by Cassie Beebe
He cringed at the visual, but chuckled. “I kinda like running,” he said. “I ran a lot as a kid. Spent a lot of time outside. It’s good for you. Relaxing, too.”
“True,” she conceded with deep sigh, like she hated to admit that jogging wasn’t actually the worst activity in the world. “Maybe you should join me sometime.”
He looked at her, and she was tossing tiny bits of the wooden handrail into the water again, like the statement was just a passing thought and his acceptance or rejection held no weight to her at all.
“That’d be cool,” he muttered anyway.
He couldn’t help but notice how seamlessly she had changed the subject away from her sleeping habits and onto something completely harmless. He might have been irritated by the evasion if he wasn’t so jealous of her skill. He would have to figure out how she did that so smoothly.
Questions still burned in his mind, but he noted that Jenna never seemed to pry into his personal life. He was beginning to like that about her, so he decided to offer her the same courtesy, choosing instead to rest in the serene silence of the night for a little longer.
They didn’t have to talk; presence was enough for them both. For now, they could simply be two heavily-guarded insomniacs, taking solace in the stars together.
“GUESS WHAT!”
The exclamation echoed through the silent library, earning an aggressive shush from a nearby student.
“Sorry,” Jenna said to the girl with an exaggerated eye roll as she turned back to Jacob. “But seriously, though. Guess what,” she said in a more reasonable volume, smile returning.
Jacob set down his pencil and looked up at her from his book. He had decided to spend Sunday morning catching up on the homework he had fallen behind on after all of the late nights with Jenna, job searching, and Saturday being eaten up by therapy, parole, and finishing up the project he and Callie had to present to their psychology class on Monday.
Spending the evening with Callie had been awkward, to say the least. Ever since the Movie Theater Debacle, things were tense between them. Callie was already a quiet person, but now her short replies and lack of chit-chat felt glaringly pointed. He wanted to broach the subject, smooth the waters and explain that Jenna wasn’t so bad once you got to know her, but there was a large part of him that didn’t want to step one toe into the drama between the two women. He wasn’t prepared for what waves of terror that might send crashing down on him, so for the time being, he decided to ignore it.
Jenna was nearly bouncing with excitement at this point, waiting for him to “guess what.”
He chuckled at the sight. “What?” he asked, allowing her to spill whatever it was she had bottled up.
“Okay! So, remember that conversation we had about free will?” she asked, sliding into the chair beside him.
“Yeah,” he answered.
“Well, my philosophy test ended up being an essay question,” she continued, struggling to keep her voice low in her excitement, “and we had to write a persuasive essay about whatever great philosophical question we wanted. So! I wrote about free will – of course taking the stance that humans do have free will,” she added with snark, and he smirked. “And I got a B!”
“Wow,” he said, trying to match her impossible standard of enthusiasm. “That’s really great. Congrats.”
“It’s totally all because of you,” she said. “I mean, if we hadn’t stayed up so late talking about that stuff, I would have been completely clueless about what to write.”
“I’m sure you would have figured it out,” he said.
“No, seriously. I would have been clueless,” she laughed. “So, hey, I was thinking maybe I could take you to dinner? To thank you?”
“Jenna, that’s not necessary,” he shook his head. “I’m just glad to have been helpful.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, blah blah blah,” she stood up from her chair. “Come on. I’m taking you to dinner.”
He opened his mouth to protest, but she gave him a look that told him she wasn’t taking no for an answer. He sighed. “Fine,” he smiled. “If you insist.”
“I insist,” she crossed her arms, waiting for him to gather his books.
They reached the cafeteria, and Jenna walked straight past the doors without a pause.
“Wait, where are we going?” Jacob asked, gesturing to the building.
Jenna glanced between him and the cafeteria and made a face. “What? No, I’m not taking you to the caf,” she sneered the word. “I know a place. Come on,” she said, heading for her car in the parking lot.
