Brenda strolled to the front lobby of L&B Records. Just as she rounded the corner, her face exploded into a huge smile. "Anthony! Did you come to see mommy?" He barreled into her arms and she stooped down and gave him a huge hug.

Gloria Cerullo stood in the doorway, smiling at her grandson and daughter-in –law. Her thoughts strayed back to supper Sunday night, after Jax had brought her back from their ice cream "date." She had served the sandwiches and iced tea on a picnic table in the back yard beneath an oak tree. Anthony had played in the grass while Lois tried in vain to get Brenda to give them some details of the date.

"Come on, Brenda, can’t you tell us ANYTHING?" she whined.

Brenda sighed and put down her tea. "No, Lois, because there isn’t ANYTHING to tell. We just went, had an ice cream cone, and came back here. End of story."

Lois stared at her sandwich. "Seems like it took an AWFUL long time for just one ice cream cone," she said in the sing-song voice that Brenda was coming to detest.

Finally, Brenda put down her sandwich. "All right, if you must know, he drove me out into the woods in that fancy car of his. Once we got there, we tore our clothes off, jumped in the back seat, and made wild, passionate love the whole time. We were overwhelmed by the spontaneous lust. Finally, a state trooper found us and turned a hose on us, so we got dressed again and came home."

She got up from the table to stop Anthony from eating a ladybug. As she straightened back up, she looked at Lois for good measure. "Oh, and the ice cream? Well, you don’t want to know what we did with it!"

Gloria looked sadly at Brenda. "Honey, there’s no need to jump down our throats. You know that for months, Carmine and I have been telling you that you’re a young, beautiful, vital woman. Even though Louie was our son, we don’t want you to shut yourself off from feeling anything again. This is just the first time we’ve ever seen you give a man anything close to a chance of getting close to you. You have to understand – we’re just happy and excited for you, that’s all."

Brenda sat back down. "And YOU have to understand. I loved your son. Louie was my husband, and he’ll remain my husband until the day I die. I’ll never love anyone the way I loved Louie, and I’m not looking for anyone to love."

Lois snorted. "But why do you have to insist on loving the guy? Can’t you just go out and have a good time with him? Do you have to LOVE him? What about fun?"

Brenda gave Lois another dirty look. "Lois Marie, you know as well as I do that most guys won’t take you out for "fun" without eventually expecting you to jump in bed with them. I can do without "fun" in my life. I had Louie. I have Anthony. I have my job. That’s enough."

She went to pick up Anthony, and headed back into the house. Gloria just took a deep breath and shook her head sadly. Carmine, meanwhile, looked at Gloria in puzzlement. "Gloria, where did the state trooper get the hose if they were out in the woods?"

Brenda’s voice snapped Gloria back to the present. "What’s so funny?"

"Nothing, Brenda, nothing at all," Gloria lied. "So… what’s new?"

Brenda knew very well what Gloria was hinting at. That Sunday night, Gloria had jumped at the telephone each time it rang, hoping it was Jax calling for Brenda. But it hadn’t been. She had called the office this morning to grill Lois if he had called there. But he hadn’t.

"Mom, he hasn’t called here, so give it up," Brenda said in annoyance. Actually, if she were being truthful, she had to admit she was a little annoyed that he HADN’T called. At least then she would have had the satisfaction of telling him she wasn’t interested in going out with him anymore. Anthony was pulling on her earring. "So you brought Anthony all the way down here just to see if Jax called?"

"No, Brenda. Well, I DID want to know if he called, but that’s not why I brought Anthony down here. Actually, I have that dentist appointment at 3:30 and Carmine’s not back from the barber shop yet. I can’t take Anthony with me to the dentist, and I’m sorry, but…"

Brenda looked into Anthony’s eyes, and saw Louie reflected. "No problem at all, Mom. We’ll be fine. You go ahead."

As Gloria left, Brenda took Anthony back to the office she and Lois shared. Since Lois knew more about the technical end of the recording business, she spent most of her time in the studio anyway. "Wow, look Anthony. Here’s Aunt Lois!"

Lois looked up from her desk momentarily. "Hi, precious! How’s my favorite nephew?" She came over to take him from Brenda. "How come he’s here?"

Brenda went back to her desk to sift through some papers. "Your mom had to go to the dentist and Pops isn’t back from the barber shop yet. So I said we’d watch him."

"Well, I have to get back into the studio, so are you gonna be OK with him?" Lois asked as she handed him back to Brenda.

"Sure. If that software guy shows up, I’ll just have Carly watch him." At that moment, the intercom on her desk buzzed.

"Someone’s here to see you, Ms. Cerullo."

"Speak of the devil." Brenda waved to Lois as she looked Anthony in the eye. "Want to go meet an obnoxious salesman, honey?" She walked back up to the front desk, looking at Anthony and not really paying attention to her visitor until she heard his voice.

