Their Escape

~12~

~12~


Melissa POV



Next week I had to head back to court but this time I was allowed to bring Jason and the kids with me. I was determined to keep that out of my mind, at least for tonight. Dani finally broke down and told us that there was a young man on the baseball team that had asked her out. Apparently he’s been flirting with her for a couple of weeks and he’s just asked her out.

We also learned that his name is Sam, has brown hair and hazel eyes. He’s got three sisters and his father died last year. He sits with Dani at lunch and even buys her a Dr. Pepper everyday. He and Matty even seem to be pretty good friends. Trust me, Jason went through a checklist of questions when we started talking about it. I finally had to send him outside and tell Dani that if she wanted to go out with him, she had to invite him over for dinner so her father and I could meet him.

The next day she came home and said that he would be honored to meet us. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that he was going to meet Jason. Turned out that he was a pretty big fan of MMA and has been following his career.

Tonight was the night that we would be meeting Sam. Dani had been primping in the bedroom for two hours and when I went to go check on her, she was tossing things out of the closet. I heard her grunting as she couldn’t find what she was looking for and when I looked over at Savannah sitting on her bed, she had a frightened look on her face.



    “What’s wrong, Vannie?” I asked.

    “Mommy, do all girls go through this over a boy?” she asked with wide eyes. I started laughing and nodded my head. “I don’t ever want to grow up,” she groaned, throwing herself down on her bed and covering her face with a pillow.

    “Mom!” Dani shouted. “Where is my sweater?”

    “Honey, there is nothing wrong with what you are wearing. You look great.”

    “Promise?” she asked looking down at her outfit. She was wearing a cute knee length pink skirt and a white lacy shirt. We curled her hair in soft waves down her back and kept her maekup as natural as possible, applying only very little mascara and a light pink lip gloss. She looked beautiful and I couldn’t get over the fact that she wold be sixteen in a few short weeks.

    “I promise,” I smiled just as the doorbell rung and Dani took a deep breath in. “Calm down, it’s probably just your dad,” I said, gripping her hands and then letting them go and walking to the front of the house.



I was right but shortly after Jason had arrived, the doorbell sounded again. I felt Jason tense up beside me and before I could answer the door, I had to make sure Jay was in line. I wasn’t going to let him scare the poor boy away yet.



    “Be good,” I said, pointing my finger in his face. He looked at me then over to the door and back at me. Without saying a word, he plastered on one of his trademark smirks, made an X over his heart, drew a circle over his head and pushed his hands together as in prayer and batted his eyes at me. The look was so ridiculous that I could not help that outburst of giggling that overcame me. I quickly gained my composure and answered the door. The young man held out a a bouquet of purple tulips to me and kept the colorful Gerber daisies in his other hand.

    “Danielle told me that you liked tulips and that your favorite color was purple,” he said, smiling with every inch of confidence he had.

    “Well thank you, Sam. Come on in, it’s so nice to meet you. As you know, I’m Dani’s mom, Melissa,” I said, shaking his outstretched hand. “And this is her father...”

    “Jason Ryder, it’s so great to meet you. I knew you were from around here but never been able to see any of your personal appearances. Can I say what an awesome move it was when you got the title last month,” he said, shaking Jason’s hand. For the quickest minute, Jay let his look go from stern to smug but quickly covered it up.

    “You follow my career, huh?”

    “Yeah. My parents always record your matches if I’m not home to watch it,” he said.

    “I’m not going to sugar coat this at all, so I’ll just get right to the point. What are your intentions with my daugher?”

    “Daddy!” Dani shouted at the same time I said his name.

    “What?” Jason asked, looking between the two of us.

    “Mr. Ryder, with all do respect. When I first saw Danielle, I wanted to get to know her. I just want to get to know her.”

    “I know what boys your age are thinking,” Jason said.

    “Jason, that is enough. Dani, your date is here,” I said, knowing that she would hear me. “Sam, come on through here and meet my parents,” I said, looping my arm through his and leading me into the kitchen. “I’m sure she has told you a little about our situation.”

    “She just told me that your husband was mean to you and for your safety and theirs, you all moved over here.”

    “Yeah. We really didn’t have anywhere else to go so my parents took us in.”

    “I hope for your family and your all’s happiness, that things get better,” he smiled at me as we sat down at the table.

    “Kiss a**,” I heard Jason mumble.

    “Thank you,” I said.



When Dani walked into the kitchen, Sam stood up and pulled out the chair for Dani and only sat down after all of the ladies were in their seats. When mom mentioned his manners, he flat out told us that his mother taught him the best and that his dad told him before he died that you never waver from it. Jason still sat there and mumbled incoherently under his breath and I kicked him a few times under the table to keep him in line. We sat there and enjoyed mom’s meatloaf and masked potatoes and for dessert, she made an apple crumb cake. When dinner was over, Sam asked if it was okay if he and Dani could sit outside by themselves for a little bit. I told them that I didn’t have any problem with it but after they walked out, I had to practically sit on Jason to keep him from spying on them.



