Maybe Forever (Missing Pieces Book 1) (8 page)

Chapter Twelve

Harper

“So I was thinking since Jamie’s gone tonight we could cuddle up on the couch and have a
Criminal Minds
marathon.” Harper vigorously dries herself with the soft towel after her shower. It felt so good to wash away the cares of her day. She was looking forward to an evening with her man. Dakota is lying across the bed reading one of her girly magazines and chuckling to himself.

“That sounds amazing, babe, and at some point you should take this quiz too. Find out what fashion season you are. I’m a spring,” he says proudly. Harper laughs as she settles into her yoga pants and white t-shirt. She pulls her damp hair up into a high ponytail and puts her hands on her hips, ready for the night.

“You’re so weird, Daughtry.”

“You enjoy every minute of it, Montgomery.” Harper chuckles and crawls onto the foot of the bed. She lies flat on her stomach and props her hands up under her cheek, holding her head up to look at him. Dakota closes the magazine.

“I was thinking about something,” Harper says, sighing.

“What?” Dakota says, pushing a few stray hairs out of her eyes and behind her ear. Harper forgets what she was going to say for a second but recovers in the same beat.

“I know we’ve only been dating for a couple of months, and I don’t know about you, but it feels like a lot longer, doesn’t it? I mean, it doesn’t really feel like much has changed besides, you know, you sleeping in my bed most nights.” Dakota smirks. Harper blushes.

“I feel the same way,” he says. “Nothing has ever felt so right. So natural.”

“And I know you’ve been uneasy lately about Aiden moving here, about not getting as much of Jamie’s attention as usual.”

“Did Jamie say something to you?”

Harper shakes her head. “He just said that he wasn’t sure how you felt about everything. That you haven’t sat down and hashed things out.”

“He’s just been so busy. Aiden’s been getting him every day after school and I’ve had shoots booked every weekend. Just haven’t been able to catch him.”

“Yes, exactly, and why haven’t you been able to catch him?”

“Because when he’s coming in, I’m leaving,” Dakota says, his eyes narrowing as he tries to figure out where their conversation is going.

“Yes and that made me think.” Harper sighs. She sits up in front of him. Dakota sits up too, feeling like he should be upright for the rest of this conversation. “What if you…moved in…with me and Jamie?”

“Moved in, move in?” Dakota says softly.

“Yeah. I mean, I figure we’re together and it’s working, your lease on your apartment is up in a couple of months, and you’re always here anyway. What’s really stopping us from taking everything to the next level?”

“Next level?” Dakota asks.

“Yes…” she says. “What do you think?”

Dakota looks down at the silk comforter he is sitting on. He follows the lines of the pattern in it with his fingers and inhales and exhales deeply.

“What do I think about moving in, moving in with you and Jamie and taking it to the next level…” Dakota says mostly to himself.

“Why do you keep repeating everything I say?” Harper says, biting her lip nervously.

“I’m just making sure this isn’t a dream. That I’m hearing you correctly.” Harper smirks slightly.

“Because if Ashton pops out announcing he’s rebooting
Punk’d
starting with me, I’m going to be really, really annoyed.” Harper crawls into his lap, facing him. She puts her arms around his neck.

“Not a joke. Not a prank. Not a dream. It’s real. Move in with us.” Dakota kisses her sweetly.

“I would love to take things to the next level. I would love to move in. I can’t imagine being anywhere else but here.” Harper hugs him tightly, and Dakota hugs her back, closes his eyes, and absorbs the moment when he fell in love with this woman all over again.

***

Casey

“How amazing was that library?” Bianca exclaims as she, Jamie, Casey, and Aiden get settled into their seats. The gym is in full effect with music blaring, cheerleaders doing impressive gymnastics moves, and the smell of hot dogs, nachos, and other tantalizing junk food in the air.

“Oh, I could live there for sure,” Jamie replies dreamily.

“Totally. Go on adventures with Tom Sawyer by day.”

“And be one of Lady Chatterley’s lovers by night,” Jamie says, wiggling his eyebrows and causing Bianca to giggle. Casey laughs at them, shaking her head.

“It’s amazing to me how you share no DNA with Dakota but you make the same facial expressions,” Bianca says.

“You guys want some snacks?” Aiden asks, clearly not as amused by Bianca’s comment as everyone else. Bianca and Jamie nod.

“I guess I’ll go with you. Jamie eats like a horse…” Casey says, rolling her eyes. Jamie pretends to be offended, poking Casey in the side as she walks past him. Casey laughs, slapping his hands away. Aiden smiles at them warmly. They head toward the exit. Casey walks in front of Aiden, not wanting to be in step with him, but Aiden keeps up with her anyway.

