by Trina Solet
"You mean you didn't have a place to live even back then?"
"I was crashing with people. The address I gave you was my old apartment. And later on, I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to feel sorry for me, like you do now," Jeff told him.
"Mostly I'm angry with you for not telling me," Ned said.
"I didn't want that either. Wait. What time is it? Did coming here take you away from Mina? Where is she?" Jeff asked as he looked at his phone and saw that it was almost nine o'clock.
"I dropped her off at the neighbors'. They have two fluffy cats. She's as happy as a clam and covered in cat hair. She'll' be even happier when I bring you home," Ned told him.
It took Jeff a moment to understand what he was saying. "Bring me home?"
"Yes. You're coming home with me. This isn't catch and release. Where did you think you would be staying tonight?" Ned asked him like it all made perfect sense to him.
It didn't make that much sense to Jeff though, so he started to refuse. "I appreciate..."
Ned raised a hand and cut him off. "You can't keep doing this. If you're caught sleeping in the wrong place, you could be arrested for vagrancy or trespassing."
"I know, but I don't want to involved you in my troubles," Jeff told him.
"What do you mean not involve me?" Ned said, sounding kind of offended. "You should have never let it get this far without telling me what was going on."
"I'm really sorry, professor."
"Did you forget my name? Anyway, we'll talk about the terms tomorrow, but I'm offering you a live-in position to look after Mina," Ned said and got up, ready to leave with Jeff in tow.
"You're offering me a live-in job just to keep me off the street?" Jeff was stunned but he stood up as well.
"Next time I'll have to bail you out. I'm saving myself the trouble and the money." Turning back to Jeff, he said, "You haven't accepted yet."
Jeff was still in shock and incapable of giving an intelligent answer.
"You have until we reach the neighbors' house to decide. I want to be able to give Mina the good news. So think fast. You have about ten minutes and counting," Ned warned him as they went to his car.
Ten minutes was plenty of time for Jeff to decide. He wasn't sure what it would be like to live in Ned's house, but it had to be better than sleeping on and under benches and risking getting arrested for it. And anyway, how was he supposed to say no to Ned?
"It's the best offer I've had," he said.
"That's a yes, right?" Ned asked to make sure.
"It's a yes," Jeff confirmed just in time. They were pulling up in front of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence's house. Ned went in to get Mina, and when they came out, Jeff saw that she was already in her pajamas. She was wearing mismatched shoes as well.
"Did you have to get her out of bed?" Jeff asked while Ned buckled her in and she grinned at Jeff.
"Not quite," Ned said then came around to get back behind the wheel.
Jeff felt really bad about that. "It's past her bedtime I bet. I am really sorry I put you to all this trouble."
"Mina got to stay up past her bedtime and play with kitties. She's heartbroken about that. Aren't you Mina?" Ned asked her.
Mina had no idea what he was talking about and she didn't understand sarcasm. All she had to say on the subject was "I like kitties."
When they went in through the front door of Ned's house, Jeff looked around and felt kind of disoriented. Was he really moving in here?
Meanwhile Ned was giving Mina the news. "Jeff isn't just visiting us. He's going to be staying with us and he's going to be your manny."
Mina looked from Ned to Jeff in confusion, so Ned got down to specifics. He walked them all to the room at the end of the hall. "This is going to be Jeff's room now," he said opening the door to a room full of boxes.
"Boxes," Mina said.
"We'll move the boxes. They are Nora's. She left them here when she moved into her little apartment," Ned said. "And speaking of Nora, she's the one who told me to hire you as Mina's manny."
"Mina manny?" Mina said.
"Manny is Jeff's job title," Ned told her. "But you need to go to bed now. We'll talk more in the morning."
Jeff said goodnight to her but Mina wanted something else. She tapped the top of her head with her finger. Jeff wasn't sure what she meant so Ned had to interpret.
"I think she wants a kiss."
"A kiss. OK." Jeff leaned down and kissed the top of her head. As soon as he did, she giggled and ran off.
