Catering Girl Ch. 04

"I hope so munchkin, or we're both in trouble." The rest of the night we watched movies and played with dolls until bedtime. I tucked her in what was the guest bed, but is now becoming her bed, with Nani and Anna and closed the door.

The couch was a little lonely without Jenn. I looked at my phone to see if there were any texts from her, but nothing. I figured I should let her be and not get her in trouble with her work. But there was a text from my mother.

Mom: Did you know your girlfriend is working for a caterer tonight?

Me: Yes, how did you find out?

Mom: We're at the party she is working at.

Me: Oh

Me: Awkward

Mom: Why is she doing catering work again?

I texted her back with a bit of the story, but Mom wasn't much of a texter, so no surprise when she didn't reply further. I tried to get into something from a streaming service, but I was just biding my time until Jenn came home. I found myself getting comfy on the couch. I'll just close my eyes for a moment.

"Sleeping on the job huh?" A cute blond in all black was standing over me. "Guess I still have to tuck someone in tonight. Good thing you gave me a security code to get in on my own tonight. Otherwise, I would still be standing outside."

I dragged my lazy bones off the couch, and we went upstairs. I glanced at the clock and it was one thirty in the morning. She must be exhausted.

And I was right. It was all she could do to get ready for bed. I began to massage her feet as she climbed into bed.

"m-m-m-m Whit..." her voice trailed off and I could see her relax. A couple minutes later she was out. I still spooned her. I did so every chance I could get.

The next morning it was all I could do to get her out of bed. I had Madison ready to go for her daddy play date at the park, but Jenn needed to be the one to take her.

"Mmrphf, just wanna sleep," she mumbled as I rubbed her back. Madi came in and helped me to wake up her mommy. It took some work, and a couple cups of coffee, but I had the two of them out the door and to the park for the playdate.

As they pulled out of the driveway, I looked around my house. Skipper was curled up on the sofa, purring away. Probably dreaming about catching a bird or a mouse or something. Or maybe about getting her ears scratched by her four-year-old best friend. She and Madi have bonded well.

The stack of birthday invitations for Madi's birthday near the end of February called my name to get completed. I had quietly called her preschool and gotten a list of her classmates and was secretly planning a surprise birthday party for her. I think Madi is going to love it. Most of the plans were falling into place, just needed to get the invitations ready and out.

It was so quiet here, all alone. Jenn and Madi were now spending a couple evenings a week here and sleeping here over the weekends. Those nights when they weren't here, I was generally at their place. I was starting to think of asking them to move in with me, but hadn't figured out how to ask Jenn. And I'm not sure how she would take it either. Having her own place for just her and Madi was important to her. She still struggled to make ends meet. I had put together enough of the pieces to know that much. But having the place was confidence boosting for her, in a way that I would never understand from my place of privilege.

Since it was a nice sunny day, I decided to go for a run. Turning up the street from my townhome, I began to remember the day I saw Jenn and Madi in the park. A lot had happened since that fateful day.

Jennifer

We were at the park for a few minutes when a familiar face walked up to me. There was a part of him that looked the same from our high school days, same smile, same gait. But he had filled out. I think the last time I saw him in person was shortly after Madi was born. He had come home on leave and came to visit his daughter.

"Looking good Dallas." I waved at him. Even with his fleece on, I could see the power in his arms. He gave me a hug, and we walked over to Madison, who was on a swing.

"Hi baby girl," he said with a smile to our daughter.

"Daddy?" Madison got off her swing and timidly came over to us. I nodded to her, but she came over and held my hand.

"Madison, can you give your daddy a hug?" I said. Dallas squatted down like a baseball catcher and held out his hands. She stepped into his arms and gave him a hug. "I'm sorry I have not been around much for you, but I hope to do better for you. I'd like it if we could be friends."

It was awkward at first, for all of us. I tried to stay out of the way and let the two of them have their time, but I knew I was a safety blanket for both of them. Soon though, Dallas's silly side poked out and the two of them were running around the playground like old friends. Or better yet, like a father and daughter.

