A Matter of Trust (12 page)

“
I thought that was
free.”

“
It is free, which is why
I insist that they come. I can teach kids to read and write, but
they need to be exposed to books and stories, so they want to learn
to read and so they can see that reading is fun and important.
Sometimes, I have their parents volunteer their time in exchange
for lessons, and they’re guest readers. That way, their kids can
see them as role models, and reading becomes a
priority.”

“
You’re really something,
you know that? That’s great, what you’re doing. I’m really
impressed.” Jake smiled over at her.

“
Thank you. In the end,
it’s all about the kids, and it’s all about the importance of
literacy. It really is my passion, and I love what I do. I’ll
always be grateful to the girls for backing me. Next on my list is
working in some adult classes. There’s a program that uses
literature as a springboard for Socratic seminar, where adults
discuss in depth what’s written between the lines, beyond the
words. I’m also looking into teaching adults to read who never
learned in school, although I haven’t determined whether or not
there’s a need for that yet. Lastly, I’m thinking about offering
English as a second language classes for both children and adults.
Maybe even GED classes. There’s so much I want to do. My biggest
problem is patience, or rather lack of it.”

“
You’re doing great,
Trish. Like I said, it’s unusual to break even the first couple of
years you’re in business, much less make any profit, so you’re
already ahead of the game. You’re obviously chomping at the bit,
but these things take time, you know. You’ll accomplish everything,
eventually. There’s only one of you. If things keep going as well
as they have been, you might want to think about hiring some more
help.”

“
Maybe. I don’t know. I
kind of hate to give up the control. When it comes to my work, I
have very specific ideas about what I do and don’t want. But
wouldn’t it be great if I did have to hire someone just to keep up
with the demand? That would be so cool.”

They walked into the restaurant
holding hands. They spent the next hour and a half talking about
dreams and goals and laughing about life in general. It ranked as
one of the nicest evenings she’d had in a long time. She leaned
back and relaxed for the drive home and nearly fell asleep when
Jake broke the silence.

“
So when do you want to
make the move to your own place?”

“
I thought I’d start to
get organized this weekend and see what all I need to buy. I need
to go by and see the stuff your brother and sister want to get rid
of, then I have to arrange for movers to take it over to the
house…”

“
Trish, my brothers and I
can move it for you. I’ve got a truck, and so does Cade, and we’ll
knock it out in no time. Shit, not the chin thing again. Come
on.”

“
What chin thing?” Trish
gave Jake a cross look.

“
When you’re about to
blast me to kingdom come, you do this chin thing, and I know you’re
going to be stubborn about something. Look, I respect that you want
to handle things yourself in your own way, and I’m trying to stop
myself from coming to your rescue. I know you’re perfectly capable
of handling anything that comes your way. I’m not trying to take
over for you. But, Jesus, Trish, I’ve helped lots of people. It’s
one of the hazards of owning a pick-up truck. If I do that for
other people, what’s the big deal about me doing it for you? Can
you cut me some slack here?”

Trish took a deep breath. “I’m sorry,
Jake, and I will try to cut you some slack. I’m just used to taking
care of things myself. Honestly, it doesn’t occur to me to ask you
or anyone else for help most of the time. It’s nothing
personal.”

They were walking inside the house
now, and he turned her to face him and put his hands on her waist.
“So does this mean you’ll let me help you move?” He kissed her
slowly, gently.

“
Umm. What was the
question?”

Jake smiled. He went back to kissing
her for several minutes, until they both wanted more. “Come on
Trish. Let me help you with the move.”

“
You’re not playing fair.
Okay, okay, I give. Now kiss me some more.”

“
I’ll do more than that,
sweetheart. Come here.” He pulled her hips against his and grabbed
her rear, pulling her closer so she could feel how ready he was for
her. “I can’t seem to get enough of you. I can’t imagine that I
ever will.”

Trish felt too excited to pay
attention to what his words by then, but later, she would debate
whether she should be happy about his comment or scared that their
relationship was getting far more serious than she ever thought it
would, especially this quickly. For someone who’d vowed never to be
in a serious relationship again, she sure had a lot of strong,
confusing feelings for Jake she struggled with. He had asked her to
trust him, and she would try, but she honestly didn’t know how
successful she would be. For the first time since she’d found out
about Pete, she at least hoped to trust again, and that alone
constituted a big change for her.

Chapter 6

The weekend arrived quickly as busy as
the Lit Center kept Trish. She had a ton of work to do, but she put
it aside, so she could organize the upcoming move. She’d already
told her parents and the kids that she’d signed a lease on a house.
She got mixed responses, but the excitement came in first. The kids
viewed it as a new adventure.

Trish had very little to pack other
than clothes, toys, and books. There were a few personal items, but
it could all be carted over in just a few trips, more than likely.
She’d arranged with Eva and Callie to stop by on Saturday to see
the furniture they wanted to get rid of. She decided to take a
bedroom set, a dinette set, and a desk set from the girls and a
living room set from Jake. Everything looked in good shape, and
although she might not have chosen the exact pieces herself,
everything pleased her, none the less. Settling on a price for
everything proved to be the greatest challenge. She’d gone on line
and priced similar pieces and averaged the prices she’d found, but
without exception, every one of her argued that the prices she
offered sounded too high.

It was a scene out of a
comedy as the buyer argued and bargained to pay
more
money, and the sellers insisted
that the buyer pay
less
. Crazy! At one point, Trish just threw up her hands and
started laughing. The men left it all to the women except for the
moving and lifting. They finally reached an agreement, and by the
end of the day, her new home had some furniture in it. She still
had personal item to move, but not much. She’d do that tomorrow.
She spent the rest of the day with the girls shopping for the other
household items she needed which included pretty much
everything.

