23 Productive Mornings
Productive Mornings
Jack was half asleep with his head resting on my chest, and I was unconsciously toying with his hair as I looked out the sliding glass door at the night sky. Sounding like a groggy animal, he murmured, “I like it when you do that,” without opening his eyes. “It’s relaxing.”
I kept doing it, happy I could do something for him. A few days had passed since the dustup with Monty, and we hadn’t spoken of it again. He had been right about one thing, though. Whatever it was he’d done, Monty hadn’t bothered me again. Not a text, not a call, nothing.
“Jack,” I said, “I don’t think I thanked you enough for what you did for me with Monty.”
“You don’t have to thank me. I enjoyed every second of it.”
“What…what did you do, exactly?”
“I just held him down until the cops came,” he said, moving closer to me.
“Did you hit him?”
“Do we have to talk about this? You wanted him to leave you alone, right? Now he’s leaving you alone. Problem solved.”
“You know, Jack, you don’t have to be scared that I’ll take off running if I find out something bad about you. I get the feeling sometimes that I barely know you.”
“What do you want to know? My favorite color? My favorite brand of sneakers?”
“I want to know how many fights you’ve been in,” I said.
He tensed up and opened his eyes. I guess he wasn’t groggy anymore. He looked anxiously as he asked, “Let me guess: You talked to Naya and she told you something.”
“Naya and Lana,” I admitted.
He sighed and turned on his side, and my body felt suddenly cold. I probably shouldn’t have brought the subject up, but now it was too late. I could see he was angry. “What did they tell you?” he asked.
“All I want to know is why you never talk about your past, Jack.”
“Because I’m not proud of it.”
“I wasn’t proud of my failed attempt at sexting, but I told you about that.” He chuckled at that remark. At least I’d managed to lighten the mood somewhat. That was one minor victory.
“I’ve seen your hands, Jack. My brother Sonny was a boxer. He used to hit the heavy bag with no gloves. And his hands look like yours. I’m not going to judge you, but we can’t pretend you don’t have a past. So just tell me. How many fights?”
“I lost count,” he said with a shy smile.
“How many girls have you been with?” I blurted out.
“Don’t make me, Jen…”
“How many?”
“I lost count of that, too.”
“How many since you started college, then?” I asked.
“More than I’d like to admit. Mostly girls from off campus. I didn’t want to ever run into anyone in class. But it doesn’t matter. That’s not who I am anymore.”
“Lana told me you were a different guy in high school. What made you be that way?”
He analyzed me for a few seconds. I knew then that when he acted so calm and indifferent, there was much more happening inside him. That there was a tension, a dissatisfaction that was always bubbling up within him.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “It’s complicated.
I just… Fighting and sex were the only things that made me feel alive?
But I’m not proud of it. There are times when I try to forget that whole period of my life.
Even then, I knew what I was doing was wrong, but it’s just how it was.
I realize that may not make sense to you. ”
“It does, Jack. It does make sense. And thanks for telling me.” I kissed the corner of his lips. “I still may not know all the facts, but I think I can understand the situation. Do me a favor, though. Don’t be mad at Naya and Lana for talking to me.”
“Wait a second,” Jack said. “You’re telling me not to get mad at Lana ? Who are you, and what have you done to my girlfriend?”
“I don’t know,” I responded. “Maybe she’s not so bad after all. Imagine, we might even become best friends. Then I could get her to tell me all your dirty secrets.”
“I don’t have any dirty secrets.”
“We all have dirty secrets, Jack. But I won’t tell you mine until you tell me yours.”
“Whatever,” he said. “I need to get up early tomorrow and you’re interrupting my sleep.”
“Good night, Sleeping Beauty,” I told him.
“Good night, Maleficent.” He smiled and I went back to stroking his hair. A few minutes later, his breath had evened out. He was asleep.
I was in a good mood the next morning when I went for my run.
At last, it wasn’t drizzling. I stopped once to call my dad and Shannon and tell them what had happened with Monty.
Dad grunted approvingly when he learned what Jack had done and what the police had said.
Shannon couldn’t help going on a rant about how horrible Monty was and what an idiot I’d ever been to even give him the time of day.
When I was back home, I found Agnes opening her apartment door. “Hello, darling,” she said with a smile.
“Hey there!” I said. “You look better than you did last time!”
“I guess I’ll learn to drink responsibly one day.” She shrugged. “But you know what they say: ‘Practice makes perfect.’”