"That is one happy kid," Ned said. "I'll be back to help you move some of these boxes."
He followed Mina to her bedroom while Jeff dug through the boxes and discovered a bed with sheets on it and everything. When Ned came back, he was already moving boxes to make a little more room for himself. He stopped to ask Ned about this whole manny thing.
"Are you sure you really want me to work for you full time? You'll hardly even need that much help during the summer," he pointed out though he didn't exactly know Ned's schedule.
"What are you talking about? That Mina runs me ragged. Who knows what kind of trouble she'll get into. And you see how disorganized I am. There'll be plenty for you to do," Ned told him. "My summer schedule isn't too bad. I have the senior seminar starting soon. It will be nice not to have to worry about finding a babysitter."
"Am I really doing this?" Jeff said, still not believing it.
Ned didn't seem to have any doubts. "Yes, you are. Oh, and when it comes to breakfast, Mina likes banana slices in her oatmeal."
Since it was still early and Jeff was more wound up than tired, they hung out for a while. They each grabbed a drink and a chair from the kitchen table and sat right outside the door to the back yard.
"I can't believe you don't have lawn chairs," Jeff said.
"Me either. This is not ideal." Ned shifted around in his chair, trying to get comfortable. "I'll get some. Or you get some," he said and turned to Jeff with a grin.
"I will. It's crazy to waste this back yard."
Now Ned turned more serious. "How did you end up without a place to live?"
"I lost the job that paid the rent and I couldn't line up another one. I was trying to hang in there, finish out the term, since it was already paid for, then I would figure out what to do for the summer."
"And your parents?"
"It's just my mom. She thinks I still have a place and a job. I don't want her to know. Until recently, she was drowning in debt. My parents sank a lot of money into buying a rental property, a rundown brownstone with several small apartments. It was supposed to make them money, but it was a money pit. And after my dad was gone, it all fell to my mom. In the end, she had to sell the property at a loss. I think she did it for my sake. I told her I would stay and help her try and fix it up instead of going to college, but she didn't want that."
"She's a good mom. You said you lost your father," Ned prompted him.
It was hard for Jeff to talk about that. "He died two years ago."
"I'm very sorry for your loss."
"It was a shock. My dad was in good health, but he had to have surgery on his knee. He died when a clot moved to his brain. After that it was just me and Mom. Mom didn't even tell me how bad things were financially. I found out after I was accepted here. I got a partial scholarship but I had to take care of the rest myself. I did OK for a while. I had a decent job but when I lost it, the next job didn't pan out then the next one didn't last two weeks. When my tuition was due I spent all my money paying for this term. I was gambling that I'd have a job to cover rent. I couldn't find anything but temporary work, a few day jobs in construction, one I shouldn't have taken, but nothing that paid enough for rent. My roommates let me stay for a while on the couch but then the building manager started giving them trouble, and I had to move out. That's why I've been crashing places and sleeping outdoors, but still going to classes."
"Are you considering moving back home?" Ned asked.
"I can't. Mom remarried r
ecently. Her new husband has three little girls and a tiny house. I didn't want to crowd them and stress them out when they're still newlyweds. I wanted to figure things out for myself. That didn't work out all that well." Jeff sighed and looked over at Ned. "Thanks for coming to my rescue. I appreciate it. And I'll pull my weight. Take care of Mina and the house, whatever you need."
Ned had only one demand, but it was a big one. "Mainly I need Mina to be taken care of and happy."
"I'll do my best for you guys. Thank you."
That night Jeff went to sleep in a real bed. As he got in under the covers, he almost started crying. Until that moment, he didn't even know how scared and worried he was. Now the burden was slipping from his shoulders and he wanted to cry with relief.
He had a roof over his head and a mattress under him, and not just for tonight. Ned was letting him stay. Now that good feeling he always got when he was with Ned and Mina was going to be with him all the time. So was the desire he felt for Ned. Jeff promised to be good even as he sank into sleep with the thought that the only thing that could make this better would be if he had Ned in this bed with him.
