Chapter Forty Seven
“So… Abbi and I were thinking… that on Friday, maybe we could baby sit Jack so that you and Jenny can get out for a few hours,” Julie announced, chomping loudly on her Cheerios. Jen was currently upstairs, getting the little boy ready for the day, while JC was enjoying a quiet breakfast with his children before they left for school.
“Eh, I don’t know girls. You know how she gets about leaving Jack anywhere. I mean, she doesn’t even like leaving him with me.”
“Well can you blame her?” Julie asked, snorting when her father kicked her playfully under the chair.
“Hey, I resent that! Besides, I only dropped you three or four times. Not enough to do any SERIOUS damage,” he teased.
Julie rolled her eyes as Abbi giggled loudly at her father, though the smile on her face betrayed her. It was obvious she found her dad just as amusing as Abbi did.
“But I’m serious. You two haven’t gone out to do anything in quite some time.”
“What are you, the date police?”
“Ugh no! But I don’t want to see the… the… the SPARK go out of your relationship!”
“I’ll thank you to keep your nose out of my SPARK, young lady,” he teased, tossing his head back haughtily. “The SPARK is fine.”
“Why do you have to be so difficult? I’m offering to stay in on a Friday night and baby sit my little sister and brother. Do you know how many parents would jump at that chance? You are just not normal.”
He rolled his eyes playfully once more. “I’m telling you. There is no way that Jen is going to go for that. However, if you think she will, you go right ahead and ask her.”
Besides, JC though, Abbi was not the only Chasez girl who needed some coddling. Jen had had a hectic week and he’d been so busy trying to see his daughter through this crisis that she was going through, it was like he’d had tunnel vision. He couldn’t concentrate on everyone at once! If Julie could convince Jen to leave the baby for one evening, he’d be more than happy to take her out.
“What does she need to ask me?” Jen asked, coming into the kitchen, the baby in her arms. She laughed when Jack squealed at the sight of his daddy.
“Hey buddy!” JC cooed, reaching his arms out for the baby, laughing as the pitch of his squeal increased. He lifted him out of his wife’s arm, holding him against his chest.
“Can Abbi and I baby sit Jackie on Friday so that dad can take you out?”
“Sure,” she said, shrugging. “That might be fun.” JC’s jaw had dropped.
“You’re really going to leave him here alone?”
“He won’t be alone! His big sisters will be there.”
“You’re really going to leave him here alone?” JC repeated, laughing when his daughters shrieked at him.
“Hey, we resent that!”
“Yeah!” Abbi echoed. “We resent that!” She then turned to Julie. “What does ‘resent’ mean?” She whispered.
Julie shook her head, rolling her eyes heavenward. “I live with a bunch of crazies,” she laughed, getting up and walking out of the kitchen.
“Hey! I resent that! I think… Julie! Wait a minute! What does ‘resent’ mean?” Abbi called out, hopping out of her seat and following her sister out of the kitchen.
JC grinned as he turned to his wife. “They just might come out of this after all,” he said, giving a pleased nod.
~*~
When Friday night came, Jen was beginning to regret her decision to let her girls watch Jack. The baby felt slightly warm and had been cranky all night. She was afraid he was getting sick, and she didn’t want to just abandon her baby!
JC sought his wife out just moments before they were supposed to leave, and found her in their son’s room, standing over his crib. “C’mon baby, we’re going to be late,” he said, walking over to wrap his arms around her.
“I don’t think I can go,” she said, her voice cracking. “Jace, I can’t leave him! He’s just a baby! What if he thinks we’re not coming back?”
JC was hard pressed not to smile. “Honey, we’ll be gone for two hours, tops. I think he can deal with it until then.”
“But his little face feels warm. What if he’s getting sick? I don’t think the girls are qualified to deal with something like this!”
“They’ll be fine. I’ll have my phone on me and if they need to, they’ll call me. He’ll most likely stay asleep the whole time anyway,” he reminded her. Now that Jack was a little older, he was beginning to sleep longer.
She felt a tear slip down her cheek as he tried to pull her away from the crib. “Jen… please don’t do this baby… we NEED this.”
“Josh please don’t make me leave him!” she pleaded. “Please! I’m really worried about him! What if he’s getting sick?”
JC sighed heavily, looking from his wife to the crib that held his sleeping son. “I’ll go cancel the reservations,” he grumbled. So this was how it felt to be tossed aside, as he’d done to Abbi? Hmpf! That stinks!
He leaned over and pressed a kiss to the top of her head gently. “I’m sorry,” Jen said, looking up at him. “I know that I said we could go, but Josh... I would never forgive myself if I left him here and he IS sick,” she said, reaching up to brush the tear from her cheek. He nodded.
“I understand baby. Don’t you worry about it,” he said. “I’ll go cancel and I’ll be right back,” he said. He headed down the hallway to their bedroom and picked up the phone, dialing the number of the restaurant. Before he headed back down the hall to his son’s bedroom, he placed one more phone call. Afterwards, he got up and headed down the hall, joining his wife. If he couldn’t take her to dinner, he’d bring dinner to her.
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