“You and Jamie seem to have a great relationship,” Aiden says when they finally get a good rhythm.

“We do. He’s a great kid.”

“That he is,” Aiden says, smiling. “How long have you and Harper been friends?”

“Since Jamie was born.”

“That’s what I thought. I remember meeting you a few times when I was down to see Jamie.” Casey nods her head. Aiden licks his lips and sighs.

“So I have a feeling you don’t like me very much,” Aiden says as they reach one of the lines at a concession stand.

“And your feeling would be correct,” Casey says, pretending to be interested in the price board above the cashier’s head.

“But you don’t know me,” Aiden says, putting his hands deep in the pockets of his dark denim jeans.

“I know enough about you to know that I don’t want to know you.” Casey looks at him sternly, hoping that this statement ends the conversation.

“And what do you know about me?” he says.

“Your objective is to break up Dakota and Harper so you can selfishly get back the family you abandoned over a decade ago.” The line moves and they both move up, only a few people from the cashier now.

“I don’t have a hidden agenda. I just want my son back,” Aiden says, his jaw clenched as he tries to keep his anger under control.

“Look, Aiden, you can try to work that pretty boy charm all you want, but I’m not as naïve as my best friend and I’m not as patient as Dakota, either. I won’t sugarcoat anything to make anyone feel better or pretend to like you. I won’t be rude to you. I’ll be cordial because at the end of the day you’re Jamie’s father. But don’t expect us to be friends. It’s not going to happen. I don’t…like you. Period.” Aiden glares at her but doesn’t have time to respond when they reach the cashier. They order a large plate of nachos, four hot dogs, and four medium Cokes. The cashier gives them a couple of trays to carry all of their snacks. After a minute or two of maneuvering themselves through the crowd of navy blue and orange, they get back to Jamie and Bianca.

“Got major snack-age here,” Aiden announces. Jamie looks at Casey as she passes hot dogs down the row, to Bianca, to him, and then to Aiden with a frown.

“You all right, Cas?” he asks curiously. Casey smiles big.

“Of course. Let’s go, Cavaliers! Whoo hoo!” she yells and then takes a large bite of her hot dog. Jamie laughs and shakes his head. The announcer starts to name the starting line-up, and the crowd starts to go crazy. Aiden looks over at Casey, who has just stood up for her favorite player.

“Number twenty-two, baby, yeah!” she yells in her best Austin Powers accent, and they all burst out laughing.

“I didn’t know you followed college ball, Ms. Reynolds,” Bianca says.

“Oh, I don’t. I just like his face,” she says, shrugging. “And I keep telling you to call me Casey. Ms. Reynolds is my mother.” Bianca nods, smiling.

“Oh, look at eleven. Stand up with me, B! Yes!” Casey jumps up again, and Bianca yells with her, laughing in between their cat calls. Jamie and Aiden laugh at them. The game starts and the crowd quiets a few octaves to pay attention, but there is one set of eyes that aren’t on it. Aiden can’t seem to get his conversation with Casey out of his head or the guilt that came with it.

***

Dakota

“Hey, kid,” Dakota says, standing in the doorway of Jamie’s room. Jamie looks up from his computer screen. He had gotten home a little while ago. Dakota heard him but waited a bit to talk to him until he got settled in. Now showered and in PJs, Jamie is ready for bed.

“Hey, Dakota. Thought you guys were asleep,” he says. He shuts down his computer and sits down on his bed.

“Your mom is. She tried to stay up, but she had a pretty long day at work.” Jamie nods his head. Dakota leans against the doorway. “How was the game?”

“It was great. Really fun. We got pizza afterwards. That’s why I’m home so late.”

“Oh, no worries. Just wanted to see that you got home safe,” Dakota says.

“Thanks,” Jamie says. Dakota pushes himself up.

“Night,” Dakota says and starts to head back to his room.

“Hey, Dakota,” Jamie calls. Dakota turns back around.

“What’s up?” he says.

“Are you mad at me for hanging out with my dad so much these days?”

Dakota scoffs. He sits next to Jamie on the bed. “No. Why would you think that?”

“It just seems like you’ve been avoiding me since he moved here.”

“I was just giving you space, Jam. I didn’t want to intrude on your time with your dad.”

“Well thanks, but you know that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to hang with you too, right?”

“Of course I know that, Jam,” Dakota says, smiling.

“I like having him here, Dakota,” Jamie says softly.