"Is that your newest recording artist? He certainly has the lungs for it."

"Jax!" Brenda almost dropped Anthony in shock. He had on a business suit with jacket and tie, and she had to consciously tell herself not to check out Lois’ statement about how well tailored suits fit. It was navy and double-breasted, and he had on a white shirt and light blue silk tie. His eyes looked so blue she thought the sky might be jealous. She glanced at Carly, who was almost drooling on the desk. "Uh… Carly, this is a new friend of ours, Jasper Jacks. He rescued Anthony from the fountain at the North County Mall Saturday. Jax, this is our receptionist, Carly Roberts."

Jax shook her hand and Carly smiled broadly at him. "I heard all about you from Lois this morning over coffee. Lucky Anthony."

Jax returned the smile, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Brenda. She was dressed in a navy business suit, minus the jacket. Her blouse was sheer and soft pink and very feminine, and he was glad Brenda couldn’t see beyond Carly’s desk, because she was having a very definite effect on him. Brenda put Anthony down, and he toddled back to her office.

"Do you bring him here every day?" Jax asked with a smile.

"No, my mother-in-law just dropped him off because she has a dentist appointment. But he’s been here often enough that he knows his way around."

"Will he be OK back there by himself? I mean, you don’t have any fountains or anything?" Jax couldn’t resist the tease.

"No," Brenda blushed. "There are some blocks and things back there that he loves to play with." Carly watched the entire conversation like she was watching a tennis match, her head bobbing back and forth. Brenda looked at her, and then back at Jax. "So, are you coming here to tell me you’re buying our company and taking away all of our jobs?"

"No," he laughed, "something much simpler than that. I was out taking a walk to clear my head after a particularly obnoxious business meeting, and I found myself in front of your building." He could see Brenda’s eyes begin to cloud over at his sham of an excuse. "And…" he drew out the explanation, "…I…uh… came to find out if you can recommend a good florist. I need to order a corsage."

{Corsage? For who?} "Really? {This oughtta be good.} "What’s the occasion?"

"A banquet. It’s semi-formal, and I thought a corsage might be nice."

{What banquet?} "Well, L&B uses a florist downtown called Flowers by Jean. They do good work. I can have Carly give you the number."

"Great." But he didn’t look happy. "Uh… can you recommend any kind of flowers that would be nice? I’m pretty ignorant when it comes to flowers. I DO know that I like these little white flowers, though. Could they put some of those in?"

Brenda shrugged. "I guess they can do just about anything if the price is right. But it would help if you knew what they were called. There must be thousands of types of little white flowers."

Jax thought for a minute. "These are about 1-2 inches, smell a little like lilies – stephan-something, I think they’re called. Is that good enough?"

Brenda caught her breath. "Stephanotis?"

"Yeah – that’s it!"

"Well, I’m sure if you tell Jean’s, they can put whatever you want in the corsage." She glanced over at Carly, who was still staring at Jax. "In fact, why don’t you just give Carly the details, and she can order the corsage for you?"

"Oh, I don’t want to bother her…"

Carly almost fell off her desk chair. "Oh, no bother at all." She dropped her pen and knocked over her empty coffee cup looking for a pad to write on. "Now, when do you need this corsage?"

Brenda decided to stand back a little, and maybe if she gave them room, Jax and Carly might hit if off and take the pressure off of her. "The banquet’s Saturday night," he told her, still glancing up at Brenda, who smiled back wanly.

"And do you want them to deliver the corsage, or will you pick it up?"

"Deliver it please," Jax replied, digging in his coat pocket, "to this address on Saturday afternoon.

Carly looked at the paper, and then gasped loudly. "246 Brentwood Drive!" Now it was Brenda’s turn to gasp as Carly turned around to stare at her. "That’s your address, Brenda!"

Brenda looked at him as Jax gave her one of his best charming smiles. "Will you go to the banquet with me?"

Brenda felt all the air rush out of her lungs. "Oh, no, I couldn’t."

Jax knew she would react negatively, so he hurried to add, "It wouldn’t be a DATE, actually. It’s a banquet that the Port Charles City Council is throwing to kick off the development of the docks. My company, J&J Jacks, is already involved in the project, but they want to attract some new blood to the development. I think some old-money-blue-blood named Edward Quartermaine is behind the thing."

Brenda shook her head. "But what does that have to do with me?"

Jax smiled. "You’re a Port Charles native. You already know everybody, and I don’t. You could introduce me around, and give me the low-down on who I should know and who I should avoid."

Brenda looked at him skeptically. If there was one thing Jasper Jacks would never need, it was somebody to help introduce him around. He had enough charm to sell raincoats in the Sahara Desert. If you put him in a crowded room, there wouldn’t be ANYBODY who wouldn’t want to be his friend within 3 minutes.

