Home Is Wherever You Are (5 page)

Her eyes met mine, and she looked amused. I guessed that wasn’t bad.

“Where did you get those?” she asked, pointing to my jungle print boxers covered in monkeys. They were holding bright yellow bananas. I hadn’t noticed it before, but they might have glowed in the dark.

“I, um, from the box,” I said, pointing nervously to my free box of clothes, and she started giggling.

I blushed hard. I knew they were kind of silly, but they were free, so who was I to say anything?

“Matthew, did you read the waistband on those?”

“What?”

“The waistband,” she said pointing.

I looked down at my shorts. The shirt I was wearing was covering it, and I shook my head no. She just giggled some more at me and walked out of the room. “You should!” she called back to me.

Once she was out of sight, I lifted my shirt and read
“
Want to taste my banana?
” It was printed in big bold black letters across the bright yellow elastic waistband. “How did I miss that?” I mumbled to myself.  I quickly jerked my pants on and hurried to the kitchen. “I had no idea! I swear I don’t want you to taste my banana.”

She just burst out laughing. “Oh, Matthew, that’s such a shame,” she said teasingly, confusing me more.

“You want to taste my banana?”

“You know what makes this so funny?” she laughed, pulling out a to-go box. “I brought home banana cream pie for dessert to celebrate passing inspection!” she said, dipping her finger into the cream and slowly sucking it clean.  I swallowed hard.  I didn’t think I could ever blush any redder than I did in that moment.

Chapter 8 - Unexpected

The next morning, I woke to the sound of Addy in the kitchen. I made my way in, scratching my belly and yawning, and she looked at me and giggled. “What? Is it my hair again?” I asked, patting it down.

She shook her head no and then glanced at my waist. The yellow band was peeking out at her. I pulled my shirt down and pulled my pajama pants up. “Sorry,” I mumbled, but she just burst into giggles again.

“It’s fine, really. I could use a good laugh, and the fact that you wear them and are so oblivious is just hilarious.”

“Just for that, I should get you some silly cherry pie panties or something,” I grumbled.

She put a bowl in front of me, smirking. “Who says I don’t have some already?” she flirted back, and I suddenly felt a little more awake.

The rest of the week was much the same…well, sort of. I think we were flirting. I had always been decent looking, or so I’d thought, but my social and financial status had always worked against me. That and after spending all day processing collections, I tended to be a bit of a grump. Okay, I was a total grump, but you would have been, too, if you’d spent all day talking to angry people. Anyway, my point being, I was in new territory. I was pretty sure Addy was flirting with me, but I wasn’t sure what to do about it. I flirted back, and I wanted to kiss her again, but I didn’t know how to go about doing it.

I had been spending the days working on Addy’s house and the evenings studying. Kyle had called me and told me I was scheduled for my certification test on Thursday evening. I was excited and scared at the same time. I really didn’t want to fail, and I was freaking out that I might tank the test. Addy would calm me down, when she saw I was stressed, but she had been working an extra shift for the past couple of days. When I asked her about it, she said she knew her electric bill was going to go up, and she needed to be ready for it. That just made me want to study harder and be sure to pass. I wanted to be able to help Addy with her bills.  I hated that I was taking so much from her.

I had finished repairing and patching the walls in the second room and was cleaning up the mess, when I heard a knock at the door. At first, I didn’t recognize the sound and looked to see what had fallen on the floor, but then I heard the steady rap again.

I made my way to the door and opened it, only to be shocked by who was on the other side. My mother stood with a wide smile. She grabbed me and kissed my cheeks. “I’m so glad you’re home, baby! I wasn’t sure with you working and all,” she said and then turned to my father’s wheelchair. “Can you help me get him up, dear?” she asked.

My first thought was, “
Crap, how did I explain this to Addy?”
My second thought was, “
We need a ramp.”

“Hold on, Mom, I have some boards we can lay over the steps.”

