This takes place immediately after the previous chapter. It's mostly just an opportunity to show that Jeff and Ginger are absolutely on cloud nine over their marriage, but they haven't lost any of their feistyness!! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part Three
The phone was ringing as Ginger and Linda walked in the door. Ginger practically pushed Linda to the ground in an effort to rush to answer it.
"Hello," she said breathlessly.
"Well it's about time," a very familiar and sexy voice said to her.
"Jeff!" A wide smile spread across her face. "Oh, honey! I told Linda to drive here faster. But she said no, Jeff would never forgive her if we were in an accident. But what if I hadn't been here and I'd missed your call and then we didn't get the chance--"
"Ginger…GINGER! Listen honey, if you hadn't been there I would have called back later." He had to laugh to himself and he stood in front of the phone. It was so good to know that his wife hadn't changed while they'd been apart. "So, how's everything going?" he asked her softly.
"If I said I was miserable, would you believe me?"
"No, not really."
Ginger laughed. "Well, I do miss you something awful. And my mother is driving me crazy. I spend all day here or at the television studio so that I don't have to listen to her."
"So she's not happy then?" Jeff asked, the sarcasm practically dripping from his voice.
"Oh, Jeff! You know it isn't nice of you to tease me. My mother hasn't stopped complaining about it for three days. I don't know how I'm going to make it until you get home. Your mother has been aces though. Oh and she wanted me to send you her love and she wants you to call her later this week."
"Okay. I will. But listen, honey, I don't really want to spend our phone time talking about our mothers. I'd rather discuss what we're going to do once I get home."
"Jeff," she giggled, "don't forget this is a party line."
"How could I? Listen, seriously Ginger, why don't you move some of your things into our house. I'm sure that Linda would love to have you there."
"What about Charlie?"
"What about him?"
"Oh, does that mean you're not worried any more about the two of us being alone together…in the same house?"
"I trust you."
"Well, in that case, Jeff, I think you're brilliant."
"That's something I love to hear."
There was a momentary silence until Ginger finally said, "So tell me…how is baseball going? Any idea when you'll be coming home?"
"Coach says he is very happy with my progress. He said he's gonna talk to Lou and Coach Zelnick later this week about moving me back up by mid-June."
"Mid-June? That's another six weeks!"
"I know it sounds like a long time, but I've got a job tending bar here on my nights off and some days. So between that and baseball, I'm gonna be so busy, it'll go by quickly. And you've got your mother to keep you distracted," he said, laughing a little nervously.
Ginger had the feeling that he was telling her this to reassure her he was behaving himself. This meant, of course, that she had to use that to her advantage.
"Oh, so in other words, you've got tomatoes throwing themselves at you at ballgames and then they come in and buy drinks from you all night," she said barely containing her laughter.
"Ginger! Come on you know it isn't like that."
"Maybe you should ask the owner to give you a little extra money on the side, what with all of the female customers you're drawing in."
How could this woman do this to him every time? She was teasing him mercilessly and he loved it. "Well…now that you mention it, that's not such a bad idea."
"Okay Linda," she said to his sister. "Listen, honey, I've got to go. Linda wants to say hi to you. I'll talk to you soon."
"Okay," he paused. "I love you."
"I love you, too. And I can't wait until you get home."
Ginger waved good night to Linda and mouthed the words 'I'll see you tomorrow' to her. Five minutes later she was practically floating two feet off the ground as she walked into her house, gave her mother a kiss on the cheek, headed off to her bedroom, completely ignoring the shocked look on her mother's face.
To be continued...