Chapter 27

Muriel Wilson felt Julie was settling in with her wonderfully well.

She had successfully completed the intensive part of the drug treatment program. She was now going to weekly group sessions designed to help her stay on track.

For Muriel's part, having Julie in her home was like a breath of fresh air. There is nothing like the energy and vitality of youth to make older folk feel younger. Julie and Muriel were both benefiting from their new home lives.

However, Muriel was concerned about Julie's continued conflicted pining for Bobby Taylor. Julie went to Bobby's house nearly every day, mostly just to be near him. Muriel understood, to a point.

The young girl couldn't help but see Bobby as her knight in shining armor, who had made possible the wonderful changes in her life. Julie knew that Bobby could always be counted on as her friend and protector.

She had already demonstrated that she would also do anything for Bobby, the one who had saved her. She had even confided to Muriel that she also hoped, if perhaps only occasionally, that they could still be lovers.

Muriel had given Julie her sympathetic ear many times as Julie fretted about what her relationship should be with Bobby. Julie knew that eventually she needed to have a successful relationship with a male - one not named Bobby.

Muriel decided she should help.

"Hello?"

"Hello. Detective Harris, is that you dear?"

Harris smiled at this unexpected pleasure. "Hello Muriel! And how are you today?"

"I'm well, thank you for asking, Ron."

"I'm glad to hear that. And how's your newest 'granddaughter' doing?"

"She's a joy to have in the house, Ron. I'm so grateful that you helped make that possible."

"You're welcome," he said sincerely. "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help."

"Well, now that you mention it, there is something."

"Just name it."

"Do you think you could come by the house Saturday morning, say around 8:00, to take me to the library?"

"Well, sure, I could do that," he said, puzzled at the odd request.

"And, Ron, I hope you won't think less of me for this..."

"For what, Muriel?"

"I'd like to tell Julie that you're taking me to a Neighborhood Watch meeting. So I'm hoping you'll go along with that."

"Okay... why do you want me to say that?"

"I need a good excuse to get out of the house."

"Is everything all right? Why..."

"Ron, would it be alright if I told you about it after you picked me up on Saturday?"

"Well, sure, I guess that's okay."

"Oh, good. Thank you, Ron. I'll see you Saturday at 8:00 then?"

"Uh, okay, I'll see you then."

"Hello?"

"Porter, is that you dear?"

"Yeah, hi, Grandma! How're you doing?"

"I'm just fine, sweetheart, and how are you?"

"I'm good. Need some help with your computer?"

Muriel chuckled. "I've always said my grandchildren are the smartest kids I've ever known! Yes, I could use your help again, dear."

"Okay, no problem. Do you need me to come over right now?"

"Well, actually, I was thinking of Saturday morning? Do you think you could come by at say, eight o'clock? I know that's kind of early for you on a weekend," she said teasing him a little bit.

"No, it's okay, I can make it."

"Oh thank you, dear. I really appreciate it."

"Okay, I'll see you then!"

"Dear, would you be alright if I have to go out Saturday morning? I need to meet with my neighborhood watch steering committee."

"Sure, no problem. What time will you be leaving? I'll get up and make you breakfast," said Julie.

"Oh, that would be lovely, dear. You really are beginning to spoil me," Muriel said in mock protest.

Julie grinned. "Well, get used to it! I've never been so happy to come home in my whole life, Grandma. Making meals with you and for you makes me even happier."

Muriel had asked that Julie call her grandma shortly after she had moved in with her. Referring to Muriel with such a family term was one of the many small joys that living with her brought to Julie.

Julie was actually a pretty good cook already, having taken on the task for her and her mother many years ago. The tips and ideas that Muriel shared with her as they worked together in the kitchen were making her an exceptionally good cook.

"Thank you, dear. I'm getting picked up around 8:30."

"Okay. I'll have breakfast ready about 8:00 then?"

"That would be wonderful dear, thank you."

"No problem."

Julie's alarm clock went off at 7:30 Saturday morning. She rolled out of bed and padded down to the bathroom to pee and brush her teeth. She grinned at herself in the mirror as she reached back with the brush to scrub her molars. It was still amazing to her how easy it was to get out of bed since she'd stopped doing drugs! It felt like she'd already had a pot of coffee when she first opened her eyes.

She went back to her room to swap her tee shirt for a long sleeved sweatshirt. She knew cooking bacon could be hazardous with exposed arms! To go with the sweatshirt she left just her sleeping shorts on, which were a pair of Bobby's old boxers. (Bobby was unaware of how many of the young girls he knew were using his old shirts and underwear to sleep in!)

She then tucked her feet into the slippers that Muriel had given her as a housewarming gift, and headed towards the kitchen. She grinned down at the little rabbit faces that looked up at her, with cotton ball tails attached at the heels. She began happily bustling about the kitchen.

She put the bacon on, since it took the longest to cook, and then went to the front door to retrieve the newspaper. Julie had never really read newspapers much, but Muriel was a strong believer in staying up on current events.

She set a place setting out for Muriel, with the newspaper next to it, before turning to the kitchen to slice some cantaloupe, set out some bread for toasting, and place a couple eggs next to the frying pan to wait for their turn to be cooked. Then she put on a small pot of coffee, and filled a small glass with orange juice next to the coffee cup on the table.

When she looked up at the clock and saw that it was 7:55, she began putting all the breakfast elements into motion, so they would all complete right at 8:00. Julie knew that if Muriel said 8:00, then that was what she meant.

She pushed the bread down into the toaster, fished the bacon out of the frying pan, replaced that pan with a clean one and cracked the eggs into it to fry.

She smiled to herself when she heard Muriel coming down the hall, right on the dot of 8:00.

