When she was done, she tried to apologize before I simply told her "It's okay. I know it couldn't have been easy for you to hear all that, and that it had to have hurt, even though you told me yourself that you didn't think they'd let you come home. I'm just glad I was here so you'd know that you aren't alone."
At that, she seemed to realize that she was leaning against me, and I had an arm around her. Suddenly nervous and embarrassed, she hesitantly started to move away from me again. I readily took my arm from around her, and she quickly moved to the other end of the couch again.
After she'd dried her tears, I told her "I think it's probably a little late to call anyone else tonight, so I'll do it after I get off work tomorrow. In the mean time, you can be thinking about who might be willing to take you in."
She nodded her agreement and understanding, and then a few moments later asked me "Uh, what about until then?"
"Tomorrow, you can stay here and watch TV or listen to music or read or whatever else you want to do. As for tonight", which was what I knew she was really asking about, "one of us sleeps in there in my bed, and the other one sleeps here. This couch opens into a bed, and there are sheets and everything in the end tables. If it would make you feel better, there's a lock on the bedroom door and you can sleep in there; you'll have your own bathroom, too, so you won't have to come out until you want to. I've slept on this thing often enough that it won't bother me in the slightest."
Reassured that she'd have her own place to sleep, Jill told me "No, you go ahead and sleep in your own bed. You're the one that has to go out and work tomorrow. There's no need to bother making this a bed, either; I'll be fine right here, sleeping on the couch."
I told her "Well, I'm going to head on to bed, then. I pretty much set my own hours, and I want to get an early start so I'll have plenty of time for talking to people tomorrow night."
She voiced her understanding, and stood up when I did. To my surprise, she came over to stand in front of me and looked up into my face to tell me "Thank you, Jim. I know you're going out of your way to help me, and you saved me from going with Charley earlier when I didn't know any better. I don't think you'd just put me out on the street, but you're being a lot nicer about me being here than I think most would. I know what you're doing, and I really, truly do appreciate it."
"That's okay, Jill."
"Well, I just wanted you to know, is all" she told me before surprising me by standing on her toes long enough to give me a kiss on the cheek, and then blushing furiously.
Asking her to stay there a moment, I went into my bedroom, and then came out a minute later with my 'winter' bathrobe. I had another, lighter, one that I generally lazed around in during the summer months. The 'winter' one was a lot heavier and warmer, and I figured she'd be more comfortable if she could use it after we went to our respective beds.
Handing it to her, I said "I don't know what you've got to sleep in, and don't need or want to. So you can wear this to keep it a mystery, okay?"
She responded with a relieved half-smile and told me "Thank you."
I just grinned, and after telling her "Good night" and getting one in return, went into my bedroom and closed the door behind me. Demosthenes didn't turn up after I'd been in bed for a couple of minutes, so I figured he must be keeping Jill company. Soon afterwards, I was sound asleep.
When I woke up the next morning, the first thing I noticed was the smell of coffee. Close on the heels of that was the fact that my bedroom door was partway open.
My confusion was cleared up by Jill's voice coming from the other side of my door, telling me "I hope you don't mind, but I knocked to see if you were up yet, and when you didn't answer, I peeked in. You said you wanted to get an early start, so I left the door open a little and started coffee; I figured that was the nicest way to wake you up."
After clearing my throat, I told her "That's fine. Yeah, the smell of coffee IS a nice thing to wake up to. I'll be out in a couple of minutes."
"You don't have to hurry. I haven't started breakfast or anything; I just made coffee" she told me, before closing the door.
Since I usually don't get hungry in the morning until after my first cup of coffee, I was relieved that she hadn't started cooking yet. Still, I didn't dawdle about getting a shower and getting dressed – the coffee had simply smelled too darn good.
When I stepped out of my bedroom, she appeared from the kitchen a few moments later to tell me "Go ahead and sit wherever you usually do, and I'll get you some coffee."
When she saw me start in her direction, she quickly disappeared back into the kitchen, and was waiting there with two cups and the coffee pot when I came through the door. I barely had time to get myself seated before she had the cup in front of me and started filling it. When she was done, she set the other cup across the table from me and filled it, as well, before putting the pot back.
When she'd sat down, I thanked her (embarrassing her slightly, I think) before taking a sip. Somehow, the coffee tasted better than it did when I made it, and when I commented on that fact, she hesitantly told me "I'm glad you think it's okay. All I did was just add some eggshell to the grounds before I started it. They help make it less bitter."
I assured her it was fine, and asked her how much eggshell she used. She told me, and I asked her to write it down and leave it next to the coffeemaker so that I'd be sure and remember. Pleased, she said that she would, before starting on her own cup.
When I got toward the bottom of my cup, she got up and refilled it before asking if I was ready for breakfast. I decided that I was, and said so before asking if she'd be eating with me. She said she would, and asked if scrambled eggs, reheated meat from the leftover porkchops, and hash browns would be okay. That was more than I would have bothered with on my own, but it sounded pretty darn good, so I said it would be fine.
It wasn't ten minutes later that she set a plate in front of me, then eating utensils and a napkin. I waited until she'd gotten her own food on the table and sat down before digging in. Demosthenes showed up, and both of us again ignored his psychic admonishments about sharing. As we ate, she told me about the rest of her family, and what she knew about Todds.
When the food was gone, Jill told me not to worry about the dishes, or cleaning up – that she'd take care of it after I left. With one less thing to do, I was able to sit and enjoy my coffee that much more.
Finally, though, it was time for me to get moving. After getting ready to face the public, I'd just finished collecting my things so I could leave when Jill came up to me. When I looked at her, she shyly told me "I… I hope I made it better and easier for you to go to work this morning. You've been so nice, and done so much to help ME that I wanted to do something to help you, in return. I know it wasn't much, but…"
A little surprised, it took me a moment before I could answer "Why, yes, you did make it nice, and easy for me, Jill. Thank you."
Leaning forward slightly, I gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before telling her "Really, Jill – I'm glad I'm able to help you in whatever way I can. You don't have to do anything special for ME except just keep being the good person I already know you are."
Surprised at first at what I'd done, she was looking quite pleased by the time I finished. With a smile, I told her "I'll be gone for about nine hours, or maybe a little more, and I'll take care of my own lunch. If you want to go out, there's a spare key for the front door with a tag that says what it is hanging on a hook in the kitchen; just make sure you lock the door while you're gone. I'll see you later, okay?"