A Matter of Trust

by LazyDay Publishing

  Chapter 5

  Trish could’ve sworn that she’d barely closed her eyes when the alarm woke her early the next morning. She’d gone to bed early, but it had been a restless sleep, and she didn’t feel particularly rested. She was used to being sleep deprived, between being a single mother and starting a new business, but she felt more tired than usual.

  She got up and showered and went to work when it was still dark outside. She didn’t waste any time diving into the work she should’ve done the night before, and when she finished that, she planned her day and started working on the professional development piece she’d signed on for to train new teachers on literacy strategies. Before she realized it, over two hours had passed by, and Diana arrived.

  Her secretary entered her office and said good morning and went over her schedule for the day, reminding her that she had a meeting at ten with a different school district regarding teacher professional development on content area literacy, which she’d already prepped for. When she finished reviewing the day’s agenda, Trish looked at her employee and friend more closely.

  “Di, is everything alright?”

  Diana just looked at her as tears welled in her eyes.

  Trish came around her desk and embraced her. “Sweetie, what’s wrong?”

  “I’m sorry. I guess I’m just tired.” Diana reached for a tissue and dabbed at her eyes.

  “It’s more than that, Di. Tell me what’s bothering you.”

  “It’s my hus – I mean my ex-husband. He keeps calling me and threatening me if I don’t go back with him. I’m scared, Trish. He’s not making idle threats. I left him, due to his violence I’m afraid he’s going to come after me again.”

  “Let me call Josh, Eva’s husband.”

  “I’ve already spoken to him. He slapped a restraining order on Roger, but I don’t know if that will deter him, or just make him madder. I’m so afraid he’ll track me down and find out where I’m living or working.”

  “Do you think he knows where you live?”

  “I don’t think so. Not many people know other than my family, and although my parents are upset I left him, I don’t think they’d tell him where to find me.”

  “They’re upset that you left him? Do they know about the abuse?”

  “They don’t know the extent of the violence. They know he yelled at me and they suspect he hit me, but they don’t know that it happened all the time. They’re Catholic, so divorce is hard for them to accept. I’m too ashamed to tell them the whole story.”

  “Can you change your phone number?”

  “I have once already, but somehow, he found out the new number, and it’s starting all over again.”

  “I wonder how he got the new number. Maybe he knows someone at the phone company? Did you make it unlisted?”

  “Yes. I don’t know how he got it.”

  “Did you report it to the police?”

  “Yes, but they say they can’t do anything unless he physically attacks me, or breaks the conditions of the restraining order. Threats are not enough. Josh already wrote him a letter threatening legal action if he follows through with anything or even if he goes against the restraining order, but it hasn’t seemed to help.”

  “Do you need to come stay with me for awhile? My family is out of town right now, so I have that whole house to myself. I’m getting ready to move into my own place soon, and you’ll always be welcome there.”

  “Thanks, Trish. I’ll keep that in mind. As far as I know, he doesn’t know where to find me, so there’s no reason for me to leave my home. Thanks for the offer, though.”

  “It’s always open, okay? Do you need to take some time off?”

  “No, no. I’m glad I’m here. Working keeps my mind off of things. Thanks.”

  “Sure, Di. If you need me, call me, doesn’t matter the time, okay?”

  “Sure. Thanks again.” Diana hugged Trish once more and left to go back to her desk at the front counter.

  The day passed by in a blur of activity. Trish signed another contract for teacher in-service, and she tested four more kids that she needed to develop strategies and interventions for. It was beginning to become a challenge to cover all the bases. If business kept up like this, she’d have to hire someone else to help her get everything done.

  True to his word, Jake brought her some lunch around noon, and she took a thirty minute break to slam it down. She apologized to him that she didn’t have more time to spend with him, but she promised she’d make up for it that night. The Lit Center closed at six, but she didn’t leave until nearly seven. Jake’s truck waited in the driveway when she pulled up.

  Trish grabbed her satchel filled with work and rushed over to him.

  “Hi! I’m so sorry to keep you waiting. I hope you haven’t been here long.”

  “Like I said last night, you’re worth the wait, and I’ve only been here about ten minutes. Did you get hung up?”

  “Yeah. I tested another four kids today, and I had to analyze the test results and sketch out an intervention plan. Come on inside, and I’ll start dinner.”

  “You sure you’re up for it? I could take you out if you’d like.”

  “No, let’s eat here. I can throw something together real quick.”

  “You got it.” Jake took her satchel from her, and they walked inside together.

