Coming Home Part 3
Disclaimers: I do not own the characters Joey, Dawson or Mr. Potter.
They belong to Kevin Williamson etc.. I am just a fan passing some
time!
Amanda and Jessica woke Joey up the next
morning by crawling in bed with her. She got up with them and they all
three joined Mr. Potter for breakfast. He had coffee made and was
grinning when they walked around the corner. Joey smiles "Hi Dad. Did
they give you much trouble last night?" Mr. Potter chuckled "No not
really. I just had to sit on Amanda to get her to go to sleep. She is
really excited about going to the beach today." The girls shrieked at
the mention of the beach. Joey looked at her dad and grinned "Thanks.
Can you come to the beach with us?" Amanda spoke up "Please Papa?" Mr.
Potter gave a wincing look and said "Well I have a few things I need to
do this afternoon, but maybe I can come for a little while this
morning." He looked at Joey's smiling face and said "I take it by your
grin that you had a good visit with Dawson Leery last night." Joey
blushed "Yeah..... I did. He is supposed to come to the beach and
bring lunch today. You have any plans tonight Dad?" Joey was wondering
to herself how she was going to find time to spend with Dawson without
burdening her father with baby-sitting all the time. Mr. Potter looked
at Joey in a way that she knew he had something to say that she wasn't
sure she wanted to hear. "Well, Joey there is someone I have been
seeing. I didn't want to say anything about it quite yet because I
wasn't sure how you would feel and...." Joey broke in "Dad it has been
a long time and I completely understand you wanting to have someone in
your life."
Mr. Potter still looked uncomfortable and he finally said "Joey, I am
going to tell you this now because I don't want you to find out later
and get angry. The woman I am seeing, Sheila, is the same woman I was
seeing when I was married to your Mom." Joey's color escaped her face.
She wasn't sure what to say. The first things that came to mind were
certainly unmentionable. "Why Dad?" she looked at him in disbelief.
Mr. Potter sighed "Joey I loved her then and I still do. She came and
visited me in prison. We kept in touch all of these years. I would
have already been married her if it weren't for my fear of hurting you
and Bessie."
Joey could not believe what she was hearing. She wanted to be adult
about it, but all of the hurt and anger from the past swelled up in her.
She had tears in her eyes and bit her lip "I am sorry Dad. I want to
understand. I do, but your relationship with this woman caused Mom so
much pain." Mr. Potter "Joey, when Sheila and I started seeing each
other, I didn't know your mother was sick. She and I had grown
apart..... It doesn't make it right. I know that, but I don't want you
to think I got involved with her after your Mom got sick. I didn't.
Your Mom and I were already discussing getting a divorce..." Joey
fighting back tears "Dad that is enough. I understand what you are
saying. I am not sure if my feelings are in response to your
relationship or because I miss Mom so much. It is your life though and
you can't choose who you love. I will deal with it. It may take a
while before I can stand to be around her though."
Mr. Potter cleared his throat and said "Well, she and I have agreed
that I need some time to spend with you and the girls. We are not
planning to get together anytime in the next few days. I just thought
that if you were not going to be here.......that maybe I would ask her
to come over for a while after the girls go to bed." Joey didn't know
how to respond. She wanted to run out the door and get into her boat
and paddle up the creek to Dawson's. That instinct made her
almost laugh. She thought of how happy she felt with Dawson and
knew she wanted he dad to be happy as well. She broke into a half
smile. " Umm....Dad, that would be OK with me." She didn't feel as
good about it as she tried to act though. Inside she was still reeling.
Mr. Potter seemed genuinely surprised and touched by Joey's consent. He
reached across the table for her hand. Jessica and Amanda were through
with breakfast so she had a perfect excuse to get out of the kitchen.
She went and got the girls ready for the beach.
Dawson woke up that morning unusually early and started unpacking.
He wondered why he hadn't hired someone to help. He realized he had
been grinning and humming all morning. He kept replaying scenes from
the night before in his mind. How could he be so lucky? He had a huge
stack of empty boxes and glanced at his watch. It was eleven and he had
not even thought about what he was going to take to the beach for lunch.
He laughed to himself at Joey's request of peanut butter sandwiches for
her little one. He had not even entertained the thought of having
children in years. He had not met anyone he wanted to have children
with. He took his stack of boxes outside and locked the door. He got
into his rental car and took off to town in search of lunch for
four.
Joey, the girls and Mr. Potter had been at the beach for a few hours
when Mr. Potter announced he needed to leave. Joey reached in her bag
and grabbed her watch. It was almost noon. She expected Dawson any
minute. She asked her dad to bring Jessie's carseat down to their
blanket. He started to, but Dawson pulled up as he was getting it out
of the car. Dawson took it from him and Mr. Potter told him to take
care of his girls. Dawson grinned and said he would. He grabbed a
cooler and a picnic basket out of the car. He walked down to where Joey
and the girls were. Amanda saw him coming and ran up to where her Mom
was. Joey was still thinking about what her father had told her
earlier. He thought she was OK with it, but she wasn't. She didn't
think she had any right to keep her father from seeing the woman either
though.
As Dawson walked up to Joey's blanket his first impulse was to kiss
her hello, but he refrained. He sat the cooler down and asked if anyone
was hungry. Joey pushed her sunglasses back on her head and smiled at
Dawson. "So what did you bring?" He opened the basket and brought out
a jar of peanut butter, jelly, some bananas, a loaf of bread, chips,
cheese, and donuts. Joey laughed at his selection. "Hey I didn't know
what went with peanut butter!" Jessica screamed "peanut butter!"
Dawson got out a knife and some napkins and went about making sandwiches
for everyone. "This isn't much of a lunch. How about I take all three
of you out for dinner tonight? We can go anywhere you like!" Amanda
chimed in "Can we go to McDonalds?" Joey couldn't help but giggle.
Dawson didn't know what to say "Uhhh... Sure if that is OK with your
Mom." Joey spoke up "Amanda wouldn't you like to have some fish since
we are close to the ocean? (She pointed to some shrimp boats out on the
ocean) See they are catching shrimp right now!" Amanda looked
disappointed until she heard Joey mention shrimp and she agreed.
They spent the rest of the afternoon making a sand castles and
playing in the water. Joey thought the girls seemed to be getting along
well with Dawson. She told Dawson about her father's girlfriend and how
it made her feel. He agreed with her that she couldn't really keep him
from seeing the woman. He sympathized with her though. She was glad
someone could understand how she felt. Dawson's rental car was a
convertible and the girls loved riding home with the top down. Dawson
dropped them off at Mr. Potter's home and suggested that maybe Joey
invite her dad and Sheila to go eat with them. She didn't want to, but
Dawson persuaded her to go ahead and meet her and get it over with.
"Come on Joe it is the perfect opportunity, and I will be there with
you." Joey grinned and agreed. She said good-bye and blew him a kiss.
"Is that all I get?" She grinned "Yes until we bring the girls home.
That is if you want some company tonight." Dawson widened his eyes
"Uh... I definitely expect company tonight. To have spent the day
without touching you has been murder!" Joey laughed and watched Dawson
pull off. He thought about the day as he drove home and couldn't get
over how lucky he felt.
Back To Fanfic Page
Next Part...
Email: dawsonnjoey@alloymail.com