Chapter 6

Scott let go of his grip and Jenna immediately put some distance between them. They both apologized for their inappropriate behavior and became strangers once again.

After the game, Tanya and Timothy thought they were heading to MacDonald’s for dinner together. When the adults said goodbye to each other, they were disappointed. Tanya started to whine and began to throw a tantrum. Jenna was surprised at her daughter’s behavior for she seldom liked to have another man in their company whenever they went out. She thought perhaps it was because of Timothy. So she pulled her aside and quietly explained. “Tanya, we mustn’t take up any more of Scott and Timothy’s time. They have dinner plans with their Valentine’s date tonight.”

“But…!” Tanya was about to argue but was interjected by her mother’s Eh which was spoken in a stern and no-nonsense tone of voice.

Jenna also eyed her daughter and signed a straight index finger which Tanya knew was a warning with undesirable consequence if she did not heed to it. So Tanya bit back her tongue and turned around to let her mother know she was not a happy camper. She also shouted her last word just to show how unhappy she was. “Not fair!”

Scott was about to suggest for them to eat at one of the restaurants in the Bowling Centre. But after hearing what Jenna said, he didn’t want to insist. He was starting to feel a sense of awkwardness coming between the two of them. Jenna’s semi-cold behavior was an indication that they were heading back to being strangers. Then it dawned on him that they were strangers for he didn’t know anything about her at all. They didn’t even exchange the basic information like phone numbers or emails. However, the comforting thought for Scott was that they were now ‘strangers’ rather than ‘total strangers’ like when they left the school a few hours ago. At least there would be saying ‘hello’ to each other if they were to meet again on a very slim chance.

Scott happened to look right into Jenna’s eyes when she turned around. Jenna was caught off guard. She wasn’t expecting his eyes to pull her into a momentarily trance. Almost like when their lips almost touched a while ago during that perfect family Kodak moment. A new kind of hush settled in her heart and created a warming sensation she hadn’t felt in a long, long time. Suddenly, she was hit by a freezing cold wind coming from the main entrance.

The cold breeze took Jenna out of her trance, she turned her head towards the direction of the cold air and realized her daughter had just walked through the set of sliding doors.

“I had better go!” She turned to face Scott again. She was looking at him but he knew she wasn’t seeing him for she turned very cold and formal. “Thanks again for your help regarding Alan tonight. I hope you have a Happy Valentine’s dinner with your real girlfriend!”

Then she stooped and patted Timothy on his cheeks and said goodbye to him as well. Without another glance towards Scott, she turned around and ran after her daughter.

Scott and Timothy stood hand in hand watching Jenna hurried through the set of opened doors. They stood there until the door closed again. Finally, the son tugged at his father’s arm. “Daddy, isn’t she your real girlfriend?”

Scott looked at his son and could only chuckle for he knew further words in this matter would just mess up his little brain.

While driving towards their dinner destination, Scott replayed the last hour and a half over and over in his head. For the life of him, he couldn’t pinpoint at what stage of their conversation he gave Jenna the impression that he was seeing someone. When he couldn’t recall the incident, he told himself to let the matter go. It didn’t matter because he didn’t think he would ever run into Jenna again. If it wasn’t because of his parents, he would be heading to the Rec Centre to hit pucks with his hockey buddies on the ice rink. This Valentine’s Day was most certainly an exception. Half way to their dinner destination, Scott’s cell phone rang.

Scott climbed the stairs with Timothy to get to the second level of MacDonald’s where the woman who called him earlier was waiting for them. Scott had asked her to wait for them at the table situated immediately outside the indoor playground area. He liked that table because he could do his work while keeping an eye on his son in the playground. The woman spotted Scott and waved to him. Timothy ran towards the table and swung his backpack off his back. Scott knew his son’s excitement was not upon seeing the woman who was smiling as his son approached. However, Timothy was dashing towards the entrance of the Playground.

“Hey Buddy, take off your jacket first!” Scott called after is son. “And say ‘Hello’ to Angela!”

The boy did as told and Angela presented him with a little Valentine chocolate bar shaped like a bear. Soon after he thanked her, he handed the gift to his Dad and disappeared into the Playground area. Scott apologized to Angela for his son’s lack of mannerism. Following his apology, she presented him with two pink gift bags and told him they were leftover sweets and gifts from her school for their Valentine’s celebration. He didn’t really know what to say because he wasn’t expecting any gifts from her, especially when the gifts included a bottle of Champaign that came in a gift bag decorated with pink and red hearts.

Scott thought of the numerous times when his colleagues teased him about Angela having a big crush on him. He never gave much thoughts to their teasing until this moment. He thanked her politely but felt rather bad for coming empty handed. Noticing she only purchased a drink, he thought perhaps a meal would even things out

“Can I buy you a burger? How about a Happy Meal?” Scott offered with a smirk.

Angela chuckled and shook her head. “It’s okay, really. Go get your food, your son must be hungry by now! I have a dinner to attend after this.”

