“So, you’re going out Friday. What do you want to wear?” She thought for a moment, realizing she didn’t have much, but Mike cut her thoughts short with another idea. “I’m having Irene take you out shopping on Thursday. I will give her the card, you just make your selections. You need a girl with you, not some old man.”
“You aren’t old yet, but I will still go with her. She’s nice. You like her, don’t you?” she said with a slight grin.
“I told you, I don’t dip my wick in the company ink. If she wasn’t so good at her job I would have fired her years ago though….” He said as he stared off a bit. Looking back at Jill, he realized that her smile had faded, replaced by a different look. Was it jealousy? He didn’t know for sure. Maybe she was as conflicted as he was. “Maybe you will find a boyfriend on Friday. You deserve to have some fun you know!” he said.
She laughed, snorting rum and coke out of her nose, then screaming in pain. “Don’t do that! It hurts! And nobody is going to date me, hell, no one has yet. Why start now?” she said.
“You seriously have never had a boyfriend? I can’t believe that.” He said.
“I wouldn’t lie to you about something like that. Never. Not once. Nobody wants to date the weird homeless girl.” She said. Realizing what had come out, she put her head down and began to cry.
“Damn it!” he thought. “Look, I didn’t know any of that. We won’t talk about that today either. Also, let me solve one of your problems. Saturday, young lady, would you do the honor of going to dinner with this old, broken-down gentleman?”
“What? Are you asking your sister on a date?” she said, with a look of surprise on her face.
“Absolutely. My sister has to know how a gentleman should treat her when he takes her out. And if he doesn’t, let me know and I will fix his problems!” he said.
She looked at him, shyly smiling, and said “Then I accept. I have my first date on Saturday!” He retrieved his phone, checked his work, and sent a quick text to Irene. Then he thought of something else.
“You don’t have a phone, do you?” he said.
“No, never have. Mom had one a few years ago, but I never have used one.” She said.
“Get dressed. We need to go shopping. If you’re going out, you have to have a phone. I’ll put you on my plan.” He said. They drove the truck out and stopped at the T-Mobile company store. “Do you know what kind you want?” he asked.
“I have no clue. Get me something similar to yours so that when I have questions you can answer them.” she said. They went into the store and picked out an iPhone for her. Rose gold with a pink cover. He plugged in his number and made sure he had hers as well. He showed her how to make a call, and then they headed home. They ordered some Chinese delivered and sat down on the couch, waiting.
She looked at him and said “I have one more favor to ask. How do I get a job? I can’t live off of you forever. I just can’t.”
“Way ahead of you. But you’re going to have to wait, I need to iron out some details. I’ll let you know soon.”
She smiled with a bit of relief, then looked at him with some concern. “I don’t have a high school diploma. I dropped out at 15, and never went back. I know that can be an issue, and I want to be up front with you.”