Private Property: a Contemporary Romance Novella (9 page)

Tabitha walked her
out
to the
sleek black Mercedes
.  “Kris, you didn’t have to do this, you know.”

“I know – but you would have done the same for me.  I’ll call you tomorrow.  Don’t do too much.”  She folded herself behind the wheel,
waving
behind
the windshield
.

“Thank you.  Be careful!”

Tabitha watched her drive off then turned to the task of locating her backpack.  The house seemed different somehow. 
S
he seemed removed from it all.  She shoved her unhampered hand into the pocket of the jeans Kr
isten had brought up for her.  In fact, s
he had brought two pair up to the
hospital
room one night to replace the torn ones Tabitha had been wearing.  Kristen was the most thoughtful, caring friend she could have ever asked for.

“You want me to put this in the bedroom for you?”  Tabi
tha looked up at Jared’s question
and saw the backpack dangling from his hand.

“Yes, please.”  She followed him down the hall and unpacked her belongings into the whitewashed dresser and closet.  Jared stood, leaning against the edge of the door while she did this, content to study her movements.

“You’re moving well.”  Suddenly he clapped his hands together loudly.  “Okay – you should get started on Monday that will give you the weekend to relax.  Let the fun begin.”  He heaved himself off his post and sauntered out of the room.  Tabitha suddenly felt like maybe she’d bitten off more than she could chew.






The office was located to the left of the bathroom at the end of the L-shaped hallway.  It was as pristinely organized as everything else in Jared’s life and she found it easy to maneuver about.  It was a large room, boasting several filing cabinets and two huge desks: one set up for working manually at, the other for the computer.

Tabitha had not done much work on a computer and spent the first week familiarizing herself with it as well as her boss’ preferences.  For the most part, he was easy to work for.  He came and went, sometimes leaving the house for long periods of time, made long, difficult phone calls regarding his patient load, and taught her how to use the book-balancing software and file paperwork away.

By week number two, Tabitha was on a roll.  Even with the one-arm handicap, she managed to keep the office running smoothly.  At night, she usually made herself a small bowl of cereal or fruit if Jared wasn’t home then crawled into bed.  She slept soundly – the nightmare not haunting her for a change.  On Wednesday, Tabitha woke feeling energized and decided to dress a bit better, now that she could manage
somewhat
without the use of her
left
arm.

She decided on a pair of jeans and turquoise tank top with a built in bra. 
Trying to fasten a bra with only one hand was impossible.  Plus, t
hat way at lunchtime, she could take Sam for a walk.  She couldn’t manage to tie her hair up, so she brushed it until the blue-black shine cascaded down her back.  A little makeup was applied to her cheeks, eyes and lips.  She felt good for the first time in three weeks.

She patted Sam’s head as she passed him in the hall.  They’d become good friends in the
past days
, having spent many a night together.  At first, it was difficult.  Tabitha’s fear would skyrocket at the sight of the dog, but now, she realized that he was essentially harmless.  He’d just been trying to defend his homestead that night.  They took walks together, played catch, and at night he slept at the foot of her bed if Jared wasn’t home, which made her feel safe in the darkness.

The phone rang as she entered the kitchen.  It wasn’t yet time for office hours, so Tabitha let the machine get it.

“Jared, it’s Amanda.  Give me a call.”  Ah,
The Girlfriend
.  Or that’s what Tabitha assumed she was.  Amanda was the person he’d been talking to right before she’d been taken to the hospital.  She called every day or two and that usually signified Jared being
in a bad mood and
indisposed for the night.

Tabitha found she liked the isolat
ion her location brought her - t
he starry nights, no traffic or city noise.  Plus, it wasn’t as though she were stranded.  Her car had been fixed while she was in the hospital – a new radiator, hood
, fender
and bumper,
along with
a brand new
back axle and
set of tires.  Her first week as Jared’s employee, the car had been repainted and now she drove an emerald green Camry.  It felt like a new car.  Even though she couldn’t manage to drive too much,
there
was cause for a cruise to the store on occasion.

She hadn’t had time to sit down and go over all the bills she’d accumulated with Jared.  In fact, they had yet to determine when her last day working for him would be.  With it being the middle of the second week, she knew it was time to approach him on the matter.

The day went as they all did:
she was able to fend off the calls,
schedule a few appointments,
retrieve the mail from the end of the drive, and update the records.  A cool breeze had blow
n
in, lowering the temperature to the tolerable upper 80’s and at dusk she ventured out to the local market to pick up some groceries and much needed dog food.  Sam ate like a horse.  Jared was just entering the house whe
n she pulled up behind his SUV
.  She slipped the handles of the thr
ee plastic bags around her right
wrist and hefted herself out of the car.

As she came up the porch, Jared stepped to one side,
creating a steeple
with
his arm
as he pushed
the screen door open for her.  He looked down at her with one of his rare
, although becoming more frequent,
smiles.  “Did you have a good day?”

She stopped.  “Yes. 
Nothing much to report.
  No emergencies.”  She took a step to move past him.

“I thought I’d cook dinner tonight. 
Hawaiian chicken, steamed vegetables.
  What do you think?”  He snatched the bags from her arm.  “Feel like having dinner with the boss tonight?”