“Oh I see, dinner with your Valentine, right?” Scott grinned with relief and not giving her a chance to negate what he said. “Well then let’s not take up anymore of your time. Don’t want to keep your date waiting on Valentine’s Day.”

Angela didn’t want to tell him her dinner plan was with two other girlfriends. His colleagues were right, Angela had indeed taken a liking towards Scott since they first met two years ago.

Scott quickly proceeded to put his work bag on the table and took out his lap top. He noticed her face grew another shade of red but he couldn’t tell if she was blushing because her face was always red due to acne issues.

Jenna finally arrived at the place she had promised to take her daughter for dinner. It would have taken only 15 minutes via the highway from the bowling center. But in her entire 30 something years of life, she had only driven on the highway once. That was 20 years ago when she took her driver’s test. It was mandatory then.

And so instead of pouting for 15 minutes, Tanya pouted for almost 45 minutes because that was how long it took Jenna to reach McDonalds. After parking, Jenna walked to the back of the car to unfasten the belt for her daughter’s car seat. When she noticed Tanya was still pouting, she began to tickle her. This trick usually worked when it came to cheering her up, but not this time. She was still nagging her mother.

“Mommy, why didn’t you ask Timothy and his dad to come with us? You said he is your boyfriend.”

“No, Tanya. He’s not my boyfriend. Remember what Mommy told you.” Jenna tried to come up with a better way to help her daughter to understand. It was at that instance that Jenna was so glad children have ‘make-believe’ games. “You know how you pretend to play queen, I pretended to play girlfriend for a very short time. I am not his girlfriend. He already has a girlfriend!”

“But I want you to be his girlfriend!” Tanya kicked her legs to show she didn’t like her mother playing the make-believe game. She obviously wanted her mom to be in the real dating game.

“Right, if only you are God!” Jenna thought to herself as she chuckled at what her daughter said. She then tapped Tanya’s nose. She didn’t know how else to explain so she told her just as it was. “It doesn’t work that way, Tanya.”

“It’s not fair I don’t have a daddy!” Tanya said with a melancholy expression that was expressed from the child’s true feelings. Tears started to form in her big round eyes.

Looking into her daughter’s eyes, Jenna’s own eyes started to mist as well. She felt the same way, that it was unfair for Tanya to have never met her father. Jenna thought about her husband. If he was still alive, Jenna was certain he would love Tanya dearly. But like many times before, she told herself this was the story of their lives and they had to suck it up and move on.

“I want you to have a boyfriend so I can have a father!” Tanya said.

Jenna made a funny face to make her daughter laugh, but it didn’t work this time. Then she tried harder and finally a little curve escaped the corner of Tanya’s lips. Finally, Jenna came up with a devious suggestion. “How about I go out with Uncle Alan and be his girlfriend?”

“No!” Tanya wasted no time in objecting, something Jenna already knew. “I want a good-looking Daddy!” She pulled out the Valentine’s card from her jacket’s pocket. “Like him!”

Jenna chuckled at the sight of the card. For some reason, the man in the picture reminded her of Scott. She realized it was the card Timothy gave her this afternoon. “So that’s your Valentine’s wish? To have a good-looking daddy?”

“Yes,” Tanya admitted with a pout. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you. Now it’s not going to come true!”

Jenna pulled her daughter in and embraced her tightly. She knew her daughter’s wish wasn’t likely to come true anytime soon because none of the men in her circle of potential dates would fit that description. Besides, she wasn’t looking for a relationship. She carried Tanya out of her car seat and gathered up her belongings. “How about we agree on this? Mommy won’t date anyone until you tell me he is good-looking. Is that okay?”

Tanya smiled and held out her pinky asking her mother to make it a promise. Jenna promised and was very happy to finally see a real smile on Tanya’s cute rosy face. Because Tanya was born on the verge of fighting for her life, Jenna had made it a point to make every day a happy day for her. Since the day Jenna took her home from the hospital eight months after she was born, she had never had much of a challenge making her laugh until two days ago.

While waiting to get their food, Tanya asked. “Mommy, do you think Timothy’s daddy is good-looking?”

Shocked at first by the question, she sighed. Then Jenna envisioned an image of Scott’s girlfriend and she knew he was off her potential mate list. Besides, she didn’t believe that ‘good-looking’ men like Scott would ever consider her type. Thus, there was nothing for her to even consider or fantasize about when it came to this man that her daughter was asking about. So she smiled and admitted truthfully. “Yes, he’s good-looking but he has a girlfriend already, so quit asking!”

Tanya did as told. And after her mother picked up the food, she started heading towards the stairs that led to the playground area. As Jenna made her way up the stairs to the second level, the thought of Scott made her curious once again why his son would wish him to have an ‘ugly’ girlfriend. To her surprise, the answer came when she sighted the woman sitting next to Scott. Seeing the woman, Jenna understood why his son chose the word ‘ugly’ to describe his father’s girlfriend.