Page 50 of Housekeeping

27

Laura

The way things were going with Mason, I’d never be alone again. I wanted to be with him all the time. I felt as if I was on drugs, the same ones I took when I was on chemotherapy and without them I couldn’t function at times, even though they did make me feel sick. But with Mason, it wasn’t like that. It was a good feeling. I felt on top of the world when I was with him. He’d go out of his way to make me feel special all the time.

I was slowly but surely understanding what it meant to be in love. I’d been alone for far too long, the idea of sharing my life with another person had never come into the picture. Now, I couldn’t imagine being without him and the crazy part was I was getting the impression that he felt exactly the same way. Before, us being together seemed so wrong, but now it felt so natural.

After work, I changed into casual clothes and sat in the staff lounge waiting for Jessi. I had the chance to do something new, or I could have gone home and knitted, but I didn’t feel like it. It had been a while since Jessi and I had hung out.

“Laura! Were you waiting for me? You didn’t have to.”

I looked up to see Jessi just coming out of the kitchens. I smiled brightly at her, then waved enthusiastically, though considering how few people there were in the room, she’d have noticed me anyway. She just smiled at my antics.

“Just let me get changed first, all right?”

“Okay!”

I sat back and waited for her, watching as the other employees hurried and left for their homes. It reminded me of my curiosity before, about the living arrangements. I was pretty sure Jessi was the only one with that kind of luxury.

She was back minutes later, and I grabbed my things so we could leave together.

“Hey,” she said, arms open and leaning forward for a hug I received gladly. “What’s up? You’re looking happy.”

I bit my lip at the smile that wanted to come out.

“Forget about that. I wanted to ask if I could come up to your room tonight. It’s been so long since we’ve just talked, I wanted to catch up.”

She shrugged. “Of course, I could never say no to you.”

I followed her as she went to the staff elevator, and we both got in. I hung back as she pressed the button for her floor, and we rose up.

“Your floor is pretty high up,” I commented. “How did I not notice that before?”

“You probably just didn’t pay attention before,” she suggested.

I hummed without answering, but I knew that wasn’t it. It was because of Mason. Since I’d been going up to his room to meet him, it occurred to me how close Jessi’s floor was to his. I just never took stock before, because it didn’t matter to me before what floor her apartment was on.

We got out of the elevator and she led the way. She let us in with her keycard, and I slid off my shoes as I walked over to the couch and sat on it with my legs tucked under me, holding one of the pillows to my chest.

“Would you like to have something to eat now?” Jessi asked as she continued to the kitchenette. “I could whip something up for us right now if you’d like.”

“I’m fine for now,” I said hurriedly. “I just really wanted to catch up, it’s been a while and it feels as if we’re almost strangers these days rather than best friends.”

I didn’t mean to make her feel guilty, the fault wasn’t really hers, it was more mine.

“Okay,” she said, stopping. “That sounds good.”

She took off her coat and draped it over the back of the single seat, then joined me on the couch, sitting on the other end of it and eyeing me curiously.

“If we’re catching up, why don’t you tell me what has you so happy lately? Every time I see you now you’re always smiling, and you look more relaxed than I’ve ever seen you.”

That was probably because I felt the most relaxed I had in a while. I tried to erase the guilty expression on my face, but I wasn’t good at hiding my feelings. A trait I’d picked up from my Mom and could never erase. She used to tell me all the time it was in the genes and it must be, because I could never hide when I was happy and certainly not when I was down. I knew it was all because of Mason and the new relationship we had. I’d been doubtful in the beginning, but he was a thoughtful boyfriend, and every time he showed that side of himself I was on cloud nine.

There was a downside to all of it though. Because I knew I couldn’t continue to be so happy, and I was scared.

“I’d… rather talk about something else, actually,” I admitted. “Something… that’s a secret.”

She tilted her head a little, and I could tell I’d piqued her interest. I never really let on that I had secrets, whether or not she knew that I had them. I would have liked for us to talk about happier things first, but I knew better than to hold this off.