Jed held his breath, hoping she wouldn’t slam the door in his face.
“Now?” she asked. She stared up at him, eyes wide, her hands clutching desperately around the collar of her housecoat.
He studied the toes of his boots. “I had a feeling you wouldn’t be able to sleep.”
“Come in, Jed,” she sighed, then stepped back to allow him entry. Jed closed the door behind himself, toed off his boots and kicked them onto the tray, then followed her into the kitchen, where the kettle whistled on the stove.
“Do you want some herbal tea? It’s caffeine free.”
All he could do was nod and watch as she busied herself making the tea. She looked cuddly and sweet in her baggy housecoat and bare feet. For the first time since he met her, her hair was a mess, but even still, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever known. Not only that, she wasn’t making excuses for her appearance.
She turned her back to reach a couple of mugs in the cupboard. As she lifted her arms, the hem of her housecoat raised up, showing her cute little bare toes beneath it. His heart caught in his throat.
When she placed the steaming cup of tea in front of him, he took a slow sip, then swallowed it too quickly, scorching his throat, rather than spit it back into the cup. “This stuff tastes like boiled straw! How can you drink this?”
“It helps me sleep. And I like it.”
Jed cradled the cup in his hands, painfully aware of Jillian staring at him as he took another cautious sip. He hoped the second sip wouldn’t be as bad, but the strange taste of the tea made him grimace in distaste. He set the cup on the table, wondering how to refuse to drink any more without hurting Jillian’s feelings.
As much as he needed to talk to her, now that she sat in front of him, staring at him, he couldn’t think of a single thing to say. After a full shift, he was filthy, and since it had been a particularly busy night, he didn’t smell too great, either. Jillian, on the other hand, looked great. Pleasantly mussed and bundled in a granny-style housecoat that was probably thicker than his overcoat, she still somehow managed to carry about her an air of dignity.
“Bunny slippers,” he said as he leaned back in the chair. He folded his arms across his chest, trying to cover the coffee stain and other assorted splotches, although the condition of his clothing was the least of his worries.
“What?” Jillian started to raise her cup to her lips, then froze. “Bunny slippers? What are you talking about?”
“You need bunny slippers. They would suit you. You know, the kind with the floppy ears and big eyes that look up at you when you cross your ankles on the coffee table.”
“I do not put my feet up on the coffee table.”
“Well, then, you should start.”
“Jed, it’s two in the morning. I don’t think you came here to discuss ridiculous footwear.”
“No, I didn’t.” Jed stared into the half-empty cup, then sloshed the liquid around as he tried to think. “I know you were upset about Mark, uh, walking in on us like that.”
Jillian didn’t answer. Instead, she appeared to be paying too close attention to the pattern on her cup. She blinked a couple of times, and Jed’s stomach tightened.
“He’s just a kid,” Jed blurted out. “And I had a little talk with him on the way home.” And he had. He merely omitted telling her that things didn’t exactly turn out the way he had planned. He hoped Liz and Frank had had a chance to have a better talk to Mark about kissing girls.
When she didn’t respond, Jed reached across the table to touch her hand, but she pulled it away. His throat became so tight he wondered if he would be able to manage the words. “Do you want to pray about it? It always helps.”
She clutched her cup again. “I don’t think I’m ready to pray with you, Jed.”
He knew exactly what she meant. He often participated in group prayer, praying for people he barely knew, if at all. This was different. This was personal. Intensely personal. Praying together with someone close lent itself to a certain intimacy, one he couldn’t even begin to reason out. And in a group situation, the results of such prayers usually didn’t directly affect him. This time, Jed not only wanted to pray for peace for Jillian, he needed to. The more he thought about it, the more important it became.
He also needed answers. He wanted to know why she resisted his efforts to draw her closer. He didn’t think it was him in particular, but he couldn’t be sure. While she didn’t exactly push him away, she didn’t encourage him either. But more than anything, while he was curious about why it bothered her so much, he wanted her to have some peace about the incident with Mark. From her reaction, and the fact that she was still bothered so much about it, he had a feeling things went far deeper than just a little embarrassment.
So, while Jillian stared into her cup, her eyes fixed on its contents, Jed lowered his head slightly, closed his eyes, and prayed alone.
When he opened his eyes, Jillian was still staring into her cup. The sight of her made him want to get up, pull her out of the chair, hold her tight, and kiss her again, if he didn’t smell like lubricant and other assorted unmentionables.
She looked up at him, her eyes big and round. “What if word of this spreads to my other students?”
“So what if it does? You’re entitled to a social life.”
“But not at the piano, and not with a student’s uncle.”
Her words didn’t bode well at all. “It’ll be okay, Jillian, I promise.”
She didn’t answer. Instead she stood, hugged herself, then looked toward the door, then back at him. Jed decided he could take a hint, before he was asked to leave and never come back. He couldn’t take that. “I guess I had better go; it’s late.”
