"Where are you going?" she asked, eyes halfway closed.
"I'm going to take a shower luv, it's 10 o'." he replied.
"My, I better get up myself, I need to go grocery shopping." she said groggily.
Hurrying upstairs to get dressed, she started wondering if Julia would ever call. Then again, she is in England, and she is with Paul. Jeanna unconsciously started smiling at the thought of her friend being so happy, but the smile faded when she thought of what might come of her future.
Thoughtlessly pulling clothes from her closet and throwing them on, she started to realize that this happiness won't last. John still had his girl to go home to, home, England, and would have to go back. What would come of them?
Walking down the hall, she could hear the water come on, stopping she slowly knocked on the bathroom door.
"Yeah." he shouted from inside.
"Do you need anything while I'm out?" she asked him through the door.
"Could you pick up some tea and cigarettes?" he replied.
"Sure can, I'll be back soon." she called to him, surprised by the door swinging open, and the sight of John in nothing but a towel loosely around his waist.
"Don't be long," he said winking at her.
"Uh, I'll try to hurry," she said while feeling herself blush heavily.
She turned and hurried in the kitchen. Reaching up to the top cabinet she pulled down an old rusty coffee can, where she kept her money she saved for emergencies. She could've asked John for money, but couldn't bring herself to do it.
Hurriedly making her way down to the corner store, grabbing a cart, and heading down the aisles packing it with the contents of the list she had made.
Marking the last item off her list and turning to go pay, she spotted the liquor shelf out of the corner of her eye. Remembering that John really liked Scotch, she continued over to check the prices.
Picking up the first bottle, it was ten dollars, not too bad, but it looked cheap. So she picked out the nicest biggest bottle she could find, to see the price was much more expensive.
Oh well, I might as well. she thought to herself.
She threw it in with everything else, and walked to the checkout, and continued home.
When she finally got there, the house was deadly quiet with all the curtains pulled closed, for privacy she assumed. Walking to the kitchen to put the groceries away, she could she John sitting in the sun room writing something. Walking to the window to see, she noticed his guitar lying next to him, so she walked out to let him know that she was home.
"Hey, I'm back." she said.
"Good, I've got something I wanna show you." he said excitedly.
"Well, I have a surprise for you too." she said smiling.
"Come here, and close your eyes." she said while putting his hands in front of him palms turned up.
Sitting the bottle in his hands, he smiled, and opened his eyes.
"Oh, wow, you didn't have to do this." he said happily.
"That's not all." she said holding out a twelve-pack of Coke.
"Thank you." he said, slightly distracted.
"Well, I knew you'd have it if you were home, and I want you to feel as much at home as possible." she said, then suddenly realizing how that sounded, she felt her face grow hot.
"Uh, what was it that you had for me?" she asked quickly changing the subject.
"Come here." he said taking her hand and pulling her out to the sun room.
Sitting her down on the little lawn couch, he pulled something out of his guitar case, and presented her with a picture of, herself.
"This is beautiful." she said in awe.
It was of her sitting in her flower garden with her ankles crossed, leaning on her hands behind her, she was dressed in a long lavender dress. Her head was tilted back and she was smiling into the sun.
"Thank you so much." she said giddily. "You're very welcome." He returned her smile.
"How did you draw this? How could you remember my face so perfectly?" she asked. "How could I forget a face like yours?" he replied while wrapping his arm around her waist.
Nervously tensing up, she knew that her feelings for him were going to get her in trouble.
"Why don't we go have a drink." she suggested.
Walking back into the kitchen, an idea hit her.
"I'll be right back, would you mind making my drink for me?" she asked.
"Sure." he replied while pulling glasses from the cabinet.
Hurrying upstairs to her room, she reached up into the top shelf of her closet, and pulled out a silver picture frame. It was sterling silver with embossed vines around the outer edges of the frame, it had been a gift from her Grandma, and she had been saving it for something special.
