SEVEN

Bella hung back as Jon caught Dot’s eye. The mood between them was obviously tense. She had no idea how long they’d been separated, but if she knew NJ law at all, there was a time period of separation before the divorce could have gone through. Wouldn’t they have been beyond the whole uncomfortable ex issues? Dorothea stood up and her disapproval was as plain as a billboard, but when she spotted her…Isabella took a step back. Yeah, this wasn’t going to be good.

“Who is that?” she asked shrilly, oblivious to the interest she was drawing from the parents in the surrounding area.

Jon crouched, swinging Romeo up into his arms with an easy smile. Romeo pushed a Hot Wheels sports car along his shoulder making random noises he thought resembled a car as he babbled his happiness at seeing him. At least one person was glad to see him. Taking a slow breath, he pressed a kiss to his son’s temple. It wasn’t going to be a good night all around, he decided. “Sorry I’m late.” He quickly squeezed Jesse’s shoulder and leaned down to Steph for a quick kiss on the cheek. He transferred Romeo to Steph’s lap.

Jon took a couple steps up the incline and herded Bella back down with a hand at her back. “Dorothea,” he pointed to the youngest of his children, “Romeo, Steph and Jesse, I’d like you to meet Izzy.”

“Isabella,” she corrected and held out her hand to Dorothea. She gave Jon a look that spoke of retribution. “I’m the reason he’s late.”

Dorothea ignored her hand for a full three seconds before she grudgingly brushed the tips of her fingers in a less than gracious shake. “Quite the accident,” she murmured but her eyes stayed on Jon.

Jon stifled a grin. Even here, in the single tensest moment he could throw a woman into, Izzy was busting his balls. But the humor faded quickly under the black cloud that was his ex-wife. “Unfortunately it was. No one was hurt, but the cars. Both her Mustang and my Chevelle are officially off the road,” Jon said matter of factly. He knew how to deal with Dot in a mood, and the minute you let her know she had the upper hand she’d use it until you were so twisted you were ready to implode.

Romeo clicked two cars together and shouted, “Crash!”

Jon laughed. “You got it buddy.”

The lights began to dim and Jon slid his hand into hers, dragging her into their row. He wasn’t sure how to react when she untangled their fingers. He dropped in the seat next to Steph and let Romeo climb onto his lap. He watched as Izzy eased past Dot and the kids with an uncomfortable smile then sat next to him.

“Sorry,” he said quietly.

“For what?” she asked.

He watched her dark eyes in the muted lights, but couldn’t quite read her. “Dragging you into my less than perfect family situation.”

Tamping down the uncomfortable amalgam of acid and leftover ham salad from lunch that was tumbling in her belly she shrugged. “This is normal. If it was Norman Rockwell, then we would have to talk,” she whispered back as her eyes drifted down to his mouth again. The sweet smell of baby shampoo from his son and Jon’s elusive musky scent had her senses wacked out enough for her to peel her eyes away from him and bump right into Dorothea. The heat and the distaste were palpable. Holy Crap. Her head swiveled to the stage and she forced a smile as Jon pointed at Jake.

“There he is,” he whispered.

Her eyes followed his finger and she saw the sandy blonde haired shepherd at the left side of the stage. They were doing the journey of the three wise men. Fascinated by the man beside her for his complete concentration when it came to the stage and his little boy, she found herself easing ever so slightly closer to him as she watched the play unfold. Even when it wasn’t Jake’s turn, he was wrapped into the story and the children trying so hard.

She forced herself to keep her eyes on the stage, to not get sucked into a man and his devotion to his children. To not find it endearing and utterly sexy.

Fuck.

Yeah right, Bella.

The total running time was about forty minutes and about halfway through Romeo had fallen asleep on his chest, curled into his neck. His soft breathing calmed him, reassuring as the sunrise. He glanced at the woman beside him. No tapping of impatience, no twisting of a watch face, nothing to say she wasn’t enjoying herself. Such an oddity for him in a world where everything depended on the next second’s change.

He glanced down the row to see Dorothea staring at her watch, an impatient foot bouncing. Once Jake’s portion of the show was done, she was disinterested. That was what he was used to. Izzy was watching, fascinated and smiling at the kids trying their hardest to remember lines and their marks.

He shifted Romeo in his arms and stood as the lights came on and he clapped. All the kids came out to take their bows from each class and the auditorium was filled to the brim with proud parents and whirling, clicking cameras and flash.

Dot went up to the front with the rest of the parents and chit chatted with those she knew and wrangled an excited shepherd back to them.

“Dad!” Jake shouted and ran for him. “Did you see me?”

Dot took the sleeping Romeo and Bella hung back as she listened to the boy chatter a mile a minute about his lines and the fact that Shepherd #2 was utterly useless at remembering his lines. He stopped mid sentence. “Who are you?”

Jon laughed up at her, still crouched down at his son’s level. “This is my friend, Izzy.”

Jake looked up at her and pulled such a Jon face, that Bella burst out laughing. She held out her hand to him. “I’m Bella.”

He shook her hand, “So is it Izzy or Bella?”

“Izzy.”

“Bella,” they said in unison.

“Dad, is she your girlfriend?”

“Yeah, Jon is she?” came Dot’s voice from the end.