They went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and
bought dishes, pots, and pans, flatware, glasses, towels, bed sets
for both the kids, although she still needed to buy another bedroom
set. Actually, she needed to buy two more sets, but she figured she
could either double up with Lexie or sleep on the couch for awhile.
She bought a shower curtain and rugs for the bathrooms and the
kitchen. Then, she went on to kitchen appliances and bought a
toaster, a coffee maker, a wall clock as well as an alarm clock,
kitchen utensils and knives, and a microwave oven.

Exhausted, but excited, the girls all
called their men – although Trish insisted that her relationship
with Jake differed from their relationships – and they all decided
to go out to dinner together.

The girls all went home to shower and
get ready, although, all three men insisted they already looked
ready, not to mention gorgeous. All three women just shook their
heads and laughed as they headed for their prospective homes. The
temperatures had dropped in the evenings, so Trish wore a light
sweater with jeans. Eva, Josh, Callie, and Cade arrived in one
vehicle at Trish’s parents’ house, and Jake and Trish went in their
own car. After much debate, they decided on Chinese and were seated
at a round booth.

“
So, when are you moving
into your new place, Trish?” Eva asked.

“
I think I’m going to move
the clothes and other things at my parents’ house over tomorrow.
Plus all the stuff we bought today. I might just spend the night
there tomorrow night.”

“
Neat! Can I help? Moving
out is such a drag, but moving in is fun. You get to decide where
to put everything, and you know where everything is for awhile.”
Callie rubbed her hands together in anticipation.

Trish smiled and shook her head.
“True, but no matter how organized I set it up, it’s not likely to
last long, Callie, with my two little munchkins around. I am
excited, though.”

“
Speaking of the kids,
when do they get back?” Eva looked over the top of her
menu.

“
Next week, on
Wednesday.”

“
I bet you’re excited to
see them.” Eva smiled widely at her friend again.

“
I sure am. We’ve never
been apart this long. In fact, we’ve never been separated
overnight. We talk on the phone a lot, but I can’t wait to get my
hands on them. They’re really excited to see the house. I want to
be all moved in by the time they got here.”

Jake put his arm around her. “Where’s
everyone going to sleep? You only have one bedroom set. You think
you can find another two sets before Wednesday?”

“
Even if I could, I’m
broke after buying all that stuff today. We can all either share
the bed – it’s a queen size, so we’d all fit – or I’ll sleep on the
couch until I can buy more furniture. No big deal.”

Jake frowned. “I’ll be happy to help
you out with that, sweetheart. Before you say anything, you can pay
me back every last dime if you want to. I don’t want you to have to
sleep on the couch or with the kids. You won’t get enough
rest.”

Trish tried to reign in her temper and
barely succeeded. “I appreciate the offer, Jake, but we’ll be
fine.”

You could’ve cut the tension that
settled around the table with a knife.

“
Alright, Trish.” Jake
went back to looking at his menu along with everyone else who
suddenly found the listed food extremely interesting.

In an effort to smooth things over a
bit, Callie broke into the conversation. “Ladies, it’s about time
for our monthly business meeting. When’s a good time for
y’all?”

“
Let’s try to meet before
the kids get back, so I won’t have to worry about a sitter, you
want to?”

The awkward moment passed, but Jake
acted more subdued the rest of the evening and elected not to spend
the night. He kissed Trish goodnight when he took her home after
dinner and left.

****

Sunday morning found Trish already
packing up clothes and toys before it got completely light outside.
She worked for the next two or three hours on filling boxes and
loading them in her car. Jake had given her the keys to the house
the day before, so she took the first couple of loads over before
eight in the morning and had begun loading the car full of stuff
again when Jake pulled into the driveway.

“
Good morning, Jake.”
Trish arched her sore back.

“
Hey. Looks like you’ve
been busy.”

“
Yep. Almost finished. I
took the first two loads over earlier. I’m just loading up the
rest, so I can take the last of it.” She bent down to pick up the
next box.

Jake hustled over to take it from her.
“Let me get that.”

“
I’ve got it.” She put it
in the back seat of the car.

Jake gritted his teeth,
which had become a habit since he’d been seeing Trish. He figured
in another week he’d have to get dentures, because his teeth were
likely to either break or be worn down to nothing. He’d never met a
woman as hard-headed as Trish. Independence was fine, but she took
it to a whole new level. What was wrong with accepting a little
help now and then? Damn it, he
wanted
to help.

“
What’s left
inside?”

“
Mostly books, and they’re
really heavy.”

“
How about I load them in
my truck for you?”

“
Sure, that would be
great.”

“
Halleluiah,” he grumbled.
He went into the house and started loading the last of the boxes
which were left. The woman was insane. There was such a thing as
independence and such a thing as being foolhardy. Trish crossed
that line daily. He needed to find a way to get that point across
to her without making her mad or making her feel threatened or like
she was giving up her precious control. Jesus Christ.

They finished loading boxes and headed
over to the house. Jake talked Trish into unpacking while he
brought the rest of the boxes inside. He walked into the garage and
was amazed at how much she’d carted over by herself.

“
Honey, I wish I would’ve
known you were going to start so early, and I’d have come to help
you. There must be twenty or thirty boxes here, and some of them
are damn heavy. You shouldn’t be lifting some of these. You could
hurt yourself.”