After a few minutes, she calmed down and backed away. She looked at him and asked, “Should I leave now?”
He laughed, breaking the tension, and said, “You never have to leave unless you want to. Never.” She was feeling the shots by then, and he knew it. He carried her in and laid her on the bed. “Goodnight, I am in my room if you need anything.” Her eyes closed as he walked out.
At about 3am, his phone pinged, waking him up. His motion detector found her up, moving in the house. She got some water and stood outside his door for several minutes. Finally, he heard a light knock. “Come in”. She came in an looked at him…silently. “Can I get you something?”
“You don’t hate me, do you.” More a statement than a question.
“No. Why would I?”
“Because. No one ever has cared before. Why you? We don’t even know each other.”
“Honestly, I don’t know. I felt something when I first saw you, and I decided to go with it. I have no regrets either.”
She almost smiled and said “OK. Goodnight. I just wanted to make sure you still want me to stay.”
If I wanted you to go, you would know. I want to have breakfast with you, but I need some sleep first. Wake me when the sun comes up.” With a shy smile, she murmured “OK”, closed his door and went back to bed. Mike stayed up, his mind churning with questions he couldn’t ask, trying to find answers that eluded him.
At 6am Mike gave up and got out of bed. He started a pot of coffee, texted work that he was taking some time off and sat back. He went to his bathroom, took two Tylenol for the headache and picked up more for Jill. He was just stirring his coffee when she came out. He silently offered the Tylenol and a cup of coffee. She took them both, and then said, “Go sit. I will make breakfast. That’s an order, not a request. I have to start earning my keep around here.”
Mike went and sat, still silent. He just watched her cook, making some good old-fashioned cinnamon toast and scrambled eggs. “I’m not much of a cook, but it is the best I can do,” she said.
“Looks good to me!” Mike said and began eating. She looked at him and asked him what time he had to be at work. “I’m the boss. I go when I want. I think I might take today off.” He caught her slight smile when he said that. “I have a few things I can do on my laptop, and the rest of the day is ours. What would you like to do?” he asked.
“I would like to relax around the pool for a while, and I have some cleaning around here to do. You have to show me where the vacuum is kept. I am doing the dishes too, so step away.”
Mike got his laptop and started working, not paying attention to the passing time until Jill brought in the vacuum and wordlessly started cleaning. He realized he had been working for several hours and started to move so she could finish in the living room, and they could go out to the pool. Just before he shut off his laptop, he received an email from Maria, short, sweet, to the point. “Preliminary results show that YOU ARE the BROTHER” ala Jerry Springer. He shut down the laptop and put it away. She was almost done with housekeeping, so he just watched as she finished. When it was done, he put the vacuum away as asked, “What’s for dinner, sis?”