Chapter Two
Jax watched as Cheryl Tatum, a pretty, vibrant, sixtysomething former first grade teacher, held out her hand for Ramon to
land on.
“Come on, handsome guy. You can hang out with me in the children’s section while we have story hour. Just no talking about
you-know-what. You’ll see your mom in the morning.”
Ramon stayed on the bookshelf, glancing between Jax and Cheryl. He hopped closer to Jax and bobbed his head a couple of times.
“You getting laid.”
Jax groaned. “You’re never going to let that go, are you?” She moved toward him and lightly stroked his feathers. “You have
a good evening. The kids and I will say good-night later.”
He briefly leaned against her before flying the short distance to land on Cheryl’s outstretched hand.
“Snack now,” he told her. “Snack, snack, snack.”
“Bedtime,” Cheryl told him, her voice firm. “If you get too many snacks, you’ll put on weight and that will make it harder
to fly.”
He nuzzled her hair. “I am the Lorax.”
“I see the resemblance.” Cheryl smiled at Jax. “See you in the morning.”
Jax waved as the two of them headed for the children’s section. While many businesses closed early on Sundays, the Painted
Lady Bookstore stayed open until seven, mostly so locals could stop by and hang out with Ramon. Cheryl, the events manager,
did a late-afternoon story hour for younger kids so the parents could unwind a bit before the start of a new week.
Jax collected her bag and her backpack, then walked to her SUV. Although she was about to start her week with the kids, she
didn’t need to bring any luggage with her. She and Harris still shared the main bedroom and bath at the family house. She
kept enough clothes there that she didn’t have to bring anything back and forth. Should she forget something, her bookstore
apartment was a mere fifteen minutes away.
She drove around the building then, as she always did, paused at the stop sign to glance back at the elegant three-story building.
The exterior was done in shades of purple and lavender with white trim. There was a wide front porch with plenty of seating
and big windows that let in light and offered lots of room for rotating displays.
Flush with happiness and pride at how well things were going, she checked both ways, then drove toward the house where she
and Harris had once lived as a couple. Although she lived there every other week, in the past year or so it had morphed from
“home” to the place where her children lived. She’d let go of old memories and hurts.
It had taken a couple of months for her to settle into the routine, but now she knew it was the right decision. Given the
choice she would love to have her kids with her always, but this was certainly a good option, too. She and the kids had a
routine they enjoyed. There was a rhythm to their weeks together. In between, Gentry and Xander frequently visited her in
the store.
She arrived at the house right at five, per the parenting plan.
The handoff was always on Sunday, with the entire family having an early dinner together.
The departing parent cleaned the main bathroom and changed the sheets on the king-size bed they both used.
Food for breakfasts and school lunches were to be left in the refrigerator.
Weekend homework assignments needed to be finished.
All that prep work meant the transition evening was calm and orderly with a minimum of start-of-the-week stress.
She pulled into the driveway and hit the garage door opener, then drove in next to Harris’s SUV. Seconds later the house door
to the garage burst open and both kids rushed out. She held open her arms, then braced herself for them flinging themselves
at her.
“I missed you guys,” she told them, holding on tight. True words, she thought, even though she’d seen both of them just two
days before when they’d stopped by the bookstore to hang out for a couple of hours.
“We missed you, too,” Gentry said, pushing up her glasses as she smiled.
Both her kids had Harris’s dark hair and her eyes. Gentry had reached that gangly preteen stage while Xander was still short
and anxious to be taller than his sister. He hung on for an extra second before opening the passenger side door and pulling
out her backpack.
“I’ll take this upstairs,” he called.
“Thank you and don’t run.”
He flashed her a grin before bolting into the house. Seconds later she heard his footsteps pounding on the stairs.
“This is him not running?” she asked lightly.
Gentry shook her head. “You know how he is, Mom. He has a lot of energy.”
“He does.”
She picked up her purse, then put her arm around her daughter. “How are you doing?”
“Good. I’ve been working on my collage. I think I have all the paper I need, but I’m still playing around with the design. It’s hard to get the feathers right.”
“It is.”
Gentry had an art project for school. Everyone was to create a mixed media collage and her daughter had chosen to make a picture
of Ramon. The subtle shading of his gray body was proving to be a challenge.
