Harm had spent the better part of Sunday running errands in a near total state of fog. When he unpacked his groceries and saw that he had actually bought two cans of dog food, he knew there was no point trying to accomplish anything else of importance today.
He’d already stripped the bed and washed the sheets. At first he was simply going to make the bed until he noticed he could still smell Jen’s mild perfume. The memory of it left him feeling warm all over. Unsure of what to make of it, he opted for changing the sheets ASAP.
Could Jen be right? Was it time for him to declare his intentions? Was Mac ready to hear that? Was it what she needed?
Harm wasn’t sure when he had picked up his guitar or how long he’d been playing. Actually, he didn’t even realize he was playing until he had to put the guitar down to answer the knock at the door.
Walking towards the door, he glanced around the room searching for any signs of something Jen may have forgotten. He wasn’t expecting anyone else and had convinced himself it had to be Jen back to retrieve some forgotten article.
“What did you forget?” Harm smiled pulling the door open wide.
“Did I forget something?” Mac asked, amused by the proverbial ‘deer caught in the headlights’ expression on his face. She hoped she’d still be amused when she found out who he was expecting.
“Uh, no. Not that I know of, uh, come in.” Harm stepped aside motioning her towards the living room.
“Should I ask who forgot something?” Mac hoped her smile didn’t reveal how nervous that question made her.
“Sure.” Harm turned to close the door and take a deep breath. He wasn’t cheating on her. They didn’t have that kind of relationship. There was no reason, well sort of no reason, for him to feel guilty. He could do this. He had to.
“I fed Jen late last night after a bad date. I thought she might have left something I hadn’t noticed. Can I get you something to drink?” Harm made his way to the kitchen after making sure he took the time to look Mac in the eyes when he mentioned Jen.
“Water will be fine, thanks.” For just a moment she was worried it was going to have been Professor Montes. Mac was slightly surprised by how relieved she was to discover it was only Jen.
If the grin on her face was any indication, he had nothing to worry about. She didn’t suspect a thing. If he thought about it, why should she? It was totally unlike him to do anything inappropriate, especially with an enlisted female. Hell, he still couldn’t believe he’d done it and he was there.
“To what do I owe this pleasant surprise?” Harm handed Mac her glass of water and took a seat next to her on the sofa.
Mac let out a small sigh. “The walls just seemed to be closing in on me today. I…I didn’t want to be alone.” Mac dropped her eyes to her glass, suddenly feeling a little awkward. “I guess I just needed my best friend’s company.” Looking back up at him, she shrugged her shoulders apologetically.
“To be perfectly honest, I could use my best friend’s company too.” Harm flashed that flyboy grin that made everything right in the world.
Jen had spent the day happily cleaning the apartment. She couldn’t help but chuckle to herself, who would ever have thought anything could make her happily clean. She had definitely been walking around all day on cloud nine. Last night hadn’t really changed anything and yet somehow, everything seemed lighter, brighter. Life definitely felt good today.
She had actually found herself baking bread. Okay, so maybe it doesn’t count when it comes from a bread machine but she couldn’t resist the urge to take a loaf over to Harm. Sort of an odd way of saying thank you.
At the sound of the knock on his door Harm couldn’t help the chill that ran up his spine. When he thought it might have been Jen earlier he honestly didn’t mind. The idea that it might be Jen now scared the hell out of him. He wasn’t sure he could hide feeling guilty if Jen and Mac were in the same room at the same time.
Slowly he gathered his courage and strode to the front door.
“Sorry to bother you, sir.” Jen smiled stepping into the apartment.
“No bother.” Harm was proud he managed to get that out without stumbling over his own tongue.
“Colonel!” Jen announced a little too enthusiastically. She didn’t even realize she’d turned to Harm and winked. “ It’s nice to see you ma’am.” Jen was honestly delighted that maybe, just maybe, Harm was going to listen to her.
“What have you got there?” Harm nodded towards Jen’s arms. So far everything seemed to be going well. He might as well go with the obvious.
