“You’re up early.” Mom said to me as I walked out of my room dressed and ready to face the morning.
“Yep got a date.” I said and smiled at her.
“Jessie?” She questioned.
My response was a simple shoulder shrug as I walked past her and into the kitchen where I pulled out a mug and poured some coffee into the red cup. I saw my dad sitting at the breakfast table and I sent him a friendly smile. He didn’t smile back. I was sure he was still upset over what happened last night in the car. After a large sip of the coffee for some strength I walked over and sat down next to him.
“Hey dad.” I said.
His response was said in a tone I wasn’t quite sure what it meant. “Merewyn.”
“I’m sorry.” The only words I could think to say.
“Nothing to be sorry for sweetie. It’s time.”
“You’re upset with me Dad.”
He shook his head a few times and then spoke softly. “I am not upset with you I am sad. Because it is happening you’re leaving the nest. And while we knew it would happen eventually, we just weren’t ready for it.”
“I am sorry though Dad, I wish I could stay here forever, but you know I can’t. Mom would drive me to some mental institution with how much she loves meddling in my life.”
That got a laugh out of him.
“Hey I heard that!” She called out from the kitchen. She was smiling too. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad then if they were both okay with things.
“We have some money.” Dad began to say and then he stopped when he looked at me.
“What do you mean you have some money?” I asked.
“All of the rent you have paid us over these past years, we put it into a savings account.”
“Okay,” I paused, unsure of what to follow that up with.
“It’s yours.” Mom said from behind me.
I turned my head around and looked at her, “What do you mean it is mine? I gave it to you all for rent.”
They both nodded at me and then my mom walked around the table and sat down next to dad. They both held hands and looked at me, the love they felt came through loud and clear.
“The seven hundred you gave us each month to cover living expenses for the last six years is in an account.”
“That has to be close to fifty thousand!” I exclaimed.
“We added a little to it too every now and then. It has just fewer than fifty nine thousand.”
“Oh my god.” My hands were shaking; I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“We were saving it for your wedding or a down payment on your future house.”
“You know you two didn’t have to do that I have some in savings too.” My voice was shaky; I was on the verge of tears.
They both shook their heads back and forth, “No you will take this money and you are going to start a life. If you want to use it for a wedding eventually or for a house. It is yours.” Dad’s voice was loving but stern at the same time.
“Thank you guys. So much.” I wiped away the tears that started to form on the edges of my eyes. “You two are the best parents ever.”
I loved them more than anything and the guilt for wanting to leave them was even more overwhelming now.
“Good glad that is settled, now here you and Jessie have a good morning. Your dad and I are going to leave you to enjoy the rest of your morning in peace.”
I watched mother stand up and wait for my father to join her. This new version of mom was almost scary. “I never said I was meeting him.”
“You didn’t have to sweetie, your mother and I can see it in you,” he said in a soft tone.
“See what in me?”
“Love.” They both said at the same time.
Everyone was against me it seemed, the three of them so easily had it all planned. “It isn’t that simple and you two know that.”
“Sometimes we make it more complicated than it needs to be. Trust me on this; I am proof that you can complicate the simplest situation.” My mom’s sincerity of her words came through loud and clear, she was sorry for what she had done earlier and I knew it. She hadn’t meant any of it.
“It’s okay Mom, I forgive you.”
This made my dad smile and when he leaned over to kiss my cheek I felt more tears forming. These people were my world and I don’t know what I would do without them.
“Well you kids have a good time today; remember to take a jacket, it is supposed to be chilly.”
“Thank you Mom. I will.”
The both of them walked out of the room and left me there sitting at the table waiting for Jessie to come pick me up. I was going to have a lot of soul searching to do in the upcoming hours and days. Because one thing was for sure, I couldn’t keep doing this with Jessie. If in the end I was going to decide that it wasn’t for me. That wasn’t fair to either of us. It was more important for me to be absolutely certain I would be willing to try before I let any ounce of feeling escape.
I looked down at my fingers and noticed that some of my nail polished was chipped. I should have taken the time to fix those up this morning since I didn’t sleep anyway. But oh well, Jessie liked me just as I was and that was something worth remembering. Albert never liked chipped nails. He wanted the trophy wife, the perfect example of what marriage was. I really should have noticed all of his flaws before I had said yes.
The knock on the door instantly made me jump. Jessie was here and it was time to put Albert out of my mind.
Jessie placed his fist on the outside of Merewyn’s door and gave it a firm knock. He waited until the door began to make a sign of moving before he took a step backwards to not crowd the entryway.
