Saving Rose

Chapter Eight

It was Friday, and Sydney and I were staying after all the kids had gone home to start setup for Ryan's party.

I was tying balloons to the chairs and tables when I heard the door open.

"I'm in here Luke," I called, assuming it was him since he had told me he wanted to help.

"You're the meanie," I heard Rose say. I crinkled my eyebrows in confusion, I thought she liked Luke.

I made my way to the front. Indeed, it was not Luke, instead it was Jacob.

"That's not very nice Rose," I told her, not making eye contact with Jacob.

"But it's true. I've heard you say so," she crossed her little arms and made a pouty face.

I stood back up, facing Jacob, "hello."

"Ally," he started with a soft voice, "I'm sorry for how I acted..." he trailed off, unsure of what else to say.

"Are you okay? I didn't have to force the apology out of you," I laughed.

He gave me a sheepish look.

"I'm kidding. Thank you. Would you like to help?" I asked, gesturing to the room.

Sydney came into the room holding a piece of paper. "Ally, how does this sound for a cl-" she stopped short when she saw Jacob. "Oh hey, you didn't tell me that you were coming."

"You were taking a while so I figured I would stop by and see what was going on, make sure everything was alright." He looked uncomfortable, he kept glancing at Rose. I had an idea of how he could help.

"Oh yeah, just setting up for Ryan's party," Sydney told him. "It's tomorrow, and we still have a lot of work to do. Speaking of which, how are the balloons coming?" She asked me.

"I'm done, I have a bunch tied together," I motioned toward the bouquet of multi colored balloons up towards the ceiling, "to give to the kids when they get here tomorrow." We decided to make it a party for both Samantha and Ryan.

"Is there anything I can do?" Jacob had set down his briefcase and taken off his suit jacket, loosening his tie.

"Give Rose company?" I suggested, a smug grin on my face.

Emotions flickered in his eyes for a split second before they disappeared. "I guess," he mumbled, "I need to get better with kids if I ever want to have any of my own."

"You? A father?" Sydney blurted out. We both laughed as Jacob rolled his eyes.

"I'm going to get back to decorations." I couldn't help the smile on my face as I made my way back to where I was working.

Sydney followed me a few seconds later. "How do these sound?" She asked, handing me a stack of clues.

We had decided to make a fun scavenger hunt where the clues were riddles for Ryan since he was so smart and loved a good challenge. At the end, there was a customized, fancy chess board. For Samantha, we were all just planning on dressing like princes and princesses. We had even bought her a pink princess dress.

"These sound great," I told her, handing the clues back, "he's going to love them. We can start putting them in their places." I looked back at the table where Jacob was sitting with Rose. Jacob was whispering in her ear, making her giggle. I looked over at Sydney and her eyes followed mine. Jacob threw his head back, laughing at something Rose said. He had a genuine smile on his face and his eye were crinkled at the sides. I raised my eyebrows at Sydney and she gave me the same look, confused.

We shrugged it off and started to place the clues around the room.

But I couldn't get that look out of my mind. I had never seen Jacob truly happy and smiling like he was. I heard them both laugh from the other room and shook my head. He was much better with kids than he led on.