up for an aunt of the year award. Reaching his bedroom, she quietly opened the door. Just because Jared was intent on jolting her out of bed so early didn’t mean Cody shouldn’t have the luxury of sleeping in.
The room was dark, but enough light filtered in from the hallway for Jenny to see his empty and unmade bed. Where was he? She rushed out of the room and was partway down the stairs when two distinct male voices could be heard from below. Pausing, she listened.
The voices were coming from the kitchen: one low and deep (Jared’s) and the other one high-pitched with the occasional squeak (Cody’s).
She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She knew she’d overreacted, but seeing his empty bed had brought her own childhood back. She couldn’t remember how many times she’d fled to Nana’s house after arguing with her parents. And while she and Cody hadn’t actually argued, they sure hadn’t gotten along, either. She stood at the railing for several more minutes, trying to make out what the two of them were saying. But while their voices were too muffled, she could tell that Cody was doing the vast majority of the talking. Again. She smiled.
Knowing her nephew was fine, she headed back upstairs to the bathroom. With Jared banging around in the kitchen doing heaven only knew what, and Cody keeping him company, Jenny planned on splurging on a long, hot shower.
The minute she opened the bathroom door, she knew something was wrong. At first glance, everything looked exactly as it should. Her favorite dark purple towels were still draped across the towel bar; her industrial-sized bottle of raspberry bubble bath still sat on the aged marble floor, right next to the claw-foot tub, along with the basket that held her loofah brush and coconut milk extract shampoo and conditioner. And then she saw the telltale items that proved someone else had put their mark on her space.
Alongside her elegant bottle of shampoo was a cheap ol’ bottle of Suave. A plain white toothbrush next to her purple and green one, and a tube of Colgate by her minty fresh Crest. Spurred on by a growing sense of doom, she opened the mirrored cabinet above the sink. Someone had shoved all of her products (even her box of tampons) to the bottom two shelves, leaving the top shelf open. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who had done it.
Everything was in precise order. Lined up like little traitorous soldiers on the white shelf. A can of shaving cream and a razor, a box of Band-Aids (the plain, boring ones; she liked the ones with pictures), a tube of Neosporin, Speed Stick, dental floss, and a small black comb.
All in all, it wasn’t much. But it was the idea of him taking over even one more bit of space in her home. It was as if he was saying, “I’m here for as long as it takes.”
Filled with righteous anger, Jenny scooped up all Jared’s things and marched down to his room. His temporary room. His door was ajar. She gave it a little bump with her hip, and it swung wide.
She hadn’t been in this room since the first morning after Jared had moved in. Like then, the room looked unused; the only difference—the same one as before—a bed made with military precision. Undoubtedly he was one of those neat freaks who had all of his clothes neatly folded and put away.
Her mother would be so proud.
Jenny dumped everything onto the tight-as-a-pin duvet. She was about to do an about-face and leave, when her curiosity got the better of her. After listening to make sure no one was coming up the stairs, she walked over to the dresser and opened the top drawer. Empty. The second drawer, empty. All the dresser drawers were empty, as well as the closet.
She stood in the middle of the room, stumped. He had no trouble putting his stuff in her bathroom, but he couldn’t put away a single item of clothing?
Then she saw his duffel bag. Just like the first time she’d entered his room, it was propped up in the corner, still packed. She shook her head in total confusion. But then, everything about Jared rattled her.
As she took her shower, thoughts about last night kept coming back to her. She refused to think about the feelings he had stirred awake in her and, instead, focused on the more important