Chapter 9
“Psst! Jody!” she heard a child whisper.
Jody groaned as she shifted on her pillow- a pillow that smelled conspicuously like Taylor. That seemed a little odd.
“Jody wake up,” the child persisted.
She groaned again and threw her arm around the pillow and buried her head in it.
It was then that her pillow moved and slightly freaked her out.
She sat up quickly and released her grip on the pillow and stared at it.
Her pillow was Taylor. When did that happen?
She ran a hand over her face and tried to piece things together.
Ezra started to tap her arm impatiently.
“Jody I’m hungry.”
She sighed, yawned, and checked her wrist for the time. It was 10:45.
10:45?! This was not good. She was supposed to be at work 15 minutes ago!
“Taylor,” Jody said as she shook his arm. “Taylor wake up.”
Taylor cracked his eyes open and tried to focus his vision. When he finally did, he smiled as he saw Jody’s face. “Morning.”
“Taylor, it’s 10:45,” Jody said as she all but jumped off the bed.
He yawned. “So?”
“So? I was supposed to be at work at 10:30!”
“Daddy, I’m hungry.”
“Yeah, one minute Ezra.” He turned his attention back to his panic stricken house guest. “I’ve got an extra toothbrush in the downstairs closet,” he said as he made his way off the bed and awkwardly made his way downstairs. Hot on his heels was Jody and not too far behind her was Ezra. The three of them went to the closet. Taylor handed Jody a spare toothbrush. She thanked him quickly and then went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. As she did so, Taylor ruffled Ezra’s hair and the two of them went back upstairs.
Pretty soon Ezra’s hunger was sated with a bowl of Cheerios. Taylor himself had made a cup of instant coffee and had just started to sip it when Jody came running up the stairs.
“You’re a lifesaver, Taylor,” she said as she gave him a quick hug. Maybe it was her imagination that his hands lingered on her waist. “I gotta run.” They made eye contact and just kinda stood there looking at each other, his hands on the small of her back. She put her hands on his chest. “Which way to the store?”
“I’ll walk you out.”
“Bye Jody,” Ezra waved.
“Bye Ezra,” Jody said and went over and gave him a hug.
Taylor and Jody went over to the door. Sure she was rushed, but she was late enough where a few extra moments wouldn’t really matter.
“Here, uh, go down the stairs to the right and just keep going.”
“Great,” she responded as she looked at him again. “Thanks for dinner and your hospitality and everything. You really helped me out yesterday.”
“Sorry you’re late for work.” He paused. “But I’m glad I made you feel a little better.”
Jody shrugged and then sighed. “I, uh, I should be going.” They both paused and looked at each other. Taylor started to lean in and Jody’s heart began to flutter. She tilted her head up.
He could nearly taste the mint on her breath and she could still smell traces of his cologne. Their eye contact was intense and Jody’s breath caught in her throat.
The intensity was more than Jody was prepared to handle and she was slightly freaked out. She backed down at the last second. “I’ve gotta get to work.” There was an awkward silence. “Thanks again.” With that, Jody put her hands in her pockets and went down the steps and to the right, just as Taylor said.
Once out of his sight, Taylor continued to look down the street. What had just happened? The way she acted last night, he was almost certain that she had feelings for him. He really liked her, but maybe he was acting too fast.
Too fast? Wasn’t she the one who had cuddled up to him last night and snuggled into him this morning? His head swam with thoughts. What if she was seeing someone and didn’t tell him? What if her actions betrayed her feelings? Was it possible that she was leading him on? But she just didn’t seem like that type of girl...
Meanwhile, Jody tried to prepare a reason as to why she was late for work. Her thoughts of Taylor could wait for now. She needed something to distract her so she could sort out her feelings later. Sure she liked him- he was sweet and funny, not to mention that he was attractive. He was everything she could have hoped for, except for one thing- technically he was still married.
But now she was late for work. The last couple days she had been cutting it close and received a warning from Horace. Being this late was simply inexcusable. She just hoped that the wonderful night she had last night wouldn’t cost her her job.
Taking a deep breath, Jody decided to face the music and go inside the store.
Unfortunately, Horace was waiting for her.
“Thompson!”
Jody cringed. This was not a good sign. Any hope she had of forgiveness was dashed with the bellowing of her last name.
“Morning Horace,” Jody said innocently as she went up to the counter.
“Jode, I hate to do this, but you’re fired.”
“Fired? Horace, what are you talking about? I’m early. I’m not supposed to be here for another 30 minutes.”
“Follow me,” Horace said with a sigh as they went to the back room. “You are late by half and hour.” He pointed to the schedule on the wall that confirmed that Horace was correct.
Jody’s face dropped as she pretended to be surprised. She hated lying, but she hated being unemployed more. If it looked like an accident, Horace would be much more lenient than if he knew that she was with Taylor.
“Horace, I swear I thought I started at 11:30.”
Letting Jody get away with this was not going to set a good example for the rest of the employees. Justifying her tardiness would make it seem OK to the seasonal workers. However, Jody had a huge presence in the store. Losing her easily outweighed anything the other workers could pull.
“Am I still fired?” Jody questioned quietly, looking up at him as if she would hopefully be forgiven.
Horace sighed. “Go get your apron. You’re here until closing tonight.”
“You got it!” Jody said as she nearly ran for her apron and got to the counter.
“Nice cover,” Dana whispered once Jody got back to making fraps.
“Thanks,” Jody whispered back with a glimmer in her eye.
A few hours passed and Jody made sure to be out of the way and extra efficient with her work.
Once Horace was out of earshot, Dana’s curiosity got the best of her.
“So, uh, how was dinner last night?”
Jody’s head snapped up immediately. Taylor. She nearly forgot about him and all that happened.
