Change of Hart (9 page)

We walked into the small kitchen. It was covered with paper plates and napkins and balloons and a cake with the Cowboys logo on it and a bobble head of a player on top. Thank goodness it wasn’t #53 - my number - because that poor bobble-headed bastard was ugly.

“What can I do to help?” I asked Addison as she pulled a bowl of fruit out of the fridge.

“Oh,” she said, like I had startled her. “Um . . . can you help me slice the fruit? There are knives in there.”

She pointed to the drawer next to me and pulled out an extra cutting board. We started cutting up the fruit in a comfortable silence. Every once in a while one of us would catch the other one looking and we’d smile. I know I looked like a total idiot, but at that moment, I just didn’t care.

“I’m really glad you could come,” Addison said softly. “Jaxon is really excited you’re here.”

I smiled. “I’m glad I didn’t have to miss it. Everyone seems really nice.”

“They are,” she agreed. “Except my sister-in-law, Samantha,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“I kind of got that vibe,” I replied. “I caught her taking a couple of selfies today that seem a little . . . strategically placed.”

She snorted. “Yeah . . . you can expect to be in the background of her Facebook pictures tonight so try not to pick your nose or anything while you’re here.”

“I will refrain from all nose-pickery while in the vicinity of Samantha’s phone, I promise.” We went back to our comfortable silence for a few minutes. “So why doesn’t Mick come over much anymore? Jaxon said he doesn’t come around much, but they seem to get along really well.”

“They do,” she said, grabbing the newly sliced apples and putting them on the display tray. “But he lives in Lancaster, so it takes a good hour or so to get here.” She shrugged, grabbing some grapes. “I was hoping when Austin died he’d be over more, but, ya know, life moves on I guess.”

“It’s gotta be hard on him,” I replied. “Austin was his son, right? It was bad enough when I lost my dad. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to lose a son.”

“Yeah, he was a mess for a while. But he’s starting to get back to normal again . . . smiles more, and, oh shit!” she yelled, throwing the knife down on the counter. “Oh fuck that hurts,” she said, holding one hand in the other, a grimace across her face.

“What happened,” I asked, feeling panicked. “Did you cut yourself?”

“Yeah,” she said, turning to me. “Sliced right down my thumb.”

I grabbed her hands in mine, pulling her closer to me. “Breathe through the pain, Addison,” I said. “I know it hurts. Just breathe through the pain.”

She took a couple of deep breaths and stopped hopping around so much.

“Let’s get your thumb under some cold water and see what we’re dealing with.” I reached over and turned on the faucet, noticing all the blood on both of our hands. I hoped it didn’t need stitches. Even with a minor cut, thumbs could bleed forever.

I should have been focused on Addison’s thumb, but I couldn’t help the part of me that noticed how close she was. Frankly, it made me nervous. Not because I didn’t want to be near her, but because I could really get used to being this close to her all the time.

After a few minutes under the water, it wasn’t bleeding as hard anymore.

“Looks like it’s just a small slice,” I said. “Doesn’t look like you need stitches. But you do need a couple bandages. Do you have any?”

“Yeah,” she said in that soft voice I just loved. “In that cabinet right above your shoulder.”

I handed her a paper towel to dry her hands with while I grabbed the bandages. Then I took her small hand in mine and started patching her up. I tried to be gentle and take my time. Not just because of the injury, but because I was trying to draw it out as long as possible. I really liked touching her.

“You’re pretty good at that,” she remarked.

I smirked. “I’ve had an injury or two,” I said, finishing up with the last bandage. “These won’t last all day long, but adding the gauze inside should help keep the bleeding a little more under control.”

“Thank you,” she said, looking up at me with those hazel eyes.

“You’re welcome,” I said softly, looking down at her, still holding her hand. I swear I was getting those signals again but after being rejected, I just couldn’t be sure. So I just kept holding her hand and looking at her when . . .

She stretched up on her toes and kissed me.

Right on the lips.

I was stunned for a moment, but quickly remembered what to do and kissed her back. I kissed her softly and slowly, just wanting to enjoy the moment. When she didn’t pull away, my hands made their way to her face and I tilted her to the side so I could slide my tongue into her mouth.

