Chapter Twenty Seven

 “Laura, I say this out of affection for you.  You look awful,” Manny told me the next morning.  Regretfully I had slid myself from Jay’s arms to send Madison off to school.  I knew I couldn’t call in again, so I settled for kissing his sleeping face before leaving him.

 “Jay and I were up late talking.  That was after he got home just shy of midnight.”

 “What happened?  Is everything okay?”

 I smiled weakly.  “I wouldn’t begin to know how to answer that.  I can say things stand better than I was afraid they would, for the simple fact that Jay’s still talking to me at all.”

 All I was doing was adding to the mystery.  I was aware of it, though I wasn’t trying to.  “Girl, you had better start some talking of your own,” Manny said playfully, calling me on it.

 My coworkers knew about Earl.  He was the reason I worked in the first place, after all.  Plus I would often need to vent to somebody after his sporadic visits.  “Jay and Earl met...”  I told him about their brief encounter, and summed up the late night conversation we had.  “What did you end up doing yesterday, anyway?”

 Manny shrugged.  “Some customers had to wait a little longer when we got our rushes.  Don’t worry about it.  So you and Jay are good now?  Did you tell Earl to piss off yet?”

 I sighed.  “I don’t have any way to reach him.  He stays with different people all the time, and the cell number I have is no good.  That part I didn’t get a chance to mention to Jay, either.”

 “You just have to wait for him to stop by?”

 “I guess...  I don’t know if I should hope for it to be sooner or later.”

 “Or never!”

 I shook my head.  “Jay’s going to want some closure.  Manny...  I can’t believe I did this to him.”

 “Well, you learned he’s the forgiving sort at least,” he offered.

 “That just makes me feel like I deserve him even less.”

 After serving a customer, Manny said, “Now, you just stop that type of thought right now.  Jay told you, after all of this, that he loves you.  Well, there you go.  He sees something in you that he cares more about than he does about what happened.  Whatever he does see, that’s what makes you deserve him.”  He stopped.  “Oh, that sounds terrible, I didn’t mean it like that.”

 “I know,” I smiled.

 “I’m just saying, don’t start feeling sorry for yourself.  It’s going to add nothing to the situation.”

 He was actually scolding me, which was uncharacteristic of him.  I thought about what he said for a moment, and actually felt better.  “You’re right.  Thanks, Manny.”

 He smiled at me.  “You just better make sure you follow through.  Don’t waver one bit.  When the time comes, you tell that Earl what’s what.  It’s about time, anyway.”

 I smiled back.  “Don’t you worry about that.”

 Later, Frank approached me.  “Laura, I need to have a word with you,” he said with that stupid glare of his and an overly hostile tone.

 “Alright.”

 “Not here.”  He moved us into the meat cooler under the pretense of having some privacy from listening ears.  His eyes lowered as the cold had its effect on me, revealing why he’d really picked there instead of his office.  I crossed my arms over my chest.  You cheap, perverted a*****e!  You’d better make this quick.  “You’ve been calling in a lot lately.”

 “There’s been a lot going on lately, I’m sorry,” I said shortly.  I didn’t mean to use that tone with him, but he had pissed me off on top of everything else.

 “Everyone else has got ‘a lot going on’, and they still make it to work.  Do you think you’re a special case?”

 “No...” I said, wanting this to be over with as soon as possible.  My arms were freezing, which was clearly amusing him.

 “Then you won’t mind signing this.”  He pulled a folded paper from his pocket.

 “What is this?”

 “I’m writing you up.”

 Getting written up three times meant termination.  I’d been there for five years, and hadn’t been written up once.  “What?  Don’t I at least get a verbal warning first, or anything?”

 “Sign it, please,” he said, reveling in my dismay.  This is making you hard, isn’t it?  I scribbled my name as illegibly as I could, as if that would teach him a lesson.  “Thank you.  I hope we won’t have to have this conversation again.”

 Later, Patty asked me if everything was okay.  “Frank wrote me up for my call-in,” I said.  Like you don’t know.

 I felt bad for thinking that when I saw the surprise, then anger on her face.  “I want you to know, I had nothing to do with that.”

 My eyes lowered in shame.  “Thanks, Patty.”

----

 When I got home I saw two giant packages on my doorstep.  I got Madison from the neighbor’s so she could hold the door open for me while I wrestled them inside.  The smaller of the two was somewhat  heavy, the big one was very light with an awkward octagonal shape.  They were addressed to Jay.

 While Madison was having her snack, I called Sara and briefly filled her in on what had happened with him the night before.  “I had a feeling he’d listen,” she said.