Then there was the gossip factor. If Jax hadn’t been so attractive, maybe she would have considered it. But if she, the little widow, turned up with the new eligible bachelor in town, Gloria’s friends from church would be planning the wedding by 10:30 the next morning.

He had moved over to her, and his closeness was making this so much more difficult. "No, Jax, I really don’t think so…"

He smiled at her again, and her armor began to buckle. "I really hate to do this."

"Do what?" Now she genuinely looked scared.

"I never thought I would have to resort to this to get a date with a beautiful woman, but I’m desperate, so I’ll stoop this low. You OWE me."

"Excuse me?"

"A favor. You are in my debt, madam." He leaned forward as he said it, and tapped the tip of her nose with his finger. His eyes were only inches from hers, and she could smell that wonderful aftershave he wore that she now recognized. It was woodsy, and sweet, and so appealing, just like the man. As she was desperately trying to think of another excuse to refuse, Lois’ voice rang out, coming down the hallway.

"Brenda, he may be my nephew, but I swear, this time I’m gonna…." She came into the lobby, carrying a sobbing Anthony in her arms. "Oh… sorry to interrupt." Lois smiled at Jax and practically purred. "Hello, gorgeous!"

Jax smiled at Lois. Brenda rushed over to take Anthony. "I’m sorry, Lois. I got busy out here and didn’t notice where he went."

"Yeah, busy. I guess so," Lois drawled suggestively. She smiled at Jax, but then looked back at Brenda and Anthony with disdain. "You might be interested to know that he found that stack of Miguel’s new CD’s, and thought it might be fun to try using them as frisbees!" Brenda held him away from her, and Anthony’s lower lip began to quiver.

"Anthony Louis, you know better than to touch those!" Just as he was about to dissolve into a full-fledged wail, Jax reached over to touch her shoulder and took Anthony from her. Lois, seeing the potential before her, made a furious motion for Carly to join her in the back, and the two women gave Jax and Brenda some privacy.

Jax was holding Anthony very close to him, cuddling him, but looking him straight in the eye. "Now, tiger, didn’t you and I talk about this Saturday?" Anthony was perfectly still, and Brenda’s heart began to melt. Jax held him in the crook of his left arm and pointed the finger of his right hand at him for emphasis. "I told you that you have to listen to your mum. She loves you very much. And even though you and I know that we boys like to have our fun, we can’t go tearin’ up the town and giving her a heart attack. She’ll begin to think that we don’t care about her."

Anthony was staring deeply into Jax’s blue eyes, as though he understood every word the man said. "Now, tiger, tell your mum that you’re sorry, and you hope she understands that sometimes, boys just," he stopped to take a breath, and looked deeply in Brenda’s eyes, "will be boys," he finished quietly. As he watched Brenda’s face carefully, the depth of feeling in her eyes took his breath away.

Brenda looked back and forth between Anthony’s tear-stained cheeks and Jax’s blue eyes. {The man should take up a career charming snakes in his spare time.} Anthony, meanwhile, had snuggled into the crook of Jax’s arm, and took the lapel of his expensive suit coat and was gnawing on it. As Jax looked down at him, he threw his head back in uncontrollable laughter, and Brenda had to chuckle, too.

"How can I resist you two?" Brenda finally sighed.

"Does that mean a yes for Saturday night?" he asked hopefully.

"It wouldn’t be a date? Because… I don’t want you to get the wrong idea or anything," she said timidly.

"Not a date. Definitely. Not a problem," he answered, trying to extricate the lapel from Anthony’s gummy smile.

She reached for Anthony. "I mean, I’m a widow, and I don’t date."

He smiled. "I know. You told me that already."

Lois and Carly peeked from behind the hallway entrance. "You two can come out now," Brenda smirked. "All right, as long as it’s not a date, I’ll go with you." Carly and Lois gave each other high-fives’s, and then Carly returned to her receptionist desk.

Jax smiled in triumph. "Sounds great. I’ll pick you up around 7." He chucked Anthony under the chin. "You be good until then, OK tiger? Don’t go out on any hot dates with the neighborhood girls until I check them out for myself, got it?" Anthony grabbed his finger, and as he was about to put it in his mouth, too, Jax pulled it away. "I think this child is hungry! Don’t you ever feed him?"

He walked back towards the front door, and Carly stopped him. "Uh… do you still want me to order that corsage?"

"Absolutely." Jax was firm about it as he turned back to give her a dazzling smile. Then he left, and all three women in the lobby let out their breaths at the same time.

Lois exploded. "You’re going to the banquet with him! All right!! Way to go, Brenda!"

"It’s not a date, Lois. It’s just a banquet to try to get some local businessmen interested in the docks project," Brenda explained as they walked back to her office. She put Anthony down on the floor of the office, and went to get some cookies she always kept in her desk drawer for him.