He walked slowly to the door, listening to the shuffling sounds of Jillian behind him. She didn’t say a word to him as he let himself out. He thought about turning around to say something, but the door closed as soon as he cleared the doorway, and the lock clicked as it engaged. He walked slowly to the truck, then tightly gripped the steering wheel for a few minutes before he started the engine.
It would be quite some time before he fell asleep tonight.
Jed and Betsy stood in the window and waved at Liz and Frank as they drove off to work. Again, Betsy woke far too early, especially after last night. Not only had he been extra late getting to bed, but he had also lain staring at the ceiling for hours. He was getting to know every bump and lump of stucco on a personal basis.
Jed yawned, making no effort to hide it from Betsy. “Hey, Pumpkin, I’ll give you a nickel if you go wake Mark up. I’ll give you two nickels if you do it without any yelling.”
Betsy giggled. “You watch me, Uncle Jed!” She tiptoed down the hall, still giggling.
He smiled through another yawn. Betsy could be such a good little girl when she wanted.
For a minute there was silence.
“You little monkey brain! Get outta here!”
Betsy shrieked and ran down the hall and jumped into Jed’s arms, laughing wildly. “I didn’t yell! I didn’t yell!”
Jed closed his eyes, afraid to ask, but he had to know. “What did you do?” He remembered one morning from his youth when Liz had kept snapping the elastic on his underwear until he couldn’t stand it. Did kids still do that to each other?
“I pulled his blankets off and tickled his feet. You owe me two nickels!”
He could live with that. “Tell you what. After Mark leaves for school, how about if we go to the mall and I’ll let you spend those two nickels?”
“Oh, boy! Can I buy a new doll?”
It was a struggle, but he tried to look serious. “Not with two nickels. You’re going to need more than that for a doll.”
“Then I had better go get my bank!” Betsy jumped out of his arms and ran to her bedroom. Jed could hear the shaking and rattling of coins as she emptied the contents of her bank onto the floor.
Mark shuffled into the living room, rubbing his eyes. “I hate her. She’s a brat.”
“She’s a little girl, and she’s your sister.” Now he knew how his parents felt, only in their case, Liz was the eldest, and she never let him forget it. But even though she was older, by the time he reached thirteen, he was taller. Much taller. And then he didn’t let her forget it. At times, he pitied his parents.
“At least I don’t have to kiss her.”
Jed cringed. Obviously, Liz had not spoken to him like he’d hoped. He wanted to have another little talk with Mark about this kissing business, but this was not the opening he had planned.
“Then who would you want to kiss?”
Mark tilted his head, as if it would help him think better. “Well, Dad thinks that in a couple of years I might want to kiss Kimmy Albertson, but then Mom poked him and said for him not to give me any ideas.”
“Do you like Kimmy?”
“Yeah, she’s cool. She burps even better than Rodney.”
Jed smiled. Nothing like true love. “Pretty cool for a girl, huh?”
“Yeah, for a girl.”
“Come on, let’s get you out the door on time.”
Once Mark left for school, Jed stretched and decided to make a pot of coffee. He was going to need at least that to get him through the morning.
After sufficient coffee consumption, he helped Betsy tie her shoes as they prepared to go to the mall. Betsy could barely sit still, anticipating buying some new doll she had seen on television, which he hoped was not too expensive. He had a feeling this was going to be a costly trip.
“Got your seat belt on, Pumpkin? Let’s go.”
Betsy chattered all the way to the mall, going on and on about that doll. By the time they arrived, Jed was sick of hearing about it. He allowed her to pull him all the way to the toy department, skipping. Jed refused to skip, no matter how great this doll promised to be. Fortunately, the doll was not overpriced, so Jed bought it for her as a treat. He picked out a small model for Mark to be fair to both kids.
“Come on, Pumpkin, now it’s time to buy what Uncle Jed came for. Want to help me pick the right color?”
“Yes! That’ll be fun!”
“Hurry up, it’s almost time to go back and get you to school. Want a hamburger for lunch?”
“Do I get the kids meal with the toy?”
Jillian looked at the clock. She could almost hear Jed saying “Yup, time for me to go get Betsy”—except it was the wrong day.
How he got enough sleep to keep going was beyond her. Jillian couldn’t survive on so little sleep from day to day, week after week. And yet, Jed had committed himself to this routine until next September, until he went to college, an entire year.
When Jed said he would do something, it was considered done. She envied his family. His commitment to them was not only commendable but done with such a spirit of love that Jillian was almost jealous of his sister.
Jed appeared happy and settled in his arrangement. She had met Liz once briefly when Mark started lessons a few years ago, and although Jed mentioned they were very much alike, she couldn’t remember Liz. Jillian tried to imagine a feminine image of Jed but couldn’t. As she stared off into space, she pictured Jed, his dazzling smile, his brilliant blue eyes, and his unruly brown hair, a lock of it constantly hanging in his face. Even without him there, she had to suppress an urge to push it back into place.
“Hi, Miss Jefferson. I practiced everything extra hard this week. Which one do you want to hear first?”
Jillian blinked, then tried to discreetly check the clock before focusing on her incoming student. She had to get her images of Jed out of her mind and get down to business.
