Jordan's Return by Samantha Chase Page B

for her back in Raleigh?
    â€œHey, I hear you had a visit from your Uncle Mark yesterday.”
    â€œYeah, Uncle Mark is great. He used to coach my little league team when I used to play,” Jake said, and he shook his fishing pole in hopes of making a fish take note of his bait.
    â€œYou don’t say?” Rob commented. “So, I was just wondering, does your mom plan on having anyone else from home come to visit? You know, any friends or boyfriends or anything?” Smooth, Rob. Real smooth.
    â€œA boyfriend? Yuck,” Joseph said. “Mom’s never had a boyfriend. I mean, I guess she’s pretty and all, but… She’s a mom! Moms don’t have boyfriends!” At that point, the boy shuddered as if the very thought of his mom having a boyfriend was repulsive.
    â€œWell, some moms do,” Rob suggested. “Would you hate it if your mom had a boyfriend?”
    â€œNot me,” Jake said.
    â€œIt would depend on the guy,” Joseph said diplomatically, but not wanting to have that picture in his head. “Like, there’s this guy at the bank who always acts all goofy whenever Mom goes in there. I wouldn’t like it if he was her boyfriend.”
    â€œWell, is there anyone you would like?” Easy there, Casanova. Your desperation is starting to show.
    â€œYou’d be a cool boyfriend for Mom,” Jake said with a smile.
    â€œOh, yeah. You’d definitely be cool,” Joseph agreed.
    â€œDo you want to be her boyfriend?” Jake asked.
    â€œShut up, stupid,” Joseph said as he rolled his eyes. “You don’t ask somebody that!”
    â€œI am not stupid! You are!”
    â€œAm not.”
    â€œ Rob …” Jake whined, clearly hoping Rob would jump in and break up the fight.
    Rob smiled at them both. In the short time he’d known them, he had learned it didn’t take much to make them argue. He also learned they didn’t hold grudges and they’d work out this particular fight soon enough. It was slightly amusing. Besides, he was too busy being fully satisfied with what he had learned.
    Now the only problem he saw was convincing the lovely Ms. Manning that he wasn’t some creepy jerk who had been spying on them and hope that she’d be in a better mood when they got home.
    Home.
    Maybe if luck was on his side, it wouldn’t be long before he had a real home to go to at the end of the day where Jordan and the boys would be waiting for him. It wasn’t such a far-off fantasy. They had been on the path to this once, and Rob had no doubt in his mind they could get back on that path again. He was still in love with Jordan—had probably never stopped loving her—and he was crazy about her kids. He now knew they liked him too. Maybe it wouldn’t be too long at all.
    He sighed with contentment and cast his line out to fish for more dinner.

Chapter 6
    The day seemed to drag on endlessly. Jordan definitely enjoyed the peace and quiet, but had to admit she missed the boys. Not only did she miss her boys, she missed Rob. He was jealous. That thought caused her to smile, but at the same time made her heart ache. He was involved with someone—someone with whom he’d spent the weekend. She couldn’t get past that. She couldn’t reconcile his jealousy about her being with another man while he was with another woman.
    Maybe they were just never meant to be. Surely if two people were right for each other, there wouldn’t be so many darn obstacles and misunderstandings. If Rob was going to continue coming around and spending time with her sons, they were going to need to clear the air. Parameters needed to be set, and it couldn’t be put off any longer.
    She was fine with the thought of being just friends with Rob; what she couldn’t handle anymore was wondering if it was possible, and if he would be receptive to the idea. It was time to put into practice her commitment to letting