Chapter Nine

 My good mood stayed with me into the next day.  When I woke Madison for school, the first thing out of her mouth was to ask if Jay was still there.

 “Yes, sweetie.  He’s sleeping though, so can we be quiet?”

 “Doesn’t he have to get up too?”

 “Not yet.”

 “Oh,” she said, disappointed.  “Will he be here when I get home?”

 “Probably not today,” I said.  “You’d like it if he was, wouldn’t you?”

 “Yes,” she admitted.  “I like Jay, Mommy.”

 “I like him too,” I smiled at her.  “Well, get dressed, I’ll start your breakfast.”

 I was itching to call my sister the second Madison got on the bus.  I waited, knowing she was at work, but I was unsure if the reason was I didn’t want to annoy her, or if I just wanted to know I’d have her undivided attention.

 It was a long day waiting for Jay to wake up.  I was excited, but didn’t want to do anything noisy to wake him up.  The poor man was getting the first real sleep he’d had in quite awhile.  My thoughts went back and forth from elatedly thinking about how less stressed I would be once the threat of losing my house was gone, to going back over our conversation the night before.

 After several false alarms that turned out to be him rolling over in bed, I heard actual signs of life around one o’clock.  His door opened, and as he went into the bathroom Mariah ran to the back door and scratched at it, looking at me expectantly.  I let her out.  “Good morning,” I said when Jay came out.

 “Good morning,” he rasped, and joined me at the kitchen table.

 “Can I get you some coffee?”

 He cleared his throat.  “I’d love some, thank you.”  I turned to hide the smile that the gratitude in his voice brought to my face.  He reached up to try to smooth down some hair that was sticking up, and looked around.  “Is Mariah outside?”

 “Yes.”  I poured him a cup.  “How did you sleep?”

 “Wonderfully, thank you.”  He took the coffee and sipped it as if it was going to save his life.

 Is he thanking me for asking, or for the sleep?  “I promised Madison I’d tell you she said goodbye.  You should have seen her face when I told her she couldn’t look in on you.”

 “Little sweetheart,” he said quietly, starting his day with a smile.

 “You’re really good with her,” I said in a tone that begged explanation.  He didn’t pick up on it.  “You said you don’t have children...  How did you get to be so good with them?”

 “I used to teach,” he said.

 “Oh?  What grade?”

 He shook his head and sipped his coffee.  “I used to teach martial arts...”

 Is that shame in his voice?  “You don’t sound like you remember it too fondly.”

 He took a deep breath.  “The school was getting extremely commercial, and I left.  It was a very hard decision.  I still feel like I abandoned my students sometimes...”  I didn’t know what to say to that, but he went on.  “Funny thing is, it used to be that I couldn’t stand kids.  Then one day my instructor had me start helping out with the kids’ classes and they just grew on me.  You give me too much credit, though...”

 “What do you mean?”

 “I’m okay with kids.  Some of them.  Some of them make me nervous as hell.  There’s something different about Madison.  It would be just as accurate to say she’s good with me.  She puts me at ease.  Her carefree state of mind is contagious.”

 “I don’t think you give yourself enough credit...  I told you she’s usually very reserved around people she doesn’t know.  Men especially.”

 Mariah scratched at the door, and Jay got up to let her in.  “All done out there?” he asked her.  She looked up at him and wagged her tail.

 “Are you hungry?  Can I get you something?” I asked.

 “I am...  But I’d better get going.  She needs to eat too, and I have to shower and everything.”  He paused, thinking of what to say.  “Can I leave you my number, for when you decide about renting?”

 “Sure.  Here,” I said when I found a pad and pen.

 He scribbled his name and number for me.  “Would you mind calling either way?  Just so I know if I have to start searching again.”

 “You’re not going to keep searching anyway?”

 He looked at me for a moment before he knew what I meant by asking.  “I’d live here in a heartbeat if you offered.  I just slept better than I have since I first moved into town.  And, I dunno, I just...”  He looked around the kitchen, as if looking for a certain detail that would help him explain his thoughts.  “It feels nice here.  I hate to use such a cliché but your house has really nice vibes.  I don’t know how else to put that.”  He sighed, and started for the front door.  “So no, I won’t be looking anywhere else as long as I think I have a shot at living here.  Don’t rush your decision of course, but please do call once it’s made.  If you want to let me down easy, just tell me I’d better start looking again.”

 Not very likely.  “I’ll call you soon, don’t worry.”

 “And don’t feel like you owe me an explanation if you don’t think it will work out.”  He opened the door to leave.

 I almost told him to relax, he had the place already.  No, just wait until you talk to Sara and Madison.  “Alright, thank you.”

 He still hesitated.  “Laura...”

 “Yes?” I asked, wondering what he was struggling with.

 His hand came off the doorknob, and he hugged me.  It wasn’t the superficial gesture that it was with most people.  He held me tightly, closely.  “Whatever you decide, thank you for everything you’ve done already.”

 He surprised me, and it took a second to return the embrace.  “What have I done?” I asked to prolong the moment.

 “You gave me a hot meal, and a quiet night.  You have no idea how much better I feel.”

 “It’s all been my pleasure, Jay.”  I rubbed his back, wanting to say more than that.  I couldn’t.  “Drive safe,” I smiled at him when he pulled away.

 He returned my smile, and left.

----

 I couldn’t wait any longer to call my sister.  I still didn’t want to bother her at work, so I left her a message on her house phone and waited.  Shortly after three, she called.  She must have just gotten in the door.  “Hi, Laura.  Going to tell me how well your night went?”

 “How do you know it went well?”

 “I wish I could play messages while I’m on the phone.  You should have heard yourself.  I think I could actually hear you blushing.”

 “Oh, shut up,” I laughed.