    “How can you be so calm about this?” he asked after they had been out there for ten minutes.

    “Because I was her at one point,” I said, linking my hands behind his head.

    “And look where that got you,” he hissed.

    “Go home,” I told him, getting off of his lap. “And when you’re walking out, don’t say anything to those kids,” I finished walking through the hallway.



I couldn’t stand how he was acting and he knew he was in the proverbial dog house. If we were already living together, he would be sleeping on the couch tonight. I heard him say something to Matty but I was to upset with him right now, I didn’t pay him no mind. I walked into the girls room to check on Savannah. She was sitting there, looking through her Math book.



    “How’s it going, sweetpea?” I asked.

    “Just double checking things to see if I got anything wrong. How’s the da... I mean Jason doing with Dani and Sam?”

    “He’s being a inconsiderate jerkhole at the moment and not letting your sister enjoy her date.”

    “Mommy, I know I’m only a little girl but I guess I can’t blame him.”

    “What are you talking about?”

    “Only the same thing he’s been telling you since you all found out that Dani had a boyfriend.”

    “What’s that?” I asked, looking a little confused.

    “Mom, you were pregnant and a mother at sixteen. He went sixteen years not knowing about this and he’s all of a sudden trying to play catch up on parenting. Oh and let’s add the fact that the daughter he just found out about is now dating,” she said. I looked at her and wondered how she got so smart.

    “You know to much for an eight year old.”

    “What can I say,” she shrugged. “I lived a sheltered life so I paid attention to a lot. I guess I still am.”

    “Thank you, baby.”

    “That’s what I’m here for,” she laughed as I walked to the door. Before I walked out, I turned back to her.

    “You know, honey. Since you gave me some thought about this subject, I’m going to let you in on something. It’s alright to call Jason dad if you want. I don’t want you to think that you have to to make me happy or to make him happy. I think he would like it though.”

    “I want to, mom. It’s just... it’s like something keeps pulling me back. I call him dad in my mind but when the word starts to slip through my lips, it doesn’t feel right.”

    “Okay, in your time,” I smiled at her. When I stepped out into the hallway, I ran into Jason’s chest.



I grabbed his hands and pulled him to me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and made him lean down and kissed him. He instantly wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me off the floor. We just stood there and kissed like two kids in love for what seemed like forever. When he finally put me back on the floor, I looked up into his eyes.



    “I’m sorry for not considering your feelings about this whole situation with Dani and Sam.”

    “What made you have a change of mind?”

    “Let’s just say that my eight year old is wise beyond her years.”

    “What did she say?” he asked.

    “Only the same thing you’ve been saying.”

    “So, I tell you...”

    “Before you tear into me, I guess it just took someone else to tell me the same thing for it to sink it.”

    “Well, remind me to thank her later,” he smirked.

    “We’re right here. Why can’t you thank her now.”

    “Because,” he said. “I’ve got your dad and Matt keeping an eye on Dani and Sam and that kiss is not over,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows at me and dragging me to my room.



As soon as we crossed the threshold, he kicked the door back and wrapped me in his arms in the same move. His hands were everywhere and the only thing that I was thinking about was that my youngest was just across the hall form us. I felt his lips pepper across the back of my neck and then to the side and over my shoulder.



    “Jason, we can’t...” I started and then I felt his fingers graze my stomach.

    “You were saying,” he whispered.

    “We can’t go to far. Not with the kids here and my parents.”

    “I just want to give you a little taste of what we could be doing if we had that night just to ourselves. Remember that promise? I’m guessing you do now,” he said, walking us over ot the bed.

    “Mom,” Matty’s voice came from outside of my door. “Sam is getting ready to leave and wanted to say proper goodbyes,” he said. Jason groaned and I couldn’t help but laugh at him.

    “Just great,” he grumbled.

    “You might want to fix that,” I said looking down at his pants and walking out of the room.



Jason couldn’t make an appearance before Sam left but I told him that he had an important phone call but he would be a little more hospitable the next time he was around. Sam said he understood and with a kiss to the cheek for Dani, he left. I watched my daughter float back into the house,  past all of us and back to her room. I could tell that she was on cloud nine and even though I still wasn’t as uptight about it like Jason was, I could appreciate Jason’s feelings about this a little bit more.

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Here's another chapter for you all since I've slacked on it for a little while.

Don't have much to say on this one except hope you enjoyed it and as usual... leave me some love...