"Hey, Mum, how come you invited Jax's girlfriend over for dinner but you didn't invite mine?" Jerry asked, slightly offended.

"Because, Jerry," Jax spoke up, "what would be the point? You're just going to have a new one next week anyway."

Jerry rolled his eyes. "Not true," he retorted.

"All right, boys, no fighting," Jane said with a laugh. "I'm sorry, Jerry. It just simply slipped my mind to ask if you wanted to bring Jeannie over. There's still time to call her up and invite her."

"Uh, it's Kristen, Mum."

Jax burst into laughter. "New girlfriend already? Wow, so what was wrong with Jeannie? Was she too beautiful?"

"Jax…" Jerry complained.

"Oh, oh, I got it!" Jax laughed. "The way her nose would crinkle when she laughed was just too much, huh?"

"Just shut up!" Jerry said in annoyance.

"You know, I liked Jeannie. Really, what was wrong with her?"

"She just wasn't my type."

"Jerry, you said she was 'sexy', and if I recall correctly, that's your type!"

"Alright, boys!" Jane said again to her sons. "Jax, when will Chloe be here?"

"Oh, she might be a little late."

"She's going to be late?"

Jax laughed. "She's always late, Mum."

Chloe was finally ready, but now came the task of getting Molly ready. Chloe poked her head into her daughter's bedroom. She gasped at the sight of it. Toys were still everywhere. She couldn't even see the carpet.

"Molly, I've told you countless times today to get this room clean. And, baby, where are your shoes? I told you to put them on ten minutes ago."

Molly looked up from her play on the floor. "I couldn't find them, Mommy."

"Well I bet you couldn't find them. You can't find anything in this mess." Chloe sighed. "Okay, I'll help you." She stepped into the room and nearly tripped on a stuffed animal. "Molly, can you make me a path please? I can't walk in here."

Molly quickly got to her feet and cleared a space for her mother to walk. Chloe walked over to the closet and opened the door.

"Alright, we've got a shoe in here…and here is the match. They're both here. Okay, come sit here on the bed so that I can tie these shoes."

Molly got up and went over to the bed. Chloe helped her put on her shoes. "Now, Molly, we're having dinner with Jax's family tonight. Other foot please." Molly promptly gave her mother her other foot and Chloe tied her shoe. "So I want you to be on your best behavior tonight."

"Okay, Mommy."

"Good girl. Okay, your shoes are tied. How do you want Mommy to do your hair?"

"Um, I want pigtails!"

"Well alrighty then, Miss Punky Brewster."

Molly laughed as she turned around and Chloe started to brush her hair.

"I hope we're not too late," Chloe apologized when Jax opened the door.

"No, no, you're not too late. Come in."

Jax moved aside and Chloe and Molly walked in.

"Actually, I think you made perfect timing. My mother is almost finished with cooking dinner."

"Oh great."

"Oh hello, Chloe!" Jane said as she and John walked into the living room. "How are you?"

"I'm good. And you?"

"Wonderful. It's so good to be in New York to see both of our sons…where is that Jerry?"

John looked toward the kitchen. "I think he's sampling your apple pie."

"I wasn't sampling your apple pie," Jerry said as he came out of the kitchen, licking his fingers.

Jane rolled her eyes, not believing one word her eldest had said.

"Oh hey, I remember this one," Jerry said when he saw Molly. He walked over to the child and got down on his knees. "Do you remember me?"

Molly smiled and shook her head shyly.

"Do you remember my name?"

Molly thought about it for a while, and then shook her head no.

"Uncle Jerry."

"Oh," Molly said as if she had just remembered.

"Wanna see a neat trick?" he asked her.

"Yeah."

"Alright." Jerry took out of his pocket a bright red handkerchief. "You see this?"

"Uh huh."

"Watch." Jerry put the handkerchief in his pocket. "Can you find it?"

Molly pointed to Jerry's shirt. "It's in your pocket."

