She frowned. She had heard that but didn’t think much of it. It’s not like Penelope and Griffin felt it. They’d known each other for years before they started to date.

  Though if Penelope was to be believed, she’d had her eye on Griffin from the day she met him and it took that long to get him to see her.

  No, she wasn’t going to go there with that.

  “Do you believe it?” she asked.

  “I didn’t used to,” he said.

  “Meaning?” she asked. She wasn’t going to assume anything. She’d done that too much in her life.

  “That I didn’t believe in it until I met you,” he said. His eyes started to droop a little and before she could say anything else, he’d fallen asleep on her.

  She scooted out from under him and he fell to the couch. It was funny in a way to see him there. She hadn’t thought he’d drunk that much, but maybe he did and just didn’t act all that much different.

  It was a little after ten and she wasn’t ready for bed yet. She put a blanket on him and would let him sleep it off while she went to her room to write.

  There was so much going through her head that she needed an outlet. Part of her was happy that Alex fell asleep before she could reply to him, the other not so much.

  Maybe she needed to be put on the spot to say what she needed to.

  She was learning that she did need to be pushed and it was possible Griffin wasn’t wrong about the way he was doing things with her.

  She climbed on her bed with her notebook and started to write everything that was in her head. It wasn’t long before she realized she was doodling hearts and initials and put her hand over her mouth to cover the giggle.

  Then she realized that wasn’t a sound she’d made much in her life. Had she gone and fallen in love with Alex and had no clue? It’s not like she had anyone to even talk to about it.

  She closed the notebook and put it away, changed out of her clothes and got ready for bed.

  When she walked back to her room from the bathroom, she saw Alex coming in and stretching. “Sorry,” he said. “Did I fall asleep on the couch?”

  “You did,” she said. “About forty minutes ago. I was coming to wake you up to come to bed now.”

  “I must have drunk more than I thought,” he said.

  “It’s fine. As I said, I had a good time.”

  “I’m glad,” he said. “And it looks as if you might have made a new friend.”

  She lifted her eyebrow up at him. He’d frowned when she’d told him she’d already said she had a good time so chances are he didn’t remember their conversation. It was probably for the best.

  “New friend?”

  “Franny? Tom’s girlfriend? He’s a nice guy. I don’t see him as much as he’s at the other firehouse, but we do fill in when needed and he’d come over to ours for some overtime.”

  “She seemed nice. She’s a year older than me. I like that she’s pretty to the point.”

  “Just like you,” he said, pulling her into his arms for a kiss and then moving into the bathroom.

  She got into bed and grabbed the remote. There wouldn’t be much on TV, but she’d gotten into the habit of falling asleep with it on at times. She was sure Alex was going to pass right out again.

  He came out in his underwear five minutes later. He had one hell of a body on him. “Where do you work out?” she asked. “Just at your house?”

  She’d seen some weights there but not much else.

  “Do you like?” he asked, flexing and posing. He sure was a ham at times.

  “You’re like a Greek god,” she said, making her voice sound as if she was in awe.

  He laughed and dove on the bed. “You can be my queen then.”

  She’d never been anyone’s queen before. Not even close.

  “Does the queen get special treatment?” she asked.

  He got under the covers and pulled her close, tucking her under his arms and cuddling with her. “Always,” he said. “You tell me what you want and I’ll make sure you get it.”

  “I just want to be happy, Alex. Nothing special or fancy there.”

  “Sometimes the simple things are the hardest to find and hold onto,” he said, his voice drifting back to sleep.

  She turned her head and looked down at him, his dark hair on the pillow, her plastered to his side. Normally she would move away from him to sleep but found she liked where she was and decided to stay.

  32

  Fully Committed

  “Happy birthday, Jennie,” Penelope said to her a month later. “I’m not sure it’s right that your birthday party is being held at your house.”

  She smiled and leaned in to give Zandra a kiss on the cheek, then take her out of Penelope’s arms in the backyard where her sister-in-law and brother just arrived.

  “I’m not doing any work. Alex is. He wanted to do this but said his place wasn’t big enough.”

  She told him no, that he didn’t need to give her a party. She’d told him no a couple of times. Then Griffin said he was going to do it because he couldn’t remember if she’d ever had one and everyone should have at least one.

  Since Penelope was on Griffin’s side and she knew her brother would go nuts with it, she’d caved and told Alex he could do it. In her eyes it was the lessor of the two evils.

  “As long as you got one,” Penelope said. “Who cares?”

  “And there is beer,” Griffin said, going over to the cooler on her deck. Alex planned on grilling burgers and hot dogs. Her choice. She told him not to go overboard at all or she wouldn’t talk to him for a week.

  He must have taken her seriously. He’d bought the beer and the burgers and dogs with all the trimmings this morning along with salads he’d ordered from a deli. His mother was bringing the cake because she insisted.

  Jennie still wasn’t happy that this was costing a lot for Alex, but he’d gotten pissed when she commented on it.

  There wasn’t much more she could do other than enjoy the first birthday party she’d ever had in her life. Pretty sad for twenty-eight years old.

