Chapter Eighteen

 I felt foolish the moment I shut my alarm off the next morning.  My first thought of the day was that I’d exposed myself to Jay, while he merely humored me.  Sure he’d shared more personal information than I had, but why had I wanted him to?

 I went upstairs, woke Madison,  and helped her dress.  As we went downstairs, she caught sight of Jay.  “Why’s Jay sleeping on the couch, Mommy?”

 “Shh...”  I brought my finger to my lips, and she mimicked me.  “Let’s try not to wake him.  He let Aunt Sara have his bed last night.”

 “Oh,” she whispered.

 We went to the kitchen, and I got her breakfast ready.  I turned to give it to her, and she had vanished.  I found her back in the living room.  She was standing inches from Jay’s face, watching him sleep.  I tried to wave her back into the kitchen, but she wasn’t looking.  Before I could say anything I heard Jay say, “Hey, kid,” in a voice cracked with sleep.

 “Good morning, Jay.”

 “I’m not quite there yet,” he muttered.  He ran a hand over her hair, and rolled over to face the back of the love seat.  His legs had been dangling over the arm, now he had to tuck them up again.

 “Do you want to move to my bed, Jay?  I’m up already.”

 Jay didn’t answer.  Madison ate her breakfast after I explained Jay’s comment to her.  Non-morning people were new to her.

 “Mommy?” she whispered after putting her dish by the sink.

 “What is it, sweetie?”

 She moved closer as if to tell an important secret.  “Can Jay really teach me karate?” she asked with a small voice and wide eyes.

 “It sounded like he could...  Why don’t you ask him sometime?”

 She shook her head with a backward step.

 “Why not?”

 “I don’t want to make him mad.”

 “He wouldn’t get mad at you for asking, Maddie.”

 “But he got mad at Beth.”  Madison was often so quiet it was easy to forget she was there, and even easier to forget she took everything in.

 “There’s...  Different circumstances between the two of them.”

 “What are circle stances?”

 “Circumstances,” I corrected with a chuckle.  “Jay’s just tired of talking about it with Beth.  But he’s never talked to you about it, right?”  Madison shook her head.  “There you go.  I bet if you asked him just once, he wouldn’t mind.  He might say no, but he won’t get mad.  I promise.”

 “Will you ask him for me?”  She was still intimidated.

 “I think you should, if you really want to learn.  How about asking after school?”

 “Alright.”

----

 Sara got up around nine.  I made her coffee, she said she wasn’t hungry when I offered breakfast.  “Had a good time last night,” she said after her first sip.

 “So did I.”

 “Yes.  I’m sure there’s more to come.  Jay seems happy here.”

 I nodded.  “You should have seen him the day we met.  He was miserable.”

 Sara smiled.  “But you fixed that for him, didn’t you?”

 I couldn’t deny it, so I smiled uncomfortably and changed the subject.  “What did you think of Beth?”

 “She’s a nice girl.  Why do you ask?”

 Sara seemed to be driving at something, that I instinctively wanted to avoid.  “I was just making conversation,” I said with a shrug.

 She smiled.  “Beth was funny.  Has good taste in accessories...  I’d hang out with her again.”  She sipped her coffee again before getting back to business.  “So...  Mom’s marinade, huh?”

 I rolled my eyes.  “Come on, Sara.  It was a special occasion.”

 “Alright, then.”  I could still tell she wasn’t done, but it was all smalltalk until she said she was going to leave.  “Walk me to my car,” she said at the front door.

 “Walk you to your car?” I laughed.  “Why?”

 For an answer, she gave a pointed look at Jay.

 “Fine,” I said, wondering what was such a big secret.

 Outside on my walkway, Sara took a deep breath.  “You do like him, right?”

 I almost played dumb and asked who she meant.  “You know I do,” I said, looking away from her.

 “Yes, I know.  What I’m wondering is, are you aware he obviously likes you too?”

 “Oh, Sara, will you stop?”

 I was interrupted.  Sara grabbed my shoulders and gave me a hard shake.  “Laura!” she snapped, to get my attention.  Her grip softened when the surprise registered on my face, and she rubbed my arms with sisterly affection.  “I’m sorry,” she said, “but this is serious.  Listen to me.  You’d have to be blind not to see it for yourself as it is.  Still, you didn’t see him stealing a glance at you every time you weren’t looking.  Every time, Laura.  Once I started paying attention it was all I could do not to laugh about it.  Every time you spoke to him, something in his eyes went soft.  Every time he spoke to you, his voice was different than when he talked to me or Beth.  It’s cute, what’s going on between you two.”