"Are you sure?" Jerry asked her.

"Yeah." Molly reached into his pocket and was surprised when there was nothing there. "Hey, where'd it go?" She then checked all of Jerry's pockets and found them empty too. "Hey! Where is it?"

Jerry laughed. "Why don't you check your pocket?"

Molly reached into her pocket, and sure enough, the red handkerchief was there. "I found it! I found it!" Molly looked up at her mother. "Look, Mommy! It magically appeared in my pocket!"

Chloe laughed. "That's a pretty neat trick."

"It's magic," Jerry said and smiled.

"So this is Molly," Jane said with a smile. "She looks just like you, Chloe."

Chloe smiled.

"Are you Jax's mommy and daddy?" Molly asked John and Jane.

John smiled. "Yes, we're Jax's parents, and Jerry's too. You can call me Mr. John if you want."

"And you can call me Lady Jane."

"You can call me Molly."

Everyone laughed, and Molly looked around at the adults, not understanding what was funny about that.

"Well, Molly," Jane asked, "your mother tells me that you like fried chicken, no?"

Molly gasped. "I love chicken! It's one of my most favoritest foods in the whole world!"

Everyone laughed again, and Jane offered her hand. "Well come with me to the kitchen and I'll set you up a plate of it."

Molly took her hand and followed her into the kitchen. Then they all went to the kitchen and had dinner.

Twenty past nine, late as usual, Chloe and Molly walked into the boutique Saturday morning.

"Someone's late again," Zoey chided as she walked past her and went over to the counter.

"You know, I own this place. I pay your salary. I think that entitles me to set my own hours."

Zoey just laughed.

"I'm gonna go play, Mommy," Molly said.

"Alright, baby. Go play."

Molly scampered off to the back room, her little teddy bear backpack bouncing as she left.

"So, how did dinner with Jax's family go last night?"

"It couldn't have gone better! Molly was a perfect angel, the food was wonderful, his parents were so nice. His family adores Molly! And Jax swears up and down that he's nothing like his brother, but I tell you, he's really good with kids too."

"Well that's great. So are his parents sticking around in town much longer?"

"No, they actually left this morning."

"Aw, I didn't get a chance to meet them."

"I'm sorry, Zoey."

"Oh that's okay. I'll sure once you two get married that I'll be seeing a lot of them."

Chloe laughed. "What?"

"Yeah, you know it's true, girl. You know you want it to happen." Zoey smiled and went back to her paperwork.

Chloe shook her head and then went to greet a customer that had just walked in.

Chloe stood back and watched as Ally photographed a model wearing her latest design.

"Oh, hold on, hold on, hold on!" Chloe suddenly said. She raced over to the model and did some work at the hem. "Sorry, Elise, it just wasn't hanging right."

"No problem," the model replied.

"Okay, you can continue the shoot. Sorry for the interruption."

"Actually," Ally said, "I'm just about out of film. We can take five."

Molly, having just finished her morning snack, ran out to the front and saw the activity going on. "Ooo!" she said and ran over to Ally. "Ally! Can I…can I be your model?" she asked excitedly.

"Um, I'm not sure." Ally turned to Chloe. "Mommy?"

Chloe thought about it. "Well, there is that flower girl dress that arrived the other day, and I have been wanting to see how it would wear. Zoey, do you know what dress I'm talking about?"

"I know just the dress your talking about. You want me to…?"

"Will you?"

"Sure." Zoey took Molly's hand. "Okay, Miss Molly, let's go turn you into a flower girl!"

"Yay!" Molly replied.

When Molly came back, she was wearing an adorable little light blue dress. The dress was of satin and had spaghetti straps with a little lacy covering over them.

"Look at me, Mommy!"

"Oh you look beautiful! Come here a second sweetie."

Molly walked over to her mother and Chloe quickly pulled the sides of her hair up and clipped it with a little hair ribbon. Then she took a compact out of her purse and put a little powder on Molly's face.