"Yeah, but it’s a start! What are you gonna wear?"

"I’m not going to wear anything!" Brenda said in exasperation. When Lois got that naughty twinkle in her eye, Brenda immediately realized the double meaning of her statement. "I mean, it won’t matter what I wear because it’s not really a date."

"Uh-huh."

"He said so himself. He just asked me to go with him to introduce him around to some of the other important people in Port Charles."

"Yep."

"He did!"

"Gotcha."

"It’s not a date."

*~*~*~*

Brenda threw the eye-liner pencil down on the vanity in disgust. It may not have been a date, but it sure FELT like one. Otherwise, why had her hands been shaking so badly that she needed to apply the eye-liner three times before she got it right?

And why, if it wasn’t a date, did she find herself shopping with Lois the previous Wednesday at Windom’s for something suitable to wear?

Earlier that day, Lois had come over to the house and they had gone through Brenda’s closet. Every time Brenda had found an outfit that she thought would be acceptable, Lois gave it the "thumbs down." After going through everything in her closet, Brenda had to admit that her wardrobe choices were pretty limited. All she had was either business suits or tops and pants that were suitable for "mommy and me" functions.

Lois had dragged her to Windom’s in search of the perfect dress, but Brenda’s heart wasn’t in it somehow. After much disagreement, they finally narrowed the choices down to a lemon yellow shift and a black cocktail dress.

"I like the yellow dress," Brenda said quietly.

"You would," Lois answered with disgust. "You ought to know better, Bren. Yellow is not your color." She had put on the sleeveless shift, and after viewing herself from all sides in the mirror, she almost had to agree. It did make her look pale. It had a little white daisy trim going down the front in two lines.

Finally, Lois sighed. "Are you trying for the Goody Two Shoes look?"

"I’d like Brenda Cerullo look, if that’s all right with you," Brenda answered sarcastically. "And besides, the black one is too…. Too…" Lois gave her a dirty look, and she put the black one on again.

Lois whistled. "Now, that’s the one she should take! That one definitely makes you look like a million bucks!"

Brenda turned to closely check her reflection in the mirror. The black silk swirled around her legs, showing them off. The black dress clung where she had curves and swirled where she didn’t. The rounded neckline was just a little daring, but not too immodest. The cap sleeves accented her shoulders and made her arms look graceful. But if she wore this dress, would Jax think she was being too sophisticated and suggestive?

She had to wonder the same thing as she stood before the mirror, inspecting her appearance. She was glad Gloria and Carmine were entertaining Anthony, because he would have learned many new words that shouldn’t be in his vocabulary yet if he had been in the room with her while she was getting ready. She had left her hair loose, just pulled back on each side with pearl combs. She wore a choker of black pearls that hugged her neck, and black high-heeled sandals to give her height. Jax was so tall compared to her that she could afford to wear the highest heels she had. She added simple black pearl stud earrings to complete the outfit.

Thankfully, Lois had a hot date with Eddie Maine that night, so Brenda was spared her interference. But Gloria and Carmine kept tactfully sticking their heads in the door, reminding her of the time.

She was almost ready to go, and when she turned, she saw the corsage lying on the bed. It had been years since the florist delivered something to the house for her. She carefully lifted it out of the box, inhaling the sweet fragrance of the white roses that had been mixed with the stefanotis. Her hands were still shaking as she placed it on her shoulder to pin it on, and she stuck herself several times with the corsage pins. {Why are you so nervous? You’re a widow, for goodness’ sake. It’s not like you’ve never been with a man before for a social engagement.} But as she stared at herself in the mirror, she still felt those butterflies. {This isn’t just any man. He’s handsome, and sophisticated, and wealthy….and you’re WAY out of your league here, kiddo.}

She shook her head to clear it, and then turned out the lights and made her way to the head of the stairs. As she stood there, she could hear that Jax had already arrived and was speaking with Gloria and Carmine.

She descended the stairs on wobbly legs, to find Jax holding Anthony and nodding to Carmine. "…. Should be finished in about two weeks," he said, and then he sensed her presence on the stairs and turned to stare up at her.

Brenda felt like Cinderella descending the staircase at the ball. Jax’s eyes traced her form from head to toes and back again, making her breathing more shaky than it already was. She returned the stare, and he was gorgeous. He had on a charcoal gray suit, with the coat unbuttoned for comfort in holding Anthony. His starched white shirt showed off his tanned skin, and just as Anthony reached for his silver and black striped tie, Jax pulled it from his grasp. "Not tonight, tiger," Jax said to him seriously, his gaze returning to Brenda. "Can’t have you using my tie for an appetizer tonight. Not when your mom looks this breath-taking."

To be continued….