Good god could the woman kiss. Her tongue was soft and gentle. Seductive, without turning into a soft porn movie in the middle of her kitchen. And her breath. Damn.

Let’s face it, breath is pretty nasty. We put up with it to get to the good stuff. But unless you brush your teeth before you kiss, you aren’t going to smell minty fresh.

Addison, she wasn’t minty fresh but even the smell of her breath turned me on.

Her hands grabbed my waist and I just kept kissing her. Enjoying this moment.

And her hands.

And her lips.

And her tongue.

The back door flew open and Addison jumped away from me, throwing her hands up to her lips.

“I have to go potty!” Emma yelled as she ran by, completely oblivious to the scene in front of her.

I turned back to Addison, only to see her bandaged hand clutched to her stomach, her other hand over her lips, and her wide eyes filling with tears.

“Addison,” I said, moving toward her. She took a step back, away from me. “That was . . .”

“I’m so sorry, Jason, that should never have happened,” she said hurriedly and rushed from the room, down the hall until I heard a door shut.

“Which way did Emma go?” Lindsay asked, walking through the kitchen.

“Bathroom,” I said, still staring after Addison.

Once again, I was left standing here thinking, “
What the hell just happened?”

With nothing else to do but cut fruit and sort out my thoughts, I sliced everything and cleaned up before heading back outside. Addison was still hiding in the back, probably in the bedroom she had shared with her husband, so I delivered the fruit.

It was times like these when my media face came in handy. It wasn’t hard to smile and fake my happiness the rest of the afternoon. I even posed for an actual picture with Samantha, but only because she was Jaxon’s aunt. If she had been anyone else, I would have politely told her to buzz off and reminded her that this was a birthday party for a child. Maybe part of me was hoping Addison would see it on Facebook later and feel some jealousy.

About ten minutes later, Addison finally reappeared, this time with the cake.

She completely ignored me for the rest of the party. She didn’t look at me when we sang “Happy Birthday”. She didn’t look at me when she passed out slices of cake. She didn’t even look at me when Jax opened his present. Jaxon, of course, jumped up and down and squealed with excitement, which made me smile a real smile. But Addison didn’t so much as glance in my direction.

“What the hell is going on?” Lindsay asked quietly. I hadn’t noticed her standing next to me. As always, she apparently hadn’t missed anything.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re full of it, Jason. Something happened between you and Addison and it’s making things really uncomfortable.”

I looked around the backyard at all the partygoers laughing and having a good time. “It doesn’t look like anyone is uncomfortable.”

“Yeah. No one except you and her,” she said, pointing at Addison.

I tightened my lips but didn’t say a word.

“That’s what I thought,” she said. “What happened?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said, turning around to sit back down in the lawn chair, silently praying Lindsay was the only one to notice the tension.

After all the presents were opened and the cake was devoured, Lindsay and I agreed we could slip out without seeming rude. We said goodbye to Jaxon first, who was way too distracted to really notice we were leaving. It didn’t matter to me. I was just happy he was having such a great time.

We found Addison sitting next to Samantha, of all people, on the other side of the yard.

“Hey, Addison,” I started, shifting from foot to foot, my hands in my pockets, trying, and failing, not to seem nervous. But damn, how was I supposed to act in this situation? “We’re headed out. Lindsay’s husband is heading home and wants to take them to dinner or something.”

“Ok,” she said, not moving from her chair or looking me in the eye. “Thanks for coming.”

“Uh, yeah, thanks for inviting us,” I said. “I guess I’ll talk to you later?”

“I’m sure I’ll talk to you soon,” she said, glancing at me quickly and looking away even quicker. “Jaxon will be asking about you, so . . . there’s that.”

I nodded once, feeling the sting of her remark. “Ok. Thanks again. It was nice meeting you, Samantha,” I said with small wave.

“You, too,” she said. “Oh, and I friend requested you on Facebook, so we can talk any time you want.”

Addison flinched just slightly. Samantha didn’t even notice. “I’ll let my publicist know. I’m not really on that Facebook page. It’s more of a marketing thing.”

