THE IMMORTAL
Chapter 5 - The Deal
The next morning,
Clea saw Jonah walking out of Joseph’s bedroom. He was bundled against the
cold, with his backpack slung over one shoulder. He said nothing as he passed
her. Not even to glance her way as he continued toward the kitchen and the back
door.
Dropping the t-shirt she’d been
folding from the basket of laundry sitting on the sofa, she followed him
outside. “Where do you think
you’re going?” she managed to ask. It promised to be a bright, sunny day with a
hint of spring in the warming air.
He paused
and turned around to look at her with those amazing blue eyes. “It has come to
the point where I can no longer take up room in your home.”
She fought
to hide her sudden disappointment. “You’re leaving?”
“I have no
choice, madam.”
“That’s
bull hockey and you know it!” she suddenly blurted out, and immediately reined
herself back in. “I mean, you haven’t overstayed your welcome.” She gave him a
weak smile. “You know the old saying about fish and visitors.”
His warm
smile caught her by surprise. “I know what you meant to say. Let me ask you
this instead. How long were you expecting me to stay? Longer than those three
days? How long were you going to allow me to take advantage of your generosity?
To eat your food without payment or compensation? How long were you willing to
put up with me until you grew tired of my company and wished there was a way to
politely ask me to leave?”
She stared
at him. Although the thought had occurred to her more than once these past
couple of days, she’d never actually entertained the notion of telling him to
leave. Not yet, anyway. Clea opened her mouth to respond, but her mind seemed
to freeze.
Jonah
sighed. “That is why I’ve taken the first step to alleviate you of that duty. I
will be on my way. However…” He gave a humorless chuckle. “Do not be alarmed if
at some point I unexpectedly reappear.”
“Mr.
Cobb…Jonah…” She reached out to him, caught herself, and quickly drew her hand
back. “You don’t need to go…just yet.” She pointed to the house. “Let me fix
you some breakfast first. Please. No sense heading out on an empty stomach. And
you’ll feel better, too.”
He glanced
down at the stretch of road at the end of the gravel drive leading up to the
house. After a few moments, he nodded. “Very well. You make a very convincing
argument.”
Clea let
out the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding as she reentered the house.
He hurriedly cut in front of her to hold the screen door open before following
her inside.
“Take off
that coat and have a seat,” she instructed, realizing she was using the same
tone of voice she used whenever she was giving her son directions. She pulled
the bowl of eggs from the fridge, setting it on the counter as she retrieved
the skillet from the oven where it was stored. “How would you like your eggs?”
“It matters
not. I’ve had them raw when there was no other choice. As long as you don’t
serve them to me that way, I shall be happy.”
She looked
back at him. He was teasing her, yet at the same time he was serious as he gave
her another glimpse into his mysterious past.
As the eggs
cooked, she dropped two slices of bread into the toaster. “I’d offer you a
choice of bacon or sausage, but we’re out, and I haven’t been able to get to
the store.”
“I will not
miss them, madam,” he assured her.
When the
eggs were done, she shoveled them onto a plate, added the toast, and went over
to the table to set his meal in front of him. Jonah raised an eyebrow at her.
“Are you
not joining me?”
“I’ve
already eaten. I had breakfast with Joey before he left for school.”
The man
nodded. “I recall hearing faint conversation earlier.”
Clea
returned to the stove where the kettle was heating. Pulling a tea bag from the
box in the pantry, she placed it in a mug and added hot water. She then poured
herself a cup of coffee from the pot sitting on the other burner, then took
both mugs over to the table where she sat in a chair across from him.
“The eggs
are perfect. So is the toast,” he praised her, reaching for the jar of honey to
sweeten his tea. The gesture reminded her she’d forgotten to put the butter and
jam on the table and got to her feet but he stopped her. “Please sit back down,
Clea.”
“I was
going to get you some butter and jam for the toast.”
“I have no
need of it. We have more important matters to discuss.”
She took
her seat again and lifted her mug of coffee to her lips, blowing on the surface
before taking a sip. She winced. “Butter and jam aren’t the only things I
forgot.”
Her remark
elicited another chuckle from him. “You forgot the sugar,” he commented. At her
surprised expression, he smiled. “I’ve learned to be very observant. It’s a
skill that has saved my hide several times in the past.”
He waited
until she’d taken a couple of spoonsful from the bowl in front of her, stirred
them into her drink, then tasted it again to be sure it was to her liking
before he continued.
“Madam…Clea…you
and I both know I cannot remain here for any long period of time. Eventually
your neighbors will learn of my presence, and the thought of me besmirching
your name and reputation is what helped me to decide I must leave.”
Sitting her
mug on the table, she kept her head bowed until she was able to come to grips
with her emotions. She knew he couldn’t stay, but another part of her kept
demanding, “Why not?” This day was inevitable, yet did it have to come so soon?
“You don’t know me, Jonah. You
don’t know anything about me, so how can you assume I give a damn about what my
neighbors would think if they learned about you staying here? Which, by the
way, they probably already do, since Joey may have already let the cat out of
the bag.”
