What She Needs //Jake Kiszka

Chapter 1

It was the beginning of summer, and Jennifer Richardson got hit by a car while walking on the side of a little street during a tremendous storm. The car slipped on the water and the driver wasn't able to stop in time. She just moved in a new town, or better, outside of a new little town. The divorce had been hard, especially for her five and three years old daughters. They lived with their dad, she missed them so much. Actually, the incident with the car was like her smallest problem, at the moment. Yes, she broke her left leg and hit her neck -now she had a collar, she was supposed to keep that for a few weeks- but the driver of the car that hit her immediately stopped and brought her to the hospital.

Jennifer could work from home, but which home? The house she had just bought three days before? The one that needed a hell of a restoration to be lived in and she barely had money to eat and live? Her biggest problem was that, out of everything, her daughters were supposed to spend the whole summer with her, and her ex husband refused to cancel his trip to Jamaica with his new girlfriend just because she couldn't take care of the house and their daughters. "If you want to see them you have to find a way", he said. what an asshole. Sometimes, Jennifer wondered how she could had married him. But she loved her daughters so much, she couldn't lose the opportunity.

Her only friend in the new community was Susan Southsorn, a high school teacher. She was almost twice her age -Jennifer was 34 while Susan 65, and ready to retire. Susan knew about Jennifer problems, and she offered to look for help. She said she could probably find some young girls and boys ready to help her with her daughters and the house, the town community had a history of helping the one in need. And, at that moment, she was.

One day Susan went to Jennifer house for dinner (Susan cooked for the both of them, Jennifer still had troubles with her neck) and then gave Jennifer the good news: she found her help. Susan said she knew this woman named Karen Kiszka who had in mind someone who could offer their help.

The next day Karen called. "hello?", Jennifer asked on the phone.

"Hi, I'm Karen, Susan's friend. I heard you were looking for some help for the summer".

"Hi Karen! Susan told me about you. Do you know someone that could help me with the house and my girls?"

"of course I know someone. I know them very very well, my three sons. I know you were expecting maybe a girl for your daughters, but I can guarantee that my Sammy would be amazing with them as a babysitter. The other two can help with the house, you know. Josh is an amazing cook and he can take care of that kind of things, while Jake can fix everything broken. He actually helped with some stuff here at home, I'm sure he'll be helpful that way"

Jennifer thought about that for a moment, then accepted. She seriously needed help. They settled a few things: Jennifer lived out of town in the mountains, and she offered a room for the boys to stay there for the night, so they didn't have to go back home every day.

"you know, Karen, I can pay them, it's just that I need to work a little more and then I can start give them something.."

"don't even think about that! you don't have to pay for their help. Besides, they destroyed the family car some months ago. Everything you would give them goes straight to me for the new car. So let this little summer work be without a paycheck before they all go back to college". The two women then chatted for a little while, before the call ended.

"they will be there in two days, and I don't want them back home for two months. Keep them!" Karen said laughing. Jennifer put down the phone and went to sleep.

Two days passed, her girls arrived in the morning. Molly and Sarah almost made her fall when they ran to her at the same time, hugging the parts of her body that weren't covered by the medical brace she had on her leg. She needed crutches to walk and she moved so slow that she feared that was gonna affect her relationship with her daughters. Her ex husband left and both Molly and Sarah talked about their lives and everything else.

"girls, I told you on the phone that there are gonna be three boys here to help mum with everything. Their mum told me they are coming just now, so be nice to them since we need their help".

And just as she said that, there was a knock on the door. "they are here! Let's go meet them"

Molly opened the door, her mum and little sister just behind her. And the three of them were met with three almost identical grins. Well, two identical ones, and one very similar to the others. One very tall boy and two shorter ones were standing right in front of them. Two of them had long wavy hair, the other kept it short and curly.

"hi!" Molly said to the three boys, "you all look the same!". The three boys laughed, and Jennifer smiled. Well, her daughter was right, they did look very much alike, especially the shorter ones.

"well darling", the boy with short curly hair said, "we are brothers, and actually the two of us are twins", he said pointing at himself and the boy standing on his left. the two shorter ones. They were identical, Jennifer thought, except for the hair, curly or almost straight.

"I'm Jennifer", she said introducing herself, "and they are Molly and Sarah". The two kids said hi.

"I'm Josh, the one with curly hair", the boy said introducing himself.

"I'm Sam, the tall one", the not twin boy said. "and I'm Jake, the only one left, I guess", the other spoke.

The boys put their stuff in the small room Jennifer prepared for them. She noticed that Jake had two guitars with him. He said he played it and wanted to practice during the summer.

Susan joined them for dinner, and she cooked with Josh who was, as Karen said, amazing at cooking.

They ate all together, talking as a group of old friends. Jennifer learned a lot about her three helpers. They had a sister too, Veronica, the twins were the oldest, being 21, while Sam was 18. Veronica was the middle child, being 19. They were all studying something. Sam wanted to study biology in college, Josh was in film school, and Jake just finished studying literature and now he wanted to start some poetry courses and apply to the local conservatory to keep playing guitar.

That night, in her bed, Jennifer couldn't stop thinking about the three boys. They seemed amazing, in every sense. They were funny, interesting, intelligent, passionate. And yes, they were good looking. She was very well aware of the fact that she was much older than the three of them, but she couldn't deny the truth.

Jennifer also couldn't stop thinking about the ways they introduced themselves. The curly one, the tall one. And Jake said he was "the only one left". Yes, they all were good looking, and yes, she was older than them. But she decided she was not gonna remember Jake as "the only one left". She was gonna remember him as the sexy one.

A very sexy man. Or boy. Could she call him a man? He was only 21. But the way they all talked and thought.. they did that as men, not as boys.

That night, Jennifer fell asleep with that thought on her mind.