 “Just what is that?”

 Sara sighed and shook her head.  “You both like each other, in the worst way.  You live together, Laura.  What do you think’s going to happen eventually?”  Nothing?  When I didn’t say anything, she went on.  “I’ll tell you what, since you’ll never admit it to yourself.  Being that you’re really this insecure, he’s probably going to be the one to make a move, at some point.  He’s shy too, and it may take awhile.  But it’s coming, Laura.  It’s inevitable.  I won’t say it’s not a bad idea to date a tenant, we went through all that.  What I wanted to say to you is, you had better make up your mind now about what you’re going to do when it comes up.  And if you do go for it...”  She took a deep breath in and out.  “You had better figure out what to do about Earl.  Last I knew, he was still coming around, yes?”

 “Yeah...” I admitted, trying to ignore the effect his name had on me.

 “Get rid of him, Laura.  Do it now, because I’ll tell you something else.  I’ve always listened to you complain when girls seem to treat the best guys like they’re nothing.  It frustrates me too, I’ve also seen it plenty of times.  Jay is a nice man, Laura.  I swear it almost seems like he’s made for you, with what you two talked about your first night together.  If you hurt him, I will be furious with you.  You won’t have just done a terrible thing, you’ll be making a giant hypocrite of yourself.”

 Get rid of Earl?  How am I going to do that?  I don’t even have a phone number or address.  As if he’d take me seriously if I could tell him.  “He doesn’t even like me...” I mumbled, looking at my feet.

 “No?  Tell me then, what did you two talk about after I left you alone?”

 I didn’t want to.  Not from shame or embarrassment, but because I knew how it would sound to her.  I knew she wouldn’t believe it was just a drunk, friendly conversation.  I looked at her, trying to discern if she was asking so confidently because she’d overheard us.  It didn’t seem like it, and I knew we were talking quietly.  For the most part...

 As I weighed whether to talk about that or not, Sara’s patience wore out.  “Tell you what, Laura.  Just humor me on this.  Call it hypothetical if that’s what you have to do, just make up your damn mind!”

 “Keeping the house comes first,” I said just to shut her up.

 It half worked.  She saw right through me, but didn’t press it.  “I wouldn’t bother, if I didn’t love my little sister.  You know that, right?”

 I smiled.  “Yes, I know.”  We hugged and said our goodbyes, and she left.

----

 I sat in my armchair to read after doing some cleaning.  Almost of their own accord, my eyes kept flicking over the top of my book to glance at Jay as he slept.  I thought of the conversation I’d just had with Sara.  Sure it was easy for my own sister to tell when I was attracted to someone, but what could she know about Jay, having just met him?  ‘Stealing glances’, she’d said.  We were all talking, of course he would look at me!

 When Jay finally woke around eleven, I offered to make him breakfast.  He accepted with a surprised gratitude that inspired me to take extra care making it as he showered.

 It was hot and waiting for him when he came out.  “Thanks, Laura,” he said as he sat.  “What did you put in these eggs?” he asked after his first bite.

 “Just some cayenne, milk, cheese...  But the magic ingredient is love,” I said, smiling to hide how true that was.

 Our conversation certainly couldn’t pick up where we’d left off the night before, and as I ran out of small talk I mentioned what Madison had asked.

 He finished his breakfast in slow, thoughtful bites before responding.  “She said that?” he finally asked.

 “Yes, and she promised to ask herself after school, but I have to tell you this is the one time I’ve seen her nervous about you.  She picked up on the tension between you and Beth, and she’s afraid to have it directed at her.”

 “Heh.  I hope you told her not to worry.”

 “Of course.”

 “Did she happen to mention why she wants to learn?”

 “No, she just brought it up out of nowhere.  I could tell she had to steel herself to bring it up even with me.”

 “Is she bullied at school or anything?”

 “No, why?”

 He shook his head, and lapsed into thought again.

 “Do you really miss teaching, like Beth said?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t inviting that tension myself.

 “I do,” he admitted.

 “I would like to learn myself, actually.  If you think I could...”

 “Anybody could.”  He looked at me critically, and I forced myself not to look away.  He leaned back in his chair, still looking at me.  “I’ll ask you the same question I’ll be asking Madison.  If she really asks me, of course.  Why do you want to learn?”

 I enjoy being next to you...  “A woman should know how to defend herself.”

 “Is that it?” he asked, his tone already dismissive.

 I found myself too determined to give up.  “No...  I’m also curious, and...”  How close could I come to the truth without embarrassing myself?  “I think it would be fun for us.”