She lifted
her face to meet his direct gaze. “There’s something about you I can’t put my
finger on. But from the moment we first spoke, I knew I could trust you. I
don’t know why or how, but if I hadn’t, I would have left you out in the cold
in a heartbeat and never regretted my decision.”
Jonah
plucked a napkin from the holder on the table and wiped his mouth and beard.
“Of that I have no doubt,” he admitted.
“And now…”
Clea took a deep breath. “I don’t want you to go. At least, not now.”
“Madam...”
“Shut up
and let me have my say. Then you can decide what you want to do. Don’t think
that I haven’t tried to think this through before now. I’ve spent hours lying
in bed at night, wondering what the next day would bring. Whether you’d still
be here come sunup, or if I’d find Joey’s bed empty because you’d popped out
somewhere, voluntarily or involuntarily.” She tried to smile but was only able
to offer a lopsided grin. Taking another sip of coffee, she continued as he silently
watched her. No doubt studying her as he weighed every word she said.
“Like I
said, there’s something about you that makes me feel, I don’t know. I guess
what I’m trying to say is ‘safe.’ I feel safe around you. More importantly, I
feel safe when Joey’s around you. It’s like he finally has some sort of older
male figure, almost like a father figure, that he can relate to. That he
can…talk to…about man things. About things I can’t understand or help him with.
Am I making any sense at all?”
“Indeed,
madam. You’re making perfect sense.” Pushing aside his plate, Jonah leaned over
the table and crossed his arms in front of him. “Feel free at any time to tell
me to mind my own business, but I have to ask. How long ago did your husband
leave you? Or is he deceased?”
She felt
her face grow warm and knew she was blushing. Not because she was embarrassed,
but because of shame. She couldn’t guess how he knew Eddie was no longer in the
picture, but right now it wasn’t important.
“He left
me. Us. I don’t know if he’s still alive or dead.”
“How long?”
Jonah gently pressed.
“Eight
years ago. Right after Joey’s first birthday. Eddie worked at Randolph’s
Mercantile. He was their head cashier. One evening, he never came home. I
called the store, but it was already closed, so I called the sheriff’s
department. They went to check and found the car still parked in the parking
lot, but Eddie was gone. The store was empty.” She bit her lips, then added,
“They said there was also a little over fifteen hundred dollars missing from
the safe. After some more investigating, Mr. Randolph learned that
approximately two hundred thousand dollars was unaccounted for at the bank.”
“Money
which Mr. Hatch had access to?”
“Yes.”
“And you’ve
not heard from him since?”
“No.” She
shook her head. “And, trust me, if I had, I wouldn’t take two seconds to turn
him over the authorities for what he put me and Joey through.” She took another
couple sips of coffee. “I don’t know why he did it. I don’t even know if he
acted alone. I just know he betrayed me and his son, and that alone is why… Is
why I…”
“You no
longer love him,” Jonah finished for her.
Clea
grabbed a napkin to blot her eyes and sniffed. “Yes. Jonah, you being here is
the first time in a very, very long time I’ve felt…I guess the best way to
describe it is ‘secure.’ It’s like I can finally get a handle on things and
focus on what’s important without having to constantly watch my back.”
“Like your
son.”
“Yes. Oh,
yes. So, I’m asking you to stay, even though I know I can’t stop you if you’re
determined to go. No more than I can stop you from blinking out of sight.” She
gave him that lopsided grin again.
Leaning
back in his chair, he shoved his hands into his jeans pockets and stared at her
for what seemed like eternity. She was about to get up to clear the table when
he spoke.
“I will stay on two conditions.”
A weird
thought flashed through her head, and for a second she wondered if one of those
conditions might be of a very intimate nature. Silently scolding herself, she
inquired, “What are the conditions?”
“The first
one is that I need to arrange for my own quarters. I cannot keep depriving the
boy of his own bedroom.”
“Wh-where
would you sleep?”
Jonah
pointed outside. “In the barn. I can build me a small room in the back that
would give me ample space to live, and also give us all our individual
privacy.”
Hope
fluttered in her chest, like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon. “And the
second one?”
“That I
pull my own weight around here. Help with the chores. Help with the farm.” He
pointed overhead. “Help with repairing those tiles I noticed were about to
slide off the roof.”
“You can do
stuff like that?”
He gave a
bark of laughter. “Madam, if I were to make a list of every job I ever held
during my lifetime, it would take you a year to read it. Just let me know what
you need done. If I can’t accommodate you, I can find out from someone else how
to do it.” Tilting his head, he smiled in that way she longed to see. “What is
your decision, Clea? Do you agree to my terms or not?”
She held a
hand out over the table. “It’s a deal.”
He took it,
but instead of shaking it, he placed his other hand over hers and held it
there. “You do know that at some point I’m going to have to leave, don’t you?”
he gently reminded her.
Clea
nodded. “Yes, I do. But until that has to happen…” Her voice trailed off
without finishing the sentence because there was no need.
At that
moment, a ray of sunshine came through the kitchen window to shine across the
table and their clasped hands. Happy and relieved, Clea took it as an omen of
better days to come.
However long those may be.
TO BE CONTINUED
