Disclaimer: I don’t own Reba or its characters.

I’d like to thank all of the reviewers who voted for either Brock or Jack. I’ve decided that near the end of the story, whoever has the most votes will be the one who ends up with Reba. So keep on voting and I’ll tally up the votes at the beginning of every new chapter. Thanks!

Current status:

Jack – 4 votes

Brock – 1 vote

Neutral – 1 vote

Reba was still in so much shock that she didn’t snap at or giggle from Lori Ann’s joke. She just couldn’t believe that Jack was back in town, standing at the front door, wanting to see her again. The redhead suddenly realized that Jack was married the last time she saw him, and he could still be. Just because he came to see her, that didn’t necessarily mean he was single now. Reba looked over at him again and her heart instantly melted in her hand. Seeing Jack walk into her house and close the door behind him, gave her hope that it was possible. Maybe he was divorced now and they could finally be together like she always wanted.

“I’m sorry that I came over unannounced, but I couldn’t wait any longer,” Jack said as he walked over to Reba and Lori Ann.

The two friends looked like two completely stunned fan girls waiting to get autographs signed by their biggest Hollywood crushes for a few short seconds and then they quickly shrugged it off. “How’s Cheryl doing?” Reba couldn’t resist in asking.

“She’s fine,” Jack answered her as he stuffed his hands in the front pockets of his jeans.

Lori Ann quickly got the picture that these two had some catching up to do and decided it was time for her to leave. “Well, I’m just gonna go on home. I’m sure you two have a lot to talk about.” The blonde grabbed her purse from off the coffeetable and whispered to Reba, “Call me in the morning and tell me everything.”

Reba watched her best friend leave through the front door and then turned her attention back onto Jack. There was an awkward silence between them for a few moments until Jack finally got the courage to speak up again. “So I guess you’re wondering once again why I haven’t called in the past several months.”

“I assumed you got back together with your wife,” the redhead said with a tone that stung Jack. “After not hearing from you for over a month, I thought you two patched things up and got back together.”

“I know. I’m sorry that I never called, but I thought it was for the best until things were finalized between Cheryl and me.”

Reba’s dim hope began to brighten. “And by ‘finalized’ you mean what?”

“It’s over, Reba. My marriage with Cheryl is over. The final divorce papers came in last week. I’m single now.”

The redhead put a hand over her heart and made out a small smile. Jack was divorced now. He was single and came back to her like he promised he would. Jack was back and they could really be together this time. She was no longer the ‘other woman’ in his life. She was the woman in his life now and they could start all over again.

“So it’s true? You really are divorced? Because if you’re not, I’m not lookin’ to be like Barbara Jean again. That’s the one thing I swore to myself I’d never do after I divorced Brock.”

Jack walked over to her and grabbed her hands with his own. “It’s true and you’re nothing like her.”

Reba giggled as Jack settled his hands on her waist as she rested her hands on his arms. “You would be surprised at how many people disagree with you on that.”

“Really? Who thinks you’re like Barbara Jean?”

“Van, Cheyenne and Jake when he’s mad at me.”

“Is that so? Well then maybe I should have a talk with them. Where are they anyway?”

“Jake spent the night at his father’s house, and Van and Cheyenne don’t live here anymore. They moved out a couple of months ago and they just had their second child, a little boy named Aaron.”

“Wow! That is a change. So does only Jake live with you now?”

“No, Kyra moved back here about a year ago when she thought she still wanted to go to college, but then she changed her mind and is now doing gigs with her band so she can make it big in the music world.”

Jack laughed as he still held onto Reba. “What else has been going on around here since I’ve been gone?”

“Barbara Jean became a weather girl, she and Brock almost got divorced, and then she almost moved to Arkansas to do the weather in Little Rock.”

“Did Brock and Barbara Jean work things out? Are they okay now?”

“Yeah, they’re doin’ better now, but I think they’re still workin’ things out. They went back to couples’ therapy and Barbara Jean is putting in fewer hours at work so she could spend more time with Henry.”

“So what about you?” Jack asked her as his face inched closer to hers. “How have you been doing?”

A chill of excitement suddenly ran down Reba’s spine. Jack always could make her heart beat faster and bring out a side of her that no one else could. She felt happy and free whenever she was with him and she was so glad that he came back. “I’ve been doin’ okay. Van no longer works with me. He got a job offer from Norris Realty and I told him to take it because it was a huge opportunity for him.”

“Things must be going well for him then, huh?”

“Yeah, they are. I’m really happy for him,” she replied back as she quickly thought of her goofy son-in-law.

Changing the subject, Jack asked her, “So are you seeing anybody right now?”

The redhead eyed him and playfully smacked his right him. “I wouldn’t be in your arms right now if I was.”

“Good because I don’t want you in anybody’s arms other than mine,” he said to her softly as his face moved even closer to hers.

