The next day, Jordyn arrived at the Carter household early in the afternoon. Brayden was rolling around in the front lawn with one of the many dogs, laughing and giggling as the dog licked all over his face and jumped all over him.
She got out of her car, "Hey Brayden!"
He got up out of the yard and grinned, "Hi Jordyn! Did you come to play today?"
"I sure did. Your dad called me earlier...where's he at?"
"Inside trying to make lunch..did you bring your swimsuit? Daddy said we might go swimmin'!"
She smiled as he came closer to her as she reached the front door, followed by the dog, "I sure did, he told me I better bring my bathing suit or else I was going in in my clothes. I didn't like that idea too much.."
Brayden pushed open the heavy front door and stepped into the cool, air conditioned house, followed by Jordyn and the dog. "DDAAADDY! JORDYN'S HERE!!," He yelled out. His voice was so loud it seemed to echo all over the house.
Jordyn winced at the sound of banging pans and then a loud THUD! as something hit the floor followed by a loud, "DAMNIT!"
Brayden covered his mouth, his dark blue eyes wide, "Ooooooooooh! Daddy said a bad word!"
Jordyn nodded, "He sure did...don't repeat that word either."
He shook his head, "I won't!"
"Brayden, why don't you head on upstairs and get your trunks on, I'll go see what happened to your dad."
He nodded, stepped up onto the stairs, "Okay!"
Jordyn waited until Brayden was at the top of the stairs before she ventured towards the kitchen. She found Nick sitting at the kitchen table, holding onto his bare foot. He scowled when he looked up, "Oh hi."
"Are you okay?"
He nodded with a sigh, "Yea...I just dropped that pot on my foot when I got it out of the cabinet."
She set her things down on the counter and walked over to him, "Did you break it?"
"No...."
He lifted his hand away from his sore foot where a big red mark could be seen. "Ouch...are you sure?"
"Yea....where's Brayden? And when did you get here?"
"I got here like two minutes ago. And he went to go get his trunks on...He said you said a 'bad word'."
"Uh oh...he heard that?"
"Yeah..I told him not to repeat it.."
Nick smiled wryly, "Thanks."
She smiled, "No problem. Now what were you trying to fix?"
"Uhhh..pizza"
"I think maybe you should just order pizza..."
"Yea..me too......you brought your bathing suit, right?"
She pulled the strap of her tank top down to reveal a part of her blue and green top, "Sure did."
"Good..I figured today would be a good day to go swimming.."
"It's perfect for it Nick.."
He smiled as Brayden came running in dressed in his blue trunks that had fish all over them and a towel wrapped around his shoulders, "I'm ready!"
Nick chuckled, "Yeah you are...how 'bout we order pizza?"
"Yea!"
"Alright...Jord, the sunscreen is in the living room on the table..would you mind lathering him up?"
She smiled, "Nope..come on big guy, let's go get the sunscreen and wait for your dad outside."
Brayden took her hand, "Okay."
Brayden stood with his back facing Jordyn as she lathered him up with sunscreen. "Jordyn?"
"Yea sweetie?"
"You like my daddy?"
"What do you mean?"
He turned as she placed her hands on his shoulders to turn him so he faced her, "Do you like my daddy....like....like he liked my mommy once?"
Jordyn paused, "Well...I don't really know Brayden. Your daddy has been hurt alot...and I don't know if he 'likes' me like that.."
"Oh he does, he does."
She looked down at the little boy curiously, "Oh he does?"
"yea...I overhearded him with Uncle AJ! He said he really liked you."
Jordyn smiled, "Well....that's really nice of him."
"So, do you?"
She paused again for just a moment before she nodded, "Yea Brayden...I think I do."
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