Chapter 4

“Alan!” Jenna was surprised to see her boss. “What are you doing here?”

“Bringing you your unfinished work from the office!” He teased and laughed at his own joke. It was awkward because only he was laughing, but he didn’t sense the awkwardness. He was too much into himself. “Jenna, what sort of question is that? Of course I came here to bowl with you and your daughter!”

“Bowl with us?” Jenna was confused and Scott learned her name for the very first time.

“I overheard you yesterday, so I called this place right after you hung up and booked the whole lane!” Alan winked at the two children who were looking at him with blank faces.

Jenna swore in silence, something she hadn’t done for a long time. She had to choose the lesser of the two evil. But she didn’t even know the name of the lesser evil. How was she going to pull this off?

She quickly grabbed Alan’s Credit Card back from the cashier and eyed Scott to pay for the game. Luckily, he got the message and pulled a Credit Card out of his wallet that was already in his hand.

She returned Alan’s card to him and turned her focus to the children. “Kids, this is my boss. You can call him Uncle Alan. This is Jenna and Timothy.”

Alan stooped to greet the two children. Tanya tugged on his beard and Timothy followed. “You look like Grandpa Alan!”

“Tanya!” Jenna covered her daughter’s mouth with her hand and half-heartedly apologized for her daughter’s statement. Scott laughed silently in his heart and let his son continued pulling the dude’s beard. The cashier also laughed quietly to himself as he ran Scott’s card through the machine.

“Well, maybe I’ll shave my beard and your mom will finally agree to be my girlfriend.” Alan was certainly open about his intention. He wasn’t about to let a child’s statement ruin his good mood tonight. Even if she was the child of the woman he was after for the last five months. He was beginning to question his charm when she wouldn’t give in to his constant pursuit. But when she agreed to have dinner with him yesterday when she asked to leave work early, he was elated.

When Jenna was certain the cashier had completed the transaction with Scott’s Credit Card, she turned to her boss. “I was actually booking the game for Timothy and Tanya.”

Scott detected her words were carefully staged. When she gathered the children so they would stop pulling Alan’s beard, Scott decided to guard her actions from the corner of his eyes as he signed the credit slip. The next thing he knew, Jenna’s arm was around his shoulders.

Jenna could feel her stomach churning for what she was about to tell her boss. “I actually have a boyfriend already!”

She shocked even herself at how good an actress she was, though she could feel the man next to her stiffened under her palm. This was her second lie in less than 2 minutes. Her heart beat increased to a racing pace for what she was about to do to the man next to her. This would be her signature lie of the year, perhaps even her life. She looped her arm through Scott’s, hoping he was smart enough to play along with her.

“We are here together!” Her timing was perfect because just as Scott was registering his shock into her eyes, she caught sight of the cashier placing his credit card on the counter. She grabbed it and gave the card a quick glance before putting it in Scott’s hand. He knew instantly she was after his name.

“He’s your boyfriend?” Alan responded in surprise, the not so happy kind of surprise.

Jenna noticed her daughter’s surprised grin as well, it was the thrilled and excited kind. She quickly let go of Scott’s arm and grabbed hold of her daughter to cover her mouth. “Yes, this is Scott!”

“But yesterday, when I asked you out for a dinner date …..” Alan was flustered.

“Umm…yeah,” Jenna told herself to think quickly while trying to hold back her jumping-for-joy daughter. “We just … we just…made it official today!”

Silence surrounded them for 5 seconds and Jenna was thankful for the loud music, the sound of the bowling balls, the crashing of the bowling pins and the cheers from circles and circles of friends in the bowling center. If the center was completely silent, everyone would have heard her heart thumping hard against her chest. She nudged Scott to say something.

“Yes, Valentine’s Day!” Scott gave Alan a Happy-Face grin and offered him his hand for a shake while his other hand was covering his son’s mouth. “Alan, right? Nice to meet you!”

After shaking Alan’s hand, he turned and looked into Jenna’s eyes and forced a smile. “I’ll shoe-up the kids while you talk to Alan about your dinner date tonight.”

“Was it for tonight?” Alan scratched his almost balding spot.

“Scott, I told you it was for tomorrow night!” Jenna called to him as he turned to walk away with the children. “You have to pay more attention to what I say!”

“Right! I certainly will from now on!” Scott turned to look at her in the eyes. The kind of look that told her he thought she was crazy. He quickly pulled the children away to be out of hearing range from Alan. “Let’s go bowling kids!”

Scott was practically dragging the two kids down the hall to get to their bowling lane because they were already asking questions about him and Jenna being boyfriend and girlfriend. He couldn’t believe how kids at their age could possibly have so many questions about relationships. He told them that Jenna would explain everything after she had talked to her boss. But they kept shooting questions out as if they were playing dart guns. Each question hit hard and sucked on to his heart like those plastic darts with the sucker tip. The more he thought about it, the more he felt like a sucker.

“Have you kissed my Mommy?”

“Will you get married?”

“Can I call her Mommy now?”

“Are you going to be my New Daddy?”

But the question that surprised him the most was from his son. “Are you and Tanya’s mommy going to make more babies?”

When he lifted his head up to take in a breath and called a silent ‘SOS’, he caught sight of Jenna and Alan coming towards them. He quickly hushed the children and said to Tanya. “Okay, your mother’s boss is coming. So no more questions or talk about your Mommy and I dating.” Then he looked at his son. “Or else we will go home now! And no MacDonald’s for dinner!”

The kids thought this was a game and nodded with excitement. As Alan and Jenna approached, Scott told the children to go and select their bowling ball. Jenna wouldn’t meet his eyes. All she could do was roll her lips inward and bit between them because she really didn’t want to say anymore to make the situation worse than it already was. Alan extended his hand out with a ‘Congrats’ to Scott who took it with a question mark on his face.

“For what?” He had to ask. Jenna’s eyes shot him the look immediately. Then he remembered. “Oh, right! Thanks! I think.” The last sentence was said in his head but Jenna read it from his eyes and gave him the look again.

“You’re a lucky man! Jenna is a wonderful woman, any guy would be lucky to have her!” Alan told Scott and patted him on the shoulders. They were about the same height but Alan looked about ten years older and more of a successful business man. “So you’d better treat her right, the way a lady should be treated on Valentine’s Day.”

“Yes, I most certainly will!” Said Scott. But this time, Jenna read the hidden message from his eyes.

“It’s very smart of you to ask her out on Valentine’s Day! It would always be a double celebration! You know what I mean, right?” Alan gave Scott a creepy smirk, the kind filled with sexual innuendo.

When Scott remained quiet, Alan turned to Jenna. “Remember to let me know the date of the wedding shoot! I’ll see you on Monday at the office.”

Alan turned around to leave just as the children approached from the opposite direction. Jenna turned and looked at her daughter. She thought Tanya was about to drop the bowling ball in her arms when she gasped.

“Mommy, wedding?”