Chapter 3

She wrote down her work schedule and stuck it on the refrigerator with a magnet. In just over 2 weeks, she would be working less at the café because of time in class and studying. Fortunately, the café would work with her and adjust her schedule according to her classes. The next day I got up and she was already gone to work. I got up and showered and dressed and headed over to the cell phone carrier I used. I picked out a nice phone with all the bells and whistles and added another line to my plan. Next, I went to the little neighborhood bank a couple of blocks from my house and opened a new checking account and transferred a couple thousand dollars to it from my bank. I figured I would be depositing any rent she happens to pay me into it so she would be paying herself unknowingly. I sat down with my old laptop after I got back and was reading when she came home from work. “How was your day, Beautiful?” I smiled at her.

“Much better” she grinned at me. “It’s good not having to worry about going back to school or a roof over my head” she said.

“You’ll never have to worry about any of that again,” I said quietly. She looked at me with a curious sideways glance. She went to her room and changed into a t-shirt and shorts and came back to sit next to me on the couch. “How about a steak and veggies for dinner?” I asked.

“Yummy!” she said.

“We have some baking potatoes and fresh squash and stuff,” I told her. “We have some salad stuff too if you want” I said. She thought about all her options for a couple of minutes.

“I wasn’t able to have steak very often,” she said. “I think I like being able to eat real food for a change,” she added. “Do you know how to cook?” I asked.

“I can do Okay but never really had too much” she said.

“How about we teach each other what we like and learn to cook it?” I asked. “It will be a learning experience for both of us,” I offered. She grinned at me and I gave her a genuine smile, from my heart. We made dinner together, washed our dishes, and kicked back on the couch for some TV and relaxing together. I took her to the bank on her next day off and she signed on all the lines and thought she was opening her checking account when she was actually being added to the account I had already opened for her. She ordered her first debit card and some new checks in her name and deposited some of her tip money and her money from cashing her paychecks every week. I also chose that day to give her very first cell phone. She looked at me as if I was crazy, her eyes big as saucers and mouth hanging open. “I don’t know what your new phone number is, you’ll have to check your paperwork and figure it out,” I said as I handed her the new box. I sat on the couch and she sat next to me and opened the box slowly as if it was a bomb about to go off.

Her hands were shaking and she had tears in her eyes as I showed her how to activate it, set up an email account, set up texting and showed her how to set up her contacts. I added myself to her new phone as a contact with email and texting and showed her how to use some of the features. I showed her how to use the alarm and plug it in to keep it charged. I sent her a text message ‘Are you happy? I am!’ I sent her. She would learn the text shortcuts eventually.

She texted me ‘Are you crazy?’ I looked at her and smiled and she pulled me into a hug with tears streaming down her face. I hugged her back and could feel the wetness on her cheek as she held me tightly. We pulled back and she kissed my cheek and searched my face as we looked at each other.

“Why did you do this?” she asked. Now I had to convince her that it was no big deal and why she needed a cell phone as a roommate. I hoped I could convince her.

“Well” I said as I was thinking fast. “You need to have this for emergencies” I knew this was weak but I kept going. “What if you need to get in touch with your brother?” I asked. “What if you need to get in touch with me and there’s no phone around?” I continued. “What if someone needs to get in touch with you and no one knows where you are?” Now I was pulling rabbits out of my hat and I knew it. That was a stretch but I was hoping she believed it. “Besides, I just added you to my existing plan and it hardly costs anything.” That part was actually true but her phone was expensive. I did not tell her that part.

“Being roomies means we should probably have a way to reach each other since we don’t have a home phone” Another good score for me and she paused to think about it. Technically we were not roomies, I was the landlord and she was my tenant but I was not going to say that to her.

“Okay” she said slowly as she thought about the reasoning I was giving. “Besides, it comes with the room if you rent from me” Okay I really stretched that one beyond believability but I really think she bought it. I could see the wheels spinning as she thought about all the reasons she should be Okay with this and accept it as normal life with me.

We fell into a comfortable routine and she was excited about her fall lineup of classes. I went with her to registration and she wrote her first check ever for tuition on her new account. We went to the bookstore and bought all her books for classes, which was a little over five hundred bucks. Highway robbery I thought to myself but I made sure she had the money and she was happy. She received her new debit card in the mail and was very proud of it. I helped her set up her pin number and showed her how to use her new card. It was hard to believe that she knew nothing of this but considering where she came from made sense to me. She would learn to deposit her checks instead of cashing them and use her debit card if she needed cash, although; she still kept some of her tip money for that.

One evening in late October, she said she was going out with her friend Maggie from the café. “Okay” I said. “I’ll probably go over to Probbies and have a couple of drinks in a while,” I added. A little while later there was a knock at the door and I answered it to find her friend.

“You must be Maggie,” I said as I let them in.

“This is my boyfriend Brad,” she said as they came into the living room. I reached to shake hands with him and he shook mine loosely. Immediately I judged him a weak-minded wimp of a man with no backbone whatsoever. It probably was not far from the truth. Casey came out of her bedroom in a mid thigh length dress and looked stunning. My mouth dropped open and she noticed. I straightened myself up, tried not to look surprised, and told them to have a good time. They left the house and walked down the street toward King Street. I went to my bedroom, changed into some jeans and a nice pull over shirt, and headed out a little later. I walked to Probbies, went in, and found a seat at the bar. I ordered a beer and started a tab as I watched a little TV on the big screens.