“Is Jennifer not coming to the party?” Phillip asks me.
“I don’t think so. She said something last night about going home tomorrow.”
I don’t tell him how our night ended, but he must be able to tell from the look on my face.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asks.
“Last night was really fun. We watched game film after dinner. She sat on my lap. She enjoyed being with me and doing something I loved. Remember in high school how you’d invite a girl over, but you’d end up kissing through most of the movie?”
“Yeah. Heck, Jadyn and I rarely see the movie still. Or we have to rewind a lot.”
“It started like that. That fun, flirty beginning of a relationship. The problem is, every time I feel like I want to take things further, I stop myself.”
“Why?”
“Why do you think?” I throw my hands into the air. “She’s going back to LA. This was a convenient place for her to hide out. That’s it. Even though she says she can see a future with us together, she’s freaking leaving, which says it all.”
“Danny, it’s not like she can’t come back.”
“And what about the kids? And, no, I’m not using them as an excuse. It’s a legitimate concern. I can’t move to LA or fly off to see her. I have responsibilities here. Although I think the beach is gorgeous, I’m a Midwestern boy. I like the seasons. I like the people. It’s home. I won’t uproot my kids. And I’m technically still married. Regardless of my wife’s morals, I don’t want the kids to think it’s okay. Because, to me, it’s not. I can’t handle the thought of Jennifer leaving tomorrow, but I have to let her go. LA is her home. And you need to make sure Jadyn lets her go, too.”
“Better watch what you say next,” Phillip says. “She’s coming this way.”
Jadyn bounds up to us and grabs Phillip’s tie. He’s dressed as Clark Kent—long-sleeved shirt and loosened tie, dress pants and suspenders, hair slicked back, and black glasses. His shirt is unbuttoned to reveal a shiny red Superman shirt. Jadyn is Lois Lane in a tight pencil skirt and business jacket. The rest of the family is dressed as different superheroes. Chase is Spider-Man, Haley is Wonder Woman, Ryder is Batman, Madden is the Flash, and the dog is Captain America.
“I think we’re going to win the contest this year,” she says to Phillip. “Danny, I’m surprised you didn’t dress up.”
Joey, one of my high school friends and his youngest son join us. Their family—which includes wife, Chelsea; daughter, Jaci; and sons, Jack and Jacob—are dressed as zombies with elaborate face paint.
“What’s that say?” Jack asks Jadyn, pointing to the steno notebook in her hand.
She flips it up, and Jacob reads, “I beat Superman. No way, Superman is unbeatable,” he says and then takes off when he sees Ryder.
“Not if you know how to do it right,” Jadyn quips.
This causes Joey to hoot with laughter, and Phillip gives Jadyn a sexy smirk, followed by a kiss. She flips the other side over and shows it to us.
I’m his kryptonite.
“Now, that is a freaking true statement if there ever were one.” Joey laughs again.
I glance up, movement from a window above the garage catching my attention. I pretend to look straight at Jadyn but use my peripheral vision to see Jennifer sitting in the window seat, looking down at us. Although I can’t see her face, I know she’s feeling left out.
I took Dani and Damon to get their costumes a few weeks ago. Dani is a sparkling unicorn, and Damon is a skeleton. I overheard him tell Chase that he was going to let girls know they were free to jump his bones. Kid’s a chip off the old block.
I look down at myself and then at my friends and their families, who, unlike me, are all dressed up and having fun. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. Lori took that away from me, too, I realize.
I glance back up at the window.
“Jadyn, do you still have those costumes from last year? The ones you didn’t wear?”
“Yeah.”
“Could I borrow them?”
“Sure, come with me,” she says with a grin.
She leads me into their basement storage room, scanning the plastic totes. “What happened with you and Jennifer last night? She hasn’t left her room today. And I overheard you tell Phillip that she’s going back home tomorrow.”
I run my hand through my hair. “You told me I had to be careful until Wednesday.”
“In public. No one knows what happens behind closed doors, Danny.”
“I made her cry,” I admit. “Look, I’m going to try to make it up to her. Just find the costumes, okay?”
She pulls the costumes out. “Since they are all wrapped in plastic, they aren’t wrinkled. You should be good to go.”
“Thanks.”
I go into the guest bath and put on my costume, slip out into the garage, and then run up the stairs to Jennifer’s room.
Jennifer
I wake up late, wrap myself up in the fluffy robe that was hanging in the bathroom, make myself a cup of coffee from the machine in Jadyn’s office, and then sit sideways on the window seat, looking down at the Mackenzies’ backyard. The Halloween party has started. Phillip is helping kids into a bounce house, Chase is attaching a skull-shaped piñata under the large black spider on top of the monkey bars, Nick is helping an adorable little girl bob for apples, and Dani is handing out caramel apples to everyone. It’s like a scene out of a freaking Rockwell painting.
