Wife for Hire

Chapter 15

(Karmen)

After that Jason went to visit my mom with me more often. They got along really well and she even laughed at some of the corny jokes he would tell. I didn't even know he knew that many jokes. I also hadn't seen my mom smile like that in so long, I didn't know how much I missed it. That night when we made it back home from visiting my mom I turned to Jason. The ride back was one of comfortable silence, we'd been really good at having those lately.

"Thanks for visiting my mom with me. I haven't seen her laugh like that in a long time." I said. He nodded, not exactly looking at me, but also not managing to have his eyes land on a particular area in the room.

"I'm not really doing much." I placed a hand on his arm and nodded.

"You're doing so much, I really appreciate it, Jason." He nodded, this time looking me in the eyes. I watched as he looked over my face, me doing the same to him, He opened his mouth to say something, but someone clearing their throat caught our attention. I took a step away from him and began to head upstairs. He waved and I walked into my room, what was I even thinking? I don't know what I expected him to say while we were down there, but I needed my heart to slow down just a little bit.

(Jason)

Lucinda had cleared her throat, I had been about to ask Karmen something, but with Lucinda staring me down the way that she had been for the last ten minutes I couldn't quite remember what it was I had been about to say.

"What was all of that about?" Lucinda asked, giving me a pointed look. I tried not to laugh, she hated it when I laughed when she was trying to be stern.

"Nothing. Everything's fine. She gave me this look as if she didn't believe me. I sat back in the chair in the kitchen and she sat across from me waiting to explain. Knowing this had something to do with the fact that me and Karmen were having an intimate moment, I explained everything that had happened while she was gone. What I had found out about Karmen and her family. Once she heard the truth she looked at me with tears in her eyes.

"I had been so harsh to that girl." She said. I shook my head and grabbed her hand.

"I'm sure Karmen thinks nothing of it." I said, patting her hand. She put her other hand on top of mine and nodded. It had been a long time since me and Lucinda had just sat down and talked. She pulled out pictures of her granddaughter to show me and I smiled at the pictures of her and her family. I explained that I had been cooking again, so if she wanted to go back to her old schedule of cleaning and then leaving for the day she could and I would still pay her for the full day.

"Oh this girl is good, she's got you cooking all the meals now too? We should have found her sooner." She said with a laugh. I rolled my eyes, but stood from the table and headed upstairs. I stopped in front of Karmen's door prepared to knock, but stopped when I heard her on the phone.

"Joe, I'll get the money to Marcus when I can. I've been busy with Jason and mama lately, I don't have time to stop and meet with him right now." I heard her say through the door. I stopped. Who was Marcus? And why was Karmen giving him money? Surely it was for a good reason, right? For some reason this new information wasn't sitting well with me. I backed away from the door and went into my own room trying not to think too hard on it. Maybe Marcus was someone at the hospital. Either way it was none of my business, I would have to wait for her to tell me, if she ever wanted to tell me.

The next morning I woke to the sound of Karmen singing along to her radio. I walked next door to see her in her room singing and dancing. I had no idea what the song was, but honestly I wasn't paying attention to the song, I was paying attention to her voice more than anything. She twirled around then stopped when she noticed I was standing in the doorway watching.