The Humdrum Life of a Hero

Chapter 23

When I feel Jay start reaching out toward the nightstand for his wallet, I sit up and stop the train that is currently careening for Sexville.

"What? What's wrong?" Jay gasps for breath. For an athlete, he really has a penchant for being constantly out of breath when we get a little hot and heavy.

"Nothing," I place my hands on his chest, pushing him off of me so I can give him some room to catch his breath. I push the hair off of his forehead, which is extremely sweaty and, quite honestly, gross, and add, "It's just that I don't think we should continue down this path."

He scrunches his eyebrows and asks, "What path?"

"Sex, Jay. Sex," I snip. "We now have three fairly young kids in this house, and I can't afford the embarrassment of the explanation that we'd have to give them if one of them walked in."

He deflates, all of the desire draining out with his sigh. "You're right."

I lay my hand on top of his on the comforter. I give him a sincere smile and say, "Of course I'm right."

He laughs and shakes his head. Then, abruptly, he beams at me and latches onto my hand. He jumps off the bed, pulling me with him. With his free hand, he retrieves our shirts and we unlace our hands to shrug them back on. He leaves me to cross the room and set his phone up to the speaker on my desk. Scrolling through all of his music, he settles on a song that I don't recognize.

"What's this?" I ask about the song.

He vacates his phone and comes back over to me. "Ed Sheeran. I think you'll like him."

I've heard of him before, but I don't think I've ever listened to his music. The twins' generally sway towards my mom's old CD collection when we're in the car, and I hardly ever fight them about it because listening to music with her was always one of my fondest memories of her. She sang along even if she didn't know the words, and it was the only time of day she was able to let loose. After she left, a lot of my memories of her were tarnished, but not the ones of her and her music. Those memories are rust-proof, forever locking in the wonderful woman she once was.

Jay extends his hand with his palm facing up and inquires, "May I have this dance?"

"I can't really decline, can I?" I smirk as I set my hand in his. He tugs me toward him and wraps an arm around my waist. I throw an arm across his shoulders as he answers my question, "Nope."

I try to listen to the words of the song, but all I can really focus on is the way Jay's looking at me right now. It's the way a groom looks at his bride as she walks down the aisle, or the way a father and mother look at their child for the first time, with total and utter love.

"I love you," I blurt out. His eyes go wide with shock as do mine in response to his.

Jay said it a couple of days ago without warning, and without giving me a chance to say it back, so I guess I felt the moment was right by the way he was looking at me. But now, with the way his face has gone into shock mode, I'm wondering if I made the right decision or misinterpreted what he meant by saying it all those days ago.

Maybe it was just a friendly way of saying goodbye after all.

As he eyes shrink back to normal size, I notice the beginnings of a grin on his lips. "You sure do know how to keep a man waiting on his toes."

"Well, somebody hung up before I could respond," I say while we sway along to the lyrics and guitar playing. "And, besides, I just don't think saying it over the phone has the same effect as saying it in person anyway."

He throws his head back and laughs, realizing that was a dig at him, but after his bout of laughter, he turns back on the charm that first made me fall for him. "Sorry I don't know the protocol. I've never said it before."