Wife for Hire

Chapter 24

(Jason) 

    “I love you too, Jason.” I smiled, she loved me too. I turn to flip over on the couch and snuggle deeper when my eyes shoot open. Had I really heard her say she loved me or was it all a dream? I shook my head, last night had been pretty crazy, after finding her locked in that room with Stefan, we came home and we had another argument. One where, I kind of expressed how I felt about her... I covered my face with my hands. What had I done? I shook my head, I was heated, she’d jumped in front of my punch and the fact that she didn’t understand why I was so angry was driving me insane, but she was also so beautiful in her own fury that I forgot that I was still lying to myself about how I felt. I groaned, well it was out there now, there was no pretending it didn’t happen. 
    “Jason, what’s wrong?” I glanced over my shoulder to see Karmen laying there. She sat up halfway, rubbing her eyes. She was adorable bed head and all. “Is it your hand? Does it hurt?” I looked down at my hand, that was wrapped and smiled. It didn’t hurt at all. 
    “No, it’s fine. Did you sleep okay?” She took a moment to look around the room and then at the two of us on the couch and then shrugged. 
    “I would have slept better if someone didn’t keep trying to push me deeper into the couch cushions.” I could feel my cheeks heat. I don’t know why I didn’t just go upstairs instead. We would have had my entire bed and it wouldn’t have been the first time that we slept together in the same bed, but then I thought about how uncomfortable that would have made her feel or what that might have implied to her and shook my head. I didn’t want to give her the wrong idea. 
    “I’m sorry, I’m a big guy. I take up a lot of room.” She rolled her eyes and I smirked, when she opened her mouth to say something, I flipped onto my back and pulled her on top of me. Anything that she was about to say completely slipped as she stared at me wide eyed. 
    “You were about to say something?” She kept opening and closing her mouth, stuck on what she was trying to say. I laughed and she just buried her face in my chest, causing me to laugh harder. She playfully smacked my arm and I tried to calm down, but couldn’t, she was just too cute. 
    “Is this uncomfortable?” I asked. She shook her head, but she still wouldn’t look at me. I was fine with that, her being there was enough. I rubbed my fingers through her hair, trying my best to gently detangle any knots that formed the night before. 
    “You don’t have to do that.” She said, finally peeking at me. I smiled and continued running my fingers through as gently as possible, using both hands when necessary. 
    “I know.” I said in return. Suddenly she was standing and running upstairs, when she came back down, she had a brush and a spray bottle. 
    “What’s all this for?” I asked. She came and sat the brush and the spray bottle on the table and used one of the pillows from the couch as a prop on the floor to sit on. I still stared at her confused. 
    “Well, I figured if you’re going to detangle my hair, you could do it the right way.” I nodded, not against it at all. She handed me the spray bottle and I looked at her confused still. I had no idea how to do any of this. 
    “First you want to take a decent sized section and wet it.” She said. I looked at the back of her head, what was a decent sized section? I grabbed a bit of hair, was this enough? She looked back at me and must have seen the confused look on my face because she started giggling. 
    “You don’t have to look so scared, it won’t bite.” I rolled my eyes and finally she took the brush and spray bottle from me. “Here, I’ll show you.”  I nodded and watched as she took a hand full of hair and tied the rest up with one of those twisty things girls always had, before spraying the separated section with water and brushing it from the end to the scalp. I watched in amazement as her hair curled instantly when the water touched it and how much longer it was now that it was wet. When she was done, she turned to me with a smile and handed me the brush and spray bottle again before separating another section and motioning for me to go. I did exactly what she did, sprayed the section of hair with water and then brushed it through from end to scalp. 
    “Do you have to do this every morning?” I asked her. I had finished with that particular section and separated another, repeating the same steps as before. She shrugged. 
    “Sometimes, if I wear my bonnet like I’m supposed to then I might not have to do too much in the morning, but I could never keep a bonnet on to save my life, even as a kid.” I nodded, I had no idea what a bonnet was and I felt like I’d look dumb if I had to ask. 
    “My mom would get so frustrated with me,” She continued. “Karmen Denise! I spent all day washing, detangling, and rolling your hair for you to wake up with it looking like this!” She said imitating her mom. I laughed imagining the scene playing out in my head. 
