And as I held her in my arms, I smashed my face into her hair and inhaled the scent of her shampoo. I pressed my hand into her back and held her close, knowing seeing her excitement and holding her in my arms had allowed it to become the best day in my life as well.

RAIN

I sat on my bed, reading, as I wondered if all girls felt the way I felt. Being female, adult, and single was a very difficult thing for a person to have to try and fully understand. I closed my book and looked at the clock. Ethan had already left for a half day of work, leaving Cade and me home on a Saturday, and Cade wasn’t out of bed yet.

8:00? Who sleeps this late?

Instead of using the upstairs bathroom, I walked to the downstairs bathroom, and turned the lights and fan on. The toilet seat was upright from Ethan peeing and not lowering the seat, something he often did which drove Cade crazy. Instead of lowering the seat quietly, I tapped it with my hand and let it fall loudly onto the stool.

Crack!

I grinned at the thought of it waking Cade, and sat down to pee. As I was washing my hands, I heard Cade’s bedroom door open. I quickly dried my hands and stepped into the living room.

“Oh my God, I was exhausted, what a shit week. That presentation for Learjet all but killed me,” he sighed as he stood from the couch.

I walked past him and glanced in his direction as he made his way to the bathroom. He was wearing pajama bottoms and a ribbed tank top, something I wasn’t used to seeing him in. For him, dressing down for the evening and unwinding was unbuttoning the sleeves of his dress shirt and rolling them up a little.

“Sorry you had a bad week, you weren’t even home when I went to bed last night. I wondered what happened to you,” I said over my shoulder as I sat on the loveseat.

“Me too,” he said through the bathroom door.

He walked from the bathroom to the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee.

“Coffee,” he asked.

“Black,” I responded, “Please.”

After pouring the coffee, he walked back into the living room, handed me the cup of coffee and sat down across from me on the couch.

“I hate my job,” he sighed.

I took a sip of my coffee, and spoke over the cup, “I thought you loved your job.”

“I do, it just sucks when I’ve got a huge presentation. I have to work 12 or 14 hour days, and I hate it,” he said as he ran his fingers through his hair, attempting to straighten it into a manageable mess.

It was apparent just how much hair he had when he woke up, and hadn’t fixed it yet. Although the sides were probably only an inch or two long, the top of it was 6 or 8 inches long. Straight out of bed, it looked like a rat’s nest.

“Just give up,” I laughed, “Your hair, not the job.”

“Is it bad?” he asked, “I didn’t look when I was in the bathroom.”

“It’s cute,” I chuckled.

He scrunched his nose and raised his coffee cup, “Cute?”

“Yeah, the good kind of cute. It’s fine,” I assured him.

“Okay. Anyway, yeah. At times I hate my job,” he said.

I squeezed my coffee cup in my hands, and pressed my arms into my boobs, “I love mine.”

“There’s not too many people who could do that without complaining. Taking care of someone like that is admirable,” he said as he stood.

“It’s not a big deal, I enjoy it, and he’s really nice,” I said.

“What’s his name?” he asked over his shoulder as he dug through the cabinets.

I stood from my seat and walked to the bar and sat down.

“Trent.”

“Yeah, Trent. You want some toast?” he asked over his shoulder.

“Sure,” I responded.

Cade looked adorable in his pajamas and tight shirt. He wasn’t built like Ethan, but I didn’t want him to be, either. If he was, it wouldn’t fit his personality. He was tall and thin, but not skinny or frail looking. It was apparent he took care of himself, and I knew he went to the gym and ran in the winter, and ran on the path along the river in the summer, he had told me so. Watching him butter the toast in his tight little PJ’s and wife beater made me smile.

After spending almost a month with them, I was becoming much more comfortable. After he slid the plate of toast across the bar, I picked up a piece, lifted it to my mouth and hesitated.

“I have a question,” I said as I bit into the piece of toast.

He finished chewing his toast, took a sip of coffee, and responded, “Okay?”

I considered my question, and decided rather than sugar coat it or beat around the bush, I’d just simply ask it outright, and save any confusion.

“How come neither of you guys has tried to fuck me?” I asked.

Cade coughed and spit coffee on the countertop

“Oh shit, sorry,” he said as he turned around and got a towel.

As he wiped up the mess, he continued, “Wow, kind of caught me off guard. Uhhm, really? You’re asking me this question?”

I pressed my hands into the warm coffee cup and nodded my head, “I’m not really shy, and I’ve been wondering, so I just thought I’d ask. It seems weird, I mean neither of you have said or tried anything. You know, if you’re worried about it, I went to the free clinic and got checked. And I haven’t had sex since, I’m clean.”

“Oh, wow. Okay. Well, let me see. I’d say, in summary, and I can’t speak for Ethan, but guys do talk sometimes…” he lifted his coffee cup and took a long, slow sip.

As he lowered his cup to the bar, he grinned and started where he left off, “I would have to say we haven’t made any advancement toward you out of sheer respect.”

As he spoke, I studied the ceiling over him. The painted ceiling was concrete, but had a wood pattern imbedded into it, which Cade explained to be the grain of the wood that was used to form up the concrete over a hundred years ago when the building was originally built. As I studied the wood grain pattern in the concrete I thought about his response.

“Respect?” I asked as I shifted my eyes to meet his, “What do you mean exactly?”

“Well, you didn’t come to us looking for a boyfriend, or come here giving promise of sex. In a more accurate sense, we came to you, offering shelter and protection from that,” he said as he tilted his head toward the windows.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“All of the bad shit that lurks outside. I’ve talked to Ethan about it. You’re as good of a girl as I’ve ever met, and I can’t imagine if anything ever happened to you. It sickened me to think of you sleeping outside when you were staying on that awful bench out on the sidewalk. I’ll be honest though, I haven’t told you this, but when he called me the first day and asked if he could bring you here - on the first day to get you out of the weather?”

I wanted to hear more. I eagerly nodded my head.

He lifted his cup of coffee and took a sip. As he lowered the cup, he continued, “I didn’t want you here. I told him no.”

“Really?” I asked, shocked that he felt that way.

He leaned into the bar, spread his elbows wide, and rested his chin in his hands, “Yes, really. And when you showed up, I still didn’t want you here. Not in my house. No I sure didn’t. But when we sat down to eat, something was different. Not because you had cleaned up, or because I realized you were cute. I think it was because you were real, and you were completely helpless. You just didn’t know it. You may be street-wise in many respects, but big picture? You’re a woman who’s as naïve as the teenager who ran away from home as a little girl.”

I immediately took exception to his observation. As I thought about what he had said, I began to realize he just might be right. As much as I’d like to think I was some street-wise homeless girl, I had very little experience being or acting as a responsible adult. For someone to take advantage of me would require nothing more than them offering me a piece of proverbial candy. As Cade’s words began to sink in, I became grateful he and Ethan wanted to protect me from what lurked outside. As my emotions began to once again get the best of me, I pushed myself from the bar, walked around the counter, and into the kitchen where Cade was standing.