“You’re supposed to like having him here,” Dakota says. He puts his hand on Jamie’s shoulder. “I’m sorry we haven’t had time to really sit down and talk about all of this. But listen, Aiden is your dad and he’s here for you. You can hang out with him as much as you want. I’m not going anywhere. I’m not mad or jealous or sad. I’m happy for you. I want this for you. It’s about time Aiden realized what he has been missing out on: one fantastic kid.”

“I just feel guilty.”

“Why?” Dakota says.

“Because, Dakota.” He looks down at his green comforter. “You’re kind of my dad too.” Dakota takes his hand off of Jamie’s shoulder slowly.

“What?” he says, blinking rapidly.

“No one wants to say it because of whatever reasons, but it is what it is, D. Okay, so you may not have helped with my DNA, but you’ve been a father to me in every other way there is, and now that you and Mom are dating, it makes it even more real to me. You’re my dad too. And I don’t want you to feel neglected just because the guy who did provide the DNA is suddenly ready to step up. My dad will just have to get used to the fact that he has to share me.”

Dakota looks at Jamie in awe as he tries to process what he just said. “Okay,” Dakota manages to say. His voice is low, and he swallows to clear the lump in his throat.

“Okay,” Jamie says and grins. Dakota can’t help but grin back.

“Your mom probably wants us to tell you together, but um…your mom asked me to move in with you guys. I’m guessing…that’s cool?”

Jamie beams and nods his head. “You already practically live here. We buy groceries for you, for crying out loud.” Dakota laughs.

“That is true,” Dakota says. He gets up from the bed and glances at his watch, swallowing thickly again. “Well, I’ll let you get some sleep. You have school in the morning. Get that beauty rest.” Jamie chuckles.

“Okay,” he says. Dakota walks out of the room and closes the door behind him. He leans up against the door and lets out a breath. He closes his eyes and exhales. A tear falls from his eye and he exhales, feeling like his heart was going to explode in that room. He lets his emotions settle before heading to his bedroom. His bedroom. In his house. With his…family.

Chapter Thirteen

Dakota

“Okay, so I’ll text you when we land and I will call you before we go to bed.” Harper runs her fingers through her hair and looks up at Dakota. Dakota’s face is sad, but he smiles anyway. They have never been this far away from each other before, and he doesn’t like it. He doesn’t like it one bit. Harper told him she isn’t too fond of the idea either. Both were putting up a brave face. They are outside of the airport. Dakota had offered to drive her and Jamie to see them off. Jamie is off to the side talking to Aiden, who is sending them smirking glances every few seconds. Jamie and Dakota have already said their goodbyes, giving each other a quick hug and a handshake.

“Sounds good,” Dakota says. Harper puts her arms around his neck. She kisses him sweetly.

“What are you going to do all by yourself in our big house?” Dakota smiles, loving the sound of our house coming from her mouth. The move had been so easy. And for the past few weeks, it felt just like home. Nothing had really changed except for now instead of crashing on the couch he was waking up next to her, the woman he was starting to think was the love of his life.

“Sulk…mostly,” he says with a smirk. Harper giggles into his chest. Dakota kisses her on the forehead and wraps his arms around her waist. They hug for several seconds.

“All right. I’m going to go now,” Harper says. “Before I change my mind.” Dakota sighs deeply.

“Okay. Have fun.” Harper lets him go and walks over to Aiden and Jamie.

“All ready?” Aiden asks. Harper nods.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” she says, smiling politely.

“Take care of them, Aiden. I expect my girlfriend and our Jamie back in one piece,” Dakota says as he walks around to get in the driver’s seat of his car.

Aiden nods tightly at him. “Of course,” he says, and they head for the doors of the terminal. Dakota watches them until he can’t see them anymore and then gets into his car and drives away.

Later that day after spending countless hours cleaning the house, rearranging the Christmas presents under the tree in various orders such as alphabetical, size, and color, and watching the
A Christmas Story
marathon on cable, he finds himself on the doorstep of his old friend Rick Samuels. Dakota had enjoyed a few man-dates with Rick since their reunion and had been invited for a nice Christmas Eve dinner with him and his fiancé. Figuring that sulking in the house until Harper and Jamie came home would be unproductive, he agreed to go. Carrying a bottle of Sweet Red wine, Dakota knocks. After a few seconds, Rick opens the door with a huge grin.

“Merry Christmas, buddy! Come on in! So glad you could make it! How was the drive?” Rick is extremely cheery this Christmas Eve. Dakota forgot how much he loved the holidays. It seemed to be the only time his parents ever really got along, so maybe that was why.

