Author's note: This is the first story of any length I've written... ever. I woke up one day in early 2016 with an idea in my head and decided to see where it went. I held on to this one for over a year, but finally decided to put it out there.
~~~
Well, the inevitable finally happened: my daughter moved out at the age of 22 after graduating from college. I wasn't looking forward to it at all: to becoming an empty nester and living alone. But she wanted to strike off on her own and found a guy who seemed decent. They aren't rushing to get married and for that I'm grateful!
My own experience with marriage is what makes me hesitant. My ex and I were married for a little under 4 years. We mixed like oil and water and eventually called it quits. She found another guy before that point and signed the divorce papers quickly, and just as quickly moved to the other side of the country. The only part of the whole thing that wasn't a horrible mistake was my daughter, although she only knew her mother by a sporadic empty birthday card.
You might say my romantic experience is limited. Except for a couple of short relationships early on, I just gave up on dating and concentrated on my now not so little girl. Now that she's on her own, I'm left trying to figure out the dating scene in an unfamiliar decade. Ugh! Forget it!
The real problem is that my house is much too big for one person. I was used to having one other person around and it'd be great to have that again. So, reluctantly, I decided to look for a roommate. Being 45, I wouldn't expect to find someone my age since we're set in our ways at this point. That meant I'd probably end up with a younger person being interested... if anyone at all!
I thought about how to advertise and instantly thought of the newspaper. But since no one reads newspapers in 2015, I nervously settled on using an Internet site to list my ad.
Surprisingly people started responding right away, giving me a few choices. The site provided background checks and personal information along with their application and gave me three applicants to begin with.
Reference checks were my responsibility. I called the first references on each of the first two applicants. One of them was jittery and forgetful. The next I called didn't know who I was calling about. I was not feeling good about this...
Then I called the first reference of the third person, a college professor. She had nothing but praise for the applicant, a girl named Jolene. I found out that she never missed a class and was applying herself quite well, even making the Dean's list.
Emboldened, I called Jolene's second reference. This turned out to be her parents. They were quite hospitable and were as honest as possible. I found out that Jolene Johnson was 25 and had taken some time after high school to find herself. She had some of what they called "typical" growing pains, which was her business. Her parents believed that she had straightened herself out well enough. I was happy that they were not gossipy.
I called her third reference, a friend, which also went quite well and I made my decision.
I called Jolene and invited her to meet me at my home to give her the tour on the last Friday in February at 2. I was a bit nervous, being a bachelor, about my home being under scrutiny. Oh well!
I met her outside saw a happy look on her face. I think I had one, too. She was a very beautiful young woman with red hair... she had a body, I think. Ok, so I fixated on the red hair! My mouth opened wider and wider in awe.
She was waving at me. Why? Oh! I snapped out of it and pulled my gaping maw shut. "Hi, Jolene, nice to meet you!"
"Nice to meet you, too. And please, call me Jo, Mr. Matuzak."
"Thanks. Gary, please." She nodded. "Shall we?" I gestured to the front door.
She seemed to like the living room, especially, and surprisingly, my large movie collection. The tour continued through the kitchen and bathroom to my daughter's old bedroom which only had a twin bed in it. She seemed to like the room and its size but not as much the closet space.
I showed her my bedroom and its larger closet, offering her use of some of my walk-in closet if she wanted. She was especially excited to find out that she could use my washer and dryer. The use of the middle stall in the garage only made her happier.
The patio off the kitchen wasn't much to see in February, even with the atypically warm day. The small pool was packed under the snow. The high privacy fence in the back yard caught her attention in a curious way. "I like that. It'll do nicely!" she said when she saw it. She saw my quizzical look and snickered, looking away.
We sat at my small kitchen table. "Well, Jo, what do you think?"
"I love it!"
"Your references gave me a good impression of you. I'd like to offer you the room if you'd like it."
"Yes! Very much, Gary!" she exclaimed and briefly took my hand. She seemed to get a chill and removed it.
"But I have one question first: Why would you want to live in someone else's home rather than find or share an apartment?" I asked.
"Well, I just don't like the idea of living in a cramped apartment. I did that for a while and didn't enjoy it. There's too much noise from the neighbors."
"That I understand," I said remembering my own apartment experiences years ago.
"When I saw your ad, I decided that was the one I'd try first. I never thought it'd be nicer than the pictures!"
"Thanks. Are you just going to school or are you working as well?"
"I have a job at a nice clothing store at the mall. It lets me dress well and gives me discounts, but I don't go crazy with that since I have to pay my own way. I'm using my savings and income. If need be my parents help from time to time, but I'm trying to do as much of it myself as I can."
That got us onto the financials. I told her the price, but being a student she politely asked if there was any wiggle room. It wasn't like I needed the money for the mortgage, I just didn't want to have to sell my big house and move into a smaller one. I settled for $100 per month less than I asked in the ad.
