Page 32 of Not My Problem

She smacked the table excitedly. “Oh! Yes, that’s it. It was driving me crazy. What’s going to happen with you two now that her grandmother is back?”

“I don’t know. It’s not like she can tell Jan she wants to head next door and have sex with me. They’re taking the time to get to know each other, which they should. But between that and her new job, I don’t know that there’s a lot of time for me. But I’m having dinner with them tonight so at least I’ll see her then.”

“You’ll figure something out,” Rochelle assured me. “These things have a way of working out in the end.”

That night I knocked on Jan’s front door promptly at six, a bottle of wine in one hand and a bouquet of daisies in the other. Zoe opened the door, stepping out onto the porch and closing it behind her long enough to give me a quick kiss.

“I missed you today,” she whispered.

“Same.”

Jan was in the kitchen, and she rushed over to give me a hug. That was Jan for you, she was very physically affectionate. When I first moved in next door to her it threw me off, not being around a lot of that kind of behavior when I was younger, but now I was used to it.

“Grandma taught me how to make a pot roast,” Zoe told me proudly. “You’re going to love it.”

“I’m sure I will.”

I’d been to Jan’s house for dinner many times and I’d never been disappointed. Better yet, she always sent me home with leftovers.

Zoe and I set the table then she helped her grandmother bring out the food while I poured the wine. While we ate Jan shared stories about her trip, some interesting, some verging on outrageous. When she started going into detail about the sexual prowess of an Italian man she’d met on the cruise, Zoe groaned like an embarrassed teenager.

“Grandma! I don’t need to hear this!”

“I had no idea you were such a prude, Zoe.” Jan looked amused. “I would think by your age you’ve had plenty of sex.”

For some reason that made me blush, my eyes going to Zoe without meaning to. I noticed that she was staring at me with a weird look on her face, her cheeks also as red as tomatoes.

“Wait,” Jan said, her gaze ping ponging between us. “What’s going on here?”

When neither of us said anything she reached out and poked her granddaughter on the side with her finger. Zoe broke my gaze and turned to her grandmother.

“What? I’m sorry, I missed that.”

“You two have a vibe,” Jan said. “I thought I saw it yesterday, but figured I was too tired from my trip. But now that I’m thinking about it, you were staying at Gretchen’s house for two weeks, and that gave you plenty of time to get to know each other. And I thought I saw her walking between our houses last night when I got up to go to the bathroom… is something going on with you two?”

Zoe sent me a pleading look. I wasn’t sure what she wanted me to say but there was no sense lying about it.

“We, uh, we got to be friends while you were gone,” I told Jan.

“Friends?”

“Good friends.”

Jan looked between us again. “So is this a friends with benefits thing? Or are you two dating now?”

“It’s complicated,” I said.

Zoe still hadn’t said anything, which was freaking me out a little bit. I knew she didn’t want to appear flighty or irresponsible in front of her grandmother, but the connection between us was obvious to anyone who looked hard enough. Not only had Jan figured it out, I’d also had several people from work approach me after the picnic asking if Zoe was my girlfriend.

Jan leaned back in her chair with a huff. “What’s complicated about it? Are you just friends, friends with benefits, or are you dating? I don’t know why your generation has to be so weird about everything.”

“We’re dating,” I said.

Zoe’s eyes widened in surprise. Technically we had not talked about this. We’d never discussed what our relationship was going to be once Jan came back, or whether we’d continue spending time together. But I still felt compelled to state my feelings.

“I like Zoe a lot, and I want her to be my girlfriend.”

Zoe