That surprised her.  “Amanda called, I thought you’d be going out again tonigh
t so I picked up a frozen pizza
.”

Tabitha thought she saw a spark of anger flash in his eyes. 
“Nah, I’m too tired.  I thought I’d stay here the rest of the weekend and just relax a bit.”

They moved into the house. 
Tabitha let a couple observations she’d had come to the surface. 
“I was
under the impression that you were supposed to have
been relaxing for the past two weeks.”

He slid into one of the dining chairs as she poured out some dry food for the dog.  “That didn’t happen.  Had a couple of problems to deal with so the vacation idea, as usual, went flying out the window.”

She stood up from the crouch she’d been in
and turned towards him
.  “Then what have I been here for?”

He just stared at her and folded his arms over his chest.  Whenever he took that pose, Tabitha had to find something else to look at.  Crossing his arms revealed the fine cut of his biceps and forearms, it bunched up the muscles in his broad chest, too.

“Would you hand me a beer?”

Even though she’d seen the six-pack in the fridge, she hadn’t seen him drink, assuming it was for guests or something.  She passed a bottle to him and seated herself across the table.

“Jared, we need to discuss how much longer you will need me here.”  She
studied the fingers of her
hand where they protruded from the cast.  They were finally resuming their natural shape and color.

Jared
continued to stare
at her for what seemed like eternity.

“Hello?”  She prompted.

He finished off the beer then moved around
the table
to retrieve
another one.  “Well, in order to get some semblance of time off, I’m going to have to do it in spurts and since I figure you’ve still got about three and hal
f weeks left in that cast, you could
just remain here until your arm heals.”  He didn’t retake his seat at the dining table, choosing rather to stand with his hip leaned against the corner of the
kitchen
counter.

There was really no reason not to stay
and help out.  She enjoyed the quiet
, the lack of boredom and the $400.00 Jared gave her at the end of every w
eek.  It enabled her to pay
some toward
her bills, make
her
auto insurance payment, deposit into her meager savings and still have a little spend
ing money
.  Two more days and she’d have another
paycheck
to put towards the
debt.  With
three more weeks
of work
, she’d have over
a
thousand.
  That was good money for her,
more than
she would ha
ve been making at the Ropes
A
cademy.

Her parents wouldn’t be worried.  She’d cheated by buying some postcards in town and sending them off periodically during the last two weeks.  Her mother wouldn’t know the difference in that the campsite was actually located on the other side of Austin from Giddings.  She’d finally be proud that Tabitha had accomplished something she’d set out to do.  Of course, she’d have to eventually come clean to her parents, but she wasn’t up to the task just yet.

“Okay.”  She answered.  “I’d like to give you some money out of my pay this week.  You know, to go towards hospital charges and your fee.”

“I don’t think al
l the paperwork has been completed
yet.  I’ll check with the hospital on Monday, but I’m positive they haven’t gotten an ite
mized statement put together
.”

“It’s been two weeks!”  Tabitha didn’t think hospitals normally delayed on billing out to patients.

“I know, but they usually don’t set an account
up
until 30 days after a patient leaves.”

Tabitha grasped at a wild urge and helped herself to one of his beers.  The cold liquid felt good sliding down her throat, cooling her belly.  As she passed by him, he made as if to say somet
hing to her, but hesitated
.  She
stopped and
looked at him expectantly, wondering what was going on in those bright green eyes of his as he just blankly stared at her
again
.

“You look like an elf.”

She blinked.  “Pardon me?”

His hand slid down a strand of her hair.  “You know, a pixie.  You’re so small with that pitch black hair and those saucer-sized blue eyes.”

What was he doing?  She stood rooted to the spot trying to figure out his motives.

“I’ve been called an elf all my life. 
Mostly by my family.
  I’m the smallest by about 4 inches and 30 pounds.”

“Yeah, you are a tiny thing.”

“Thanks for the reminder.”  He still had a hold of her hair, so she wasn’t about to risk it being pulled by moving away.

Jared seemed to come to some sort of decision in his head.  He dropped his hand and took another swig of beer.  “I just thought that it probably isn’t prudent for you to drink too much, being so small.”

To that, she answered by pulling a large amount of the amber liquid into her mouth, making her cheeks bulge, before gulping it down.  She slipped out the back door and plunked down on the porch swing.  When were people going to stop reminding her of things she shouldn’t or couldn’t do?  It was impossible to get away from.  Almost as if no one thought she had the faculties to make those decisions for herself.

She must have sat outside for over an hour before the next thing she new, Jared was calling out through the open door that dinner was done.  The
one can of
beer had relaxed her
though
and she
moseyed
her way back in to the house.

“Is there anything I can do?”  He’d already set the table, piled the plates high with meat and veggies and was cutting up some bread.

“Grab us a couple more beers,
Chugger
.”  He responded without looking up.

Apparently he’d gotten over his worry that she’d give herself alcohol poisoning.  She snagged two more bottles, noticing that he’d put another six-pack in to chill.

Jared shoveled a couple of bites in his mouth, still impressing Tabitha that as quickly as he ate, he did so with impeccable manners.  She was apparently watching him intently and when he looked up, he called her on it.  “Do you not like the food?”