 I read it in her voice, “You still haven’t heard from Brian, have you?”

 She sighed, and took awhile to answer.  “It’s just weird, by now.  I wish I knew what to think.”

 I couldn’t hazard a guess myself.  Could it be someone else?  I actually found that unlikely.  He had never been extremely affectionate to my sister as far as I had seen, but then he wasn’t the type to show such things in front of others.  And Sara was everything he would want in a woman.  She was pretty, smart, and most importantly, successful.  Success, or rather his own perception of success, was all he cared about.  “Well, you’ll have to hear from him sometime.  And if something had happened to him you’d have heard from someone by now, right?”

 “Right...  Well, we’ll keep each other posted, okay?  I’m going to let you go.”

 “Alright, goodnight.”

 I asked Jay about the packages when he got home.  He was trying not to show it, but I could tell he was still morose about the situation.  He did manage a smile when he said, “Oh, good.  It’s here.”

 “What’s here?”

 “This is for you, mostly.  Once we get it set up in your basement, it’s more trouble than it’s worth to move.  Consider it a gift.”

 My stomach sank.  “Are you...  Moving, then?”

 He shook his head and started dragging the smaller but heavier of the two toward the cellar door.  I opened it for him.  “I can’t discount it as a possibility, though.”  He saw my face fall, and forced another smile to try to cheer me.  “Hey, don’t worry.  If everything you said last night is true, things will be fine in the end.”

 That did cheer me up a bit, because I knew I had meant every word.  He saw my mood lift, and that had the same effect on him.  “Jay, there’s something else I need to tell you.  I wanted to tell you before it came up.”

 He had dragged the box halfway down the staircase, and stopped where he was.  “What might that be,” he said flatly.

 “All I have is an old cell number of Earl’s.  It’s no good anymore.  And he moves constantly, just staying with different people.  I have no way to contact him.  I want to tell him to stay away, Jay.  I’m burning to.  But I can’t, until...  He stops over again.”  My voice fell as I could see all of this registering on his face.

 He looked down.  I could see frustration in his expression.  I tensed slightly, but he let it go.  “Just make sure you tell him when he does, then.  I guess that’s all you can do.”

 “I’m sorry...”

 “It’s beyond your control,” he said as he finished dragging the box down.  “Don’t be sorry about it.  I hate that this could be dragged out for who knows how long, but...”  He stood the box on end with a grunt.  “If you’re serious about me, then you’re worth it to me.  And I do appreciate the honesty.”

 He was still being sweet to me, after what I’d done.  My only answer would have been tears, so I got the other box and took it to the top of the stairs.  We each took an end and carried it down easily.  “So what are these, anyway?”

 “It’s one thing,” he explained.  “I ordered it the day after you got so serious about the wrist grab.”  He frowned.  “This isn’t something I would ever do, normally.  I have mixed feelings about it, still.”  He added in a very serious tone, looking into my eyes, “Don’t make me regret it.”

 “What?” I asked, wondering if I should be getting nervous.

 “Are you up for another lesson?”

 “What, right now?”

 “Right now.”

 I felt well enough, I had taken another afternoon nap to recover from our late night.  “Alright...”

Reviews

[Sarah]

I know you said Manny and her coworkers know about Earl, but to what extent? Do they know he's Madison's father? Do they know he still comes over? Do they know he hurt her? Do they know that the two still sleep together on occasion? Elaborate more on that; it's pretty vague.

I also think Laura is being hard on herself when she says "I can't believe I did this to him." She technically didn't do anything with Earl, and all she did to Jay was avoid the truth. In my opinion, it wasn't a lie because it never really came up, so I don't think she really did anything wrong.

I felt like the conversation with Sara was forced and that she should be more concerned with Brian. Just asking doesn't seem to be much. If my boyfriend wasn't responding I'd be freaking out. I'd be the one calling, or she should go to the police if something serious has happened.

As far as the encounter between Jay and Laura, I think it was fine. I'm curious to see what's in the boxes?

[Christopher Miller]

I kind of meant for it to be vague, I'll look at the first conversation they have about him though. I suppose I'd say they don't know much, just what they infer from what's obvious.
Earl had come up several times, and for her to avoid the truth is a lie by omission. Especially once she's pursuing a romantic relationship with him, she ought to have told him. Having someone who stops by randomly expecting sex isn't something you keep from a partner.
The whole subplot with Sara is probably pretty weak, so I appreciate your input on that. It kind of came out of nowhere, I just needed her to be more than a prop. Her arc has its own implied conclusion, I'd like to know what you think of it.