“Is that so? Well, why don’t you prove that to me?” she flashed him a flirtatious smile and then he suddenly kissed her passionately. Her arms slowly snaked around his neck as she kissed him back. They continued kissing for about a minute until Jack broke it off, both of them immediately tried to catch their breath.

“C’mon, let’s sit down,” he said as he led her over to the couch and they sat down together on it. “So who was that earlier? I don’t think I’ve ever met her before.”

Reba tried to think who Jack was talking about and then suddenly remembered. “Oh, that was my friend, Lori Ann. She was gonna take me out barhopping tonight, but then we saw you at the door.”

Jack laughed and said, “Sorry that I messed with your plans. I wasn’t trying to do that on purpose.”

“That’s okay. I probably would’ve tried to worm my way out of it half way through the night anyway. So I should really be thanking you.”

“Well I think I know of a way you could repay me,” he softly as his face leaned closer to hers once more.

“How?” she barely got to say before his lips captured hers in another kiss.

The back door opened the next afternoon and Van, Cheyenne, Reba, and Jack came through it with their bowling ball bags in their hands. Cheyenne and Reba were laughing they set their things on the island countertop.

“Did you see the look on Van’s face when he got that gutter ball?” Cheyenne asked her mother with a smile on her face. “It was completely priceless!”

“Yeah, and did you see when he missed that spare? I thought he was gonna kill somebody,” Reba said as she and her daughter continued to laugh.

“I am not going bowling with you guys anymore,” Van said as he sat down at the table. “You can find a fourth player and I’ll stay home with the kids next time.”

“Oh, honey, you know we’re just having a little fun,” Cheyenne told her husband and wrapped her arms around him before leaning down to give him a kiss on the cheek. “We won’t make fun of you anymore, right, Mom?”

“Sure, we won’t say that Van looked like a guy on ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’ with the way he was acting—unless it slips.” Reba, Cheyenne, and Jack all burst into laughter after her joke and Van slammed his head on the table.

Getting back up from the table, Van said, “Okay, I’m ready to go now. Cheyenne, let’s go get the kids from Kyra upstairs and go home.”

“Van, c’mon. We’re only having a little bit of fun,” the blonde said to him as she came over to him and rubbed his arms gently. “Okay, how about this? Next time we’ll use the bumpers again so you don’t get mad about getting anymore gutter balls.”

The brunette was silent for a moment, eyeing his wife to see if she was being sincere with her words and finally nodded. “Fine, I’ll go with you guys next time, but if we don’t use the bumpers, then the deal’s off.” Van walked out of the kitchen and first thing they all said once he was out of earshot distance was, “Wimp!”

“You think he’d give up on trying to beat us at bowling by now,” Reba said as started making a pot of tea.

“Mom, this is Van we’re talking about. He used to throw lawn chairs on the soccer field when Jake’s team wasn’t scoring, remember?”

“Really?” Jack asked with surprise.

The redhead giggled. “How could I forget? I still have that tape in my bedroom right now. In fact, I usually pull it out and watch it whenever I’m stressed out from work or after I’m done talking to your father.”

“Speaking of Dad, he told me to tell you that he and Barbara Jean are coming over tonight after dinner.”

Grabbing a blue ceramic coffee mug from the cabinet above her, Reba asked her daughter, “Why? Is Barbara Jean having another Beanie Baby crisis?”

“He didn’t say, but I think it has to do with Barbara Jean’s job. I ran into him this morning when I dropped off Elizabeth at school and Dad was dropping off Henry. He was running late, so he didn’t tell me much, but he wanted me to let you know.”

“Maybe Barbara Jean got a promotion,” Jack guessed as he wrapped his arm around Reba’s shoulder.

“Or maybe she finally got accepted to clown college with the way she acts doing the weather on television.”

The three of them laughed and Cheyenne grabbed her purse from off the island countertop. “I’ll see you guys later.”

“Bye, Cheyenne,” Jack waved to the blonde.

“Bye, sweetheart,” Reba said to her oldest daughter as she leaned into Jack’s embrace, waiting for her tea to be ready.

Jack and Reba were sitting on the couch in the living with his arm around her shoulder as they were watching Jeopardy when suddenly Brock and Barbara Jean came through the front door unannounced.

“Does anyone ever knock before coming into your house?” Jack asked his girlfriend.

“I wish,” scoffed Reba.

“Oh, my gosh! You came back for me again!” Barbara Jean cried with excitement as she ran over to the couch, pushed her best friend aside, and gave Jack a suffocating hug. “I always knew you would come back.”

Jack muffled out as best as he could, “Barbara Jean, I came back to be with Reba. Now can you please let go me of me? I can’t breathe.”

“Get off of him, Barbara Jean,” she smacked her upside the head and the blonde finally let go of him.

“Dr. Morgan, I didn’t know you were back in town,” Brock said after closing the front door and walking over to stand next to his wife. “When did you get back?”

“You can call me Jack now, Brock, and I just got back yesterday,” Jack replied as he got to his feet with Reba beside him.

