Chapter 3

'Ding Dong'

"Why don't you go let your mom in?" I asked Jordan and off she ran, Maxie at her heels.

I could hear a muted conversation as they came back into the living room. I stood and offered my hand.

"Trish, it's nice to meet you. Please sit down."

I motioned to the sofa and subtly nudged Jordan to go and sit beside her mom. I noticed that Maxie went and lay at Jordan's feet. 'I guess Maxie has adopted Jordan' I thought.

"Trish," I started, "I hope you don't feel I was interfering in your affairs. When I came back from my run this afternoon, I couldn't help but notice Jordan sitting on the steps, crying, and I asked if there was anything I could do to help. It seemed to me, after talking to Jordan for a few minutes, that she needed a shoulder to cry on."

Trish started to cry and Jordan ran and got a tissue for her mom. "Brian, I'm deeply in your debt. Once I realized what I'd not done, I was extremely worried about what had happened to Jordan. When I came home and found the two notes, I was so relieved. Thank you so much for your kindness."

"Think nothing of it. Now let me get the coffee. Jordan says you take your coffee black – correct?" a nod. "Can you come and help me?" I asked Jordan and we went out. I brought out the two mugs of coffee while Jordan brought her drink and the plate of cookies.

We chatted for a few minutes and I noticed that Jordan stayed close to her mother's side. Trish paused as if she was thinking about something. "I hope I'm not being too nosy, but what do you do for a living? You always seem to be out and about in the afternoons."

"You're not being nosy at all. I work from home..." and I told Jordan's mom essentially what I'd told Jordan. " ... so this means that I can set my own hours. What I usually do is work in the morning when my mind is fresh, take a break for a couple of hours around noon – do some housework, shopping, etc. and play with Maxie for a while. Later in the afternoon I can do some more work on whatever it is I'm editing and if necessary, I can continue that work in the early evening.

A while ago, I started running out on the trails behind our houses for exercise and for the last couple of months Jordan and I have become 'waving friends'. If she's been out on the steps when I ran by, I'd wave and she'd wave back." I looked at Jordan who was grinning.

"Would you like a quick tour of my house?" I asked.

"Well ... if it's not too much trouble, that would be nice," she replied.

"Before we go," I said, "I should introduce you to Maxie. It seems she's adopted Jordan." Trish grinned and petted Maxie.

We set off on the house tour and I showed Trish my bedroom and the spare bedroom. "The house was built as a three bedroom house but I've converted the third bedroom into my office." I opened the door to show them. "Much of what I do is strictly on the computer so, other than a couple of reference books, I have little need for much room other than for the computer. I have two monitors (pointing) where I can have the author's original document up on one and my revised version up on the second one. That way I can go back and forth to read what the author wrote and compare it to my revised version to try to make sure they match."

We continued our tour and finally would up in the kitchen.

"Mom, Brian made a chicken Caesar salad for supper. It was real nice," piped up Jordan.

I could see the frown on Trish's face when Jordan called me by my first name so I spoke up to clear things up. "Trish, I asked Jordan to call me 'Brian'." I said. "The word 'mister' makes me feel old."

That got a laugh from Trish and a giggle from Jordan.

"Well, my dear, we need to be heading home," Trish said to Jordan then turned to me. "You've been so kind and gracious and I'm so glad to have met you," said Trish then looked pointedly at Jordan.

"Thanks, Brian, I'll be waiting to wave to you tomorrow." Jordan said.

I smiled, shook Trish's hand and gave Jordan a little hug.