A Matter of Trust (11 page)

“
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 offer 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.”