She returned back to the kitchen, taking the picture from the table and placing it in the frame.
"I want hang this in the living room so I can always see it." she said.
"That's sweet of you, that's a beautiful frame, where did you get it?" he asked.
"It was a gift from my Grandma and I've been saving it for something special." she answered.
"I'm glad you like it that much." he continued.
Hanging it above the TV, she turned to see him walking in with the drinks.
"I forgot to tell you, Julia called while you were gone." he told her.
"What?! Did she say she was gonna call back?" she asked, frustrated.
"No luv, why don't you call her?" he suggested.
"I wish I could, but I can't afford it." she answered.
"Don't worry about it luv, I'll take care of it. I need to talk to Paul anyway." he concluded.
"Well, are you sure?" she asked hesitantly.
"Positive."
"Well, why don't you go ahead and call since you already know the number." Jeanna said.
Picking up the phone, and dialing a whole series of numbers, he sat on the couch and signaled for her to sit next to him.
Happily, she obliged.
"Hey Doris, it's John, is Paul around?" he asked into the phone. Looking over to see Jeanna confused, "Housekeeper." he said.
"Hey Paul, how's everything?" John said talking into the phone.
"Yeah, everything's great here, I'm having a wonderful time." he said looking over at Jeanna and smiling.
"Yeah, is Julia around? Jeanna wants to talk to her."
"OK." he said.
"He's going to get her." John said to Jeanna.
"Hey Julia, how are you?" John asked her.
"Sounds like you're having fun," he continued.
"I have someone here who wants to talk to you. OK, hold on." he said while handing the phone to Jeanna.
"Hello."
"Jeanna, it is so good to talk to you. I miss you so much!" Julia exclaimed.
"I miss you too Julia!" Jeanna returned.
"So, tell me, how's everything there?" Julia asked slyly.
"Well, everything here is great, how are you doing in jolly old England?" Jeanna asked excitedly.
"I'm having so much fun, I just wish you were here to enjoy it with me. You should see Paul's house! It's huge, but nothing compared to John's, Paul drove me by there, it's so big!!" she rambled.
"Really, maybe one day." Jeanna said trying to keep John from knowing what they were talking about.
"Paul and I are also great, of course, he's been so sweet and such a gentleman. How's John?" Julia gushed.
"Yeah, same here, I can't believe it." Jeanna replied.
"Well, Julia, I hate to cut this short, but I've got to go, don't forget to write me!" she said.
"You know I won't, I call you again soon." Julia concluded.
"Could you put Paul back on, John needs to talk to him."
"Yeah, I love you." Julia finished.
"I love you too." Jeanna said just before handing the phone to John.
"Do you mind if I take it in the bedroom luv? Business you know." John asked her.
"No problem." she said smiling.
She hung up when she heard him pick up, and made her way to the kitchen to make them a couple more drinks. Walking to the hallway to take his drink to him, she heard him say her name. Curious as to what they were talking about, she listened at the door.
"Yeah Paul, I know it'll be hard for her, but I have to do it." John said.
Jeanna's face quickly fell.
"He's going to leave me." she mumbled.
"Yeah, I'm going to call Samantha tomorrow and break it off." John continued.
Jeanna almost fainted from excitement, he wasn't talking about her. Whew. Not wanting to get caught evesdropping, she quickly knocked on the door.
"Come in," he called just as he was hanging up the phone.
"Here, I brought you a drink." she said bursting with excitement.
"Thanks, well, what are you so excited about?" he asked suspiciously.
"Oh, er, I'm just happy I got to talk to Julia." she lied.
"Oh, well everything seems to be great over there with them." John replied.
"I know, I'm glad she's so happy." Jeanna said while sitting next to him on the bed.
"Jeanna, I've got some wonderful news." he said, smiling and taking her hand.
Written by Jeanna. May not be reproduced in any form without the permission of the author. Permission may be obtained by e-mail.