  “Sorry you are here on your day off,” she said to Penelope and Griffin. They both looked at her as if she had two heads.

  “Of course we are,” Penelope said. “We had no plans. And I get to see my cousin’s baby. I love babies.”

  “Don’t get any ideas,” Griffin said. “This one isn’t even a year old yet.”

  “And you’re too busy spoiling her,” Jennie said. “But I can see you with more than one and you know it.”

  Penelope laughed. “Kids are great,” Alex said. “In this family you get overrun by them.”

  “See,” Penelope said. “It runs in the blood. I have to say, maybe we are all shocked Alex didn’t have one by now.”

  “Thanks,” he said, forcing a smile. “Nice thing to say in front of my girlfriend.”

  “We know Penelope isn’t always appropriate,” Griffin said. “Put a sock in it, wifey.”

  “Sure thing, hubby,” Penelope said, bumping her hip with his.

  Jennie was trying hard to put Alex’s past out of her mind. He’d done nothing to make her think he was that playboy anymore.

  So he went out and had fun when he was single. She was betting her brother did too. And a lot of men in the Bond family.

  But Alex was fully committed to her. She knew that now. She also knew that her heart was truly gone to him and knew she’d be voicing those words to him at some point too. It was getting harder and harder to hold them back.

  “I’ve got the cake.”

  She turned to see Alice and Bill Bond walking into the backyard. “I’ll take it, Mom,” Alex said.

  “I’ll bring it in,” Alice said. “Show me where you want it.”

  “Sure thing,” Alex said, bringing his mother into the side enclosed sunroom, then to the connecting door to the side porch to the kitchen.

  Jennie found the flow to be a pain in the butt, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. Nor would she say anything either. If she did, Griffin would have someone here blowing a wall out so she could get to the kitchen straight from the sunroom. Nope, this was good enough.

  “Griffin,” Bill Bond, the old chief of police said. “You actually have the day off?”

  “I make him, Bill,” Penelope said. “He’s got a family now.”

  “Yes, he does,” Sidney said, walking to the back. “Just like this one behind me. Though we know he’s on call all the time, he’s not working as much as he used to.”

  “You look great, Sidney,” Jennie said. She looked over and saw the baby sleeping in the carrier that Mac was holding.

  It amazed her to see the big man with his son looking softer than he’d ever done before. She supposed that was what people saw when they looked at her brother now too.

  The same as she did when Alex was holding Zandra or talking about liking kids.

  She had to get the stereotype out of her head that all big men couldn’t be soft. Loving. Caring.

  Just because she hadn’t been exposed to it growing up didn’t mean it didn’t exist.

  Griffin hadn’t been and yet look at him.

  Their mother was all those things; their father wasn’t. She wasn’t sure how the two of them ended up together and it’s not like in the short ten years she’d had with her mother she was able to ask those questions.

  She had to remind herself again and again, that it wasn’t just her father’s genes in her, but her mother’s too.

  Jarrett showed up a few minutes later and Alex brought out some snacks that they’d put together that morning.

  He’d argued with her that he was doing it all, but she pointed out that was crazy. This was her house and there was no reason she couldn’t slap some meat and cheeses on a board, bring out chips and dip and some fruit.

  She’d almost stomped her foot over that and realized how childish that was and it reminded her of the one time she’d done it in foster care and had been sent to her room without dinner that night.

  Tough lessons to learn when you were grieving and no one seemed to care all that much.

  Again, not everyone was like that. It took a few homes for her to find one that cared enough to see that she had a future. She hadn’t talked to Carrie and Brody in months. They almost always reached out to her with a text or an email to see how she was doing. Her birthday was actually Tuesday and that was one day they usually got in contact.

  Carrie had been thrilled she was moving but sad to see her go. She wouldn’t say she was close to them like a family, but more like friends.

  She had a lot to be thankful for getting them in the end and they did keep in touch with her. They didn’t have to do it. Carrie once told her that she needed the reminder of a success story to keep her going. That too many times that didn’t happen.

  When Jennie had heard that, she’d told herself she wasn’t going to be one of those bad statistics. One that fell into the system or let it hold her back.

  She should have remembered that more being here and she hadn’t.

  “I get first dibs on the baby when he wakes up,” Penelope said. “I want to see how Zandra feels about me holding another child.”

  “She’s not going to care,” Griffin said. “Not as long as I’ve got her in my arms.”

  There was laughter to that when Alex walked back out with his mother. “How will she feel if you’ve got a baby in your arms that isn’t her?” Alice asked. “Mac could have cared less. Jarrett, not him either when Alex was born. But oh my, when Alex wanted attention and the other two were getting it, he’d let us know.”

  “Really?” Jennie asked. “Why am I not surprised.”

  “I was two,” Alex argued. “That’s not fair.”

  “You did it as a teen too,” Jarrett said. “Right, Mac?”

  “Yep. And you two fought over it all the time. I was always breaking up the fights.”

  “The leader from day one,” Bill said. “But you all fought.”

