Chapter 11

When I awoke the next morning, or should I say early afternoon, Jeff was gone.  He had left a note on the pillow:  "I thought you needed your rest, so I didn’t try to wake you.  Thanks for listening last night.  Please know that when you’re ready to talk, I’m ready to return the favor.  I’ll be home in a few days and look forward to our next meeting on the roof.  I’ll see you soon. - Jeff"  I smiled as I pulled myself out of the bed and took a shower. 
The next week copied the previous.  Michelle and I hung out and had our ‘girl time’, her occasionally throwing in her plug for her brother-in-law.  I would just laugh it off as usual. 
Thursday came along and I headed for the roof with my six-pack in hand.  I was there for about ten minutes when I heard his motorcycle pull up in the driveway.  I tried to erase the smile from my face, but it was hard.  Even harder when I saw his face as he climbed onto the roof.  He too was having a hard time hiding his smile.  He was starting to feel it too, I could tell.  "I remembered the smoke this time." he said holding up his little bag.  "Bout time.  I was beginning to think you WERE using me for my pot." I poked fun at him.  He sat down and I handed him a beer as he packed a bowl in the pipe.  An hour later, we were toasted.  "So…you ready to talk about it yet?" he asked out of the blue.  I wasn’t.  "It’s too hard." I said.  "It’ll make you feel better." He pushed.  "No." I insisted.  "Come on.  It can’t be that bad." He pushed again.  Suddenly, I got angry at his pushiness.  I stood up and yelled at him, "I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!"  I climbed down the ladder and headed in the house, Jeff at my heels.  "JADE, STOP!" he yelled.  I didn’t turn around.  "It’s just that I’ve told you everything about me and I don’t know anything about you." he said more calmly.  "If you don’t know anything about me, then why did you trust me enough to tell me the things you did?" I asked now looking at him.  He walked over close to me and put his hand on the side of my face, "I know that you are a good person and whatever it is that’s haunting you, it’s not your fault."  "You have no idea" I said pulling away from him and walking towards the living room.  I plopped down on the couch.  He sat down beside me and looked into my eyes, "No, I don’t.  But if you’d trust me enough to tell me, then maybe I could help."  I saw the sincerity in his eyes.  I knew that I could trust him and against my better judgment, I began to tell him my story.



          
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