 “So, how did it go well?”

 Where do I begin...  I told her about the night, from Madison playing with Mariah up through Jay watching Rapunzel with her.  “She loved him instantly, Sara.  I’ve never seen her take to anyone so quickly.”

 “So, you offered him the room, I take it?”

 “Not yet...”

 “Why not?  I thought you were leaving it up to your little girl.”

 “I still have to ask her.  She does like Jay, but I haven’t said anything about the possibility of him living here.”

 “Why not?”

 “I wanted to give you the chance to talk me out of it.”

 There was a bit of silence on the other end.  “Why do you think I would want to do that?”

 Thoughts flooded my mind and made me dizzy.  I realized I hadn’t sat since answering the phone.  I sank into my armchair and said, “It’s complicated now...  Remember how you told me to choose boyfriend or tenant?”

 “Laura, you didn’t!”

 “Oh my god, Sara.”  My hand went to my face, as if she could see it.  “No, nothing like that.  We just talked, but...”

 “But?”

 But I went to bed and woke up feeling absolutely wonderful just because of it.  “It was a really...”

 “What?” Sara laughed in frustration.  “What did you talk about?”

 “We talked about fairy tales...”

 We fell silent for awhile after that.  Sara knew me like no one else, and how much I loved my stories growing up.  She was also the only one who had understood the damage Earl had really done to me, when he falsely assumed the role of prince charming, my knight in shining armor.  She may have understood better than I did myself, but when I didn’t stop myself from thinking about it too deeply, I knew that was the worst thing he’d ever done to me.  Stealing my money was bad, but he had also unwittingly stolen my dreams.  Sara had tried one time to renew my interest in them, knowing the pleasure they had once brought me.  I resisted her effort with such viciousness she hadn’t ever brought it up again.  Still treading carefully after all this time she said slowly, “You haven’t talked about those for awhile...”

 I still didn’t know what to say, but I knew she was waiting for me to speak.  “No...  And don’t worry, I didn’t bite his head off.”

 “Laura, please stop feeling bad about that.  It was a long time ago, I was bringing it up at the wrong time, we’ve moved on.  So, what happened?”

 “Well, I learned something about having your five year old as your only confidant when she told Jay I’m still looking for my knight in shining armor.”

 “Oh boy.”

 “He managed to change the subject before my face burst into flames.  Later, after she’d fallen asleep in his lap, we were talking and he brought it up again.  I was bracing myself to be teased, but he went off on these ideas...  Saying that fairy tales are all real.  Not real, real, but that they’re worth taking seriously.  He explained it so well!  I don’t know, I feel like...  Like he took all my crushed dreams and made them valid again.  He woke something up in me, Sara.  I went to bed as giddy as a little girl whose biggest crush was spending the night.”

 After being quiet for awhile Sara said, “Hmm...  Maybe it would have been better if you had just slept with him.”  Like he would have been interested.  She laughed, and continued before I could say anything.  “Well, he’s sure got your attention, and I can see why.”

 “So, what do I do?”

 I listened to her suck in a breath of air.  “I don’t know what to tell you, sis.  I think any path you take is going to have certain risks.  I can’t weigh them for you.  You can go ahead and ask Madison about it, but you know what she’s going to say already.  Really, it’s up to you.”

 “It all comes down to keeping the house,” I reminded myself.

 She could hear I was disappointed that she didn’t have all the answers.  “I wish I could tell you to just go for it, Laura, and have him move in.  But if you did get involved with him romantically, and it didn’t work...  You’d be in a living hell until you got him out, and I would feel responsible.  In part, at least.”

 I couldn’t imagine any moment with Jay being hell.  But then, I’d have said the same about Earl that first night.  Besides...  “That isn’t what I mean.  I don’t think we’d get involved like that.”

 “And why not?  No, never mind, I know what you’re going to say.  But what’s the problem then, if you’re so sure he’s ‘out of your league’ anyway?”

 “It might...  Be hard for me.  You know?”

 “It might be.  But if you have to move, that’ll be a lot harder than crushing on a roommate.”

 “I know...  I think my mind’s been made up since last night, anyway.”

 “You’re going to give him the rooms, aren’t you?”

 “Yes.”  I smiled to myself.  “Unless Madison happens to tell me not to.”

Reviews

[Jennie Lynn]

I don't have a sister but the conversation between Laura and Sara felt very natural to me.

Laura and Jay's interactions are a little odd. He hugs her because he got a good night's sleep? How bad has this man's life been up until this point that he responds so strongly to a relatively simple gesture? I can see Laura's character developing more. She gets moon-eyed over simple things, action and comments on Jay's part that might indicate he likes her but manages to talk herself out of or not even notice larger acts, like the date comment or a sincere hug. That girl really does have some self-esteem problems. I am liking her more again, but it's more pity than sympathy. I hope she finds herself.

[Christopher Miller]

I can say, his life was quite bad. However, I'm realizing this is likely another blind spot, and I should share his experiences some more. I haven't conveyed enough to explain his desperation.
Hearing your opinion of her so far was very satisfying; that's exactly what I was going for. I look forward to your opinion on her development (if you keep with the story).

[Sarah]

I agree with Jennie Lynn. The conversation between Laura and Sara felt very natural. I'm kind of curious what it is about Jay that made Madison adore him so quickly? Just the way he speaks to her? I don't know really.

Laura is head over heels for Jay, yet she still wants Sara to talk her out of renting him the rooms. Seems so ironic in a way, but it really allows the reader to see inside to mind of Laura. She's always so down on herself and feels as though she isn't good enough. Sad, yet realistic portrayal of many women. I enjoyed this chapter much more than the last. I actually thought she was going to tell Jay right away that he could have the rooms, but I guess I was wrong.