“Good afternoon, Sheila. Pick whichever one you want first. Come and sit down and we’ll get started.”
As the last student of the day left, Jillian locked the door, leaned her forehead into the back of the door, and yawned. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been so tired.
With the events of yesterday, and then her very, very late night after Jed left, she felt ready to drop. She barely found the energy to make herself a peanut butter sandwich for dinner, spending the balance of the evening on autopilot before she crawled into bed.
Sometime in the middle of the night, she half woke to listen for a few seconds to what sounded like the low rumble of Jed’s truck. Through the fog of interrupted sleep, she tried to work up the energy to peek out the window, but the sound faded and disappeared. She rolled over and went back to sleep and dreamed of Jed and sitting on the swing.
Sunlight was pouring in the window by the time Jillian awoke. After she dressed, Jillian put on a pot of coffee and stepped outside to retrieve the mail and newspaper. As she wrenched the paper out of the slot, a volume of flyers tumbled down around her feet. Grumbling about the volume of after-Christmas sale flyers, she bent to gather them. Sorting them with one hand, she reached up to the mailbox without looking.
Her hand jerked back when she came in contact with something fuzzy in the mailbox. A pair of bunny faces stared back at her. She pulled them out, but they weren’t stuffed toys; they were slippers. She found a note attached.
Instructions—place one on each foot and position carefully on a solid coffee table. Improper usage voids warranty.
Love, Jed
Jillian stood on the doorstep, staring at the large blue faces, complete with big wide eyes, pink noses, and floppy ears. Bunny slippers? They looked ridiculous in her hand. Jillian couldn’t begin to imagine how ludicrous they would look on her feet.
Jillian read the note again. Was this Jed’s way of trying to cheer her up? She held the slippers at arm’s length, and the utter silliness of the faces got the best of her, forcing her to grin. At the sound of a car going by, Jillian realized that she was still outside. Quick as a bunny, she backed up into the house and shut the door.
She stared at the note again, and her grin faded. Love, Jed? Did he sign all his little notes this way, or was the situation with him spiraling even more out of control? She hugged the slippers and walked into the kitchen. They were too cute to scuff along the floor.
Jillian placed them on the counter beside the coffeemaker, continuing to stare at them as she poured her coffee. The bunnies stared back.
She’d never seen anything so preposterous in her life. Bunny slippers. While she was sure, knowing Jed, he had meant to cheer her up, she couldn’t imagine anyone giving her such an odd gift. In the past, when anyone, especially a man, gave her a gift it had always been something expensive, fancy, ultrafeminine, and with strings attached.
She dropped the bunny slippers on the floor, then slipped her feet into them. She shook her head, and shuffled over to the couch and as instructed, lifted her feet and rested them on the coffee table. The bunnies looked back at her, just like Jed said they would. They were absurd. Definitely undignified. And warm and fuzzy. And comfortable. Jillian wiggled her toes inside them and leaned back on the couch. She loved them.
Without getting up, she leaned over to the phone on the end table and dialed Jed’s number.
A little girl answered. “Hello?”
“Hello, Betsy. Can I speak to Uncle Jed?”
“How did you know my name? Who is this?”
Jillian smiled at Betsy’s plight, amused to be getting the third degree from a little girl. “This is Miss Jefferson, the piano teacher. Your Uncle Jed told me your name. May I speak with him, please?”
“No, you can’t.”
Jillian’s smile dropped at the thought of being screened without knowing why. “Why can’t I speak to him, Betsy?”
“ ’Cause he’s having a shower. Wait. The water stopped.” The phone crashed with a loud bang in Jillian’s ear and Betsy screamed for Jed in the background. She listened to a series of loud thumps, as Betsy screamed to Jed that she had to tell him something.
Jillian’s own face heated up and she considered hanging up rather than listen, when she heard Jed’s voice in the distance. He gently admonished Betsy for calling him out of the shower unless it was an emergency. Jillian strained her ears to hear Betsy telling Jed it was the piano lady, who was still on the phone, waiting. Silence hung in the air.
“Hi, Jillian.” Jed’s embarrassment radiated over the phone. Jillian struggled to remember why she called in the first place.
Jillian looked down her legs at the bunnies, still resting on the coffee table, and wiggled them. “Thanks for the bunnies, Jed. They’re adorable. This was so sweet. I don’t know what to say.”
He laughed in response. “You’re welcome. Enjoy them. You’ll have to model them for me.”
“Anytime you want. But I should let you go. You’re probably leaving a puddle on the rug.”
Jed remained silent for a few seconds. “Oh, yeah. Kids, no tact. You busy this afternoon?”
“Uh, no, why do you ask?”
“How about modeling those slippers for me and then we could decide from there?”
“Well, I don’t know.”
“Come on, Jillian, I’ve got to see those slippers on you.”
Jillian wiggled her feet, which were still on the coffee table, causing the bunny ears to flop. She grinned. “I guess so. Bye, Jed.”
“Bye, Jillian.”
Jillian smiled as she hung up the phone and wiggled her bunnies once again.