This was the side of Dallas I always liked, what had drawn us together back in high school. I sat on a bench and just watched them play. I had my phone out and whenever Dallas looked my way, I pretended to be on it, just to give him the appearance of not being watched. The two played for over an hour when he came and sat by me on the bench. I looked up and saw that Dijon had come to the park and the two besties were playing together now. I looked around for Chantal, but I didn't see her right away. She was over at a picnic table on the far side of the park from us. I'd have to go say hi later.

"She is sure full of energy." Dallas was a bit out of breath. "This is a better workout than PT."

"Now you see why I sit on a bench and let her play. Otherwise, I get worn out, and she keeps going. So how are things with your new post?"

Dallas and I spent the next bit catching up with each other's new jobs while Madi played with her friend. It was interesting to hear about what he did as a rescue swimmer and how he got into it.

"So why did you take the posting here and not stay in Hawaii?"

"Well, my rotation was done there and at some point, I needed to transfer, and there was an opening close to Madi and I thought, okay, my CO 'suggested' that I move closer to my daughter. That it would be good for both of us if I had some involvement in her life. Even if it's just only seeing her every once in a while. At least then her dad will not be some abstract photograph."

"Dallas, I want you to be in her life. I don't want her to have a situation like I did."

"Your dad left when you were six, right?"

"Five, but close enough. I wouldn't even know how to track him down if I wanted to. Last I knew, he was working on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. I think that was ten years ago. Mom didn't talk much about him, and then it was never in good terms."

"How is your mom?"

"Ugh, we had a big fight last week. I was out there last weekend with Madi and a friend and we went to see her. Not good."

"Sorry." We just sat in silence for a while, watching Madi and not sure what else to say.

"So, Jenn, Madison wasn't the only reason I wanted to move out here."

"No?" I looked over at him and he was staring straight ahead out our daughter.

"I was kinda hoping that you and I could reconnect." I felt his hand take mine as he turned and looked at me.

"Dallas, I don't know what to say. I'm flattered, but I'm seeing someone right now." His head slumped a bit as I guess I burst his balloon.

"Does he love you? Treat you right? Does he treat Madison right?" His voice was but a whisper as he asked. I put my hand on his thigh to give him some reassurance.

"Dallas, you have nothing to worry about. Whitney very much loves me and looks after Madison with as much love as I do. Those two get along almost too well. You saw her purple nails today, right?" Dallas nodded. "Well, the two of them did that last night while I was picking up some extra work."

"Wow, that's some boyfriend who will paint his nails with his girlfriend's daughter."

"Dallas?" I took his hand a moment. Visions of my mother blowing up started to race through my head. My hands started to shake with fear, but I had to do this.

"It's okay Jenn, what is it?"

"Dallas, please don't hate me, but Whitney isn't a guy." He looked confused for a moment, then his brow furrowed.

"Jenn, does that mean what I think it means?"

"Yes." I was searching his eyes, his face, for a clue to his reaction.

"You said she loves you and treats Madison right?" my head bobbed up and down. "Then I'm happy for you." He reached over and gave me a hug. "Gotta say I'm a bit bummed out, but maybe I didn't have much of a chance. I mean, I knew there was a good chance you would be seeing someone." Dallas looked out at the playground and as Madi and Dijon broke into a fit of giggles over something. "I remember how you looked when Michelle Bloom entered the room in High School. You always perked up. Her and Amy Collins. No matter what, you always got a smile on your face when one of the two of them entered the room."

"Really? I had no idea I did that."

"Daddy, can you come push me on the swing?" Dallas got up from our bench and went over to the swing set. I could see Dijon and Chantal walking away in the distance.

Did I really look at Michelle and Amy like that? Frankly, I didn't remember looking at them all that differently in high school. Maybe I did. Hmm. I walked over to the swings to join them.

"Look how high I am going Mommy." I wondered what my life might have been like if I had followed Dallas to a base and continued our relationship. I snapped out of my deep thought and saw Dallas being a typical male, watching a hot babe run by the park we were at.

"Are you checking out that brunette in purple leggings over there?"

"Uhh... uhh... no?" He gave me a sheepish grin. I saw Whit spot us and head our way.

"Well, you got no chance with that one Dallas, trust me."