“Dinner was good.”
“What’d you have?”
Jody shrugged. “Pasta. Nothing fancy.”
They both continued to work.
“Anything special happen?”
Jody was a little taken aback by the question, but recovered quickly. “Nope. It was just dinner with the boys.”
“Boys?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Taylor and Ezra.”
Dana nodded as well and then studied Jody. “No offense or anything Jody, but if nothing special happened, then why are you still wearing yesterday’s clothes?”
Jody felt like she had all the air had been sucked out of her lungs at once. She was busted and it was only a matter of time before Horace caught on. Not good.
She decided to lay low for the rest of her shift and remain under everybody’s radar. Not to Jody’s surprise, Taylor and Ezra skipped their routine of coming into the store. She couldn’t blame Taylor in the least. They needed to have a chat, and it really kinda scared Jody.
The store closed a few hours later and, as was typical, Jody was there at least an hour afterwards to clean everything up and get the store ready for the next day.
“I think that does it,” Dana said as she tossed her cleaning rag on the counter. “I’m beat.”
“Same here,” Jody replied as she rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands.
“Close it up you two. Time to go home,” Horace said coming out of the back. “The computer’s shut down and once you guys grab your bags, we’ll all be going home.”
Jody and Dana nearly raced to the back to get their things. Once everything was gathered, they bid each other farewell and went their separate ways.
Horace caught Jody once Dana left. “Nice cover today. No more excuses from now on. One more tardy and you’re gone.”
“Yes sir. Thank you.”
With that, they parted.
Truth be told, Jody was not happy about being alone on the subway at night, but considering her whirlwind adventure, she was rather relieved to have some time to herself.
That time was short-lived.
“Jody!” she heard someone yell. “Jody wait up!”
She turned around and saw Taylor coming toward her, his shaggy hair partially covering his face and his hands in their typical place in their pockets. She was as relieved as she was nervous to see him. Her insides suddenly felt like Jell-O.
“Taylor what are you doing here?” she questioned.
“I ran into Dana,” he said shivering slightly. “She told me which subway entrance you go to.”
Jody was taken by surprise. She had no idea what to say, so she kept silent.
“You wanna come back for something to eat?” he questioned.
She ran a hand through her hair and tried to take everything in. “I would, but I should really be getting home. It’s late and I’m stinky.” She glanced up at him to see disappointment written all over his face. “Can I take a rain check on that one?”
“Uh, yeah. That’s no problem. I mean, it’s late and all...”
There was an incredibly awkward silence between them.
“I’m sorry, you deserve an explanation,” Jody said as she started to babble a little bit.
“An explanation?” Taylor questioned, glancing at her after intensely studying his shoes.
“About this morning.” He nodded. That’s what he also wanted to talk about.
“The... kiss...”
“The kiss that wasn’t.”
“Yeah, that,” Taylor said as he went back to looking at his shoes.
“It’s not that I didn’t want it to happen.” Taylor looked back up at her. “Because I did.”
“Then why’d you back down?”
“It’s just that technically you’re still married...”
“Jody, I won’t be married much longer.” The last sentence seemed foreign to him and it stung more than he would have liked to admit. “The divorce talks are almost over.”
She nodded solemnly. “Look, you’re probably not in the best place emotionally right now and the last thing you need is a crazy girl like me hanging around.”
Taylor cracked a smile. He took that in as well as a big breath. He let it out slowly and adjusted the weight on his feet. “You know, I think there’s room for a crazy girl in my life right now.” She studied him hard. “You keep it interesting. That’s one of the things I really like about you.”
Now it was Jody’s turn to smile. “Eh,” she started, “you’re not so bad yourself.”
“So, you uh, wanna give this thing a try?” he questioned nervously. It had been a while since he had asked a girl out and he nearly forgot how terrifying it was.
Jody mulled it over as Taylor waited in suspense. She had a lot to think about. Not only was there Taylor, but there was Ezra and then she had to factor in his soon to be ex-wife. There was serious potential for disaster.
But there was something about him that was nearly irresistible.
“I don’t see why we couldn’t give it a whirl.”
Taylor let out a sigh of relief. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she nodded.
Taylor broke out into a wide grin and he scooped her up and swung her around. Jody laughed seemingly without control at his spontaneity. He set her down gently as she continued to laugh. To Taylor it sounded like magic.
“Can I walk you home?” Taylor asked.
Jody rolled her eyes good naturedly. “You don’t have to.”
“I know.”
“What about Ezra?” she questioned.
Taylor smiled. “My brother is babysitting tonight.”
“I didn’t know you had a brother.”
“I’ve got a bunch of siblings. C’mon, I’ll tell you about them on the way home.”
He took her hand and the two went into the subway. They talked all the way to Penn Station. They exchanged numbers and stepped out of the subway car.
“This is my stop,” Jody said motioning to the stairs.
“I know.” A silence settled on them. “Call me when you get home?”
Jody smiled. “Only if you promise to do the same.”
“You drive a hard bargain, but yeah, I’ll give you a call.”
The two stood on the subway platform staring at each other. It was a scene that was comparable to two awkward teenagers standing on the steps after their first date.
“So goodnight then,” Jody said as she went to hug him goodbye.
He hugged her back as a train passed on either side of the platform, making it nearly impossible to hear.
She looked up at him from the hug as he was looking down. The moment was right.
She took a deep, slightly shaky breath to try to steady her nerves.
Taylor slowly moved his face closer and lingered by her mouth for just a moment before gently touching his lips with hers. It felt so natural that Taylor wondered why he had waited so long to kiss her in the first place.
“G’night Taylor,” Jody said softly as she looked up at him. He released her from his arms and she went up the stairs and out of sight around the corner.
Chapter 10
Index
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