“Good morning M.” He said to her with a grin along his lips.
“Hi Jessie.”
“I see the cast is quite a flashy accessory for your Saturday outfit today.” He grinned.
“Oh shush, let me grab my purse and we can go.”
Jessie watched her turn around and head down the hallway. Normally he would have gone into the house and found her parents and had some small talk with them but today felt different. He wanted to separate himself from the man who was friends with her parents to the man who was interested in being more with her. When she came back around the corner with her smile, light yellow blouse and hot pink cast Jessie couldn’t help laughing. She was a beautiful sight to see.
“All ready.” Her voice was sultry and seductive, today was going to be a challenge proving to her that he was able to keep things together where they were concerned.
“Good we are going to the Kemah Escape for breakfast.” Jessie shut the front door behind her as she walked outside.
“Oh it’s kind of chilly today. Are you sure Kemah Escape won’t be too cold?”
“Nope it’s perfect. Come on, you don’t get to complain today, it is a care free fun day. Got that?”
Jessie loved watching her smile and laugh. “Got that boss.”
The two of them traveled in a comfortable silence as he traveled down Farmers Market 146 until he found the cut off for the bed and breakfast.
“So,” Merewyn began to say, “this is like a real date, isn’t it?”
“Do you want it to be?” Jessie looked over at her with a sideways glance.
He could tell that she was thinking about it, contemplating the possibilities.
“I think I do want it to be,” Merewyn paused and then continued, “I mean, we have been spending so much time together, why not?”
“Well I don’t want you saying ‘why not’ but rather yes,” Jessie gave a little laugh and that made Merewyn smile. He loved seeing her smile.
“Okay then, yes, this is a date.”
“Good, since it is a date you will let me plan everything right?”
Merewyn laughed this time and nodded, “Yep. Jessie today is all yours.”
He drove the car into the parking lot and backed it into the open parking spot. “I have pre ordered our menu, so today all you will have to do is relax and enjoy.”
“How did you know that I was going to say yes?”
“I didn’t I was just hopeful. And if you hadn’t brought it up earlier I was just going to surprise you.”
“Jessie you are bad.”
He gave her a cocky grin and then turned off the car and opened his door. “Don’t move.” He quickly left his seat and made his way around to her side of the car and opened her door, in an overtly chivalrous gesture.
“Why thank you kind sir.” Merewyn teased as she stepped out of the vehicle and placed her hand on his arm. “Such a gentleman,” she smiled at him and then gave her eyelashes a little bat.
Jessie was done for. This girl was his.
“Right this way ma’am.” He offered her his arm and they began their walk up the pebbled sidewalk to the front entrance of Kemah Escape.
I couldn’t believe he was going through so much trouble over this. It was extremely adorable and at the same time slightly concerning that he felt like he had to go above and beyond, to such extremes, in order to win me over.
“Welcome to Kemah Escape do you have a reservation?” The lady who greeted us as we entered this bed and breakfast had the most pleasant voice. I heard Jessie reply.
“Reservations, under Anderson.”
“Yes of course, we have been expecting you. Right this way please Mr. Anderson.”
“Expecting you?” I questioned to him under my breath.
“All in due time M, all in due time.”
His response was cryptic and I decided that it was fine. I didn’t need all the answers I just needed a good time of relaxation.
“Mr. Anderson here is your suite. Your breakfast will be served in about five minutes. Here are your keys, please let me know if there is anything else we can do for you while you’re with us.”
When the two of us were alone in the room and I had the chance to take in my surroundings it hit me what she said, “We are staying here?”
I wasn’t sure if my tone was annoyed or confused but I was certainly feeling a little bit of both emotions.
“Just for the day, we’re not spending the night. I just thought you might enjoy some time away in a place that had no pressure.”
“Yeah because nothing says ‘no pressure’ like a hotel room and a bed.” I made sure to add some laughter to that sentence this time just to keep the mood light.
“Oh M, you never will trust me.” I watched him walk over to the closet door where he opened it up. Inside was not just one but two swim suits with their tags on them, a couple towels and what looked like a cover up outfit for me.
“What is all that?” I asked him.
“That is our plans for the day. We are going to eat breakfast and then go sailing”
“Sailing?” That sounded like a blast and I had never been. “How am I going to sail with a broken arm?”
“You’re going to sit there and look pretty I am going to do all the heavy lifting. Don’t you worry about that.”
