Chapter 11

At the dinner table there was the usual chaos. Babies and children and adults alike scrambling for seats. Billie was in the mix somewhere but John couldn't concentrate too intensely upon her. He took a seat where he could and found himself searching. He was looking for her and saw a moment later that she joined them on the other side of the table. Unlike the first time they had shared a meal, right next to one another, tonight they were separated a greater distance. It was but a mere few seats but he felt she was much too far away. By the blush that came to Billie's cheeks when she looked across the table to him he was sure she felt the same way.

The family bowed their heads in prayer. Audrey led the prayer that night, thanking Billie for her help preparing the meal and adding that Mary feel better very soon. A closing hum of "Amen" rounded the table and then came the usual sound of clinking utensils. Casual conversation circled the family, Billie remaining quiet, listening to the exchange instead of including her own. She didn't consider it her place to be excessively chatty, not that she was even very talkative on her own. With as many people in the family as there were, there were no prolonged silences and plenty of others to supply the discussion.

John did little speaking as well. In his mind he was remembering sitting next to Billie, and the glass of ice cold water in his lap. Afterward she'd brought him his clothes upstairs and such simple, ordinary encounters as these seemed remarkable. He analyzed them- the two of them, separately, and how they moved around each other. Thinking of himself he couldn't see any significant change. He was, however, viewing himself though his own perspective, something that naturally made one almost blind. When he thought of her he recalled her nerves. The way she tried to avoid him at first and appeared skittish, hence the ice in his lap. Then it was her general response to him and the blush that often came to her cheeks.

He could quite confidently assess that the girl had a crush on him. Even to himself it was obvious and he couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction; flattery. He liked the idea and perhaps that's why he was responding to her in such a way. He did note that his mind was sometimes consumed with her, almost increasingly, and especially when she was around. Honestly, in her presence he could think of little else. Was he to assume he had a crush upon her? It sounded silly. The man had more than a decade of life than her. It was fine to be fond of someone her age, to admire them. He thought of Mary and the joy her youth gave him, how he was pleased and proud of the person she was becoming. His feelings toward Billie were the same, but less paternal. He looked at her. Studied her. She fascinated him in a kind of intimate way.

He continued deliberating. Looking across the table his eyes found her. His insides reacted merely at the sight of her but he couldn't place the emotion. It wasn't long before her eyes wandered in his direction. Catching each others stare he noticed the vibrancy of blue in her eye; a color and light he didn't remember seeing in anyone before. Those around them had hit a lull in their current conversation and heads began to bow to return to plates. In the calm, pleasant moment John winked toward the girl with a smile and there, just like that, they had created another memory to call upon later.

When he watched her smirk and the color again come to her face he realized there was nothing different about the way he'd been thinking of Billie than any other woman he would be interested in.

After the meal was through the clean up ritual begun. Billie went to the kitchen to assist in the dishes when Audrey pushed her away. She'd helped them enough already, the woman said, insisting she be treated as a guest once again and suggesting she see Mary upstairs. The girl warmed to this idea and scurried away from the bustling first level of the house. Climbing the stairs she entered Mary's room. There she settled herself on the mattress with her friend, the action completely normal and ordinary.

"Are you alright?" she asked with genuine concern. Mary smiled, assuring her it was nothing that wouldn't fade away by itself. Though taking her needed rest she had become bored and restless spending the day in her room. She instructed Billie to grab hold of a card deck in her desk and the two would play until it was time for her to go.

"Rummy?" the girl asked, mentioning a game the two girls often played together. Billie agreed, dealing first. The game had begun, rows of cards quickly splayed out across the bed, and the two were in a cheery conversation about the current project in art class and how disastrous another students creation had become, almost causing a fire in the classroom. They were laughing when the bedroom door opened, John appearing with a tray holding Mary's promised dinner.

The two quieted down, Billie looking to her cards as to not stare at the man who'd entered. She pretended to be busy calculating.

"Think you can stomach it?" John asked playfully, placing the try above her lap. The game had to be interrupted until she could give her full attention and when John stood back he observed the game that was still crowded on the quilt. "Looks like you were loosing anyway," he kidded his niece. Billie could no longer hide behind her cards and put them down, gathering up the rest. Mary munched lightly on the meal and the man still lingered to the side. "Rummy?" he questioned their game though he already knew it was.

Mary finished a bite and nodded. "Yes, not enough players for Hearts..." An idea stuck her a second later and her eyes grew wide, she arching up to look at her uncle. "Hey...why don't you join us?" Then in an afterthought turned to Billie and asked, "Would you mind?"

This question proved that she was utterly unaware of her friends real emotions.

With a gentle shake of her head she smiled. "Oh, no..." Her eyes briefly went up to John's and darted away shyly. The man slapped his hands together and made to sit on the bed with the girls.

"Deal me in!"