Out Comes The Rug

I didn’t go into Zach’s right away; Jesse wanted to play in the snow for a couple minutes. I sat on the front steps and watched him pick up snow and throw it up in the air, letting it fall down on him. He looked so happy, so completely different from the little boy that showed up at his dad’s place this morning. My cell phone rang as I was recalling this morning’s events. Glancing at the caller id, I chuckled. “Hey Jordy,” I said as I answered the phone.

“Hey babe, I take it everything went ok with Josh? You didn’t call me, I was worried.” I told him what had happened this morning, including everything with Carol. “She’s crazy Anna. I don’t want you to get hurt, are you sure you should be around them?”

“Jordan, I’m not going to let her get to me. It’s not the first time I had to deal with crazy people.”

“Yeah, I know. Maybe you should wait until there’s not so much drama surrounding him?”

I sighed, I knew that part of him was saying this because he was my best friend but it was the part that was interested in being more than a friend that I was worried about. I knew the moment I saw Josh this morning that there was no way I could ever think of Jordan as anything more than a friend, I just had to tell him and not over the phone. “We’ll talk when I get home, ok?” Reluctantly, he agreed but only after I promised to bring him home some of Zach’s homemade soup, which we were having for supper.

Hanging up the phone, I called Jesse over. His little cheeks were red and cold but he didn’t want to go inside until I told him that Conner was waiting for him.

Jesse wasn't the only one that had someone waiting for him; Zach and Cassie were waiting for me when I entered the house. I tried to ignore the dirty looks that Cassie was sending my way as I helped Jesse remove his coat and boots. He stared up at me, “I play now Ama?”

“Cass, why don’t you take Jesse downstairs where the other kids are?” Zach’s expression was unreadable. When Cassie didn’t make a move, he picked Jesse up and handed him to her. “Take him downstairs now.” Cassie reluctantly started for the stairs, mumbling under her breath how it wasn’t fair.

Zach turned and walked towards the kitchen, in all my years of living with him, I didn’t even question whether or not to follow, I knew it was expected.

I was a little surprised when I entered the kitchen, I had thought that Mary would be waiting in there for us, she’s normally there whenever Zach went to talk to me; someone had to be the voice of reason that got through to him. Instead of finding Mary sitting at the table, I found Chad. This can’t be good. I sat on the opposite side of the table from Chad and tried to read him but he was just as difficult to read as Zach.

“Did you want anything to drink?” Zach pulled juice out of the fridge and poured himself a glass. I shook my head; I just wanted to get this over with. Soon he joined the two of us at the table. “So Cassie’s upset that you are possibly dating Josh,” He stated the obvious, which was so unlike him.

I nodded, “Yeah I kind of got that impression when she shirked at me and ran to you.” Zach and Chad glanced at each other, “If you’re going to lecture me or tell me it’s a bad idea, save your breath. I’m old enough to make my own choices and live with the consequences of those choices.” Zach raised an eyebrow and glanced towards Chad again but neither said anything. “What’s with you guys? I don’t believe that you have nothing to say about this.”

Zach lifted his glass to his mouth, took a sip and returned it to the table. “Anna,” he leaned forward, his expression so serious I was almost afraid of what he’d say. “I haven’t known Josh that long; I meet him last July when his car broke down outside of town. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I think it’s a bad idea, you and Josh but I want you to be careful.”

“Why? What are you afraid might happen?” Zach glanced at his hands; he had picked up the corner of the place mat and was playing with it. Zach never had been one to beat around the bush; he always told you straight what he was thinking. Watching him, I suddenly became very nervous. “What is it?”

“I’m not sure I can do this,” He said, his voice breaking.

I began to panicked, “Do what?” I grabbed his arm, “Zach! Tell me what’s wrong.” I looked up at Chad but he wasn’t looking at me either.

Zach took a deep breath and slowly let it out, “I’m not sure I’m ready to give you away just yet.” I stared at him, confusion written all over my face until he looked up at he and I saw that he was laughing. “Take it slow, Anna. I’m not sure I’m ready for a brother-in-law.”

“You…” I shook my head, “You guys suck!” I jumped from my chair. “I thought there was something wrong, I thought that you were going to tell me something bad. How could…” I turned away from both of them as tears rolled down my cheeks, all the emotional stress of the last couple weeks had finally caught up to me.

“Anna,” Zach’s chair scraped across the floor as he made his way to me. “Come on sis, it wasn’t that bad.” He turned me towards him. “We were just having some fun. Josh is a good guy, and I’ve known for a while that he had feelings for you.” I didn’t say anything; I couldn’t say anything my whole body was wracked with sobs. He hugged me, “Sis, please stop crying. Tell me what’s wrong.”

Even though I had no plans on telling either of my brothers about the events of the pass couple weeks, I found myself telling them everything from the moment I ran into Josh. I told them about thinking he was still married and not caring, I told them about Jordan, and I told then about Carol. After I was finished, I felt a little better, I felt relief that all the drama was behind me. I smiled at my brothers but they weren’t looking at me, they were looking at each other. “Guys?” They both turned to me at the same time, looking very concerned about something. “If you two are kidding around again, I’m going to hurt you.”

Chad shook his head, “No I just don’t understand something.”

“What? What’s wrong?” I looked back and forth between the two of them; that feeling of dread was back again.

Zach took my hand in his, “It’s doesn’t make any sense Anna.”

“What doesn’t?”

“Why would you think he was married?” Zach asked.

I sighed, “I thought he was because he seemed to always be going at the worst possible times.” I smiled at them. “I’m not the only one that thought he was still married, Jordy thought so too, and he kept reminding me of it everytime Josh was around.”

“But Anna,” Zach hesitated, like he was trying to find the right way to tell me something. Finally he took a deep breath, “He knew.”

“Who knew what?”

“When I couldn’t get Josh’s car started that night, I called Jordan to come and tow it to his work. Jordan was sitting with us when Josh was telling me about why he was here.” Zach squeezed my hand, “Anna, Jordan knew Josh wasn’t married.”