“You don’t have to do anything else, really. I’m good. Thank you for everything you’ve done. I really appreciate it,” I said, smiling my appreciation.
After he left, I was about to go upstairs and read my book when Chris came back in. Only he had his hair slicked back again.What is going on with him?He had toilet cleaner and glass cleaner in his hands and a roll of paper towel under his arm.
“What are you doing?” I asked, wrinkling my eyebrows.
“I’m just going to clean your bathrooms for you, then I’m off for the night,” he told me.
“But you already did them,” I reminded him.
“I did? Oh, right. That’s right. I did.” He shook his head nervously and went to the front door. “See you tomorrow, Marilyn.”
After he left, I stood there, staring after him in shock. If there was one thing I was learning about him, he was a neat freak. He must be over-tired or something. I shrugged my shoulders and went upstairs. I read several chapters and then fell into a peaceful sleep, dreaming about Chris cleaning my bathrooms.
* * *
The next daywas much the same. Chris buzzed around my home all day, cleaning this and organizing that. It was like he was everywhere. And the oddest thing was he kept slicking his hair back, and he was having that funky thing going on with his voice again. And then the next time I saw him, his hair was normal. This was extremely perplexing. I was starting to make bets with myself to see which Chris I would get next.
“Chris, would you please throw some laundry in for me?” I asked him.
“Of course, sugar,” he said with a smile. After he left the room, I shook my head in confusion. Chris had never called me sugar. What has gotten into him?
I was sitting on the couch with my laptop, working on some paperwork, when Chris walked into the room with a laundry basket. “What are you doing with that?”
“I’m going do a load of laundry for you,” he said.
“Wait. You already did that,” I told him.
He looked at me with confusion written all over his face. “No, I didn’t. I haven’t done any laundry today.” Then he said, “Oh, right. Now I remember.” Then he took the laundry back upstairs.
When he came back down again, he made himself a sandwich and came over to see what I was doing. “What’s that you’re working on?”
“It’s a new case. A cleaning company hired this girl and had her working for a few months. She kept asking them for her pay, and they said it would be e-transferred to her. So she kept cleaning houses for another few weeks and received no money. She got insistent, and then they fired her without paying her a cent. She’s suing for her wages. In the meantime, she lost her car because she couldn’t make the payments on it. She’s suing for that as well.”
“Sounds like a good one. I hope she wins,” Chris said as he walked to the back door. “I’m going to go clean the pool now.”
I’d fallen asleep and was woken by Chris in the kitchen making himself a sandwich. I looked at the time. “You just had a sandwich an hour ago. You’re hungry again?”
It was slicked-back Chris this time. “I…I always eat two lunches when I’m active.” He came over to me and said, “What are you working on today?”
I craned my neck and looked back at him. “What’s going on with you? You just asked me this an hour ago, the last time you came and made yourself a sandwich.
“I’m, I guess I’m not myself today,” he said as he walked out the back door. “Just going to clean the pool, then I’ll water your flowers.” And he was gone.
I must be losing my mind. It must be the hormones from the pregnancy messing with my brain!
FOURTEEN
CHRIS
After a few days of helping Marilyn while she rested due to her doctor’s order, I realized that helping her stay healthy was becoming more important to me than it should. I had no idea what our relationship was. I knew we were neighbors and co-workers, but friendship and love were unclear. I wanted a friendship with her, but the jury was out on whether she wanted that with me. It seemed she had an on/off switch for that. It confused me daily. Sometimes she was friendly and chatty, and other days she was as cold as the inside of a refrigerator. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to it. I could say it was the hormones from the pregnancy, but this had been happening all along.
It seemed as though every time we got closer, she would then insert a wedge between us to drive us apart again.Why is that? What is she so afraid of?This was a question that was haunting me day after day.
Who is the father of her baby?Another question that was going around in my brain at least every hour. I wanted to ask her but knew she would withdraw and start putting up the bricks around her heart again. I wasn’t sure if she was afraid I’d be upset that she’d slept with someone else (which I would) or if she was terrified to tell me I was going to be a father. It was driving me crazy not knowing, but I also wanted to respect her wishes for privacy.
Billie Jean interrupted my thoughts by putting her nose under my hand and nudging it, which was her way of asking for affection. Within seconds she was on the ground with all fours straight up in the air to receive her belly rub. I indulged her, then gave her a treat. “Let’s go over to Marilyn’s and see how she’s doing,” I said. Billie Jean’s ears perked up, and we made our way over.
Marilyn had given me a key for the week, so I used it and opened the door quietly so I wouldn’t wake her up. I went up the stairs and tiptoed to her room. Seeing that she was still in bed, I made my way down to the kitchen and started making bacon. Once that was started, I got out the eggs and made omelets. That last detail was making a fresh brew of dark roast coffee, Marilyn’s favorite. I fixed her a plate and took it up to her. The aromas woke her up.