I rushed to the back shed, where I had saved a few two-by-sixes. The tops of them were not rotted, so I had cut off the bad parts and saved the good. I had done a lot of research on termites and found that it wasn’t termite damage in the wall, just some ants, and I had been able to get rid of them rather easily. The dirt they had brought in had rotted the bottoms of the wood in the wall, but as I’d said before, the tops were fine.

I laid two two-by-sixes down over the steps and popped my father’s front wheels up over the edge of them, so I could push him up and into the house.

“This is a beautiful house, Matthew,” my mother gushed. “It’s so much homier than that little cramped apartment.”

I didn’t know what to say, and my father started laughing. “So, when do we meet her?” he asked, and my eyes popped open wide.

“Oh, please, dear. We have caller ID, remember? Last I checked, I didn’t name you Adeline Stratton,” my mother said grinning.

“She’s working at the diner now. She’s been taking a few later shifts.”

My mother nodded. “Of course, winter does make for a horrid electric bill. Remember, dear, I’d spend most of my time at the diner as well?”

“So,” my dad, said clapping his hands, “What have you been working on?” he asked, eyeing the patched walls.

I scratched the back of my neck. “I’ve been fixing up the house. It was stripped and…well, just old in general, so I’ve been trying to get that all taken care of.”

“Stripped?” my father asked.             

“Yeah, someone had gone through and pulled all of the electrical wires out. I had to replace them. That’s why the walls are patched the way they are,” I said, pointing to some of my handiwork. “I also replaced some rotted boards in the wall in the second bedroom. I was just cleaning that up when you came.”

“Well, let’s have a look,” my dad said, wheeling himself down the hall. I opened the door to the small room with the pile I had just swept up. I picked up the dustpan and finished, as he looked around the room. “So, you going to put my grandkids in here?” he asked.

I dropped the dustpan, startled.

My father started laughing, and my mother walked in, smacking him on the shoulder. “Way to be subtle about it, Matt.” She smiled at me, and I knew I was in for it. “It must be serious if you’re living together, right?”

I swallowed hard. This was going to be a lot harder to explain than I thought.

“Matthew?” I heard Addy call from the front room and heard her coming down the hall. “Do you know who’s parked in the driveway?” she asked and then stepped into the room.

I was sure I looked like a deer caught in headlights.

My mother turned to her, smiling widely. “You must be Adeline. I’m Dorothy, Matthew’s mother, but you can call me Dottie.”

Now Addy looked just as stunned as I did. I looked back and forth between the two, and my father started laughing. “Looks like we broke our son, Dottie.” He rolled over to Addy and took her hand. “I’m Matt, the nut’s father. You’re definitely out of his league,” he said with a wink, and my mom smacked his shoulder again.

Addy cleared her throat and plastered on a smile, but I could tell it was forced. Heck, I think we all knew it was by how pale she was. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were coming, or I would’ve…” She looked down at the to-go box she had.

I hurried over to her and took it from her, leading her out of the room. “You didn’t have to bring me lunch,” I said, pulling her aside. I felt horrible. She looked absolutely sick. “I didn’t know they were coming,” I blurted out.

She smiled sadly at me. “I know. I know you would’ve told me.”

I laughed. “Yeah, I would’ve freaked out to you about it right away,” I whispered, and she giggled.

“It’s fine, Matthew.”

I shook my head. “Oh, no, it’s not what you think. They think I’m living with my girlfriend. My dad was just asking me about the nursery,” I said, thumbing back to the room we had just stepped out of.

Her eyes widened, and I laughed.

“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on filling the ‘nursery’ anytime soon,” I said, and I might have been mistaken, but I think she looked a little hurt. I decided to backpedal a little, just in case. “I mean, we just had our first kiss a while ago, and I still haven’t figured out how to get you to kiss me again, forget…” I realized this line of conversation was even worse than the one my father had brought up. I could feel my ears burning deep red with embarrassment. I suddenly found the floorboards very interesting. I wouldn’t be surprised if Addy threw me out on my ear for even suggesting doing that with her.