"Miss Whitney! Daddy is helping me on the swings." Dallas stood there with a dumb look on his face. He pointed at me, then at Whit, then back at me.

"Is this your girlfriend?" He shook his head in disbelief. Even tired and sweaty, my girlfriend was hawt.

"Dallas, this hot sweaty mess is my Whitney, Whitney, Madi's daddy Dallas."

"Nice to meet you, Dallas."

"Likewise."

We made small talk for a few minutes before Whit excused herself and headed back to her place. Madi was still swinging away with help from Dallas. She was having a blast.

Dallas asked how Whit and I met, and I told him the story of the tree and of ice skating. He was a little surprised when I told him of her relationship to the company I worked for and how she was expected to take over the company someday.

Madison and Dallas played together in the park for the next couple of hours. Swings, jungle gym, merry-go-round, everything. By the end, the two were best friends. I guess all the phone calls and Skypes over the years paid off. I don't think I could ask for much more for them. Eventually, I began to see the signs that Little Miss was getting tired.

"Madison it's getting time to get you home." I picked her up in my arms. "Did you have fun with your daddy today?" She enthusiastically bobbed her head. "Do you want to do more stuff with him? Maybe just the two of you?" More head bobbing. I turned to Dallas. "Can I assume you would like to spend more time with your... our... daughter?"

"I would love to. Here is a question for you. Could I have her in a couple weeks on the Saturday before Valentine's Day? There is a Father-Daughter dance that the VFW puts on, and all of us at the station are invited."

"I think we can make that happen. We'll have to figure out the logistics, I should probably talk to Whitney about it." I looked down at our daughter, "Would you like to spend the day with your daddy and go to a special fancy dance? Just you and your daddy?"

After a moment she nodded and held up her arms to get a daddy hug.

"Ok, I should know my duty roster in a couple days and we can figure out the transportation plan. Thanks, when I heard about this, I knew I wanted to take Madison.

Madison climbed out of his arms, we said goodbye and headed home.

"Hi Jennifer, would you mind looking over these concept pieces and giving me a bit of feedback on them? I have to present them later this week to the big bosses. You always have good ideas, so I would love to get your opinion on them."

"Sure Sal, be happy to." Sal was a nice guy, if you could get past his Brooklyn accent. He was primarily in sales, but did the marketing for Maritime as well. As a company we didn't have a marketing department per se. Since we didn't sell to the public, marketing was sort of viewed as unnecessary. Sales on the other hand were a big deal. Most of our contracts were huge multi-year deals with some of the biggest shipping companies in the world. Go drive past a container port or look at a train filled with containers and take a look at the names on the steel boxes. Those companies were our customers.

I opened up the folder and began to look at the various pictures and draft messaging on them. Well, if he wanted my opinion, I was going to give it to him. This needed work, a lot of work. I thought back to my marketing class I took as part of my associate's degree and tried to remember what was said.

In our case, we were not trying to win new business, but make our current clients feel good about doing business with Whitney Maritime. Or to make the public feel safe about our tugs. I began to write a lot of notes down. Suggestions of pictures to use, what you wanted the picture to say or suggest. After an hour, with a couple of phone interruptions, I had most of the example pictures and documents marked up on sticky notes. And in many cases, there was more yellow visible than the underlying copy.

I took it back to Sal, who eagerly opened up the folder, and then frowned. I don't think he was expecting this level of analysis.

"Sorry if I overstepped my bounds. You said you wanted my opinion, so I did my best to explain what I was thinking on each piece." I watched him read the notes on the first page.

"Jennifer, I have to admit that this is a little more than I was expecting. I was initially thinking you would just do some copy editing, checking for spelling, grammar, and the like. But this is way more detailed. Give me a bit, but I think I need to dive into this for a while."

I headed back to my desk and spent the rest of the day doing my normal stuff. I watched the clock get to near going-home time when Sal came back to my desk.

"Are you sure you didn't get a degree in marketing? I'm going to eat a little humble pie here, but I think you have a better understanding of marketing than I do. These points are well said, and I can see the pictures you are describing."