Fifteen minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot of an aged, diner-style burger joint with a large, neon sign that read “Big Al’s.” A bell was tied to the handle of the door, and it chimed pleasantly as they stepped into the restaurant.
“This place has the best milkshakes,” Jenna announced as she led him to a table in the nearly empty room, bypassing the “please wait to be seated” sign.
“Aren’t we supposed to –”
“Heya, Jenny Bean!” an exuberant voice bellowed from across the room in a thick southern accent.
The large woman hustled over to greet them as Jenna took a seat and Jacob hesitantly followed her example.
The waitress dropped her notebook into her apron pocket, tucking the pencil in her tight black bun as she wrapped her arms awkwardly around Jenna’s chair, pulling her in for a hug.
“Well don’t you just get prettier and prettier by the day,” she commented, smooching Jenna on the cheek. Her eyes met Jacob’s and a wide smile lit up her face. “Oh! Who’s your friend?”
Jenna returned her grin and said, “This is Jacob. He’s a friend from school. He helped me get a B on my philosophy exam, so I’m repaying him with dinner.”
“Oh, well isn’t that lovely!” the woman exclaimed, taking Jacob’s hand in both of hers and giving it a gentle squeeze. “Well, I’m Iris, dear. It’s a pleasure. Any friend of Jenny’s is welcome here any time,” she smiled, the radiant white contrasting her dark skin and pink-painted lips.
“The pleasure’s all mine,” Jacob replied, returning her contagious grin.
“Ooo, girl, he’s a charmer, I can tell,” she giggled, nudging Jenna with her elbow. “What can I get y’all today?”
“The usual,” Jenna answered quickly. “He’ll have the same.”
“Comin’ right up, baby,” Iris said, waddling off to the kitchen. “I’ll let Al know you’re here.”
Jacob widened his eyes and gave Jenna a mock gasp.
“The Al?” he asked, pointing at the “Big Al’s” logo on the little plastic menu card on their table.
Jenna giggled. “Yeah, he’s my uncle.”
“Wow,” Jacob let out an impressed whistle. “You never told me your family was famous.”
“You never asked,” she quipped.
He laughed as a jovial, large-bellied man walked up to their table with two vanilla milkshakes.
“There’s my girl,” he said, setting the shakes on the table and planting a kiss on top of Jenna’s head. “What’s this I hear about you making the honor roll?”
“Oh, geez,” Jenna rolled her eyes. “Iris exaggerates. It was one B on one test.”
“Eh, well, that’s good, too,” he winked at her. Turning to Jacob and extending a hand, he said, “Al Johnson, good to meet ya.”
“Jacob,” he replied with a firm shake. “And you, too.”
“Jacob’s the one who helped me study for that test,” Jenna announced.
“Oh?” Al raised his eyebrows.
“Yeah. He’s really smart. Especially with math,” she continued.
Jacob blushed.
“Is that right?” Al said, his round, rosy cheeks glistening under his smile. “Well, it sounds like he’s a good friend to have around, then.”
“Mhmm,” Jenna murmured around the straw of her shake. “Hey, speaking of math,” she interjected in a conspicuously innocent tone, “did you ever find anyone to replace you
r bookkeeper?”
Al shook his head with a frown. “Not yet. It’s tough, you know, finding someone you can trust with your finances,” he lamented. “Been looking for someone stable ever since your Aunt left us.”
“Well,” Jenna shrugged in an overstated gesture. “I mean, I’m just thinking of this now, but… you know, Jacob is looking for a job, so, maybe…,” she trailed off, leaving the idea for Al to finish, as if it were his own.
Jacob tried to suppress his smirk at her devious plan. She gave him a covert wink, and he shook his head at her.
“Oh, well I’ll be darned,” he said. “Maybe he could come work for me! What would you think of that, Jacob?”
Jenna sported a proud grin, and Jacob put on his best surprised face.
“Wow, what a great idea, sir,” he answered.
Al smiled, proud of himself for coming up with it.
“Although, I have to say, I don’t have any experience in bookkeeping,” Jacob admitted.
