Teach Me How To Love Again

Chapter Nine

CHAPTER NINE

Beau pursed his lips and Joe wondered if he'd made a mistake by inviting Jill to stay with them without consulting and preparing the boys.

"But she doesn't have a room here?"

Joe was relieved. "Jill is going to be sleeping in the extra room upstairs that Aunt Val was in."

"Can we decorate it?" Beau asked. "In PINK. Pink is your favorite color."

Jill laughed at the sweet boy. "It's not necessary, it's only going to be for a short while but I'd love it if you'd make some art for me to hang up, Beau-y."

"Okay!" He exclaimed, running off to his room to collect his art supplies.

Joe winced and held his left hand over his knuckle.

"Let me take a look." She gathered some ice in a bag and held it over the lacerated skin on his hand. "That looks painful."

"Jill, I want to apologize - again. I overstepped and I shouldn't have."

"What did he say to you?" She inquired.

"He didn't..." Jill cut him off.

"Joe, you don't typically settle your disagreements with your fists. I've never known you to be a violent individual. I can handle it. What set you off?"

Joe huffed and ran his free hand over his face. "First, he accused us of sleeping together - though that wasn't a shock - and then he, uh, called you a derogatory name and that's when I... you know."

"I see." She replied, not daring to ask which name he'd chosen to call her this time.

"Except I did almost sleep with you." She blurted out.

"You were in an emotional state and looking for comfort." He countered.

She looked down at the counter and ran her fingertip over the edge.

Sure, she was emotional but she wasn't looking for comfort that night. She was looking to quell the suppressed desire that had been bubbling up for him since he'd first walked into her classroom.

"Why did you stop me, Joe?" She asked before she could prevent herself from finishing the question.

He swallowed hard.

"I had to... I didn't... I didn't want it to happen when you were intoxicated and you weren't coherent enough to consent. Jill, I would never want you to regret anything that we've done together."

"I wouldn't have regretted it," she admitted. "But I admire the fact that you did."

He nodded. "Jill, you deserve a man who respects you and values you and puts you first. It would be remiss to take advantage of you."

Sometimes she wished that he wasn't such a gentleman, but she respected him for his unwavering integrity. "Thank you, Joe, that means more than you know."

After a years-long marriage of not being appreciated or heard and being used and disposed of, the idea of a man considering her thoughts and feelings felt foreign.

They fell into a comfortable silence and Joe returned to his work, still applying the ice to his hand.

He pursed his lips as his eyes scanned over a document.

She suppressed a chuckle and his eyes lit up.

"What? What is so amusing?"

"Nothing... it's just... Beau makes the same thinking face as you. It's cute."