Page 42 of It Started With a Scarf

And the next thing I knew he was kissing me. He put his hand to my cheek and guided my face to meet his, and… his kiss was warm and silky, and I had these urges to get closer to him—as close as possible.

I was in a dazed state a minute or two later when he pulled back.

"I know you have to go, Marley, but I'll miss you. I want to see you again soon, okay?"

"Yes."

"Call me later tonight?"

"Yes," I said again. "I'm going. I think I have everything."

I sat up to reach for the door handle, and he smiled and then leaned in and kissed me again.

"I'll talk to you tonight," I said.

"Yes."

I got out of Dominic's truck without another word.

It was eight minutes after nine by the time I got back to Joan's, and she was sitting in the dining room at the table with Deb, looking tense.

"Hey Mitzy," I said, stooping to pick up the dog and trying to keep things light.

She noticed the scarf, and she started sniffing at it. I still hadn't told Joan about it. I would wait to see what was going on with Deb and why she looked so upset.

"I'll take Mitzy if she hasn't been yet," I said, thinking Deb or Joan might've walked her.

"No, she hasn't been, Marley. That's part of why you live here and get such a good deal on this bedroom, isn't it? Mom's been expecting you to be home this evening… she said you didn't have work today, and I-I've been here since six o'clock, waiting!"

She was frustrated and Joan tried to intervene "Okay, okay, she's here now. Let's just talk about the car, and you can go home."

Deb sighed as if this whole thing was a huge inconvenience to her. "My mother is not able to throw money around, Marley. If you haven't noticed, she's doing all she can to keep her store open. We're looking at options with that. But anyway, she came to me, talking about how you're having car troubles and worrying about you! She's wanting to forgive two hundred dollars of your rent for next month, and if I'm being honest, I don't like it. You need help getting your car fixed, what's next? My mom can't afford to be helping you all the time. I had to look you in the face and make sure you know that before she tells you about this two-hundred. We're all very aware of Mom's accounts. If she starts spending more money with you living here than she did before you got here, then something's really wrong with that!"

"She doesn’t cost me anything to live here," Joan interrupted. "If I've spent more, it's because I've bought more things for myself. Marley doesn't ask me for anything."

"I don't even need anything for my car," I said, putting my hands up.

"Good. She doesn’t need it. It's too much from Mom's side when you don't do your part around here."

"She does a lot around here," Joan defended.

"Mom was thinking you'd be home to walk Mitzy by now. I have things to do, and I'm sitting here, waiting all night because she told me you would be back to walk the dog. She's ready to get settled in this time of night, Marley. She thought you'd be here earlier."

"W-well, I'm sorry. I didn't see you called until I was on my way back just now, and usually Joan leaves a message if she needs—"

"It's fine. Everything's fine," Joan said "Deb was just worried about me offering to take some off your rent this month. I told her it was only two hundred and it was a one-time deal, but she wanted to talk to you about it."

"My mother did her child-raising already," Deb said looking straight at me. "She has grandkids to think about now. I know you're close with her and everything, and you guys talk. But I need you to understand that this is a roommate-landlord relationship. This stuff where she feels compelled to start paying your way isn't going to cut it. You're not part of this family, you're a roommate."

She continued to stare straight at me with disgust. I could tell she thought she was better than me. I felt humiliated and angry.

"I got it," I said to her, trying to remain calm. "Like I said, I don't need her to pitch in on the car."

"Are you sure, sweetheart?" Joan asked, staring at me. "Because I had already decided to help you before all this. I want to."

"She said she doesn't need it," Deb said.

"Oh, you got really close on that one," Joan said in a tone that told me her comment was unrelated.

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