“Eh, that’s alright,” Al dismissed with a wave. “It’s pretty simple stuff, really. I just need someone I can trust, who can take some of the weight off me. Been spending too many late nights here, not that I have anything else to get to,” he snorted a laugh. “But still, it’s nice to be home before bed time. Catch up on them Dancing with the Stars folks.”
Iris was returning with two red baskets of food, and Al stepped out of her way.
“I’ll go grab you an application,” he said, heading back to his office.
“Alrighty, here we are,” Iris declared, setting the baskets in front of them. “Anything else I can get you two?”
“I’m good,” Jenna said, already dipping a thin, crispy fry into her milkshake.
Jacob appraised the thick, juicy burger in front of him. “Looks great,” he said. “Thank you.”
“No problem, sugar,” she said. “Holler if you need me.”
Jenna bit into her burger, meat juice dripping down onto her fries.
Jacob shook his head at her as he popped a fry in his mouth. “So that’s why you wanted to take me here,” he said.
She chewed, putting on an innocent expression. “I don’t know what you mean,” she took another bite, and he smirked.
“So, is your uncle the reason you came to Ohio?” he asked.
“Sort of,” she replied, wiping the grease from the corners of her mouth with a napkin.
He was expecting her to continue, but she picked up a fry and used it to stir her slowly melting milkshake instead.
“Cool,” Jacob said, not sure what else to say to that. “So… mom’s side or dad’s side?” he nodded toward the office door where Al had disappeared.
“He’s my mom’s sister’s husband,” she explained. “My aunt – his wife – died a while back, but he’ll always be part of the family. We’ve been close ever since they got married when I was ten. She was always my favorite aunt,” she mused, still stirring her shake with a new fry, now. “She was kind of the only one in my family who actually believed in me.”
Jacob stopped chewing at that. “Really?”
Jenna looked at him blankly for a second before snapping out of her musings. She blushed at the accidental admission, and said, “Pretty much,” with a flippant shrug, popping another fry in her mouth.
He wanted to ask, but it seemed best to avoid that subject. He was just trying to think of something to say when Al clomped up to their table with a freshly printed application in his hands.
“Here you are, son,” he offered, handing it over.
“Thanks for this,” Jacob said, glancing over the application. “I’ll bring it back tomorrow, after class.”
“Why don’t you just fill it out here?” Jenna suggested.
“Um,” Jacob stuttered, his eyes landing on that one question that seemed to ostentatiously jump off the page. “Well, I don’t have my references with me.”
Damn it. He cursed himself for saying that in front of Al, who would soon see that he didn’t even have any references to have to retrieve.
“Oh, no need for that,” Al waved off in a low voice, to keep their conversation private from the other guests in the restaurant. “Honestly, this stuff is just a formality,” he gestured to the paper. “If Jenny says you’re trustworthy, then I’m willing to give you a shot. Just gotta have something official on file, for the suits.”
“Oh. Okay,” Jacob replied, fidgeting with the paper.
“Here, I have a pen,” Jenna offered, reaching into her purse.
Before he could find a reason to object, she was handing a pen over, and Al gave him a pat on the back.
“Just fill out what you can,” he said, heading back to his office. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Jacob stared at the application, and Jenna leaned forward to look at the page.
“Does he still print these things on cardstock?” she said, reaching out to feel the corner of the page. She laughed. “I don’t know why he does that. He thinks it makes it more ‘official’ or something.”
Jacob gave her his best manufactured chuckle. He distractedly rubbed his fingers against the page in his hand, now, feeling the thickness of the paper. Keeping his face as smooth as possible to mask his nerves, he clicked the pen open and started filling in the easy stuff.
The further he got down the front of the page, the harder his heart started to beat as he thought about the first question on the back of the paper. He kept glancing up at Jenna to see if she was watching him. Sometimes she was absently watching his pen scrawl across the page, but other times she was back to dipping her fries in her shake or checking out the new items on the dessert menu.