Her hand was on my chin, and she tipped my face to look at her. “I’d like it if you’d kiss me again, too.”

I perked up right away. “Really?” I asked. I really had nothing to offer her and wondered daily why she even bothered with me, but here she was, looking at me with hope in her eyes, and I couldn’t help but smile. “I’d like that, too.”

She smiled, and a light pink blush flushed across her cheeks.

“Everything alright out here?” my dad asked, wheeling himself out into the hall.

“Yes, Mr. Martin, everything’s fine,” she said.

“Well, Matt, don’t be bothering them when she’s on her break. I’m sure we’ll get a chance to talk to her once she gets home,” my mother said.

I realized then that my parents had traveled far and would not likely be leaving. “Um, Mom, Dad, how long do you plan on being here?” I asked.

“Oh, not long,” my mother said. “They’re reupholstering at the diner, so it’s closed for the week, but I have to get back for when they open for the weekend again. I wanted to see you, baby. I needed to know you were really okay and see who this lovely Adeline was who caused you to up and run to a different place, completely forgetting to tell your parents you moved.” She smiled at Addy, but I was freaking out. Of course, they had no clue that she really had picked me up on the side of the road just a couple of weeks ago.

“Don’t feel bad, Mrs. Martin. My parents don’t know about him, either,” she said, giving my hand a supportive squeeze.

“Well, you’ve got to fix that, boy!” my dad said. “It ain’t proper to be living like this and not have the blessing of family.”

Thank heavens Addy found this amusing, as she giggled, making her way to the kitchen. She started setting the table, and I was silently thankful I had been able to get all that kitchen stuff from Freecycle. “I’m sorry, I only brought food for Matthew, but I have some cans of soup that’d stretch the sandwiches I made.”

I looked up at Addy surprised. It was the first time I had heard she was the one making my food. It was a diner, they would have a cook, and she was a waitress. “You made them?” I asked, and she blushed and shrugged.

“Cookie needed a hand, and I figured I’d help with some of the easier orders.”

“Thank you, Addy,” I said, squeezing her hand and helping her set the table. She started to make some tomato soup, but my mom took over, telling her to take a load off.

“Put your feet up, honey. I know how it feels to be on them all day,” my mom said. “Matthew, you best be massaging them for her at night. Sore feet can lead to all sorts of health problems,” she said, and my dad was nodding in agreement.

“Give me your foot, Adeline,” my dad said, embarrassing me and her. “I want to show Matthew how to do it right. I’ve been rubbing my wife’s feet for decades.”

“Hey,” my mom complained.

“Years, I mean, she’s a lot younger than me, just turned twenty-one last spring,” he grinned, winking at my girl, causing Addy to laugh. He grabbed her leg while she was distracted, popping off her shoe before she could protest.

“That’s not necess…oh…my…” Addy said, stopping in her tracks, letting out a moan.

“See here, my boy, you’ve got to get her foot just right,” my dad said and showed me how to rub her foot. I grabbed Addy’s other foot and got to practicing on it, watching my father work.

My mother let out a chuckle. “Boys, you’re going to put her to sleep if you keep at it.”

We looked at Addy, and she looked so relaxed.  She smiled, blushing. “Yes, I need to get back. I really just meant to bring you your sandwiches,” she said, slipping her shoes back on.

“Don’t worry, Addy, I’ll be here to give Matthew another lesson when you get home,” my dad said, causing my girl to blush more.

I stood up. “I’ll walk you out,” I said, and she just smiled and nodded at me.

We made it to the truck, and I felt horrible for what I was about to ask her. “Addy, is there any way they could stay…?”

She covered my mouth with her hand. “Put your bed in the nursery, Matthew, they can stay there,” she said smiling and kissed my cheek, leaving me stunned. I heard her chuckle, as the truck roared to life, and I waved to her, smiling like an idiot, as she drove away. I wasn’t sure of what it all meant, but I knew it had to be good.