“It’s so warm out here,” Jessica said, while turning towards him suddenly. “Can we stop somewhere so I can take a swim?” she asked.
“I can see a cove over here,” he said and steered the boat towards the secluded beach. He was clenching his teeth because everything in him told him he needed to head back towards the docks.
“Oh, it’s so perfect,” she gasped at the little piece of heaven of a beach. As soon as he got the anchor down on the boat she dove into the water. He was impressed with her form. He was feeling way to hot himself so he stripped down and jumped in after her.
They both swam around in a comfortable silence for a while, when suddenly she cried out. Alex immediately swam towards her and sucked in his breath as he noticed blood coming to the surface of the water.
“What happened? What’s wrong?” he fired off at her, while at the same time he was pulling her close and leading her back to the boat.
“I don’t know,” she cried out. “It’s my leg. I think I cut it on something,” she whimpered.
Alex couldn’t see anything, so he towed her back to the boat, praying it was nothing to bad. He lifted her up into his arms and climbed aboard.
He laid her gently down and then went and got the first aid kit. When he returned, he was shocked by the amount of blood.
“It looks worse than it is,” she finally said. “I was looking at it and it looks like I scratched it on a rock or something. It just seems to be bleeding a lot. If you clean it out and wrap it I’ll be fine.”
“First take this Advil, then I’ll start cleaning and assess for myself how bad it is,” he said in his commanding voice.
Even though Jessica was hurting, she had to smile at the command in his voice. She loved it when he got all determined and acted like the world should bow to his feet.
She flinched when he cleaned the wound with the alcohol but she was right, it wasn’t as bad as he thought it was. He was surprised by the amount of blood that had escaped the small wound.
The Advil kicked in and the pain subsided greatly once the wound was cleaned up. “I’m fine now,” she reassured him.
“We can head on home,” he offered.
“I’m fine. As a matter of fact I’m feeling very hungry,” she said. She really didn’t want to head back to the house right away, knowing he would disappear into his office.
He couldn’t handle being all alone with her any longer, so he headed the boat back towards the shore and placed a call to his brother. If they had company for dinner, he wouldn’t have to try and answer the questions he saw coming from her eyes.
“Jessica wake up, we are back at the docks. I called Lucas and he and Amy are going to meet us in a half hour at this great seafood place,” Alex said while gently shaking Jessica awake.
“What?” she stuttered, struggling to wake up. “I’m so sorry; I didn’t even realize I was so tired. I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you,” she said when she finally woke up fully.
“Hey, no problem. I really enjoy the water and having the soothing silence,” he responded before securing the boat.
Jessica felt a little bit like she’d been slapped. She felt he was basically telling her he’d enjoyed his day much more because she wasn’t there to talk in his ear. Well fine, she thought, if he wanted silence, then silence would be what he got.
She quickly got dressed and limped up the dock with him toward their car. She kept silent the entire ride to the restaurant and he said nothing as well. Jessica was wishing to get home so the awkward afternoon could end.
“Jessica, I’m so glad you guys called,” Amy came walking up and put her arm through Jessica’s, while chattering away. “It’s so nice to get out of the house for some adult conversation. Don’t get me wrong, I adore my kids but they do lack certain communication skills,” she finished with a laugh.
“I don’t know. I think Jasmine communicates very well and for that matter, Isaiah has no trouble at all letting everyone around him know when something isn’t going his way,” Jessica joked right back.
“You have that right,” Lucas added.
“I guess I’m the only one with a perfect child,” Alex said.
“Ha,” everyone else said in unison, which brought on more good natured laughter.
“Okay, kids can be quite demanding when they want something but even though I didn’t know I would love fatherhood so much I seriously couldn’t imagine my life without Jacob in it. He’s just so amazing,” Alex said in awe.
“Agreed little bro,” Lucas said.
“This is a grown up night. No more talk of our kids. I get one glass of wine and anything at all I want to eat. If it causes problems with Isaiah’s tummy later, well that’s okay because it’s daddy’s turn to get up with him,” Amy said with a wicked smile.
“You deserve whatever you want Babe,” Lucas said.
The evening progressed and Jessica relaxed. She absolutely loved Lucas and Amy and it helped to mask the tension between her and Alex. She knew at some point they were going to have to face things but she got so tired of being stressed all the time. It was nice to have a worry free evening.
When it came time to say goodnight, she was sad to watch the other couple leave. She hugged Amy tightly and promised to have a girl day later that week. She then rode home in complete silence with her husband.
When they walked inside they both went to Jacob’s room to check on him. It was well past midnight and Julia had long ago retired. Jessica wished she was still up so she could tell her how Jacob’s day had been.
“I think he’s back to normal,” Jessica whispered.
“He was pretty much better by the time we left. I just didn’t want to expose him to the water so soon after his cold,” Alex said.
“I agree,” she said.
“You’re a great mother, never doubt that,” Alex said tenderly. “Don’t feel guilty about taking a day out without him. It’s good for you and him. My parents had many vacations with just the two of them and my brothers and I are fine. They were with us more than away and we always knew how much they loved us,” he finished.
“It was the same at my home. I knew my parents always loved me. I would have traded a little bit of that to have a sibling though. I got really lonely sometimes,” she admitted.