Chapter 12
When it came to asking Jeff to be Mina's manny and to live with them, Ned didn't second-guess himself for even one minute. In fact, he was still a little mad that Jeff didn't tell him he was homeless. Ned felt good about his decision especially when he realized that he was less anxious about Mina now that he could count on Jeff to take care of her full time.
How was he going to deal with his overwhelming attraction to Jeff? Ned didn't have a clue. Just having Jeff sleeping down the hall from him sent his body into overdrive. As he lay in bed, he was dying to jerk off, but it seemed wrong to indulge in fantasies of Jeff when he was right there under his roof and depending on Ned to keep him off the street.
Trying to fantasize about anyone other than Jeff didn't work. Every time he pictured someone else, that guy turned into Jeff. The one time that didn't happen, Jeff still made an appearance as Ned's jealous lover. He kicked the other guy out and told Ned he would fuck him until he couldn't walk. Jeff hadn't even gotten to the sweet punishment he promised and Ned was already coming. He was never going to survive having Jeff in his house, but he still didn't regret his decision to ask him to move in.
Seeing Mina's reaction when she woke up the next morning and saw that Jeff was still there, confirmed it. She was beside herself, dancing around Jeff while he cooked her oatmeal.
"You know how to make oatmeal. I wasn't sure," Ned said as he got out the bowls and poured himself some coffee. The coffee was Jeff's doing too. Just for that, he was already worth his weight in gold.
"I do now that I read the back of the package. I only know how to cook a few basic things. My parents were both cooking impaired. I'm hoping it's not genetic."
The oatmeal turned out fine and breakfast was livelier than usual, even if the orange juice was missing. Sighing and shaking his head, Jeff added it to the shopping list.
Getting an orange instead, Jeff drew a face on it. Mina was delighted, but when Jeff wanted to peel it, she wouldn't let him.
"You can't eat it now that it has a face," Ned told him and handed him a different orange. Mina insisted on checking it to make sure it didn't have a face. Only then did she let Jeff peel it.
When it was time for Ned to go to work, he felt a sharp pang of regret. He wanted to spend more time goofing around with Jeff and Mina. Tearing himself away from them, he wondered what he had gotten himself into.
Back home after work, Ned found out that Jeff had been busy proving his worth. Ned's barely used toolbox was on the kitchen counter and Jeff was busy doing something to the cabinet hinges. Mina was standing by watching him very attentively until she saw that Ned was home.
"Who's a busy bee?" Ned asked her as he picked her up for a hug and a kiss.
"Jeff fix water," Mina said and pointed down the hall.
Jeff stopped what he was doing and explained what she meant. "The sink in the bathroom. The hot water was dripping, but it wasn't anything major."
"I just turned it off under the sink. That's how I fix things." Ned set Mina down and watched her run off to open and close the cabinet doors.
"The hot water is OK now. I adjusted the handle so it closes all the way," Jeff said while giving Mina a thumbs up.
"Thanks. I should have taken care of that. My life could use a little more organizing I guess," Ned said. He hoped that Jeff wouldn't find too many things he had neglected.
"I don't know about that. Mina is happy. Does anything else matter?" Jeff asked as he watched her give him a thumbs up after opening another drawer.
Ned beamed at him, he almost told him, "You're a man after my own heart." But right now he didn't want to bring his heart into it. It was beating too fast and it felt too full, and that was Jeff's fault.
"It's nice to have someone who's handy around the house," Ned said to take his mind off this wonderful feeling that Jeff was inciting.
"I learned from my dad. Our house was really old. My dad and I used to fix things together all the time." Jeff smiled at the memory.
"That sounds really nice."
"It was. Dad was a good handyman. That's what made him think he could handle that rundown brownstone." Jeff looked sad then showed Ned what he was doing in the kitchen. "I was tightening the hinges and the door handles. Some of them were loose."
"You're finding stuff to do that I would never think of. A door handle would literally have to come off in my hand," Ned told him.
