In every color
Chapter 2. Green apple

The rest of the introductions were made. Isobel liked Sarah from the get-go. Friendly and fun, she made her feel comfortable even though they had just met. But Isobel liked it even more to see how Jess, next to her, seemed simply happy. When she met him, Jess had already been a widower for certain time. She couldn't remember ever seeing him like this, and she couldn't be more satisfied that Jess seemed to have rebuilt his life. Tali seemed very happy too.

It was also very interesting to finally meet Jubal's children. Abi was sociable and curious: she asked Isobel a whole battery of questions, in increasing interrogation, before her father stopped her. Though calmer and more introverted, Tyler nonetheless lacked that social awkwardness that boys his age often deal with. He greeted her with a smile and shaking her hand like a gentleman.

After all the greetings, the children soon left to play while the adults entered the kitchen to prepare lunch.

"What do you have here?" Jubal asked Isobel, taking from her hands the casserole dish she got from her car, trying to help.

"Dessert," Isobel replied. "Rice pudding. An old family recipe. I hope you all like it."

As she handed him over the dish, she had to force herself to look away.

Isobel had accepted Jess's invitation because she wanted to be able to relax with people she trusted. She hadn't been able to enjoy that for a long time. She was trying to keep her enthusiasm in check, which had seemed soaring since she had gotten up that morning to the prospect of spending that precious day at Jess's house with friends.

But looking at the situation, it seemed like she had underestimated what having Jubal around might mean. Ever since she had spotted him on the porch, her eyes had been powerfully drawn to him. Isobel told herself that it had been cause it was peculiar to see him in a more informal outfit, cause of the eye-catching light apple-green color of his short-sleeved shirt, cause for a change he wore it with the tails on the outside... But not because it looked so good on him with those light sand-colored pants. No, it wasn't because of it at all.

When she found out Rina was leaving for Washington DC, Isobel had to confess that it had felt great. Her life just improved objectively. Also knowing Jubal had split with Rina made her even too happy. But she would never admit that even to herself.

All of this had almost made her avoid Jubal, who by contrast was downright gloomy, for fear of rubbing her good humor into his face. But she did not. She swallowed her joy and tried to be there for him. To her disappointment, Jubal withdrew, as he had done on other occasions when he went through a rough patch.

In part, Isobel had come that weekend hoping to reconnect with him, to regain the comfortable familiarity that had once been between them. In any case, she did her best to be natural and to make Jubal feel comfortable with her there. She was pleased to see he already looked a little more cheerful than these days ago.

"Jess, can we put this casserole dish in the fridge?" Isobel asked.

"Of course. Sarah, can you please make room for it?" Jess replied, already preparing to fry his famous southern-style fried chicken.

"Later, a bit before eat it, we have to get it out so it got room temperature," Isobel explained. "We add the cinnamon when we serve it- Oh, damn!" she suddenly cursed.

Jubal paused in his task of handing out drinks for everyone, beers for Isobel and Sarah, sodas for Jess and himself. "What happen?" he asked somewhat concerned.

"I forgot the cinnamon at home," she replied, raising her hands in frustration.

"Well, dessert is here, you're here," Jubal said, amused. "I'm sure it isn't that bad". But the warmth in his tone was evident, and it made Isobel smile.

"It's not the same without it..." she replied softly.

"Do not worry. We should have it," Sarah put in.

She pointed to an upper cupboard; unfortunately the flask was nearly empty.

"There's more in the pantry," Jess affirmed, starting to move to go get it.

"I'll go," Isobel said, seeing both Jess and Sarah had their hands full.

Jess gestured toward a door in the kitchen. "Top right shelf, above the canned fruit."

The pantry was a space attached to the kitchen a bit larger than a broom cabinet, with shelves on the sides and crammed with things. On the floor were boxes, sacks of beans and things like that. Isobel quickly located what she was looking for: it was inside a plastic drawer without lid, along with a pile of flasks of other spices. She tried to reach it without taking out the drawer but she barely reached. Isobel leaned up, missing the usual heels on her shoes, which the sandals she was wearing now didn't have. She touched the jar with the tips of her fingers, tugged a bit on the drawer, stretched a little more; she managed to catch it by the lid. And then the drawer began to slip towards her head. She stopped it with her other hand, but it was precariously balanced.

"Please help!" she called, trying not to be too alarming.

Jubal appeared just two seconds later, just as the drawer fell and just in time to catch it so it didn't hit her on the top of her head. So fast was he, that Isobel was not aware he was already behind her and, yet trying to avoid the hit of the container, she turned on herself, crashing into Jubal's chest. The shove made him trip his feet on a sack of potatoes on the floor, falling backward, his back hitting the shelf behind him.

"Ouch!" Jubal growled.

But it broke their fall. For a couple of seconds Isobel stood very still, making sure they didn't end up on the floor and Jubal still had the box raised above their heads. And then she realized that she had ended up leaned on completely against him. Oddly enough the first thing she noticed was his green cotton shirt's cool feel in her palms, and the firm torso underneath. And suddenly the sensation of Jubal's warm body in close contact with hers was obvious... and absolutely overwhelming. He clearly couldn't move; he was leaning back, holding the drawer high, Isobel having him pinned against the shelf with her weight. He looked down at her from his greater height. He seemed as breathless as she did, but it might as well have been from the blow. His scent enveloped her, his neck exposed and within reach of Isobel's mouth. The temptation to take advantage of the situation was almost irresistible.

Almost. And suddenly she felt terribly ashamed of herself for even considering something so invasive and inappropriate. Heart pounding and her face burning, Isobel withdrew and cleared her throat.

"Fuf... I'm sorry. Are you okay?" she asked, not daring to look at him. Meanwhile, she tried to help him, and unsuccessfully ignored that the rest of her body was also burning. Jubal remained silent.

"Are you both okay?" Jess echoed from the doorway.

"What happened?" Sarah asked, leaning in as well.

"Nothing, nothing," Isobel replied. "We just almost fell."

Jubal cleared his throat and seemed to finally become himself again.

"Yeah, that was scary," he said, half laughing as he regained his fully vertical position with Isobel's help, placing again the drawer on the shelf. "First this was falling and then we stumbled, I fell backwards... Anyway..." he blurted out smiling and somehow nervous, judging by his fast, rushed way of speaking. "We almost got messed up, did we?" he conclude looking specifically at her.

Isobel turned her face away, very much embarrassed. Did he actually make a pun? She couldn't remember ever wanting so badly to be swallowed up by the ground beneath her. "Well, I at least have the cinnamon," she said, feigning triumph.

She came out of the pantry, dodging Jubal awkwardly. And completely missed the fiery, incredulous expression her reaction had elicited in him.

~.~.~.~