“Merry Christmas, man. The drive was good. Not too much traffic. Took a few back roads Jason Alden style.” Rick nods, chuckling. Dakota hands him the bottle of wine along with his coat. Rick drapes his coat over the banister beside them.

“Thanks. This is one of Jennifer’s favorites. Come on in to the living room. She’s excited to meet you.” They walk a few paces, and on the left is a quaint living room space. Dakota can see when he looks down the hall that there is a healthy sized kitchen. When they enter the living room, a big tree stands tall in one corner with a great amount of presents underneath. Two stockings adorn the wood-burning fireplace beside it labeled with Jennifer and Rick’s names on them, and comfy-looking sofas and love seats are spread around the room, making the entire situation look like something out of a catalog. Jennifer is sitting cross-legged on the sofa closest to the fireplace, sipping something thick from a mug. She’s beautiful and tall with blonde hair falling in soft waves around her face and big doe eyes. She looks extremely excited to meet him.

“Dakota, this is Jennifer. Jennifer, this is my almost brother from another mother, Dakota.” Dakota chuckles and walks up to her, then shakes her outstretched hand.

“It’s so nice to meet you, Jennifer,” Dakota says.

“It’s so nice to meet you too, Dakota. Rick has told me so much about you over these past few weeks, I feel like I know you,” she says.

“Hope it was all good,” Dakota jokes.

“Oh, of course,” Jennifer says, smiling. “Please make yourself comfortable. I’ll go get you something to drink. Egg nog? Wine?”

“Egg nog would be great, actually,” Dakota says.

“Awesome, and help yourself to some cookies. They’re just out of the oven.” Jennifer disappears down the hall. He smiles at Rick knowingly.

“I owe you a high five,” Dakota says, winking at his friend. Rick laughs out loud. “It’s not as manly when you do it beside a Christmas tree and cookies shaped like reindeer.” Jennifer returns quickly and sets Dakota’s mug of egg nog in front of him. She sits next to Rick and loops her arm through his.

“I can’t believe you guys just found each other so randomly.”

“It was completely unexpected,” Dakota says, helping himself to the cookies sitting in front of him.

“A good unexpected,” Rick says. “Could have been under better circumstances, but you know…shit happens.” Dakota nods, enjoying his Santa Claus-shaped sugar cookie.

“It was pretty funny. I was expecting this uptight disciplinarian about to tell me that my kid was going down a very dangerous path and I get this goof,” Dakota says, smirking. Rick shrugs. Jennifer laughs.

“I think I was on my A-game that day. Mason thought he was going to get expelled. I could see it in his eyes.”

“Oh, you smell fear, is that it?”

“I eat it for breakfast,” Rick says in triumph, and they all laugh.

“Were you surprised that Rick was a teacher?” Jennifer says.

“Oh, no. Not at all. I knew he would be. When he would come home on weekends or breaks, he totally helped me with my homework. Aced all of my tests from just studying with him over the phone. He was great,” Dakota says.

“And I always knew you would be a photographer. Jennifer, this guy is the reason my dad hates taking pictures. He would follow my parents around everywhere, just snapping away. And his favorite pastime was candid ones. Call your name and snap—you’re on Dakota Camera.”

“That’s hilarious,” Jennifer says through laughter. “Do you have any embarrassing stories about this guy that I should know? Something really good I can use against him.” Dakota takes a long sip of his drink as he thinks.

“Oh, oh, man, okay, so one weekend he came home. He decided he was going to teach me how to play rugby, of all sports, seriously.” Jennifer is laughing into her mug, and Rick is shaking his head.

“You were sports deprived! I had to teach you everything! One sport every weekend I came home,” Rick defends himself as he starts to uncork the bottle of wine Dakota brought.

“Whatever. So anyway, I am uncoordinated, unfocused, and probably have some form of ADD, so I’m focusing on his instructions one minute and a candy apple red car passing by the next.” They all laugh while eating way too many cookies that’ll probably spoil their dinner as Dakota continues the story. None of them seem to care about that, though, as they continue sharing stories until dinner. When dinner is ready, they all sit at the beautifully decorated dining room table and chow down on ham, mashed potatoes, and a vegetable medley. Everything is delicious, and Dakota makes sure to tell Jennifer that as he devours everything on his plate.

“So Rick says you have a girlfriend?” Jennifer says before taking a bite of her mashed potatoes.

“Yes…Her name is Harper,” Dakota says.

“How long have you been together?”

“For about three months. It’s still fairly new, I guess.”

“That’s great. How did you guys meet?”

“Well, we’ve been friends for a long time. I used to babysit her son when he was a young kid, and I just never left.”

“That’s so sweet,” she says.