"Okay, you're all set! Go model my latest creation!" Chloe said.

Molly sashayed over to where the camera was. "I'm ready for my close-up!" she announced.

Everyone couldn't help but laugh, and then Ally indulged the child with a few snaps of her camera.

But of course, Molly was four, and four-year-olds have short attention spans. So naturally, Molly soon became bored of the whole thing. She had a better idea.

Molly walked over to the store window and got up on the platform, standing next to the mannequins dressed in white. She pounded on the glass, getting the attention of several people walking by outside.

"Hey! Look at me! Hey! I'm the flower girl!"

People smiled at Molly, and some even waved, all the while with Molly shouting for attention, telling everybody that she was the flower girl and to look at her pretty dress. Two young girls even walked in upon seeing Molly.

Chloe stood at the counter and watched, biting her lip. "I should stop her. She's going to get that dress dirty."

"Oh, no she won't," Zoey shrugged it off. "Just as long at you keep her away from food, it'll be just fine. And besides, it's free advertising!"

"Do you like my dress?" she asked one of the women.

"Yes, I do! It's very beautiful!"

"My mommy made this dress! She can make you one too!"

Chloe smiled and looked at Zoey. "Well, okay, I suppose I could let her do this for a little while."

"Are either of you gettin' married?" Molly asked the girls.

"No, but we certainly hope to soon!" The other woman said.

Molly pointed to her mother. "Well that's my mommy over there and she can make you a pretty dress so that you can get married!"

Around lunchtime, Jax stopped by after he had just got out of a meeting. Molly, still running around in the flower girl dress, ran over to him the moment she saw him walk through the door.

"JAX!" she shouted gleefully. "Look, Jax! I'm a flower girl!"

Jax kneeled down to her level and smiled. "Well you make a very pretty flower girl."

Molly giggled.

"So who's getting married?" Jax asked her.

Molly put her finger on her chin and thought about it. "Um…um…um…Mommy!"

"You're mother?"

"Uh huh."

Jax stood up and looked at Chloe suspiciously. Chloe was laughing.

"You seeing someone behind my back?" Jax teased.

Chloe just laughed harder and shook her head no. "Alright, Molly, I think it's time to take off the dress."

"No!" Molly whined.

"Baby, I can't let you wear it. You're going to get it dirty."

"No I won't Mommy. I'll be very, very careful."

"No, Molly, I'm not going to let you wear it all day."

"But, Mommy! I wanna wear it! It makes me look pretty!"

Chloe kneeled down to Molly. "Molly, you always look pretty. Look, I'll tell you what. I'll make a dress like this one for you, but I have to sell this one."

Zoey walked over to them. "Here, why don't I go help her get changed?" Zoey took Molly's hand.

"Thank you, Zoey."

"Alright, kiddo, let's go."

Molly turned back to face Jax. She smiled and waved goodbye.

Jax laughed softly. "Cute kid."

Chloe smiled and looked back at Molly and Zoey. "Thank you. So, here's the plan. Molly is spending the night with one of her friends tonight, so do you want to do something?"

"Sure. What do you want to do? Movie? Dinner? Broadway show?"

"Actually, I had something else in mind."

Later that night, Chloe took Jax to The City Bar, a local hangout where she would often go to with her friends.

"Wow, so this is where you hang out? Looks like a great place," Jax said as they walked through the door.

"Yeah, it's a great place." Chloe turned around to look at him. "Do you play pool?"

"Sure. Do you?"

Chloe shook her head. "No one will teach me."

"I could teach you."

"Really?" Chloe asked with a smile.

Jax grinned. "Sure."

Chloe eased herself into her bar stool. "This is great. We can sit at the bar…have a couple of beers… and then you, my fine Australian, can teach me how to play some pool."

Jax started laughing. "Oh no, I don't believe that."

Chloe looked at him with a confused expression. "What? The 'fine Australian' part?"