  “Alex always started it,” Jarrett said. “Mac and I minded our own business, but Alex would get bored and start in.”

  “Wow,” she said. “I didn’t realize that about you. Hope those aren’t traits you pass onto your kids.”

  Alex moved over and pulled her next to his side. “I’ve got a lot of good traits too. There isn’t anything wrong with being feisty. You should know that. Maybe I like it.”

  “Don’t let Jennie kid you,” Griffin said. “She was just like you, Alex. She was loud and wanted attention when she wanted it. She didn’t care who she got it from.”

  She looked at Griffin’s smile. “It seems like I got it from you the most? Or am I remembering that incorrectly?”

  No reason to bring up the fact that he quieted her down so their father didn’t hear. There were some good memories mixed in there that she was remembering more of lately. She had to tell herself to keep doing that to push out the horrible ones or she’d never be free of the past.

  “You were a cute kid,” Griffin said. “Being seven years older, I wasn’t expected to play with you, but I kept an eye on you a lot.”

  While their mother cooked and cleaned. She remembered that too.

  “I’ll bring some more snacks out,” Alex said. “Mom, do you want to help me?”

  “I’ll help you,” Jennie said. “And no arguing.”

  The two of them went into the house to get the rest. “Are you okay?” Alex asked her.

  “Yes, why?”

  “Just asking. It was the look you had with Griffin. Not sure if it was a good or bad one.”

  “A combination of both. Sometimes things trigger a good memory. Things were bad in our lives, but he was there for me.”

  “That’s right,” Griffin said. She turned to see him there. “I’ll help her bring everything out, Alex.” Alex left her there with her brother. “Hey, you good?”

  “I’m getting there. I’m trying. How did you do it?” she asked.

  “The truth is I didn’t, Jennie. Not until Penelope. Don’t make the same mistakes I did.”

  “Which isn’t telling me much at all,” she said.

  “Don’t keep it in. However you need to let it out, do it. That’s what I’m saying. The longer it’s in there without talking or doing anything about it, the more it festers.”

  “It never goes away,” she said.

  “And it’s not meant to,” Griffin said. “It’s a reminder that you can do better. That you can be better. Remember that for Mom.”

  She went into his arms. “I’m trying. Maybe someday I’ll tell you how I was able to cope in my own way.”

  “If you want to share, then you can. You know it. I’ll always be there.”

  “I know that now. I’m having more memories of it too.”

  “Good,” Griffin said. “Let’s bring out the food because my wife is hungry.”

  When dinner was done, Alice brought the cake out. A double layer chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. Alex remembered and that touched her even more.

  “You need to open up your gifts,” Penelope said.

  “No one had to get me anything,” she said. “Just the party and having everyone together was enough.” She looked over and saw Jace in Alex’s arms while he fed his nephew. At this point, she shouldn’t have been surprised, but it still touched her.

  She opened up some gift cards from everyone. Alex said he’d give her the last of her gifts later tonight. She expected it to be something sexy that he didn’t want to share with others and that was fine with her. She’d already opened the earrings he’d gotten her and she loved them.

  She sighed when Griffin gave her a card and could only imagine what was in it.

  When she opened it up she saw the printout of a Peleton bike. “What the heck?” she asked.

  “Penelope said you used the gym daily at the hotel. I know there isn’t a gym around here that is all that great,” Griffin said.

  She’d never said a word to anyone about that. That she enjoyed working out and didn’t have a place to go. Once the weather got nice, she’d been walking in the morning or after work, doing some yoga or Pilates or anything else she could find on TV at home.

  “But this is overkill,” she said. She knew these things were crazy expensive. She’d priced them out herself and couldn’t bring herself to do it.

  “That’s your brother,” Penelope said.

  “You wanted a new bike for your eleventh birthday,” Griffin said. “You asked for it. It didn’t happen.”

  Because she didn’t get to spend that birthday with her brother or her mother. They were gone from her life before then.

  “And you remembered?” she asked.

  “I remember it all.”

  She smiled. “The one I wanted was pink and had a bell on the front.”

  “Now you’ve done it,” Penelope said. “He’ll want to call the company and find out if he can get a pink one with a bell.”

  Everyone laughed, herself included. “Don’t even think about it. This is great. It’s too much, but I love and appreciate it.”

  “It should be here this week,” Griffin said. “Well, it will be at the docks this week and then I’ll go over and get it and bring it here to put it together.”

  There was no reason to argue; she’d only be wasting her breath. She went and hugged him. “Thank you for everything.”

  He kissed her on the head. “You’re always welcome.”

  33

  In The Long Run

  “Thank you for my party,” Jennie said to Alex hours later.

  “You’re welcome. It was nice to have both of our families here together.”

  “It was,” she said. “I feel lame not having had a party before. Not that I can remember. I don’t think I’ve ever gone to a kid’s birthday party either. It wasn’t allowed when I was younger. We didn’t have the money. No way my father was letting his money be spent on someone else.”

  Things he’d never thought of in his life. Not everyone had money for things like that. He knew that the most just by looking at the differences in his family branches, yet he never felt like he was jealous either.