“Want to work on it after dinner?” she asked.
Gentry nodded.
They went inside. Jax tried not to tense when she saw Harris. They hadn’t spoken since his demand that they change the parenting
plan and she wasn’t sure if he was going to be sulking or not. Harris tended not to be happy when things didn’t go his way.
But when she walked into the kitchen, he looked up and smiled at her.
“Right on time,” he said easily. “I have dinner in the pressure cooker.”
“It’s beef stew,” Gentry said. “I helped Dad cut up everything. Xander peeled the potatoes.”
“Look at you,” Jax said, still eyeing her ex. “Soon you’ll want to take over preparing meals for the family.”
“That’s not going to happen,” her twelve-year-old said with a grin. “I don’t like it that much. But it’s fun to pick out recipes
with Dad and plan them for our Sunday dinners.”
An unexpected consequence of the divorce, she thought. Harris learning to cook. The first couple of weeks he’d had the kids,
he’d done takeout every night, but that had gotten old and expensive really fast. Then he’d tried to guilt Jax into batch
cooking for him and the kids. When she’d refused, he’d been forced to figure it out for himself. Between the new air fryer
and pressure cooker, he’d managed to come up with enough meals to get him through his weeks with the kids.
Harris pointed to the large family calendar on the wall. “I updated everything with them yesterday,” he said. “The big game with Los Lobos High is Thursday and I’d like them to come.”
“Of course.” The rivalry between the two schools went back for generations. “We’ll all be there. You wrote down the time?”
He nodded. “Get there early if you want good seats.”
Xander ran back into the kitchen and threw himself at Jax. “I want to sit down in front,” he said, only to correct himself.
“No, up high in the bleachers so we can see everything.”
“It’s whatever you two want,” she said easily, thinking that another happy coincidence of her divorce was that she didn’t
feel the pressures of being the “coach’s wife.” While technically she hadn’t had any responsibilities, the reality was different.
She’d been expected to attend more games than she would have liked, and had made sure she was available to talk to any of
the students who might have a problem they couldn’t bring up to their parents. She’d had to host beginning- and end-of-season
BBQs in their backyard. Now all that still happened, but on the “Harris” weeks, and she wasn’t involved at all.
He showed her the food he bought to cover breakfast and school lunches for the week. Next Saturday she would do grocery shopping
so Harris was ready for his week. Right at five thirty, they sat down to dinner.
The kids talked over each other, bringing her up-to-date on their previous week. Xander had to excuse himself to go get his
spelling test where he’d gotten an A minus.
“You’re such a brainiac,” she said fondly. “You’re doing great in math, too.”
“I want an academic and a baseball scholarship when I go to college,” he said.
“You’re going to make it happen.”
Harris grinned. “Any idea what you’re going to major in?”
“Business,” Xander said firmly. “That way I don’t have to pay someone to handle my millions when the Mariners sign me.”
“That’s my boy.”
Jax appreciated his ambition but knew that Xander’s dreams would change about fifty times over the next few years. As for
making it to the show in baseball—she had her doubts. While their son liked sports, he didn’t show the raw talent necessary
to make it to that level. Just as important, he wasn’t interested in the hard work it took to build the fundamentals to get
there. He was a better-than-average player on his team, but nothing more.
She looked at Harris, wondering if he would mention that Xander could sign up for the more intensive summer baseball camp
offered. He’d brought it up a few times, but Xander had said he would rather go to skateboard camp with his friends. After
that, Harris had let the topic go. Something she appreciated. Yes, he’d been a bit of a jerk when he’d announced he wanted
a divorce and Lord knew he’d never been around for most of their marriage, but Harris was a good dad. He cared about his kids
and he did the work.
After dinner, they cleared the table and did the dishes as a family. Harris collected his backpack, then hugged each of the
kids.
“I’ll be in touch,” he told her. “And I’ll see you Thursday.”
She waited to see if there was more, but he only gave her a quick wave before heading out, no doubt to spend time with Shawna.
Surprise, surprise, she thought. She’d been braced for another fight with him about the whole “adult sleepover” thing, but
he must have let the idea go. Or he was working on a different kind of argument. Either way, the handoff had gone smoothly
and she was fine with that.
Xander collected the basketball from the garage and the three of them walked across the street to the big city park around