leave a note on the fridge that there are leftovers in case Jon is hungry when he gets home. Wanting to be fully rested for work the next day, I head to bed early. When my alarm clock goes off, I’m relieved to see Jon asleep next to me. He must have come home at some point after I went to sleep. Careful not to wake him, I get ready for work. When I go to the kitchen, I see that he hasn’t eaten the enchiladas and decide to take them with me for lunch, throwing away the note on the fridge.
As I sit in my car while it warms up, I notice the tank is on E. It had been almost full the last time I had driven it. I’ll have to stop on the way in to work to get some gas. It annoys me, but Jon doesn’t have any money so it’s not like he can buy any gas either way. It would have been nice if he had gotten a couple of bucks from his new friends. I’m worried about filling it up all the way in case he takes the car again. I can’t afford to be filling it up all the time. I fill it up halfway and continue on my way to work. Nikita’s parking at the same time I’m parking and rushes over to greet me.
"How are you feeling? Oh my gosh, Grace. What happened to your car?"
I grimaced. "I feel better. Thanks. Jon hit something."
"I'm so happy you're feeling better. That sucks about your car. What’d he hit?"
"Not sure. We haven’t really talked about it."
"No way. You are so nice. I would have lost it."
We chat as we head into the office. It’s Friday, and there are many last-minute sick appointments. It seems like whatever I had is going around big time. At lunch, I look over the want ads, not seeing anything that might be a good fit for Jon. I wonder about the two places I had sent his resume to and if they had contacted him. If they had, Jon had not said anything. After lunch, I dip into my spare change dish to buy a soda. It’s been the first day in a while that I had been so active, and I really need some caffeine.
It has been a long day, and I am grateful once the day ended and I can go home. All I want to do is make myself another can of soup and go back to bed. Not feeling as though I am in any danger of falling asleep behind the wheel, I skip the metal station this time. Jon is in the front room when I get home, watching TV.
"What happened to the enchiladas?"
"What?"
He stood. "What happened to the enchiladas?" He enunciates each word.
Oh no, I think. "I took them to work for lunch today. I didn't know you wanted them. I thought that since you had not eaten them last night that you had not wanted them."
"No. I was actually saving them for lunch for myself today. Just think of how I must have felt when I went to the fridge and found out they were gone."
Couldn’t have been worse than the feeling I had when I saw my car was gone the day before, I thought to myself. I don’t say it, though. That would only make things worse.
"I can run to the store and get stuff to make some tonight. Would you like that? I'm so sorry. I did not know you wanted them."
"Don’t bother. It’s already done."
"Well, let me make you something else. What would you like?"
I end up making spaghetti and meatballs per Jon's request. Sure, it’s not the soup I wanted, but it’s still good and now Jon is less upset. After dinner, I wash the pots and pans and dirty dishes from our meal. Jon returns to his armchair and is watching TV. Once I’m done, I go to bed. The next morning, I am relieved to see Jon asleep again beside me. As I was falling asleep last night, I worried that he might go out again. I quietly get out of bed and make myself a cup of tea and some toast.
After washing my cup and plate, I sit down on the sofa to read. My plans for the day are simple: rest, and maybe later on take a couple loads of laundry down to the Laundromat. I am well into my book