 For whatever reason, that brought a wonderful smile to his face.  “Now you’re talking!” he said happily.  I tilted my head for an explanation.  “Having fun, getting some exercise, getting to know your body, those are all good reasons.  I’m relieved you didn’t say you want to know how to fight.  That isn’t even what I teach.  I taught my students not to fight.”  He thought some more.  “This could actually work, since we live together.  We won’t have to coordinate meeting times, really.  How about on my days off, or after my extremely rare day shifts?”

 I was excited just thinking about it.  “Of course, anything that works for you.”

 “Where were you imagining I’d be teaching you two?”

 “I’m not sure, actually.”

 “How about the far corner of the basement?”

 “It’s cold down there, and the floor is...”

 He raised his hand to interrupt.  “Can we use it?”

 “If you think it’ll work...”

 “Splendid.  I have some errands to run, then.”  He stood, rinsed his plate, and put it in the dishwasher.  “Hey, care to come with?”

 I heard something in his voice that I felt myself, which was a desire to know things wouldn’t be awkward after our drunken conversation the night before.  “I’d love to,” I said with a smile.

----

 Jay drove us to a used sporting goods store, where he bought some foam target pads to wear on the hands, and one for kicking.  He also picked out a foam bat with a quiet laugh to himself.  “What’s so funny?” I asked.

 “Oh, you’ll see.”

 We went to Growing Homes, where he picked a several-hundred dollar, sixty four square foot area rug.  “That’s for us, too?” I asked incredulously when he hit the button to call an associate.  “I hope you’ll let me pay for half, at least.”

 “Nope,” he said simply.

 “Are you just that rich, or what?”

 He laughed at that.  “Hardly.  Well, I take it back.  I feel very rich, but that’s nothing to do with my bank account.  Money just isn’t worth taking seriously.”

 “You’ve never been on the verge of losing a house,” I said.

 “Were you taking the money seriously, or the house?”

 “Can’t have one without the other,” I said.

 An employee showed up to get the rug down from the rack.  “I guess not,” Jay said, and lifted it on his shoulder, balancing it perfectly.

 “Isn’t that heavy?” I asked.

 “I guess,” he laughed, not knowing what else to say.  We started walking to the front.  “Okay, so I’ve never almost lost a house.  All the more reason to let me get this.  Besides, I’d like a space to practice anyway.  But if you really feel indebted to me,” the pitch of his voice became hopeful, if not beseeching, “just be serious about this.”

 “I’m serious,” I assured him.  “You’ve probably heard that before, though.”

 He chuckled.  “I wasn’t going to say anything, but yes.  Many times.  I feel differently about you two, though.  I’m actually excited.  Hence the impulse buying here.  I can’t wait to have Madison as a student.  I see her taking to it instantly.”

 “So do I,” I said, wondering again what had made her bring it up.

 Once we were back home, he set the rug up downstairs after clearing the corner he’d indicated of some old furniture, and set his other purchases on the side.  We talked about the dinner for awhile.  He told me he enjoyed meeting Sara, I said the same about Beth.  After laughing about Madison rescuing us after he’d told his story, he went off to read until she got home from school.

Reviews

[Sarah]

I liked how Madison walked right up to Jay as he was sleeping. Definitely something a little kid would do. I also thought the conversation between Sara and Laura was very natural. It's sad that Laura's self esteem is so low and she would never believe that a man like Jay could actually like her. Yet, I can't help but feeling like their relationship is nothing more than a middle school relationship. Can someone make a goddamn move already! PLEASE! The suspense is a dagger.

I don't know why, but I want to know if his shower is as long as it was the last time. Was that just because he had a bad day at work, or does he just take long showers. Not something crucial to the story, but just a random thought I'm curious about.

I found it odd that Jay gave in so easily to Laura's request of learning karate. By the way he talked to Beth, I figured he would be a little bit more hesitant, but he gave in right away. Not sure why? Is it just because he likes Laura? Even with that, I feel like he would at least give it a second thought.

I liked the line, "Money isn't worth taking seriously." So accurate. Anyways good chapter. There's probably more, but my internet lagged and I had to rewrite that whole thing so I forgot what I wrote the first time.

[Christopher Miller]

I might have him cover that after the first time, then. After working in a hospital, one wants to be very sure every inch is clean.
I am using the fact that the reader knows this is a romance novel to build anticipation, or that was my goal, anyway. I hope it's obvious to everyone but the two main characters that something will indeed happen. If it was unclear, Sara just spelled it out plain enough. I hope you enjoy it when it does.