    “I couldn’t help it, I was a wild sleeper and the rollers were always super uncomfortable.” She said with a small laugh. I separated another section of hair. Wet, brush, from end to scalp, repeat. She was quiet for a minute after that and I let her have her moment, probably remembering other instances between her and her mom. 
    “Jason?” She said when I was done. She turned around to face me, tears building in her eyes. I couldn’t stop the concern that was building in my chest. Had I done it wrong? Did she not like it? Did it hurt? 
    “Thank you.” She whispered. I rubbed a hand through her hair and smiled as she laid her head in my lap and cried for a minute. I didn’t quite understand the tears, but if I could guess it probably had to do with her mom again. She stayed like that for a minute, crying and when she was done she pulled back. She opened her mouth to say something when the front door opened and Ms.Lucinda came waltzing through the front door. 
    “Merry Chris-” She froze when she saw me and Karmen, I had begun to smile when I looked down and saw what she might have been seeing. From her angle, it would look like Karmen was...pleasuring her husband with an early morning Christmas gift. I jumped up, causing Karmen to stumble back and hit her head on the table. I winced and knelt down in front of her. 
    “Are you okay?” I asked as I felt around the back of her head trying to make sure that she was okay and didn’t bruise anything. Before I knew it she was laughing. I stared at her confused, what was so funny? Did I need to take her to the doctor? 
    “Karmen?” She shook her head and took my hand to stand and walked over to Ms.Lucinda, pulling her into a hug. 
    “Merry Christmas, Ms.Lucinda.” Lucinda couldn’t quite look her in the eyes but wished her a Merry Christmas as well. Karmen turned and gave me a wink before heading upstairs. I smiled and shook my head at her and her antics before going to pull Lucinda into a hug.
    “Jason, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.” She apologized. I shook my head. 
    “There’s nothing to apologize for, you didn’t interrupt.” I said. She looked unconvinced, but continued anyway. She had brought over a pie and a gift for me and Karmen, couple mugs that said Mr. and Mrs. I smiled and hugged her thanking her. Karmen came back downstairs a couple seconds later and walked over to Lucinda handing her the box we had wrapped together a couple nights ago. 
    “Oh, you didn’t have to get me anything!” She said looking at the both of us. She opened it quietly and smiled as she saw what was inside. 
    “Oh these are beautiful! Thank you so much! I love them!” She said, pulling us both into a hug. We had decided on a pair of golden dangly earrings for her, they were simple enough for her to wear to work if she wanted to, but could also be used to dress up an outfit if she decided it needed dressing up. 
    “I’m glad!” Karmen said with a huge smile on her face. I pulled an envelope out of my pocket and handed it to her. She looked inside and her jaw dropped. She looked at me pushing the envelope back at me. 
    “Jason, I can’t take that.” I laughed, I knew she would put up a fight. Lucinda had done so much for me, she had been a grandmother to me the entire time I had lived here and I loved her dearly. 
    “Lucinda, I want you to retire. You’ve been with me since before I could remember and came with me when I left my dad’s house. You’ve always been more than a housekeeper to me, you’ve become a part of my family and now I want you to use the check that I wrote you to help you and your family follow your dreams or go on vacation or do whatever you want with it, but more than anything I want you to spend more time with your family.” She was crying as she pulled me into a hug. 
    “Thank you, thank you so much Jason.” She said. I hugged her back and smiled. 
    “Thank you, Lucinda.” She pulled Karmen into a hug as well before making me promise to come visit her or let her visit from time to time. I agreed and then she left after awkwardly implying that we could continue what we were doing. I closed the door behind her and turned around shaking my head. I had grown up with Lucinda being a part of my everyday routine, it would be a little weird not seeing her everyday, but I knew that being here with Karmen would be more than enough. 
    “That was really sweet of you.” I looked up at Karmen to see her staring at me. I scratched the back of my neck and shrugged. 
    “She’s done a lot for me, that was the best way to repay her.” Karmen nodded and began to swing her arms back and forth, I smiled at her awkwardness. Now that her hair was drying up again, it was a lot shorter than it was when I brushed it. 
    “We should probably head to see my mom soon.” She said, I nodded. We had a couple of stops to make today. 
    “Yeah, and we’ll take your new car.”