  Trish threw together some tacos – Eva’s recipe – and they ate between telling each other about their days. Trish was animated and excited about how quickly business was picking up. Jake told her they’d finished up one of the jobs his crew had been working on for the last couple of months, which reminded him about the paperwork he’d brought over for Trish to sign on the rental house.

  “Listen, Trish, I need to tell you something I don’t think I mentioned before. It’s no big deal, but I wanted to make sure you knew. You know the house I took you to that you’re going to move into? I own it.” He could see Trish tense.

  “Why didn’t you tell me this before, Jake? No wonder the rent is so cheap.”

  “Hold it right there. Before you say anything else, I hadn’t set a rental price before I showed it to you. I bought it about six months ago, and it was a mess. Since I’m a contractor, I bought it cheap – way cheap – and decided to fix it up and rent it out. I figured I’d charge a little more than the payment on it in case it needed further repairs down the line, although I hadn’t figured out how much. I’d likely charge the same amount as I’m charging you for whoever rented it. The problem with renting is you have to be careful who you rent to. That’s why it was in such bad shape when I bought it. The people who rented it before caused a lot of damage. I know you’ll take care of it like it was your own. I might be able to make a little more money on it, but it’s worth it knowing that I don’t have to worry about the property.”

  Trish studied him closely all throughout his explanation. She felt pretty sure it had been intentional on his part not telling her that he’d be her landlord, but he had come clean about it. What he said made sense. If she had property to rent, she’d rather rent it to someone she knew. “What about deposits? We never discussed that.”

  “Trish, I’ve rented to friends in the past, and I swear to God I’ve never charged them any deposits, and I’m going to hold to that. I’ll also tell you what I’ve told the others, that if you break something, you replace it. Fair enough?”

  “Alright. Agreed. But what if things don’t work out between us? That’s bound to be awkward for both of us.”

  “Oh, ye of little faith. I’m thinking I’m going to sweep you off your feet, and you’ll never want to lose me. But if you do kick me to the curb, as my sister says, all you have to do is mail me the check. Of course, I’ll probably double the rent, because I’ll be mad at you, but hey, you gotta take your chances and roll with the punches.”

  She had to smile, which was what he’d obviously aimed for, and they shook hands on the
deal, sealing it with a kiss. The one kiss turned into two, then three, then so many more, so close together, neither of them could tell where one ended and the next began.

  “God, Trish, you taste good.”

  “Umm, you do, too. More.”

  “You bet.” He rubbed his lips across hers, nibbling at the corners of her mouth, licking the seam of her lips until she opened for him and he could stroke her tongue with his own.

  “Umm. Bedroom.”

  “Yes ma’am. Lead the way.”

  They spent the rest of the evening making love and learning more about what pleased the other, as they memorized each other’s bodies and preferences. Trish remembered to set the alarm, early again, so she could get to work on everything she’d brought home, but never touched that night. Who needed sleep anyway?

  The alarm went off at five, and Trish made herself roll out of bed and turn it off. Jake lifted his head up sleepily and looked over at Trish. “What time is it, Trish?”

  “It’s five. Go back to sleep, Jake. I’m going to jump in the shower real quick.” She bent and kissed him quickly and managed to evade the hands reaching out for her and resist the temptation of his many promises of rewards if she came back to bed.

  Trish jumped in and out of the shower in less than ten minutes, just about the time it took Jake to start heading to the bathroom to join her. She kissed him on her way out, chanting, “If you snooze, you lose.”

  By the time Jake got out of the shower, Trish was dressed and almost done with her makeup. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail and was ready to run out the door.

  “What about breakfast, baby?” Jake looked at her questioningly.

  “No time. I’ll grab something later. Lunch?”

  “Can’t make it today, I’ll be across town. Dinner? My treat.”

  “Okay. Around seven?”

  “You bet. Hold on, and I’ll walk out with you.” Jake grabbed his shoes on the way out, kissed her before she got into her car, and was about to back out of the driveway when he realized Trish hadn’t left. He rolled down the window to check on her and realized she couldn’t get her car started. He got out of his truck and walked over.

  “Pop the hood, honey.”

  “No, Jake, don’t worry about it. I’ll call someone.”

  “Trish, I’m right here. If it’s not something fast and easy, you can call a mechanic, but if it’s something I can fix real fast, you might as well take advantage of one of my many skills and talents.” When she still hadn’t popped the hood, Jake looked at her again and noticed the stubborn set of her jaw and put his hands on his hips.

  “Trish, if I needed help with reading, would you expect me to go elsewhere for help? Would you insist that I ask you for your help?” When she looked sheepish, he asked her to pop the hood again and smiled when she followed through.