"Oh no, I'll agree with you on that," Jax said with a laugh. "I don't believe that you drink beer."

"You don't believe I drink beer?"

"No. You don't strike me as the type of person who drinks beer."

Chloe grinned widely. "Oh I don't?"

"No. Expensive French wine…yeah. Cheap American beer…no, I don't think so." Jax laughed softly.

"Hey, Buck," Chloe called to the bartender.

Buck turned around and saw Chloe. "Hey there, Chloe," he said in a thick country accent.

"Hey there. We're going to need a couple of beers."

"Coming right up," he said with a wink.

Chloe smirked at Jax as Buck set their beers in front of them.

Jax watched Chloe in amazement as she picked up her glass and took a big gulp of it.

"Ahh," she said and put the glass back down on the counter.

Jax continued to stare at her, gaping.

Chloe caught his gaze. "Well don't expect me to belch or anything. I do draw the line somewhere!"

Jax laughed. "You, Chloe Morgan, are amazing. I stand corrected. You do drink beer, and it looks as if you enjoy it."

Chloe grinned in triumph. "Well there's still a lot that you don't know about me, Jasper Jacks."

"I guess so. What are you going to tell me next? You're a sports fan?"

"The Yankees, heck yeah!"

"You're a Yankees fan?" Jax asked excitedly.

Chloe laughed. "Who isn't?"

"Yeah!" Jax cheered and gave Chloe a high-five. "Chloe, that's so cool that you like the Yankees!"

"They're great! Now, don't assume I'm some big sports fan; I'm not. But I'm a die-hard Yankees fan. They're…you know, the Yankees. They're like…a symbol of New York City!"

"I couldn't agree more. Well, you know what this means now, don't you?"

"What?"

"Well, now I've got this image of you looking all cute in a Yankees baseball cap stuck in my head, so I have no other choice. I'm going to have to take you to a Yankees game."

"Really?" Chloe asked excitedly.

"Definitely. So what do you say? You? Me? Yankee Stadium?"

"I'll drink to that!" Chloe laughed and held up her beer.

"Alright," Jax said. "To the Yankees!" he toasted.

"The Yankees!" Chloe cheered and clinked her glass with his.

"Okay, now what you're going to do is here," Jax put his arms around Chloe and helped her hold the cue stick. "You see that white ball?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, you're just going to slowly bring the cue stick back…and then…" Jax helped Chloe move the stick back, then forward as she hit the cue ball and it hit one of the balls and landed in the pocket.

"Hey, I did it!" Chloe cheered. "Well, you did it."

"Well why don't you try it again. Do it just as I showed you." Jax picked another ball from the table and set it down exactly as the first one had been. "Okay, go."

Chloe moved the cue stick forward and hit the ball. It hit the next ball and rolled into the corner pocket as well. "I did it! I really did it!"

Jax laughed. "See? You can do it. It's not too hard."

"Ah, it's beginner's luck."

"Well if you're feeling that lucky, how about a game?"

"Okay."

"It's called 'Eight ball'." Jax explained to Chloe the rules of the game and set the table up.

"I think I'm going to win," Chloe said.

"We'll see about that," Jax said.

Chloe won.

"Oh gosh, I can't believe I won!"

"Congratulations," Jax said. Chloe jumped up and down excitedly. Then she caught Jax smiling. "You let me win, didn't you?"

Jax tried to keep a straight face, but it was impossible. Chloe was right.

Chloe walked over to Jax and playfully hit him on the arm. "Jax! Why did you let me win?"

Jax shrugged his shoulders. "I just wanted to see you smile. Come on, everyone likes to win the first time they play. And besides, admit it, if I had won, you wouldn't play with me again now would you?"

Chloe smiled. At least he was being honest. "Thank you for teaching me how to play pool."

"You're welcome."

Chloe smiled, then brought her lips to his and kissed him.

To be continued…