Page 60 of You Didn't Know Me Then

Chapter 23

At no point during the previous day had Hope suspected, even for a moment, that she would wake up the next day naked, in her rumpled bed, with a naked Jordan next to her, his heavy arm splayed across her waist.

A sweet languor flowed in her veins, and it took her a few seconds to realize that the buzz she was hearing wasn’t coming from inside her but from her phone on the nightstand.

She reached out for it. A video call from Hannah.

She sat up abruptly, flinging Jordan’s arm in the process. He stirred and squinted at her.

Another glance at the phone verified that it was just seven a.m. on a Sunday, but it was three hours later than that in Florida.

“Hey,” he rasped, caressing her nape.

“Hey. It’s the girls. In a video call. I have to take it. Sorry.” She reached to the floor, but neither his shirt nor hers were there. “Would you mind if …?” she asked, looking at him.

It took him a second to understand. “I’ve already seen it all, you know,” he said with a teasing smile.

“I know.” She amusedly gave an eye roll. The phone ceased buzzing.

Jordan smiled and threw a deliciously muscular arm over his eyes. The sheet that covered them was so low on his pelvis that it would have had the same effect if it hadn’t been there at all. She was sorry to leave the bed.

Getting up, she reached the closet and grabbed a T-shirt, managing to put it on just when the phone began vibrating in her palm again. Grabbing a pair of panties from the drawer, Hope rushed to the living room, placed the phone on the dining table, hovering over it so only her face would be seen. She put on her panties while sliding the green key to accept the call and pushing away the memories of what she and Jordan had done on that table just a few hours before.

“Hey, sweetie,” she said as soon as Hannah’s face appeared on the screen. They seemed to be in the hotel room. “How are you two doing?”

“Mom, we want to stay more, and Dad said we could, but Nana said we have to go to school tomorrow and that you’d never agree. Will you, Mom? Please.”

The flow of words was disrupted only by Naomi shoving her little face into the frame and joining Hannah with an urgent and dramatic, “Please, Mom, it’s the most fun I’ve ever had in my entire life.”

Hope chuckled at their sweetness, though, inside, she thought of the words she would exchange with Eric and his mother later. Convenient for them to make her the bad guy.

She picked the phone up from the table. “I’m so happy you guys are having that much fun, but you do have to be back for school tomorrow. I’ll tell you what, next time, we’ll plan it properly, and then you can stay longer.”

Their disappointed expressions clenched her heart.

“I’ll see you tonight, and we’ll talk to your dad and plan another such fun vacation soon, okay?”

Naomi was too disappointed to remain calm. She left the phone, and Hope could hear her whine in the background, to which a chorus of adult voices responded.

“Your hair is funny, Mom,” Hannah said. She seemed to be over the disappointment really fast.

Hope ran a hand over her ruffled hair. “There. Is that better?” She smiled at Hannah. “I saw your pictures yesterday. They were lovely. I miss you and want to hear all about it.”

“We have to pack up now. I have to go. Dad got me a T-shirt that says, ‘Unicorns are Real. Just Look at Me.’ I’m gonna wear it for the flight. And we got other presents, too. Bye, Mom.”

“Bye, sweetie. Tell Dad and Nana I’ll be in touch.” They blew kisses at each other before ending the call.

The house was so quiet that Hope could hear the faucet running in the bathroom adjoined to her bedroom. Her yoga pants were on the floor, not far from the table. She put them on and went to start the coffee maker, taking chewing gum from one of the drawers until Jordan would be out and she could brush her teeth.

Given that he had a four-hour drive to San Francisco airport and that he had to stop in Wayford to pick up his luggage, she knew he might not even have time for coffee.

“Good morning,” he said from the kitchen entrance.

She pivoted to look at him, her breath shallowing at the sight of him all dressed, knowing what was beneath. “Good morning.”

“Everything okay with Hannah and Naomi?”

“Yes. Just having too much fun.” She smiled. She loved that he used their names and not something like “your kids” or “your daughters.” “They wanted to stay more, but I told them next time. I’m the bad guy now.”

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