Love Song

Chapter 41
Jordan

Sunday April 21

That morning, I woke up with the sudden realization that Ryan would be coming home this evening. I had to spend all day cleaning up the house and making it presentable when he got home. I had no idea what kind of mood he would be in so I would make sure everything was to his liking so maybe that would put him in a good mood. I still made sure to be prepared for the worst.

Towards the middle of the afternoon, I heard the doorbell ring. I scooped Aria up in my arms and went downstairs. I was tense and nervous and wasn’t exactly thrilled about uninvited guests. I opened the door and Zakk was standing outside with a smile on his face, “Hi. Is this a bad time?”

“Well, I’m trying to get the house together before Ryan gets home,” I said.

“I could help you,” he replied.

I sighed, considering it briefly but then shook my head, “You don’t need to do that for me. I can do it myself.”

“I could help with Aria then,” he persisted, “So you won’t be interrupted while you work.”

I looked at Aria, who was squirming in my arms to get to Zakk. She had loved Zakk when she first met him and every time she saw him she practically jumped out of my arms to get into his. She never had such a reaction for her own father, which made me a little happy. At least she had one stable man in her life. We both smiled at her and I nodded, “Fine. But you’ll have to leave before Ryan gets home.”

Zakk frowned as he took Aria from me and he looked away from the both of us, “I know, I know. I just hadn’t seen you in awhile and wanted to see you.”

“I’m sorry,” I murmured, “Ryan just-”

“Don’t,” he stopped me from speaking and squeezed Aria a little tighter, “I already know he doesn’t like me. He’s jealous…among other things.”

I ignored the last comment even though I agreed with him. I continued with my cleaning and starting dinner. Barbecue was Ryan’s favorite and I figured it would make him happy. Lately, I was going out of my way just to keep him happy. So far it was working. Ryan was usually the one who went outside and barbecued while I made my balsamic barbecue sauce, which he always seemed to like and it was the only kind of barbecue sauce I liked at all. So I stood outside and barbecued ribs for him. When I came back in with the plate of prepared meat, Zakk was alone in the kitchen. He closed the fridge and saw me and pointed upstairs, “Aria was tired so I put her down for her nap.”

“Oh. Alright then,” I looked up at the clock above the kitchen door. It was almost 5:40 now. Ryan would be home anytime now but I didn’t want Zakk to leave. He’d kept me company all afternoon and I had never seen Aria so happy. I wanted him to stay. I put the warm ribs in the microwave and grabbed the plates from the cupboard to set the table. When I came back into the kitchen, Zakk was leaving. Our bodies collided but we just chuckled and tried moving out of each other’s way but it just made it worse. So we stopped and he stared at me for the longest time. My heart beat like crazy looking back at him and my face felt hot. Zakk scratched his arm and bit his bottom lip. Our bodies were already close but I could’ve sworn I saw him moving his face closer to mine and I didn’t know if I was going to stop him. Our lips were inches apart and Zakk put one hand on my shoulders to steady me and the other hand ran through my now short hair. He smiled, “For what it’s worth, I think your short hair looks really nice on you.”

Suddenly, we heard a car pull up the driveway and we both turned our heads to the front door.

I cleared my throat and Zakk pulled his keys out of his pocket, “Go out the back door.”

“Right,” he said. He slid open the back door but stopped quickly to say, “I’ll see you later Jordan.”

“Of course,” I said, “Thanks for today.”

He smiled and nodded as he shut the door and ran off. Just as he disappeared, Ryan came in the front door pulling his suitcase behind him. He actually seemed happy to see me and he opened his arms. I hugged him and felt him kiss the top of my head, “I missed you this weekend Jordan.”

“I missed you too,” I mumbled. I looked up at him, resting my chin on his chest, trying not to cringe when his lips kissed my forehead, “I made you dinner. I made ribs with the balsamic barbecue sauce you like so much. I thought it would be a nice welcome home dinner.”

“That’s very sweet of you Jordan,” he said, grabbing my face roughly and he kissed my lips. When he finally let me go, he walked into the dining room and sat down at the table, waiting for me to bring him his food. I brought out his dinner and served him like I did every night. He ate it happily and told me how good it was. I had never seen him smile so much. He almost looked like a child when he was excited and happy, “Is Aria awake?”

As if on cue, Aria started whining upstairs and I smiled a bit, surprised that Ryan would even ask about Aria. He never really dealt with her unless I was gone or doing something but when he did, he appeared to actually love her like a father should love a child but I rarely ever saw that affection, “I guess she is now. I’ll go get her.”

I went into the nursery and brought Aria down to see Ryan. She had no reaction to seeing her dad but at least she didn’t cry or fidget when Ryan took her and hugged her and kissed her chubby cheeks, “I missed you too Aria.”

Ryan sat Aria down on his lap and the sight of it actually made me happy. The weekend away must’ve calmed him down. He should leave the house more often so he could act like this all the time. This was the way it was supposed to be. I was supposed to be happy like this all the time. Ryan was supposed to give his baby special attention all the time. He took one last bite of his dinner and stood up with Aria still in his arms, “How about I clean up and spend some time with Aria while you rest?”

I opened my mouth to speak but I had no idea what to say to him. This was definitely a first. He never offered to take care of Aria and clean up. I was always doing a million things during the evening and I had come to enjoy it because he knew he wouldn’t be able to do anything to me because I was so busy, he wouldn’t get a reaction out of me. It gave me a few hours of peace. I couldn’t help but expect the worst later on but for now I would take what he had to offer, “Wow Ryan. Thank you. That’s really sweet of you.”

Ryan wrapped his free arm around my waist and pulled me in for a kiss. He did as he promised and took care of Aria, washed and put away the dishes, and got Aria ready for bed while I took an extra long shower and laid down in my bed to read a book. He came in a few hours later looking exhausted. I fought the urge to giggle because I didn’t know what was going to ruin his good mood.

“Thank you again for doing all that for me Ryan,” I said. Ryan climbed into bed next to me and slowly pulled my book out of my hands. He grabbed my arms and kissed me, slowly pushing me down onto my back. I knew what was coming now and I knew I didn’t want to. But Ryan was unpredictable and after a surprisingly nice evening, I didn’t want to ruin it by making him hit me again.