I laughed as I took out my keys. And out of nowhere, I asked her, “You wouldn’t want to come in for a minute?”
She smiled and entered without a word. What I hadn’t counted on was finding Mike sleeping on the couch with his mouth open.
But Agnes was used to it. She just shook her head and took a seat with me at the bar.
I offered her a coffee, which she accepted gratefully.
As I set it down, she asked, softly enough so she wouldn’t wake Mike, “How’s Jackie? ”
“Good,” I said, remembering how we’d escaped from the lake house. “I’m more worried about Mike, to be honest.”
“He’s such a sensitive boy. He’s always struggled to fit in. That’s true of his friends and his family. He did tell me you took good care of him, though. And I thank you for it. But that’s not what I wanted to talk about. Christmas is coming in a few weeks…”
“I know. My final exams are already coming up.”
“You’ll do fine. You’re a smart girl. And so I wanted to ask you… well… Jack’s father has asked me to try and get him to come for Christmas dinner. And I’d like that, too. But you know how he’ll react if I bring it up. So I thought maybe I could convince you to ask him.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “He’s very hardheaded. He won’t even talk to me about his father. Especially since that day at the lake. I’ve tried…”
“Maybe we could sweeten the deal somehow?” she asked slyly.
“What are you thinking, Agnes?”
“Well, you two have been together for some time now. Three months by my count. Oh, I know you’ll tell me it wasn’t official , but that doesn’t mean a thing in my book.
I could tell as soon as you came around that there was a spark there.
And so I was thinking, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea for our families to get to know each other. ”
I was taking a sip of water just then, and I nearly choked on it. She smiled innocently while I pounded on my chest, trying not to lose consciousness.
“Easy, honey,” she said. “It’s not that crazy an idea, is it?”
“Uh, my family doesn’t live close to here. And they definitely couldn’t come up here.”
“Oh, no, honey, we would never just expect them to do that. Our thought was that we could go down there and meet them. It was actually the boys’ parents’ idea. They thought it might be a good way to make peace with them.”
I literally couldn’t imagine the situation. I told her I wasn’t sure, and that I’d need to talk it over with everyone, Jack and Mike included.
“Oh, I know,” she said. “And I know you’ll find a way to convince them.” She stood and finished her coffee. “Keep me informed. The sooner the better. I need to go now, sweetie.”
As she was almost at the door, I cleared my throat and called her name.
“Yes?” she asked.
“You remember that conversation we had about your husband? I just wanted to tell you I took it to heart. And I’ve taken the steps I needed to. I’m staying away from my ex. Forever, this time.”
“Now, I’m very happy about that, dear,” she said.
“I wanted to tell you because…what you said really helped. It was crucial, in fact. I really don’t know what would have happened if we hadn’t had that conversation. And so I wanted to thank you. From the bottom of my heart.”
She smiled, then shook her head, then started to tear up and asked me to forgive her. “I’m just a sensitive old woman,” she said. “Still, though. I’m proud of you, Jenna. From now on, whatever you do will be your decision, not someone else’s. And that means something.”
She walked out before I could respond. I leaned on the bar a minute, thinking, until I heard Sue stomp in, half-asleep, her hair looking like a bird’s nest.
“I hate mornings,” she said, taking her ice cream from the freezer.
“Good morning to you, too, Sue.”
“Look at this guy over here,” she replied, staring at Mike. “My life’s goal is to have so few cares that I can just lie around like him. He looks like he’s hibernating.”
As Will emerged, Mike stirred and opened his eyes, complaining that we had woken him up.
“Here’s an idea,” Sue said. “You could rent your own apartment.”
“That’s not a viable option in my present financial situation,” he said, walking over and sitting at the bar. He told me good morning, called me his sister-in-law again, and started up with his usual flirting. Will cut him off, asking where Jack was.
“I think he’s still asleep,” I said.
“You should go wake him up,” Will replied. “He’s got class in an hour. I’m surprised he didn’t set an alarm.”
“You shouldn’t be,” Sue said. “Did you hear the two of them last night?”
I felt instantly guilty. Jack had had his phone in his hand the night before when I started…er…distracting him. He’d probably been setting his alarm just then, and by the time we finished, he must have forgotten.
Embarrassed, I said I’d get him up and rushed back to the bedroom, where he was sleeping on his back, mouth open, head resting on my pillow. I tiptoed over and shook his shoulder.
“Jack?” I said. “Jack? Get up, you’re going to be late for class.”
“Oh well,” he said, turning over.