"Wow! That's great! I'll take it!" She flashed me a really beautiful and excited smile. I got lost in it for a moment. She started to look at me a little funny and I snapped out of it.
Jo quickly signed the paperwork and handed over the security deposit and first month's rent. She asked if she could move in that day, and after some thought I agreed. It didn't matter if I waited two days until the first of the month, anyway. Besides, the next few days were supposed to be typically cold.
She was very excited when I agreed, bouncing a little up and down while she thanked and then hugged me. I was caught off guard, not knowing what to do. I slowly put one arm around her back. She pulled away and said "Sorry."
"Nothing to be sorry for."
I offered my help and we drove over to her parents' house to finish boxing up the rest of her things. We loaded her dad's pickup making only one load of all the rest of her possessions. Her dad was pretty sore and wouldn't tell us why, so I was happy to do most of the heavy lifting. We piled most of her clothing in the back seat of her car.
Her parents drove the truck back to my... our home and we quickly moved in all of her items. They offered to get her a dresser and seemed happy with her choice of living arrangements. We shook hands with a somewhat protective look from her father straight through me. They hugged and kissed their daughter good bye. With a few tears from her mom, they left for home.
I left Jo with the task of setting up her room and went into the living room to do some work on my laptop.
After a while, she came out of her room. "What's that I smell?" she asked taking a big sniff.
"I hope you don't mind, but I thought a little celebration meal of sorts was in order for your first day here."
"Not at all! What did you make?"
"Squid boiled in its own ink, goldfish sushi, and chilled monkey brains for dessert."
"It sounds gross but smells quite good!"
"Chicken Cordon Bleu with steamed broccoli, actually."
"But we're still having the monkey brains, right?"
I laughed and smiled. "Sure."
I put the food on the table. It was strange using the table to actually eat since I became accustomed to eating in the living room. We got our own drinks and sat down.
She took a bite. "Mmmm. This is good! Who makes it?"
"Well, nature contributed toward the ingredients. But as for the finished product, me."
"You can cook?" She asked and looked a bit shocked.
"I've been a bachelor for a long time. My choices were to learn to cook, use my daughter as slave labor, or eat out all the time. Cooking is messy but so much better!"
"I agree."
"With you here I can cook again rather than ready-made quick foods. I assume you wouldn't mind contributing toward the shared meals as well?"
"Mind? If you cook like this you're on!"
"It was nothing too hard."
"It's more than I can do."
Never assume gender roles. "If you want to learn, I'd be glad to teach what little I know."
"Yes, please!"
We ate in silence for a few moments. "Gary, thank you again for this," She said turning her head with a little motion toward the house in general. "I really appreciate you opening your home to me."
"It's my pleasure. You're doing me a great favor as well by living here. It's big for one person. I'd go mad talking to myself otherwise!"
"Well if I'm saving you from the nut house, maybe my rent should be lower?"
"Maybe I was being overly dramatic..."
"But seriously. If I'm your asylum nurse I deserve a break." She even looked at me as if she believed it.
"I tell you what. If I ever start fluttering my finger across my lips while humming on a regular basis we'll discuss it."
"Deal!"
We talked about my daughter and her classes... general small talk. I learned that she was majoring in Graphics and Web Design, and I shared that I'm a former programmer that's managing an IT department. We talked for quite a while about all things geeky. When we finished our meal Jo beat me to the sink to clean up the pots and pans.
She wanted to watch a movie and picked one of my favorites, one she had never seen before. One I, and quite a lot of people, knew practically by heart. At the end she understood why I liked it.
Jo had to go to bed earlier for class the next day, even though it was a Saturday -- short term class. She gave me a little peck on the cheek, thanking me for letting her move in. I hoped my cheeks didn't redden!
~~~
In early March I arrived home to a driveway full of snow. I started and Jo arrived just in time to help. We diligently pushed it all away and managed to do so without incident until almost the end. That's when Jo threw a shovel full at me!
Of course I tried to retaliate as any chivalrous guy would do to a lady and missed her by a mile. She did have a head start after all. So I grabbed a hand full of the packable snow and tossed a snowball at her. I hit and that started the fight. Snowballs were flying wildly and some of them actually hit their targets. By the time we were done we were both pretty wet and cold. We were also laughing like kids!
We both went inside and to our rooms to strip off our wet and cold clothing. I decided the best way to warm up was to take a shower. She beat me to it by getting into the shower in her bathroom first. I came out of my room a little while later and got dressed. She came out the main bathroom in a towel and crossed to her room. Quite a nice if brief sight!
From her room she said, "That was fun! But let's just hope it'll be another 8 or 9 months before we have another opportunity."
"It'll be grass cutting season before you know it! Then you might be begging for snow again!"
"I doubt it. That shit's cold!"
"Wow, such an astute and unique observation of snow. If not a little mouthy."
