PART 4
Nick walked upstairs later that night to talke to Dan but stopped when he heard loud laughter coming from Rob's bedroom. The door was ajar, so Nick quietly opened it and looked inside.
Jo was playfully tackling Rob on his bed, scattering checkers everywhere.
"How could you beat me twice?" she teased, tickling Rob.
"That's my secret!" Rob laughed even harder.
Nick couldn't help but laugh at the scene before him. Jo looked up when she heard Nick's gentle chuckle. "Hi," she said, brushing her hair from her face. "Did you need something?" She tried to compose herself to little avail.
"No," he replied, "I was on my way to talk to Dan, but heard you two down the hall."
"We were playing checkers," Rob smiled.
"I can see that now. Did your ma beat ya?"
Rob looked at Jo and shook his head. "Nope. I won twice!"
"He's tough competition." Jo began picking up the strewn checkers.
"You wanna play, Nick?" Rob asked.
"I got things to do tonight, but maybe some other time." Nick really wanted to play checkers with Rob and Jo, but knew that this was a special moment between mother and son. "Maybe someday," he thought.
"Okay," Rob shrugged his shoulders.
There was an awkward silence as Nick looked at Jo. She could tell he was happy that she had fixed things with Rob, but knew there was something else, too--she just couldn't figure out what it was. "Well, good night, Nick," Jo spoke, trying to break the silence.
"Night." Nick turned to leave, closing the door behind him.
"Can we play one more game, Mom?" Rob hugged Jo, looking at her with his big brown eyes. This was his special trick to melt Jo's heart and to get what he wanted.
"One more," she relented, "But into your nightshirt first."
Rob changed his clothes while Jo picked up the remaining checkers and arranged the board for a new game. "This time I'm going to win," Jo said with mock seriousness. She moved her first checker.
Rob jumped two of Jo's checkers and removed them from the board. "No you're not," he teased.
"We'll see about that!" She leaned forward and tickled her son's stomach causing him to erupt with a peal of laughter.
Early the next morning, Nick and Jo sat at the kitchen table talking over coffee. "Looked like you and Rob were having a lot of fun last night," Nick commented.
"We were," Jo smiled. "I haven't played checkers with him in a long time." She looked down at her half-filled coffee mug. "You could have stayed and played with him, you know," Jo said quietly, still looking down.
"I didn't think I should interrupt the family moment you two were having."
"I wouldn't have minded," Jo stared into Nick's eyes and began to blush. She quickly stood to refill her mug.
Nick smiled at her embarrassment. He joined her at the counter and carefully placed his left hand on the small of her back. Surprisingly, Jo didn't object to Nick's advances. "Maybe I'll join you next time." Nick reached in front of Jo to retrieve the coffeepot.
Jo turned towards Nick. She opened her mouth to say something, but became lost in his enchanting blue eyes. Suddenly, Jo leaned forward and kissed Nick on the lips. She left the kitchen before he had time to realize what had happened.
PART 5
