Chapter 2

When I woke up the next morning, it was with a smile on my face and a sense of deep satisfaction.

And then I remembered the events of last night, and panic set in. That kiss...

I'm not saying it was the best kiss I've ever had in my life. Or maybe I am. I've been with women who can convey with a kiss the promise of a night of unrivaled pleasure, a promise that she can defintiely deliver.

Jessica's kiss had a promise in it as well. There was a promise of passion, yes, but the promise was tentative and unsure, reflecting Jessica's own innocence. But there were other promises there as well, promises to a soul I hadn't even known I had had five years ago. Promises of light, love, hope, peace...

I shook my head, hoping to dislodge that nonsense from my head. What I needed to do was go downstairs and see what I need to do as far as 'damage control' was concerned.

As it turned out, not much.

When I went downstairs to the dining room, Kate had returned home from her sleepover of the previous night and was sitting at the table, a half-eaten waffle in front of her and a giant smile on her face. Jessica was standing behind her, refilling Kate's glass of milk. Both girls looked up at me and smiled as I sat down at the head of the table.

"Morning, Daddy Jim!" Kate piped before diving back into her waffle.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who likes to sleep in once in a while," Jessica said with a broad smile as she poured me a cup of coffee. Jessica planted a quick kiss on my forehead then asked me, "Can I fix you some breakfast? The waffle iron is still hot and I think this one," Jessica said as she walked over and gave Kate a hug, "is going to want a second one too." Kate just giggled.

"Uh, sure," I said suavely. There was nothing untoward about Jessica's kiss except that Jessica never kissed me. We just didn't have that type of relationship. Jessica was faintly humming as she made my waffle, but nothing in her demeanor said that she thought there was anything unusual in what she did. So I just sat there quietly eating my waffle, occasionally answering a question asked of me, but otherwise just listening to Kate tell Jessica about her night over at her friend's house.

As that's how our lives began changing. Have you ever seen those 1950's family sitcoms, where the wife kisses her husband and straightens his tie when he goes to work? Jessica became my 1950's sitcom wife. If I was leaving the house in the morning, she would give me a quick peck on the lips. If I was working at the computer, she would come up behind me, put her arms around my neck, face next to mine, and ask me what I was working on. If Jessica, Kate and me were sititng in front of the television watching a movie, Kate would be snuggled in between us, while Jessica and me would have her arms stretched out behind Kate on the back of the couch. It was still all rated G, and there were no smouldering looks exchanged, or tense moments (at least not on Jessica's part), but things had defintiely changed.

During this time, we were making our move to our new home in the Pacific Northwest. Even under the best of conditions, a move across the country can be hectic, but Kate, Jessica and me were enjoying the move. Oh, sure, the girls were tearful in their partings with old friends, and my old company was sorry to see me go (though I had left on very good terms, and had even helped them get a replacement for me). Still, the girls were thinking of it as a grand adventure, and I was looking forward to the challenges and benefits of being a senior partner in a prestigious international security firm.

The move might have been what stopped Jessica from going further than assuming the role of June to my Ward Cleaver. I don't know. But since this increased affection was rated G, I just got used to it and assumed that it wasn't going to go any further. Maybe this was all just Jessica's way of putting that one kiss safely into the past. I don't know. Everything else was normal, so I just decided to quietly adjust to the increased if innocent affection and leave it at that.

And then the school year began for both of my girls.

Our old house was nothing to sneeze at, but our new house was palatial in comparison. It was in a ritzy gated community and included an indoor swimming pool and adjoining hot tub in a greenhouse sort of setting. It also had a fairly large, tall room whose walls were covered in built-in bookshelves which Jessica immediately fell in love with, and made me wonder what kind of budget I would have to set up to fill those shelves to her specifications.

Kate instantly made friends with everyone in her class at her new school, and it wasn't long before we had playdates at our house. I had, of course, found a fulltime housekeeper/nanny for Kate when I wasn't at home, but Jessica insisted on hosting/chaperoning playdates at our house, and Kate seemed delighted at the prospect. It wasn't interfering with Jessica's studies, but I was a little worried that it might interfere with her social life. But Jessica and Kate were both happy with the arrangement, so who was I to complain?

As her first semester progressed, Jessica began having study groups over at our house. And this is where things began changing between us again. Jessica had told me that she was having some friends over to study in the library, and when I got home, my intentions were to poke my head in, say hi and see if anyone needed anything, and then leave. I knew the last thing a bunch of college age kids wanted was the old guy trying to hang out with them.

Instead, as soon as I stepped into the library, Jessica spotted me and the smile that appeared on her face lit up the room and my heart.

Jessica immediately got up and moved toward me, her face lifted up for our (now) customary greeting peck. To be honest, I wasn't going to offer Jessica a kiss because I didn't want to embarrass her in front of her new friends. But when Jessica presented herself, I leaned in to give her what I thought was going to be a peck. Instead, Jessica gave me a kiss with heat. It wasn't like the one we had shared after her Pretty Girl date, but it wasn't a friendly, familial peck either.

Jessica turned around while sliding her arm around my waist and facing her seated friends. "Guys, this is Jim. Jim, this is Larry, Mac, Kim, Caitlin and Teri, my study group for Botany."

The kids all gave me nodded hellos, though I think I detected more than a little disappointment in Larry's eyes. I nodded/mumbled hello to Jessica's friends, still a little stunned from the kiss she had just given me. "I was about to make dinner and I was wondering if anyone would like to stay?"

Jessica squeezed me with her arm around my waist as she beamed at her friends. "Didn't I tell you how sweet he was?"

Everyone accepted my offer (including Larry, who seemed to do so sullenly), so I hastily made my escape to the kitchen.

I was pretty much going on automatic as I got stuff ready in the kitchen. OK, I admit it, I was flustered by Jessica's kiss. Fortunately, the logical part of my brain provided a reasonable explanation. Or at least, I was trying to find a reasonable explanation. One of Jessica's study mates, Larry, obviously had more than a passing interest in her. Maybe this was just her way of keeping him at arm's length.

Yes, in retrospect, I admit it was pretty weak reasoning on my part. All I can say in my defense is that I was very, very flustered.