Stay For Me - Megan Smith Page 0,48
Jaylinn asks as I buckle her in.
Fallon nods. She’s always so shy around strangers.
“That’s good.” Jaylinn reaches into one of the bags we put on the back seat and grabs a fruit snack. “Are you hungry?”
Fallon looks at me and I smile hoping that gives her the courage she needs to say yes.
“Yes, please.”
Jaylinn beams at me when I climb back in the car. Fallon and I chat about what she did today at school and how her lunch was. Jaylinn pulls into the same parking spot as she did earlier. The three of us climb out, Fallon runs over to the door while Jaylinn helps me with my bags. I point out which bags are mine but she grabs some of hers, too.
“Those aren’t mine.” I point out to another bag she grabs.
“I know.”
I narrow my eyes. What the hell is she doing?
Jaylinn shut the trunk that is now empty and follows after Fallon. We bring all the stuff upstairs and into the kitchen. Fallon sits on the couch and starts to go through her book bag. I start unpacking my bags and Jaylinn does the same.
“Okay, seriously, what are you doing?”
“What does it look like?”
“Like you’re unpacking your bags.”
Jaylinn pats me on the head. “You’re quick.”
“Those are yours. Do you plan on staying here or something?”
“Yeah, I don’t want the stuff to thaw out. I’ll just leave the other stuff in the bags until I’m ready to go.”
I just nod because she’s acting really weird.
Once we are all finished we take a seat beside Fallon. I flick the tv on and pray that it still turns on. The cable bill was one of the bills I actually got to pay before mom stole my money.
Jaylinn clears her throat. “Why don’t you go make that phone call?”
My stomach instantly knots and my hands get clammy. “Um, yeah, okay.”
I find my phone and walk back to my bedroom for a little privacy. I pace back and forth a few times before finally just hitting the call button.
The phone barely rings once before Eli answers. “Layla?”
“Um, yeah, it’s me. Is this a bad time? I, uh, could call back later.”
I sound like an idiot.
“No, it’s okay. I was hoping you would call.”
“Look, I’m sorry about what happened last week. You just took me by surprise and I shouldn’t have thrown you out. I know you were only trying to help.” I rush out before I lose my nerve to do so.
Eli sighs. “No reason to be sorry. I’m the one who is sorry. I just wanted to fix everything and I didn’t mean to hurt you by doing so.”
“I know and I understand. I’ve just kept this side of me a secret for so long that I wasn’t sure how to handle the situation. Anyway, I was calling to see if I still had a job.”
Without missing a beat he says, “You’ll always have a job here, Layla.”
Whew. “Great, thank you. One other thing,” I hesitate. “Um, are you still looking for a roommate?”
“Yeah I’m not in a huge rush to find one. Like I said, I was looking around but honestly I haven’t given it much time or effort.”
I bit down on my bottom lip. I just need to bite the bullet and ask. “Would you be willing to have Fallon and I? I promise we won’t cause you any problems and it’ll only be for a few months until I can get on my feet.”
“Yes,” Eli practically shouts in my ear. “Sorry, yes, I’d love for it to be you guys.”
“Great, well as you know I don’t have any money and I’ve been out of work. I could work a few days, hopefully get some tips so that I can pay for a down payment.”
“Layla, there is no down payment.”
“I’m not moving in there if there isn’t one. You can’t move in anywhere without having one.”
“Calm down, we’ll figure something out okay. How about one hundred dollars?”
I mentally tally up that I could do that with ease just working a weekend and I’d have a little extra left over. “Okay, but are you sure that’s enough? I don’t want you to treat me any differently than you would anyone else.”
He chuckles. “It’s plenty and I’d charge anyone that amount. Honestly I don’t really need the money, my house is paid off. I just was really looking for a roommate for the company.”
“You’re going to have a six year old on your hands; you’ll have all the company you’ll need