Page 41 of Once Bitten
She shrugged and smiled, not wanting to tell him that Tina’s words about a different woman every night had come to mind when he’d mentioned wandering the streets. “You can come over every night, Stevie. I always want you around, so you don’t have to ask.” She took a sip of her drink, avoiding his eyes because she could feel the weight of his stare on her.
“Okay…” Steve let go of her chin and turned his attention back to his food. Jordyn sighed in relief because he had a way of completely paralyzing her with a look. There was just something in the way he looked at her. It was unguarded and too earnest for her to function under, much less hide the fact that something was bothering her.
Steve had a leg on either side of the bench, straddling it, and was looking at Jordyn, who was sitting with her legs crossed at the ankle in front of her. He leaned toward her and gestured with a fry. “When are you off today?”
“I should be done at six. Do you want me to come by the shop when I'm done?” Jordyn still needed a ride back home after Alex’s impromptu visit the previous night, and she smiled at the thought of Steve staying with her after taking her home.
“Yeah, just come back to where I am. I have a tattoo I’ll be working on then, but I’d like it if you stayed with me until it’s finished. You know, to show you a little of what I do...if you want to, that is.” Steve smiled when he saw the look of interest on her face.
“I’ve never seen someone getting a tattoo before,” Jordyn said, her thoughts already starting to move to the possibility of getting a tattoo of her own, but she paused when she recognized a family from the church walking across the park towards them. "I know them..." Jordyn mumbled with a smile starting to spread across her face. Steve turned and caught sight of the waving family of four that was quickly approaching them.
“Jordyn!” the family called to her, and she stood quickly as the Lees approached her. Their youngest child, six-year-old Timothy, broke away from his father and rushed up to her.
“Jordyn!” Timothy squealed, his arms outstretched as he launched himself at her. Jordyn caught him when he jumped up, his hands reaching for her neck.
“Oh, my gosh, Timothy! Look at you, you’re so big!” Jordyn laughed, holding him up over her head so that he could see above his father.
“Yeah! Now I'm taller than you, daddy!” Timothy roared in satisfaction from his new perch and waved at his father, Max, who was now beside them with his wife, Amanda, and their daughter, Cora.
“Long time no see,” Mr. Lee said, giving Jordyn a good-natured tousling of her hair.
“I know…I’ve just, well, it’s not important.” Jordyn shrugged, lowering Timothy, and the boy latched his arms securely around her neck.
“The new Sunday school teacher is terrible,” Cora said with all the indignation a thirteen-year-old could manage. She crossed her arms and looked pointedly at Jordyn in a way that Jordyn didn't miss because until a couple of weeks ago Jordyn had been the long-standing Sunday school teacher. She'd also helped with every last youth program and activity that Alex had thought up, and in doing so, had developed warm and loving relationships with the Church's youth, of which Cora was.
"I'm sorry..." Jordyn frowned but didn't know what else to say to Cora's unhappy face.
“We miss you,” Timothy whined, his hands pulling at her scrubs with a frown. “When are you coming back?”
“Have you been sick, Jordyn?” Mrs. Lee asked with a concerned look before she stepped forward to press a hand against Jordyn’s forehead. "I can make you some of my chicken noodle soup and get you feeling right as rain again if you're feeling sick."
“Alex said you were feeling under the weather, and that’s why you’ve been absent, but…” Mr. Lee looked from her to Steve, who was slowly standing, their lunch still spread out on the bench. It was evident that Jordyn wasn't sick, she had a light in her eyes and a smile on her face. Something wasn't adding up to the Lees about Alex's story concerning her health.
“No, no, I haven’t been sick.” Jordyn sighed and looked away, giving Timothy a bounce on her hip.
“Then where have you been? Are you even going to help with the summer camp this year?” Cora asked, casting aside her earlier disgruntled mood. She stepped forward joining her brother and putting her arms around Jordyn’s waist. Cora rested her head against Jordyn's shoulder and said, “The new teacher is sooooo boring, and she said I shouldn’t paint my nails.”
“She what?” Jordyn laughed, looking down at Cora’s nails. "Let me see your nails, hmm?" She was glad to see they were still sporting their normal neon color. "These look wonderful. You always look so cheerful with them done."
Cora turned her face into Jordyn and muttered, "That's what I said."
“Oh, she’s just got some funny ideas,” Mrs. Lee said, waving a hand dismissively, but then she looked back at Jordyn. “But...when will you be returning to take over the Sunday school, though? We really are dying without you, Jordyn.”
Steve frowned, watching the interaction because he could see how much it bothered Jordyn that she wasn't able to head up the Sunday school that the family was bringing up. Seeing her with the kids made it evident that she was made for it and also that she missed it. Steve hoped that he didn't see Alex's face anytime soon, because the urge to punch the other man's teeth right out for taking something like this from Jordyn was going to be hard to resist.
“Well, I just… I don’t think I’m coming back,” Jordyn said, quietly. The Lees immediately erupted into protest as soon as the words left her mouth, and Jordyn winced at the outcry from the family.
Mr. Lee raised a hand, silencing them when he saw the look on Jordyn’s face. “Does this have anything to do with the new girl, Yvonne?”
“I—what? She’s going to church there now?” Jordyn gasped, lowering a protesting Timothy to the ground. He latched onto her leg as soon as he was on his feet again, and stubbornly stuck his lip out, watching the exchange between his father and Jordyn. Just because she did not want to go back, did not want to be with Alex, did not mean she was fine with the idea of Yvonne slipping right into her place.
In fact it pissed Jordyn off.
“Yes, she’s…different,” Mr. Lee said, running a hand through his hair. He looked uncomfortable and Jordyn knew he hadn’t missed whatever it was that was still going on between Alex and Yvonne. He had noticed the lingering looks and touches that had passed between Alex and Yvonne and had hoped that it had nothing to do with Jordyn’s sudden disappearance from the church. But now with the look on Jordyn's face, he knew his first suspicions were correct.
“What do you mean different? You mean she’s lame," Cora said matter-of-factly while flicking through her phone, and Jordyn rubbed the younger girl’s shoulder in sympathy.
“Yeah, she is,” Jordyn whispered to her with a smile. Cora grinned at Jordyn's words and leaned closer to her. “Super lame.”