Tears fall down my face as I wish that I were part of it. That a scene like this could be part of my reality. But it’s not.
Danny was right for stopping things. It’s only been a week since everything happened with Troy. It’s only been a few days since I left town. And, for some stupid reason, I still feel responsible for Troy. I feel bad that I’m not there to help get him to rehab. I also feel bad that I told Danny I was going back to LA when it’s the last thing I want to do. I’m not ready to face reality.
But I have to.
I didn’t sleep last night. My words kept echoing in my head.
“If you can’t promise forever, just promise tonight.”
Back, when I’d first said it, I was being my flirty, bold self. It was cute. Last night, it made me sound desperate. That I’m willing to settle for one night with Danny when it’s really not what I want.
Add to that the fact that Troy’s texts have grown more desperate-sounding, and I made the mistake of answering the phone when he called at three in the morning.
Drunk.
I’m deep in thought, trying to figure out how I’m going to talk Troy into going back to rehab before he completely destroys everything he’s worked so hard for, when a knock on the door startles me, almost causing me to spill my coffee.
I set the cup down, tighten up the robe, and open the door.
“Oh my gosh, Danny! What the heck are you wearing?” I laugh.
“I’m a rhinestone cowboy,” he says.
“You have to come inside, so I can see that a little closer.” When he does, I make him spin. “This might be the best costume I’ve ever seen. You know, with a name like Danny Diamond, you totally could have been a Vegas lounge singer. And this suit. Sparkling hot-pink leather, appliquéd with a green cactus, yellow mountains, and white clouds. And don’t get me started on all the bling.”
“I’m glad you like it. I was hoping you’d come to the party.”
“Oh, I would, but I don’t have a costume, so …” I lie. That’s not why I’m not going.
He goes back outside, comes in, and says, “Thing is, I need a cowgirl.” He holds up a very skimpy-looking black fringe and hot-pink costume. “Come on. It will be fun. I know you like candy.” He starts to hand me the costume but then pulls it back. “I don’t want you to feel obligated. It’s just … I saw you in the window.”
“When I saw you down there a few minutes ago, you weren’t in a costume.”
“I haven’t dressed up for Halloween in years even though it was always my favorite holiday as a kid. For the most part, Lori found it tacky. If we did get invited to a more formal party, she would rent us elaborate costumes that usually smelled like mothballs.” He takes me in his arms. “There’s no one I’d rather dress up with than you.”
“And where did you get these costumes on such short notice?”
“Jadyn bought them last year. Phillip wouldn’t wear his because the pants were way too short. They were nonrefundable, so Jadyn kept them. It’s kind of funny because, as soon as I saw the costume, I thought it looked like something I would wear, not Phillip.”
“And, now, you are,” I say compassionately. I grab the bag from his hand. “Stay here. I’ll go put this on.”
When I come back out, his mouth literally drops open. “You look … incredible. Damn.”
“You don’t think it’s a little too risqué for a backyard party?” I ask, looking down at the black lace one-piece topped with a black fringe skirt. A hot-pink suede belt wrapped low on my hips and a matching vest are the only things keeping it from being completely indecent.
“I think it’s perfect for any party,” he says, his eyes still blazing trails up and down my body.
“What about the boots?”
“I think the black suede thigh-highs are hot. Now that I’ve seen you in them, you can’t wear anything else. This rhinestone cowboy is going to have rocks in his pants all night,” he jokes.
“How about this?” I ask, putting on the pink suede cowboy hat.
“Gotta wear the hat,” he says, pulling me back into his arms.
“We should take a picture!” I hold my phone out in front of us. When I snap it, he kisses the side of my face, giving me a goofy grin. “Ohmigawd, Danny, we’re so cute!”
But it’s so much more than that. They say a picture speaks a thousand words, and this one is saying that we both look incredibly happy.
“Come on, little doggie,” he says, giving my butt a playful slap. “Let’s get down there.”
We have a ball at the party. There’s music playing, face-painting, silly games, and lots of food and drink. Danny even clears out the bounce house, so the two of us can bounce around together. He told me that my skirt would be indecent while bouncing but that he didn’t mind.
Just when I start thinking about the fun we could have tonight, he says, “I’m glad we dressed up, Jennifer. Thanks for coming to the party with me.”
“Uh, are you leaving?”
“Yeah, I have to get to the hotel. The team stays together the night before each game.”
“But I thought your game was here.”
“We do it for both home and away games. It keeps players from partying the night before. We eat together and have team meetings to discuss the game plan. We even have a mandatory curfew.”
“Oh,” I say, feeling disappointed.
“Um, so I guess this is good-bye,” he says, taking my hand and bringing it to his lips. “It was really nice seeing you, Jennifer. Have a great flight tomorrow.”
And then he’s gone without so much as a kiss.
