“What’s a codger?”
Kelly grinned at Jordan’s apparent loss for words. Obviously he wasn’t used to a five-year-old’s insistence on explanations for everything she didn’t understand. Why and how come were among Dani’s favorite words.
“A codger,” she explained, “is a cranky old person.”
Dani nodded sagely. “Okay, you aren’t that cranky, I suppose. Except when I forget and leave my markers all over the floor and you slip and fall down.”
“Yes,” Kelly admitted. “I am definitely cranky then.” She leaned close to her daughter’s perfect face. “But I am not old!”
“How old are you?”
“You know,” Kelly said, not particularly wanting to be reminded that she would turn thirty in a few months. If she had the same kind of early mid-life crisis Jordan had experienced, who knew what craziness she was likely to indulge in.
Dani looked at Jordan. “You know how old she is. Tell me,” she commanded with all the imperiousness at her disposal.
Jordan waggled a finger to encourage her to come closer. Dani knelt on the seat and leaned across the table.
“She is almost thirty,” he confided in a stage whisper.
“Isn’t that old?” Dani asked.
“Very, very old,” he confirmed.
“You’ll pay for that,” Kelly warned him. She couldn’t really get angry at the lighthearted byplay. Watching the exchange between her daughter and Jordan warmed her heart. If only…She brought herself up short. That way lay heartache.
Jordan looked intrigued by her mild threat. “Oh?”
“When you least expect it,” she added.
“Something to look forward to,” he noted, clearly not the least bit worried.
A slow, lopsided grin crept across his face. There was a knowing twinkle in his eyes that made Kelly’s stomach flip over. Obviously she’d chosen to taunt a master and he’d managed to turn the tables on her with no more than a dangerous look.
The moment might have lasted far longer, if Dani hadn’t grown impatient at being ignored. She tugged on Jordan’s sleeve. “What was the baddest thing Mommy ever did?”
His eyes were still sparkling. This time, though, it was clearly at some memory Kelly had the feeling she didn’t want him sharing with her precocious daughter. Thankfully, Anthony came out of the kitchen just then with their pizza. Kelly prayed that the distraction would get Dani’s mind off the past.
It worked, too, for another five minutes. Long enough for Dani to take her first bite of pizza and her first sip of soft drink. Long enough for Anthony and Jordan to spend time catching up, before Anthony retreated to the kitchen. Long enough for Kelly’s nerves to get entirely rattled in anticipation of which memories were crowding into Jordan’s head and which he might choose to share.
Lord knew, she had her own. She remembered lazy summer days beside the creek, fishing poles in hand, as she and Jordan talked about their hopes and dreams. She’d been the first he’d told about his hunger to work the oil fields. She recalled winter skating parties at the same creek, with a bonfire and mugs of hot chocolate and Jordan’s arm casually thrown around her shoulders to keep warm. She recalled the two of them racing each other and the wind on horseback. Jordan always won, but it was the ride itself that was exhilarating, that and being with the boy she knew she loved.
Sometimes it seemed what she remembered most was the sense of anticipation, the belief that at any second Jordan would look into her eyes and discover the woman he loved. She remembered, too, the bitter disappointment at each and every lost opportunity. More, she’d never forgotten the sense of having failed dismally because not even the man who knew her best wanted her.
“Tell me, Jordan.”
Dani’s command cut through her reverie and Kelly studied the two people she loved most in the world. Dani had a streak of tomato sauce on her face and a faint soda mustache. Jordan wore a faded chambray shirt, open at the collar. He hadn’t bothered to tame his hair into the style he wore in Houston. Just from the one day in the sun, she thought she could detect blond highlights scattered in the rich brown. A few more days of outside work and it would be streaked with lighter strands.
Her gaze dropped to his hands, already sporting the beginnings of a golden tan. She knew the strength of those hands. For years, it seemed, she had longed to feel them caressing her, had dreamed of them waking her senses. Instead, it had been Paul Flint’s rougher touch that had awakened her sexuality.
“Well, now,” Jordan began with a touch of drama in his voice as he responded to Dani’s insistent demand. He glanced into Kelly’s eyes and a smile curved the corners of his mouth. “Did you know that your mother once locked me in the attic?”
“I did not,” Kelly retorted indignantly, recalling the incident vividly, but with a decidedly different spin.
“Did, too,” he accused.
“The door stuck. That wasn’t my fault.”
“You were the one who slammed it so hard it rattled the hinges.”
“Because you were tormenting me.”
Jordan had the same innocent expression on his face now that he’d had then when he’d explained to her parents why he was hidden away in their attic after suppertime. He’d told only part of the story, just enough to worry her, just enough to get her and not himself into trouble. Kelly scowled at him. “You were a brat then and you’re a brat now.”
Dani’s fascinated gaze clung to Jordan. “What happened then? Did Mommy get punished?”
“She did, indeed,” Jordan said with an expression of smug satisfaction on his face. “She was grounded for a whole week and she had to clean the attic. She hated that the most because it was all dusty and covered in cobwebs.”
“You mean, there were spiders?” Dani asked. At his nod, she said, “Ugh! That’s disgusting.” She glanced worriedly at Kelly. “You wouldn’t make me clean the attic, would you?”
“Depends on whether you’re ever bad,” Kelly declared, purposely
