a word, and then shared a glance between themselves.
“I guess it would depend. I mean no one is ever going to replace Mom, and you dating isn’t going to, like, take anything away from your love for her, we know that. It’s cool that you want to - you shouldn’t be alone, especially since it will only be a few years before we go off to college. But it’s got to be someone cool, not one of those ‘moms’ from school. Or some ‘space bunny’.
“Space bunny? What’s a space bunny?”
“C’mon Dad, you know what a space bunny is. It’s those women who hang around all the astronaut bars,” replied Sloane.
Piper chimed in, “Groupies dad, they’re groupies, who hang around the places the astronauts go to, hoping they will meet one.”
“How do you know about those? I didn’t even know those were a thing!”
“We live in Houston, we go to school with space program kids, you’re an astronaut - of course we know what a space bunny is. I’m just shocked you don’t,” Sloane said with a snort.
“And not one of the moms from school. We see how all the single moms look at you at Parent-Teacher Night, and the school events. Like you’re a cookie and they are starving. Probably because they are, I swear some of those women never eat. It’s kinda scary.”
“Okay, okay, I get your point. But no, not one of the school moms and definitely not a space bunny.”
“It’s Bella, isn’t it?” asked Sloane. She’d clocked what was happening between them before Jack and Bella themselves had.
“It is, it is - it’s Bella. Bella Bella Bella” chanted Piper
“Why do you say that? Did you like Bella? Jack asked.Please say yes.
“We saw you two making googly eyes at each other when you thought we weren’t looking at the mall. We’re teenagers, Dad, we know‘things’.”
“Well, you better not know too many ‘things’! And yes, I would like to date Bella. Would that be okay?”
“For sure, she’s really cool, pretty, and she’s nice, genuinely nice, not that fake nice we’ve seen some women do, because they think it will give them a chance with you. We think you’re a big dork but for some reason the school moms think you’re a total snack,” Sloane said, pulling a face at Jack to show she was just teasing him.
“A what?”
“You know, like a silver fox, the total blueprint.”
“I have zero idea what that means, I’m going to assume it’s complimentary”, Jack said.
