“And…what does that mean for you?”
“That I have to stay with Jeff.”
I thought about that for a moment, how I would feel about being forced to stay with someone else if my house suddenly disappeared. Which could happen since I was renting.
“You could always buy a house.”
“I could also just close my eyes and get some sleep here if you’d ever stop talking.”
Well, that shut me up really fast. Rolling over, I tried to go to sleep, but there were so many things keeping me up.
Namely, was this going to become a nightly thing?
Would he stay until morning?
How did this fit into our plan to keep things on the down-low?
Did I sound alright using the word down-low?
My brain just wouldn’t shut off, and while the snoozer beside me had absolutely no qualms about falling asleep next to another person, I found myself in the untenable position of staying in bed when there was another person beside me with absolutely no guidelines as to what it meant.
After nearly an hour passed, I got up, grabbed my robe, and headed into the living room to snuggle under a blanket.
Not that laying in the living room helped. I was still plagued by questions, none of which I would get the answers to anytime soon. So, instead, I put on one of my favorite Christmas movies, hoping the tone of Jimmy Stewart’s voice would put me to sleep.
And I was almost there.
That is, until I heard his voice next to my ear. The low timbre raced through me, directly to my lady parts. Not that I let him know the effect he had on me.
“What are you doing?”
“You snore,” I lied.
“Do not.”
Shuffling in front of the couch, he plopped down on the other end, shifting my feet onto his lap, along with my blanket. Again, I kept it cool, refusing to let him see how much the small gesture affected me. He was holding my feet, not my hand.
“What are you watching?”
“It’s A Wonderful Life.”
“Why?” The tone of his voice belied the incredulousness of the question, but I ignored it.
“Because it’s an amazing movie. And I was hoping that since it’s long, it would help me fall asleep.”
“So…it’s boring.”
“No, it’s long,” I reiterated. “And after you’ve seen it a million times, you already know what’s going to happen, which makes it easier to fall asleep.”
For a moment, he was quiet. He started massaging my feet, but I wasn’t sure he was even aware he was doing it.
“So…what’s the deal with this guy?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, how is this a Christmas movie? He seems really unhappy.”
“Well, he is. I mean, he’s unhappy because he doesn’t realize all he has.”