"Wow, what smells so good in here?" she said

"Oh, just a little something I whipped up for you," said Julie modestly.

Just then the doorbell rang.

"Julie, would you be a dear and get the door? I've forgotten my reading glasses again." She turned and headed back towards her bedroom.

"Sure," said Julie. "Didn't you say your ride was coming at 8:30?" she called after her.

When she didn't respond, Julie shrugged and went to the door. She knew better than to try to yell louder to get Muriel's attention. It was the one thing that always pissed her off.

When she opened the door, she blinked in surprise. Standing at the door was Detective Harris. Standing next to him, with eyes gone quite wide, was Porter Wilson.

"Good morning, Julie! How's my girl?" asked Harris, stepping forward to give her a quick hug.

"I'm great, Ron! It's good to see you again," Julie said sincerely. She turned to look at the teen still standing outside on the porch, staring at her speechless.

"Hi, Porter," she said somewhat shyly.

Porter opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He was trying very hard not to stare at either the lovely legs below her boxer short pajamas, or her large unfettered breasts pushing against the sweatshirt.

He swallowed and cleared his throat, and tried again. "H-h-hi Julie. What are you, uh, I mean..."

Just then Muriel came down the hall to see the scene at the front door.

"Why, Ron! My goodness, is it time to go already?" She briefly shifted her gaze to Porter and back to Harris. "But I was going to work with Porter to add some new neighbors to my e-mail list."

Harris smoothly adapted to her lead. "I'm afraid so, Muriel. We need to get going or we're going to be late."

Muriel turned to Porter. "I'm so sorry, dear; I must be getting forgetful in my old age. I thought Ron would be here at 8:30, not 8:00. Can you ever forgive me?"

"S-s-sure grandma," he stuttered, still distracted by Julie, "it's no problem. If you, uh, if you have the list of e-mail addresses, I can still add them in for you while you're gone."

"Oh, thank you, dear. That would be lovely. The list is right next to the keyboard."

Then she turned to Julie. "Oh, dear, I'm so sorry. Here you've made me a nice breakfast and I have to run off."

A light was dawning for Julie. 'Why, you crafty little... !' she thought. She shook her head with a pursed lipped smile at the little grandmother.

"It's okay, Grandma, don't worry about it." She gave her a look that let Muriel know she was on to her. Then she shrugged and turned to Porter. "Have you had breakfast, Porter? I've made some bacon and eggs that are going to go to waste, so you might as well have them."

"Why, that's a wonderful idea, dear," beamed Muriel. "Well, Ron, we'd better get going. Do you think we could stop by the grocery store on our way back? I hate to be such an imposition."

"Sure, we can do that," he replied, trying very hard not to laugh at Muriel's scheming.

"Oh, thank you, Ron." She said to the teens, "I'm afraid I won't be back before... well, with the shopping added on, I probably won't be back until eleven o'clock. Will you be alright dear?" she asked Julie.

"Sure, grandma, no problem," she replied. "I'm going to head over to Bobby and Sammy's house a little later. The school baseball team has its first game of the season this morning, and Collette's coming by to give us a ride to the school. So I'll probably be gone before you get back."

Julie saw Harris twitch when she mentioned the ball game, for some unknown reason.

As Muriel finished speaking, Julie remembered telling her adopted grandma about her plans for the morning several days ago. She shook her head at Muriel's innocent look as she went out the door. Forgetful my ass!

"Wow, that was great, Julie. Thanks!"

Julie could tell Porter wasn't just saying that. She couldn't remember ever watching food disappear faster. Well, except maybe when watching Bobby eat.

"You're welcome, Porter. I'm glad you liked it. Did you get enough? I could put some more eggs on, or more toast?"

"You could? Really?" he asked eagerly. Porter was fairly tall at just over six feet, and was just coming out of the common teen gangly phase. What was a good sized meal for Muriel was an appetizer for Porter. Filling out a big frame like that took a lot of building material.

"Sure, no problem," she said. "Okay if I skip the bacon this time? It takes a while to cook and I want to take this heavy sweatshirt off." In response to his puzzled look, she gestured at her arms covered by the sweatshirt, and explained, "Bacon spatters."

"Oh. Yeah, that'd be fine," he said enthusiastically. Julie began happily bustling around the kitchen again.

"I still can't get over you living here with Grandma," said Porter as he watched her work. "That is just really... cool!"

"I know. She's been just wonderful to me. Even if she does have her little schemes," said Julie with a grin.

"What do you mean, 'schemes?'" he asked.

Julie put her hands on her hips and looked down at the apparently clueless male before her. "So you weren't in on it?" she asked, somewhat skeptically.

"In on what?" he asked.

"Well, look around you! She set this whole thing up, so that you and I would be alone together. I'm afraid she knows that we've dated before, Porter. Bobby told her, the schmuck!"

"Ohhhh," said Porter, catching on. "Well, she knows we're not dating now, right?" Julie noticed he said that somewhat wistfully.

"Yes, she knows that, Porter," she said gently. She hoped he wasn't getting his hopes up that they'd start dating again.

"Um, does she, uh, does she know why we stopped dating?" he asked.

"No, I've never told her that," she replied.

"Well... I was just asking, because... well, I was asking, because... because I don't know either."

"Oh, Porter," she breathed out in a long sigh. "It wasn't you, okay? It was me. I thought that if we kept dating, that you'd just be disappointed when you eventually... found out... about me."

"Find out what?" he said, puzzled.

"About... well, about my family being a bunch of... well, losers, and living in a dirty little mobile home, and... and that I was, uh..." She struggled with herself for a moment, remembering her lessons in therapy. "... and that I was a drug user," she finished softly.