“It’s just such a nice day I decided to see what I could do with that bread maker you gave me for Christmas. I know it’s not really home made bread, but it’s as close as I’ll ever come.” Jen chuckled loudly handing the warm loaf over to Harm.
Harm took the proffered loaf to the kitchen and rummaged through a drawer for something to slice it with.
“It smells wonderful Jen.” Mac got up to follow Harm into the kitchen.
“It’s my way of thanking the Commander for last night.”
At the sound of Jen’s words, Harm tripped over absolutely nothing and clumsily dropped the bread and the knife in the sink with a loud thunk. Fumbling awkwardly to regain his composure, Harm quickly retrieved the loaf thankful the sink was empty.
Mac and Jen both turned to face each other silently as if to ask what the hell had happened to him.
Shrugging her shoulders lightly, Jen continued. “I had another one of those standard lousy dates and the Commander was nice enough to feed me and take the time to cheer me up. A loaf of fresh bread was the best thank you I could come up with.” Jen rolled on her heels smiling contentedly at the two officers.
Harm quietly proceeded to slice the bread, silently chiding himself for his ridiculous reaction. He should know Jen would not say anything incriminating about last night. It was obvious she was equating their brief interlude with any other normal gesture of friendship. As absurd as that sounded, even to him, the way she was behaving you’d think sleeping with her was as simple as having offered chicken soup to a sick friend. Although, if he allowed himself to look at it that way, maybe last night was indeed like a chicken soup for their souls.
Not wanting to intrude any longer, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I was on a house cleaning roll and I’d like to get back to it before I wake up and realize housework isn’t really much fun.” Nodding her head, Jen turned to let herself out of the apartment, grinning like a schoolgirl.
“Don’t you want to stay and have some bread, it smells heavenly.” Mac held out a plate with a couple of slices of bread on it.
“Thank you, ma’am but I really just wanted to drop it off and say thank you. I have my own loaf at home, this one is for the Commander to share with you.” Once again Jen winked knowingly at Harm.
Missing Jen’s wink, Mac looked at Harm and couldn’t help but notice the slight blush rising in his ears. She quickly ran through the dialogue, the only thing she could come up with was Jen’s implication of Harm sharing with her. She wondered if that was enough to make him blush.
They sat quietly on the couch until they’d finished every crumb on their plates.
“You look cute when you blush.” Mac set her plate down on the coffee table.
“Thanks, but I wasn’t blushing.” Oh Lord, here we go he thought.
“Yeah, you were. What was going on?” Mac had no idea what a loaded question that was.
Considering all that had gone on since last night, Harm was relieved to discover he wasn’t as unnerved by her question as he thought he would be. Taking a moment to ponder the events of the last twenty four hours, especially the last thirty minutes, it was obvious to Harm that he and Jen had created a stronger bond of friendship but nothing more. The knowledge that they’d both come out of this situation stronger, and probably better, washed away any traces of guilt that might have been threatening to consume him.
“It seems our Petty Officer has a few opinions on how I handle my personal life.” Harm shrugged.
“Your personal life?”
“It only seemed fair, Mac. Can you think of a better way to make someone reevaluate the state of their love life other than bringing up someone else who’s worse off than they are?”
Mac rolled her eyes and smiled. “Are you saying your love life is in worse shape than hers?”
“Let’s just say I’m still hopeful.” Not sure how far to take this conversation, Harm reached over to rest his hand on hers. If Jen was right, he’d have to start somewhere.
For a split second, a vision of Alicia Montes kissing Harm on the cheek flashed through her mind and squeezed tightly around her heart. The idea was quickly discarded when she felt the warmth of his hand on hers.
“There’s a new Italian place I noticed the other day when I stopped by the wall. It looked charming. What do you say we go out for a late dinner?” Harm squeezed her hand lightly urging her on silently.
Once again her heart tightened in her chest. He may have been holding her hand but in reality he held her heart and it was about time she faced that fact once and for all.
“I
think that would be nice.” Tightening her fingers around his hand,
“My vette or yours?”