Reaching the last few questions on the front, he prepared himself for what was to come. If he hesitated too long on the question, she might start to get suspicious. But if she happened to be watching him when he flipped the page, she might see him check the “yes” box and question him. What if she thought it was a mistake made in haste and tried to correct him? Then he would have to actually explain, out loud, that it wasn’t, in fact, a mistake, and that he is, in fact, a convicted felon.
By the time he reached the end of the page, he still hadn’t decided on a course of action, so he just stopped, staring blankly at the page for a moment.
“There’s a bit more on the back,” Al said, making Jacob flinch at his sudden presence.
“Oh, okay,” Jacob said, waiting for him to walk away, but he just stood there, waiting.
“Can I get these out of the way for you?” Iris asked, joining the party that was becoming their table.
“Sure, thanks,” Jenna said, stacking up their nearly empty baskets and passing them over.
“Oh! Is your friend gonna start working here?” Iris asked, taking note of the application. “Wouldn’t that be a treat,” she smiled brightly at Jacob.
He tried to smile back through his stiff, clenched jaw.
“Uncle Al told me you guys have been needing a new bookkeeper for a while, so I thought Jacob would be great,” Jenna explained. “He’s really good at math.”
“What a treat!” Iris repeated. “You gonna hire him, Al?”
“Well, we’ll give him a shot, and see how it goes for now,” Al replied.
Jacob’s blood was pumping in his ears, and he stifled an aggravated sigh. He thought that, perhaps, in the midst of the discussion, everyone would be too busy to pay him any attention, but when he flipped to the back page of the application and looked up at Jenna, she was looking right at him as Al and Iris went back and forth about the prospects of Jacob’s employment.
She gave him a smile, and he returned it to the best of his ability.
And then, Jacob did something he had never done before. Something he told himself he would never do, on principle, despite the constant temptation. Generally, it was too risky – after all, an employer might look into these kinds of things, and sometimes being caught in a lie is even worse than the harsh truth – but given that Al had said this was all just a formality, w
hat could be the harm?
He checked the “NO” box.
He looked back at Jenna, but she wasn’t watching him anymore. She had joined the conversation with Al and Iris, and now that everyone’s attention was sufficiently diverted, Jacob felt the sickly sensation of instant regret. He looked down at his application, wishing he had a pencil instead of a pen, so he could fix it. But it was too late, and asking for a fresh application would raise too many questions. So, he quickly filled in the rest of the responses and passed the paper over to Al before he could change his mind.
“Here you go, sir,” he said with more confidence than he thought he would be capable of at the moment.
“Good deal,” Al replied, giving the application a once-over. “I’ll give you a call tomorrow, and we can set up a time for you to get started.”
“Wow,” Jacob said, trying to ignore the twisting in his stomach and focus on the positive. “Thank you for the opportunity, sir.”
“Oh, please, you can call me Al,” his round cheeks pulled up into a grin. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, son,” he gave Jacob a pat on the back. “Good to see ya, darlin,’” he added, kissing Jenna on the head before getting back to work.
Iris cleared a nearby table and headed back to the kitchen with the dishes.
“I hope that wasn’t too forward of me,” Jenna said with a cringe. “The job thing, I mean. It’s just that I knew you were having trouble finding work, and Al’s been looking for someone for ages… plus, I wanted to repay you for helping me out, so I figured –”
“It wasn’t too forward,” Jacob interjected. “I actually really appreciate it. Looking for a job has been…,” his thoughts drifted to his useless P.O. and he shook his head, “frustrating, to say the least. If this works out, it’ll be a life-saver.”
Jenna smiled at that. “Well, good!” she exclaimed, picking up her purse from the floor and slinging it over her shoulder. Apparently, she felt that was an appropriate end to their dinner outing, because she stood up from her chair and tossed some cash on the table.
As they headed toward the door, however, Jacob took a look around him and determined it must be closing time. The other customers had left, and Iris was wiping down empty tables and stacking their chairs atop them.