"I particularly like the idea of the nature imagery along with our new hybrid tugs, or the call backs to the oneness of nature of the local tribes. We have good relations with a couple of the tribes, we might be able to do something with one or two of them. I took some of your ideas and created a few new mockups, what do you think?"

I looked at the offered prototypes and smiled. They were quick Photoshop jobs for sure, but got the ideas across. A good digital artist could make these ideas sing. It was nice to have my feedback so well received.

"If it's ok with you, I would like to let the executive committee know you had a hand in this. You have a natural eye for this kind of stuff. If you have more ideas like this, please share them with me. I'll see what I can do with them."

As Sal left my desk, my phone dinged with a text.

Dallas: Hi - looks like I have duty the morning of the dance, can you bring Madison over to Port Angeles that day?

Me: Probably. What time should we be there?

Dallas: Three would be good. Also, I don't have dutry the following day, so if you like I can take Madison overnight. Give you and your girl a night out. I've got a spare futon Madi can sleep on.

Me: That sounds like a good idea. Let me run it past Whit and get back to you.

Dallas: K

Whitney

The Jeep made a familiar "kathunk" sound as we drove off the ramp of the Kingston ferry, heading to Port Angeles. Our first stop was going to be to drop Madison off. The address of the VFW Hall was actually in a neighboring town from his station, and fortunately for us, that meant a little less driving. For Jenn, the rest of our time would be a surprise.

Jenn had texted Dallas when we got off the ferry and when we pulled into the parking lot, he was there, waiting for us. I hadn't noticed much when I met him briefly in the park, but I have to admit he was attractive for a man. Not that he did anything for me, but I could respect and appreciate what my girlfriend saw in him years ago. And from what she said, he was a good man and did desire to see that his daughter is taken care of and has a positive male role model in her life.

"Hold still sailor." Jenn fussed with his uniform a minute, picking off some lint or something. "Okay, Madison, I want a picture of you and your daddy." She got a couple of snaps with Dallas holding Madi and a couple more with her standing next to him.

"Jenn," I said. "Now you get in the picture. Madi should have a few family pictures to look back on." It was a tad uncomfortable for the two adults, being in a picture with each other. But they sucked it up for their daughter.

We spent a few moments loading a sleeping bag and Madison's overnight bag into the trunk of Dallas's car. Jenn sent a group text to the three of us to make sure he had my phone as well, just in case there was an emergency.

"You sure about this? You're up for being a single dad for a night?" Jenn was picking at her finger again and looked down at Madi.

"I'll be fine Jennifer. It's just one night." He gave her a little arm squeeze.

"Madison." Jenn got down to her level and gave her a hug. "You be good for Daddy and do what he says okay? Whitney and I will pick you up in the morning."

"Okay Mommy, I love you." Jenn gave her a big hug, and then Madi insisted that I get a hug as well before she headed off into the dance hall. I looked at Jenn who had a tear dropping down her cheek.

"She'll be fine."

"It's not her I'm worried about."

I laughed. "He'll be fine as well."

"Not worried about him either. I was thinking about me. I've never spent a night without her under the same roof." I looked at my girl and gave her a hug. This was an aspect of motherhood I had not thought of before.

"Hey, it'll be okay. Enjoy your break. Your first day off in 4 years." I held her door open for her.

"Yeah, day off. I like the sounds of that. Okay mystery woman, what is the plan?"

"Just get in." I started the Jeep up and headed back the direction we came.

"Going home?"

"Nope, not far." Ten minutes later, we pulled into the hotel side of a tribal casino complex. "Nothing fancy, not the Four Seasons for sure, but the nicest thing I could find without driving all the way back."

We walked into the cavernous lobby. A water feature was in the corner and the place was filled with Northwest tribal art.

"Nothing fancy huh?" Jenn was looking wide eyed around. She held the sleeve of her hoodie with her other hand across her body while I checked us in. The desk clerk gave us our key cards, and I grabbed my large suitcase while Jenn slung her backpack on her shoulder.

"I'm sure we must have been a sight to the gal at the desk," Jenn said as we entered the elevator to the 6^th floor. "We're not your most traditional couple you know."

"Well, I'm sure we're not the first lesbians she's seen. Here we are. Room six-oh-one." I opened the door to our suite.