“You should see him and Jamie together. Dakota came to the school and volunteered for the Thanksgiving food drive, and you couldn’t tell me they weren’t related. They are two peas in a pod,” Rick chimes in. Dakota grins.

“He’s a great kid…really bright, funny, talented, stays out of trouble. Impossible not to love,” Dakota says proudly.

“Sounds like you love him enough for the whole world,” she teases.

“That’s possible,” Dakota says.

“And what’s Harper like?” Jennifer asks.

“Incredible. Selfless, witty, hardworking, and extremely beautiful. I couldn’t be happier.”

Jennifer nods and takes a sip of her wine. “I would love to meet her. You should come over New Year’s. We’re having a little party. Just some of my friends and a few of Rick’s colleagues.” Rick nods enthusiastically.

“Yeah, man. It’s going to be really fun. We’re all going to get drunk, watch the ball drop, and then make out with our dates.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Dakota says, holding up his wine glass, and they all clink their glasses together, chuckling.

At the end of the night, Dakota gives Jennifer a warm hug and a thank you for inviting him. Rick walks out on to the porch to say their goodbyes.

“Thanks again for inviting me, Rick. This was great,” Dakota says.

“You’re welcome, man. Thanks for coming. I’m so glad you could. Can’t wait for New Year’s. I think Harper and Jennifer will get along great.” Dakota nods, smiling.

“For sure. Jennifer’s amazing. I’m so happy for you guys.” Rick looks at his front door as if seeing Jennifer through it.

“Thank you. She has no idea how wrapped around her finger I truly am.”

“I know the feeling,” Dakota says, chuckling. There is a comfortable silence between them for a few seconds. Dakota clears his throat. “Can I ask you something weird?”

Rick nods. “Sure, anything,” he says, folding his arms to protect himself from the late December wind.

“When did you know that Jennifer…was the one? That you didn’t want anyone else and she was it?” Dakota’s face is serious as he watches Rick process the question. He strokes his chin.

“I don’t think there was ever an exact moment. I just…knew. I looked at her and I pictured my life without her in it and I just didn’t like it. I just knew that no matter what happened, I wanted her to be there with me.”

It’s Dakota’s turn to process. He nods his head, slowly going over the words in his head a couple of times.

“Hm,” he responds softly.

“Why do you ask?” Rick says, smirking.

Dakota shrugs nonchalantly. “Just curious,” he says.

“Is my former-juvenile-delinquent-almost-brother in love?” Rick asks, the smirk not leaving his face. Dakota rolls his eyes.

“Goodbye, Rick. Thanks for the lovely evening.”

“You are, aren’t you? That is so cute,” Rick teases further. Dakota punches him playfully in the shoulder and heads to his car.

“See you New Year’s!” Dakota calls, waving at him. He can still see Rick’s smirk as he settles into his car and lets the engine warm up. But no matter how annoyed he was at his friend, he can’t help but smirk too. He is in love, and he doesn’t think it’s going away any time soon. Or maybe, he admits to himself, it isn’t ever going to go away. Period.

***

Harper

Harper comes from the bathroom changed into her PJs. The bottoms have bunny rabbits on them, and her white T-shirt smells like Dakota. Her face is thoroughly flushed red from her goodnight conversation with Dakota. Jamie is lying on his back on his twin bed dressed the same minus the bunnies. Aiden booked two connecting rooms for them, one for Harper and Jamie to sleep in, and one for himself. Harper was grateful for it and, honestly, surprised. She expected a lavish suite of some sort. She was actually surprised by Aiden’s actions the entire day. He was…pleasant. She might even say…nice. When they arrived, they immediately went to get breakfast at a place Aiden loved. He had a car available to chauffeur them around for the day. After breakfast they went sightseeing, pizza at another one of Aiden’s favorite places, and then in the evening they went to see something on Broadway that neither Harper nor Jamie were interested in but were excited to see just because they were in New York. They went to see the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center, and for dinner they went to Aiden’s favorite restaurant, which should have been named after him because of the way it catered to him.

It was all very exciting—sometimes weird—but mostly fun. Harper wished she could have captured every expression on Jamie’s face. Every moment was priceless, and she was happy she got to experience it all with him. She still wasn’t completely sure about Aiden’s intentions, but she had to admit she didn’t regret coming along and she couldn’t have asked for a better day. Harper knocks on the door connecting their rooms. She hears Aiden call out to come in and walks into the room. It isn’t much different than the one she shares with Jamie except for it only has one big bed. Aiden is lying on the bed on his stomach, flicking through television channels. He sits up when Harper comes in. Harper stays loitering by the door.