Distant Hope 3

She ran a hand through her hair and realized her hand shook. He must have noticed it too because he took her hand and held it. Just holding her hand made her feel stronger and she realized that she missed him. She missed the moments they shared, the laughter that used to roar between them, and the memories they created together. Leaving him had created a hole inside her heart and it took this long to realize that no one had been able to fill it, not even Jake.

            “I should get going,” she said suddenly, wanting to distance herself from him.

            She turned to go, but he called out her name. When she turned back around, he walked forward and crossed his arms across his chest, making himself look bigger than he appeared.

            “Tomorrow is Lizzie’s birthday. We’re throwing a small barbeque at my place tomorrow afternoon. If you’re not busy, why don’t you bring Bea and yourself over? We’d love to have you,” he said.

            She shrugged. “I’ll talk to Bea and see what happens. Thank you.”

           

            Jedidiah watched her walk back inside the house and inside, he felt his heart ache. Of all the people in the world, he wasn’t expecting to see her. He came to pick up Lizzie and heard the commotion in the garage. He saw the shadow and assumed it was a thief because he knew Bea didn’t have any visitors. But he didn’t expect to find her there. She was as beautiful as ever; probably more now that she’d reached a mature age. She wasn’t thin anymore. She’d inherited curves like a real woman should have and he felt those curves when he was dragging her out. Worse, he liked how they felt against his hands. She’d also smelled incredible, like honey and wild daises. It stirred his groins and made him think of things he shouldn’t have been thinking about in the first place. But when it came to Anna, he’d always thought of things he shouldn’t have thought in the first place. They had been best friends and she’d made it clear that they would always remain best friends. But to him, she’d been more than a best friend. To him, she’d been the woman he’d wanted all his life. She’d been the one who he wanted to wake up to in the morning and to sleep next to at night. But she’d never thought twice of him that way and after high school, he’d watched as she left him to marry someone he knew would never love her enough.

            And he’d been right. He’d heard about her divorce and he’d wanted to wring Jake’s neck for hurting her. He wanted to drive up to the big city, kidnap her, and bring her back her to soothe her wounds. But he knew that things had changed between them and even if he wanted her, she wasn’t the same anymore. When a woman had gone through an ordeal like her, she became distant and unloving toward another man. He wanted to make sure she was over Jake before he moved in. He didn’t want to be the rebound guy that got only her body.

            He climbed up the steps to find Lizzie playing on the front porch of his mother’s two story house. He walked to her and as he reached out to her, he heard the door open and he turned to find his mother emerging with a tray of cookies and milk. His mother, Vera, was a simple woman with a simple mind. She wore long flowing skirts and knitted tops and had her brown hair in a bun. She was a strong and pretty woman with a clear head on her shoulders. His father died when he was young and she raised him working two jobs. He loved her more than life itself and knew that he could never repay for her hard work. But he had done something right when he brought Lizzie to the world.

            “Daddy!” Lizzie yelled breaking his thoughts.

            “Hey pumpkin! How was your day?” he asked as she jumped into his arms.

            She smiled and pinched his cheeks. “I made Granny chase me.”

            He groaned. “I thought I told you to stop doing that.”

            “Oh, hush!” Vera said as she set down the tray. “It keeps me young. Come on, Lizzie, go wash your hands and have some cookies and milk.”

            “Yes!” she screamed as she jumped off him and rushed inside the house.

            Vera sat down and picked up a cookie, which she handed to him. “You been over to Bea’s house?”

            “Yeah.”

            Vera smiled. “So you know she’s back.”

            Jedidiah looked away as he chewed on the cookie. “Yeah.”

            Smiling, she said, “I wonder how this will go down. The two of you were inseparable. I’m not sure why your lives turned out the way it did. Now I love my granddaughter, but I’d also like to be able to have a woman around you too.”

            “So you keep telling me. I’m sorry, mother, but a child is one thing; a woman is another.”