“What happened with Cheryl?” Like Reba, Barbara Jean couldn’t resist in asking what happened between him and her.

Reba stepped in and ignored her question. “Cheyenne told us earlier that you two had something that you wanted to tell me. Is everything alright?” The redhead wanted to know the reason why they were here, and not have Barbara Jean poking in on Jack’s personal life when she was married to her ex-husband.

Brock replied to her, “Yeah, everything’s fine. It’s just Barbara Jean has some good news about her job and she wanted to tell you about it in person.”

“Like she does with everything else in her life,” Reba added, flashing a sarcastic smile to her ex-husband and then turned her attention to his wife. “So what’s the big news, Barbara Jean?”

“You know how I’ve been a weather girl for about a year now, right? Well, one of the station’s managers said that they had been so impressed with me since I started working there that they’ve decided to give me a promotion.”

“That’s great, Barbara Jean,” Reba said. “I’m very happy for you.”

“Congratulations,” Jack added with a warm smile. “What’s your promotion?”

“I’m going to do the sports report for the evening news. Isn’t that exciting? Stormy Clearweather is moving up the media world!”

Reba immediately burst into laughter. “The sports report? What, does the news station need a mascot to run the show or are they all just insane?

Barbara Jean gave her a look and the redhead quickly realized that her nutty, best friend wasn’t joking. “You were serious? Well if you’re going to do the sports, then who’s gonna replace you for the weather?”

“Remember that weather girl I was training, Kelly?”

“Kelly’s gonna be the new weather girl?” Reba asked with a little excitement. “Hey, maybe I’ll actually watch the weather reports from now.”

It was now Barbara Jean’s turn for her smile to fade. “You mean, you never watched my weather reports?”

Reba gave her an are-you-kidding-me look. “After watching your video from when you first applied for the job, I pretty much lost interest, but I think it’s a good video if you ever tried to get into clown college.”

Barbara Jean let out a simple “oh” and shrugged her comment off.

“If you don’t mind me asking, Jack, did you get a divorce from your wife? Because I thought you were still married to her.” Brock brought himself into the conversation again, silently noting the fact that the doctor’s arm was around his ex-wife’s shoulder when he first walked into the house.

Reba shot a look at him, but Jack answered his question anyway. “Yes, the final divorce papers came in last week. I’m officially divorced from Cheryl now, so I came back to town to be with Reba again.”

“But that’s not any of your business,” Reba said with a little annoyance in her tone towards her ex-husband.

“I guess we should get going now, Barbara Jean,” Brock told his wife. “We’ve both got a busy day tomorrow.”

“Have fun sleeping with 700 Beanie Babies in your bedroom,” the redhead said, giving him a sly smile while he groaned.

“Thanks, we will!” Barbara Jean said in her perky attitude.

Brock and Barbara Jean started walking out the door, when she quickly turned back around, ran straight towards Jack, grabbed his navy blue shirt and deeply inhaled the scent of the cologne he was wearing. “You still smell terrific,” the blonde said happy daze while Brock and Reba looked at her in shock.

“Barbara Jean!” the two yelled at her and she walked back towards her husband so they could leave.

Once they left, Reba let out a huge sigh and started walking towards the kitchen with Dr. Hunky right behind her. She went into the refrigerator, grabbed a lemon Snapple, and opened it up before taking a gulp. “God, I thought those two would never leave.”

Jack gave her shoulders a quick rub as she tried to enjoy her cool drink. “Hey, was it just me or did you not want them asking about my divorce?”

Reba put her drink on the counter and turned back around to face him. “Jack, I know what it feels like for people to badger about information on your divorce and I didn’t want you to have play ‘20 Questions’ with my ex-husband and Barbara Jean. I know how uncomfortable it is and I didn’t want you to feel that way because I really like you.”

Jack smiled at her and gave her a little peck on the lips. “Thanks, but I better just get used to it. I’m a marriage counselor, and there’s nothing more interesting for my patients to hear in the office than the fact that their therapist just got divorced.”

Reba laughed and gave him a small smack on the arm. “Jack!”

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. “Besides, Cheryl’s in my past now. The only woman I want in my life is you.”

“Is that so? Well I’m very glad to hear that, Dr. Morgan,” Reba said in a low voice before wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him in a passionate kiss.

Unknown to either of them, Brock had quietly walked back into the house to return some of Jake’s clothes from the night before and went into complete shock over what he saw. He stood there in silence, watching his ex-wife—the mother of his children—kiss Jack. And it was then that Brock realized that this was first time he had ever seen Reba kiss another man since their divorce. Sure, he was fully aware of her dating with Jack before and had a good guess of what was going on in their relationship, but this time things were different. Their relationship was right in front of his face and he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the scene. It was like his body was frozen solid and Brock was being forced to watch Reba kiss Jack. It was almost as if he was getting paid back for all those times he tried to be romantic with Barbara Jean in front of Reba and she wouldn’t allow it. But above all else, he finally knew what it felt like to see his ex-wife in the arms of another man….

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