Samantha’s smile fell. I barely noticed. But I noticed Addison’s back straighten just a bit. Yeah. She had been jealous. But that didn’t make any sense. Hadn’t she just blown me off after kissing me? And not just kissing me. But
really
kissing me. And now here she was, pretending like she’d never even met me before. I was so confused.

“Ok well,” I started walking backwards toward the door, “see ya.”

“See ya,” she said without another glance.

I got all the way through the front door before the Lindsay Inquisition started.

“What the hell is going on, Jason?” she asked, Emma skipping beside her, dark ponytail swinging from side to side.

I just shook my head. “I don’t know.”

I unlocked the doors and helped Emma climb in. That’s as far as I could get. Booster seats had too many straps so I let Lindsay buckle her in while I walked around the car.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” she asked when I opened my car door. She already had her seatbelt in hand. I have no idea how she got Emma situated so fast.

“I
mean
, I don’t know! One minute we were talking and having a good time. The next minute she’s running out of the room like I’m a burglar or something. I don’t know!”

I turned the ignition and pulled away from the curb, wanting to drive fast to get out the adrenaline, but very aware that there was a child in the back seat, so it wasn’t an option.

After a few seconds, Lindsay spoke up again. “How did she cut her hand?”

“We were slicing up the fruit and she cut her thumb. She’ll be alright,” I said. “It wasn’t very deep. Just bled a lot.”

She nodded but didn’t ask any more questions, which was fine by me. I didn’t really want to talk about it. I just wanted to go home and lift some weights or run. Something to get this frustration out.

“Mommy . . . ,” Emma asked from the back seat.

“Yes, sweetie,” Lindsay replied without turning around.

“Why was Jason kissing Jaxon’s mommy like that? Doesn’t Jaxon’s daddy kiss Jaxon’s mommy?”

Lindsay’s head whipped toward me, her jaw dropping open and making an “o” with her mouth. “You kissed her?” she hissed at me.

“No!” I said, glancing over at her while trying to keep my eyes on the road. “No, I kissed her
back
.
She
kissed
me
.”

“Oh,” she said with a look of understanding crossing her face. “I see what you mean by mixed signals.”

I shook my head and kept my eyes on the road.

Lindsay spent the rest of the ride back to her place trying to explain to Emma that Jaxon’s daddy was in heaven. I will admit, listening to Emma try to wrap her poor little brain around that huge concept was pretty humorous. They started with Jaxon’s dad and ended up discussing every single animal she had ever known that had died, including her goldfish and the road kill we passed on the street. When she asked if Jaxon’s dad had to be flushed down the toilet to get to heaven like Goldie, I’ll admit I snickered. I knew it was morbid to find that funny. But . . . well, it was.

When we pulled up into the driveway, Sam was already home, so I didn’t even bother to get out of the car. Once Lindsay got Emma out of her seatbelt and she bounded away, Lindsay turned to me.

“I’m sorry, Jason,” she said as she dragged the booster out of the back seat and dropped it on the driveway. “I know you’re not used to this type of thing. But just give her time, ok? She’s a nice woman. She just needs time.”

I turned to look at my friend. “I understand that, Lin, but that’s the thing . . . she doesn’t act like she needs time. She doesn’t act like she’s grieving. She flirts with me and glances at me when she thinks I’m not looking and all those things women do when they are interested in a guy.” I sighed. “But then when a move is made, even if she’s the one who made it, she gets a look of terror on her face and she runs away. I know we just met but I’m just . . . confused. And maybe a little frustrated.”

Lindsay smiled at me. “I’m sorry that this is hard for you, Jay. I really am. But you’re gonna have to work a little harder this time if she’s a keeper.”

“Did you just say ‘
if she’s a keeper
’?” I teased.

“Aaaand he’s back,” she said, pushing away from the seat and closing the door. I rolled the window down. “Thanks for the ride, Jay. I had fun.”

“See ya, Lin,” I yelled out the window as I backed out of the driveway.

I thought about the best plan of action the whole drive home and decided I just needed to clear the air. So I sent her a text.

Me: I’m not exactly sure what happened, but I wanted to touch base with you before the game next week. I don’t want things to be weird just because we kissed. It was a great kiss, Addison. I’m sorry it happened too soon for you. Let me know if we’re ok.