  Feeling pleased didn’t last long when he looked under the hood. “Trish, when did you take this in last to be serviced?”

  “I get the oil changed every three months. Approximately.”

  “It looks pretty rough under here, honey. The hoses could go at any minute. Why don’t you let me give it a tune-up?”

  “That’s not fast and easy. I appreciate the offer, Jake, really, but I’ll take care of it, okay?”

  Calling on his patience and self control – yet again – he closed the hood. “Will you at least let me drive you to work?”

  “Sure. Let me get my things.”

  Jake muttered under his breath as Trish got into his truck. She didn’t catch it all, but it had something to do with trying the patience of a saint. He dropped her off, and they exchanged another quick kiss, and he drove off.

  Trish let herself inside and went straight back to her office and got busy on the work she needed to do. When Diana stuck her head inside to say good morning, she couldn’t believe it the time. Time to open up shop. Thank God she didn’t have any appointments to keep today which were out of the office, since she didn’t have a working car. She did have plenty to keep her busy, though and before she knew it, she’d worked through lunch and closing time had snuck up on her.

  When Diana came to say goodnight, Trish asked, “Hey, any more calls from your ex?”

  “Not yesterday or today, so far, anyway. Thanks for asking.”

  “Sure, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Trish found a stopping place and started to pack up all her work then stopped, knowing full well she’d never get to it tonight with Jake coming over. Some things were worth making the time for, and Jake definitely fell under that category.

  She locked the door and turned around to head to her … crap, she didn’t have her car today. Damn, she’d forgotten to call a mechanic. On the verge of turning back around and calling … someone, although she didn’t have a clue who, Jake pulled into the parking lot.

  “Well, hi, stranger.” Trish walked over to his truck. “I was just going back inside to call someone for a ride. I’m lucky you happened by.”

  “Honey, I didn’t just happen by. I knew you didn’t have a car today, so, of course, I came for you. Did you think I wouldn’t?”

  Trish blinked a couple of times. “I guess I never thought about it. You didn’t say you planned on picking me up, so I just figured I’d find my own way back. Thank you for coming.”

  Jake was stunned. “Trish, I just figured you knew I’d come get you. I would never leave you stranded like that.”

  Trish just shrugged “Okay, Jake. I guess I just never thought about it one way or another. I was busy all day, and I didn’t even remember I didn’t have my car until I locked up. Anyway, thanks for coming. I’m starving. Where are you taking me for dinner?”

  Jake shook off his shock with some effort. “What are you hungry for?”

  “I don’t care, I’m just hungry.”

  “What did you have for lunch?”

  “I didn’t eat lunch today. Time got away from me. Besides, I didn’t have a car to go get anything.”

  “Honey, you skipped breakfast and lunch? Poor baby, no wonder you’re starving. I’m sorry I didn’t bring you something. I just figured you had something here as a backup.”

  “Jake, I knew you weren’t bringing me lunch. You said as much this morning. Don’t worry about it. I don’t expect you to take care of me. I can take care of myself.”

  Jake swallowed his rebuttal about how skipping two meals a day didn’t exactly add up to taking care of yourself and concentrated on driving. “So, where to, Trish?”

  “How about Italian?”

  “Works for me. Dominic’s?”

  “Sure. How was your day?”

  “It was okay. I picked up another contract, and since we finished up at a site yesterday, I’ll be able to keep the whole crew busy, so that’s good. How about you? Did your profit margin grow some more today?”

  “No, but I did catch up on several diagnostics of recently tested students, and I put together a program for each of them. Now, I just have to meet with the parents and discuss my findings and see if they’re interested in hiring our services. Either way, I’ll explain the program I’ve designed to help their kids. That way, if they decide not to use us, they’ll at least have some clue about how to help them.”

  “That’s really great of you, Trish. How often do they elect to take on the program themselves? Or take it to someone else?”

  “You’d be surprised. Some parents are just too busy to bother with it themselves, and others don’t feel like they’re qualified to help or that they’d be effective using the strategies I show them. There have been a couple of times when they’ve taken my program design and given it to the kid’s teacher and asked them to use it as a guide. And that’s okay, since usually, they don’t contract us, because they can’t afford it. I’m looking into government funding, so we can use a sliding scale to help people who don’t make enough money to pay for the help we can give. Occasionally, I off
er to throw in a few sessions at no charge and ask the parents to sit in, so they can watch what I do, so they can do it themselves. But the deal is, they have to bring their kids to Saturday Story Time.”

  “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.