“Pizza! Pizza! Pizza!” chants Allie, tearing down the stairs after Jack.
After he pays the pizza delivery guy, he grabs two pizzaboxes—Allie’s small cheese and ours to share—and sets them down on the counter. In a few minutes he’s got Allie set up in the breakfast nook, with cheese pizza and her favorite cartoons on the small flat screen on the counter. Then he motions me over to check out our order. He opens it to reveal a heart-shaped meat lovers’ pizza—complete with bacon crumbles.
“I knew it wouldn’t be Valentine’s Day without bacon,” he says.
I wrap my arm around his shoulders. He pulls me in for a quick, tender kiss, and with Allie’s attention elsewhere, I kiss him back, his tiny feather boa tickling my throat. I feel a shiver of delight all the way to my toes, and all I can think about is last night, when we thoroughly explored each other’s bodies. Howeasyit all was, how seamless. How I feel at home with Jack, now, naked, anytime.
“Thismightjust be the most romantic thing a man has ever done for me,” I say.
“You need to get out more,” Jack quips as he offers me a paper plate. I grab a piece of pizza at the point of the heart. Jack opts for three square slices from the middle. His tiara falls forward a little, and he gently takes it and the feather boa off.
“So,” I say, voice low so Allie can’t hear me. “Leukemia?”
Jack nods, solemn. “Yeah, it was bad. And Ian is worried it might come back. But doctors say that’s just a twenty percent chance.”
I feel my heart tighten as I take my pizza and slide onto a nearby barstool near the kitchen island. “That would be terrible.”
“I know. And Ian worries about all the chemo she had, how that will affect her… later on.” Jack’s tone is somber, his mood suddenly turning serious. I can tell he’s worried, too.
He grabs his own piece of pizza and sits on the stool next to me. His leg brushes mine, and I like the contact. Warm. Steady. Nice. “But I say she beat it, and we’ve got to be glad she did, and enjoy every day with her.” He nods at his niece, growing somber. “Only the big guy upstairs knows how much time we have. Got to make the most of it.” A look of pure determination crosses his face. I love that he’s not letting a setback define his family. It takes courage to choose to be optimistic.
“You’re brave,” I say, really seeing Jack. He is brave. He is so many things.
“I am?” He looks surprised. “Why do you say that?”
“I mean, it takes courage to face something terrible, like cancer in the family, and keep looking for the bright side…” I realize as I’m saying these words how perfectly they fit Jack. Dan was scared—scared his wife would find out he’s a louse and has a girlfriend in the city. Marley was scared, terrified of settling down with one woman lest he miss something. “You are just about making the most of the moment. I think that’s brave.”
Jack meets my gaze. “In life, bad times come,” he says after a beat. “I know that because of all those years of bullying. I always told myself that I can’t control what other people say or do, but I can control me. What I do. How I feel. So, you have to make the most of the good times. What I’m really scared of is regret. Life is too short to sit on the sidelines. I think you should go for what you want.”
He stares at me. I feel the heat, the meaning of his gaze, all the way to my toes. Can it all really be this easy? Can love just fall into place like this, like the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle?
“You always know what you want?” Because I don’t. Rarely ever.
“I know some things. Like I’m going to open my own bakery.”
“You are? That’s… awesome.” I think about all the risk, too, how so few new businesses make it, but, once more, Jack is not afraid. He’s excited about the prospect of wrestling the odds. I can see it on his face. “Well, then, thisisa happy Valentine’s Day for you.”
“It is. Because you’re here.” He stares at me. I stare at him. This might be one of the sweetest things anyone’s said to me.
I have the sudden urge to swipe the pizza boxes off the counter and make out with him in a way that would very likely scar Allie for life. But that would be bad, so instead, I tear my gaze away from his and shove more pizza in my mouth.
“I can’t imagine you ever having a bad Valentine’s Day,” I mumble, mouth full. Someone as sexy and warm as Jack? Someone who’s both a strong lumberjackandan adorable uncle? Please. I’m surprised women don’t rip his clothes off while he’s walking down the street.
Jack snorts. “Not true. I havethe worstValentine’s Days of all time.”
“I don’t believe you.” I glance over at Allie, chomping on pizza absently while she watches her show about some kind of computer-animated animal family.
He sighs, looking a little defeated, as he takes another bite. A crumb of crust falls into his beardstache.
“Uh… you have a little…” I point to my chin.
He swipes at it with his napkin, grinning. “Did I get it? Or are we going to need a rescue team?”
I laugh. I love this easy feeling between us. Like I’ve known him all my life. Which, I guess, I almost have. “No, you got it.Okay, so this allegedly bad Valentine’s Day? I’m going to need details.”
“Last year, the week of Valentine’s Day, I worked as a pastry chef at Alestra.”
“That five-star, one-meal-costs-your-whole-paycheck place?” I raise an eyebrow, impressed. It’s the kind of place that’s booked months in advance. You need to be a celebrity or a friend of the mayor’s to get a table there.