There was a light knock on the door and I watched Jessie walk over and answer it.
“Hey, thank you so much this place looks great.”
“I am so glad you like it I hope you have a fun time today.” The voice I heard reply came from a woman, and what sounded like a very sophisticated one.
“I really appreciate this.”
“Any time I mean it. You two have a blast and call me when you’re done so I can get the rest of the schedule planned out.”
Will do.”
Jessie shut the door to the suite and when he turned around his eyes met mine. I had my arm on my hip, my head tilted. I knew the look on my face wasn’t one of happy love. “Who was that?”
“Jealous?” He asked me with a grin on his face.
“Should I be?”
“What, Rachel? That’s my friend.” He walked over to the bed and set the tray of food down on top of the thick mattress that looked so inviting.
“You better tell me what’s going on Jessie or I will call an Uber and go home.”
“Nothing is going on. I do have a friend and she happens to be the daughter of the couple that own this establishment so she is just helping me out, that’s all.”
He came towards me and I had to fight the urge to run. “Okay but no more surprises I don’t think I can handle them.”
“Oh, I can’t promise you that at all M.”
I let out a sigh and then went to sit down on the mattress. “My God is this a sleep number? This mattress is amazing.”
“Exactly you didn’t sleep at all last night. Let’s eat and then we are going to order a movie and take a nap.”
I was pretty sure I heard what he said but I couldn’t help staring at him like he was crazy. “You want to take a nap?”
“Yes, don’t you? Before we go sailing.”
I had a hard time arguing with his logic and I didn’t want to. Because he was right, I wanted to take a nap.
“Okay boss man you’re right let’s eat and go take a nap.”
“Perfect. Merewyn, would you like some fruit or a waffle?” He lifted up the silver top covering the food and showed me the largest Belgium waffle I had ever seen.
“I think I will have some of both please sir.”
He pulled out a clean plate ad began to load it up with the waffle and slices of strawberry, banana, blue berries and some powdered sugar.
“Do you want syrup?” He held up the warm liquid at my eye level and waited for my response.
“No.” I said, “Okay maybe a little.” A girl can change her mind I thought to myself as he smiled at me, then poured a whole heaping helping onto my waffle.
“Looks perfect, thank you Jessie.”
“My pleasure Merewyn. Thank you for giving me this chance for a date.”
“If you keep this up there won’t be a second date because this will have been too perfect you could never top it.” I picked up my fork and cut into the waffle. The savory flavor that hit my tongue and then traveled down to my stomach was just what I needed. The waffle was soft enough that I didn’t need two hands to eat, just a fork, no knife. Which was good since my arm was a bit tied up right now.
“Good isn’t it?” Jessie asked as he bit into his waffle.
“It really is, how did you say you knew that woman?” I wasn’t going to let it go, but I didn’t want to sound like a jealous teenager either. Just needed to know the playing field is all.
“Met at a bar, she was fun.”
He told me this as I was mid bite and I froze, he found her at a bar. “Interesting place to meet friends.”
“Well I needed to do some soul searching on this one particular person. So what better place to search your soul than at a bar where loads of people can distract you.”
He kept eating as he spoke and finally I went back to my waffle. I wasn’t going to get hung up over this. Clearly he wasn’t interested in her like that or why else would we be here. “Glad you made a new friend.”
“Me to because we get to do this awesome first real date in many years and it’s all because I bought the lady a beer.”
He gave me a look over his plate like he was testing my jealously level. So I chose to ignore the comment and act as if I never even heard it. “This food is great, and I think you’re right the nap is going to hit the spot.”
I looked over my shoulder and started to eye the fluffy pillows behind me. “Yes those look perfect for sleeping on.” I started to say something else but decided against it.
After my waffle was consumed and my plate cleaned I poured myself a glass of orange juice and opened the other silver topped lid on the plate in the middle to reveal a delectable looking pile of scrambled eggs. “God I love a good scrambled egg.”
“Have some.” He told me.
“I don’t want to over eat.” But I couldn’t help wanting them. I really was hungry. We got no dinner last night in the emergency room and all the stress yesterday meant my lunch was hardly anything.
“Eat Merewyn; you look like you haven’t had a good meal in a few days. Please.” He leaned forward and picked up my fork, placed it in the eggs and brought it to my mouth. “Do I need to bring out the big guns and show you the airplane?”
I let out a loud and honest to god real laugh and he slipped the eggs into my mouth. I couldn’t help it; I loved the attention he was giving me. And after all, I was still hungry.