"I'd like to prevent that. I just like keeping busy, and I'm teaching Mina some handywoman skills," Jeff said.
"What did you learn, Mina?" Ned asked her.
"Righty tighty, lefty Lucy," she said.
"Lucy, huh? Close enough. Does that mean you know your left from your right?" he asked.
Mina just stared at him.
"I guess I should have taught her that first," Jeff said. Then he showed Mina by taking each of her hands in his. "This is lefty. This is righty. Righty is your drawing hand."
"And lefty?" Mina asked.
"Lefty is for moral support?" Ned threw in.
Jeff had something better. "Lefty is good at holding things and helping righty."
"Lefty and righty are best friends," Ned said as he took both her hands in his and kissed them with loud smacking sounds. Mina giggled.
"What are we doing about dinner?" Jeff asked as he closed up the toolbox and got ready to take it away.
"Celebrating," Ned said. "I had an article accepted, but the publication is middling. I guess we could celebrate with pizza."
Mina had been ignoring him until the word pizza was uttered. After yelling, "Pizza, pizza, pizza" about a hundred times, she ran off and came back holding up a pizza flier.
"We can order one with pepperoni for you," Ned said to Jeff. He leaned in and whispered, "I'm pretty sure that Mina doesn't know that pepperoni is meat."
Jeff laughed. "I've had some pepperoni I'm pretty sure was made of rubber. But I'll pass this time. Whatever you guys are having is fine."
As Ned ordered pizza, he noticed that Mina wasn't watching him do it like she usually did. She went off with Jeff to help him put away the toolbox. When they came back to join him in the living room, Ned told him, "I think she likes you more than she likes pizza."
Jeff disagreed. "No way. No one could like a human being more than they like pizza."
"Even vegetarian pizza?"
"Even that. Vegetarian food isn't all bad. There's eggplant parmigiana," Jeff said.
"There's also nachos and fried mozzarella sticks," Ned said sarcastically. "But that's not the stuff I want to encourage Mina to eat."
"OK. If it makes my mouth water, I won't let Mina eat it," Jeff vowed.
Ned made a wry face but then he had to admit, "Actually, that sounds about right. You can eat what you like, obviously. You want a big, fat burger, go for it. Just try not to let Mina see you eating it. As you learned with that orang
e this morning, she can be kind of strict."
Mina was busy watching for the pizza to arrive, but she came over to see what the two of them were talking about.
"I was telling Jeff that he can eat meat if he wants and you won't try to stop him, will you?" Ned told her.
"Don't eat animals. Animals are our friends," she said to Jeff.
"She's determined to convert you," Ned said, but Jeff went along with it.
"I guess it makes sense not to eat your friends," Jeff said. He was such a nice guy. That was why Ned didn't want him to have to sacrifice for their sake. Anything Jeff wanted, Ned wanted him to have it.
That night Mina seemed to understand better that Jeff was really going to be living with them. Ned helped him get all of the boxes out of his room, and Jeff had brought his stuff over. As he was putting his things away, Mina seemed to think it was a slumber party and wouldn't leave him alone for even a minute to settle in.
"She's not getting a wink of sleep tonight. Look at her," Ned said while Mina bounced around Jeff's room and peered curiously at what he was doing. She was already in her pajamas, but didn't seem ready to go to sleep.
"Mina, do you want Jeff to read you a bedtime story?" Ned asked hoping to bribe her. The way she eagerly looked up at Jeff, she was clearly interested. "If you want him to read you a bedtime story, you have to get in bed."
She made an unhappy noise but then ran off to her room and Ned followed. He tucked her in and sat on the bed next to her. When Jeff came in, she clapped.
"I'm not sure I can live up to that," Jeff said as he kneeled by her bed.
"No pressure," Ned told him but then handed him one of Mina's children's books in Russian.
Jeff stared at it then at Ned. "No pressure? I've gotten as far as looking up the Russian alphabet and learning a few of the letters. This is still beyond me," he said and gave the book back.
"You're learning Russian?" Ned asked, touched and surprised.
