Forty five minutes later Jeff knocked carefully on the door of the spare room. Hearing a reply from inside, he pushed the door open and entered. He was now dressed for work, having made his mum a cup of coffee and left her fuming in the living room. He really didn't know why she was making such a fuss, although he could see how the situation might look to people.
'Are you nearly ready to go?' he asked Lucy as he closed the door behind him.
'Nearly,' she replied, as she stood in front of a small mirror on the wall putting the finishing touches to her make-up.
'Look,' he began, sitting down on the bed, 'I'm really sorry about my mother bursting in like that. I completely forgot she was coming.'
'It's fine,' she replied, putting the lipstick away and sitting next to him, 'I'll just look for somewhere else to stay. Jill might have a spare room, or maybe there's a free bed in the nurses home I could use.'
'No you will not,' he told her, horrified, 'You're staying right here.'
'Jeff, in case you hadn't noticed. There are three people and two beds.'
'Three people, two beds and a sofa. You can stay in here, my mum can have my room and I'll sleep on the sofa,' he explained.
'You can't do that! You wont sleep a wink!'
'Well, can you think of a better solution? I'm not letting you leave, you're my guest, and I'm not sharing with my mother.'
She looked down at her hands, then hesitantly up at him, 'You could share with me.'
'What?'
'Well, we managed last night and I'd rather have you in here with me than' anywhere else 'on the sofa.'
'Lucy, I'm not sure that's a good idea. For one thing, my mum would hate it.'
'Then don't tell her! You can come in here after she goes to bed, and we'll get up before her. Come on, just give it a go. Besides, it was much warmer last night with two of us.'
'Oh, so that's your ulterior motive! You only want me for my body heat!' he joked, pretending to be shocked.
'You gotta problem with that?' she retorted in her best attempt at a gangster voice.
'No, mam,' he saluted.
She grinned, 'So we're agreed?'
'Yep. Now come on before we're late for work.'
O>
Trudy was planning to stay with her son for two weeks, visiting friends in the area, meeting his colleagues and tidying his house a bit. She had not, however, planned on also staying with her son's houseguest for two weeks. Trudy's opinion of Lucy had been formed the moment she had entered the kitchen, and her mind wasn't easily changed. What sort of girl sits in a mans kitchen in the early hours of the morning, wearing nothing but a robe? Not the sort of her son should be mixing with anyway.
No, he must be separated from Lucy. Even if there was nothing between them, like they both said, Trudy was pretty sure there soon would be. Perhaps now that Jessica was free again, there was some hope of a reunion. Jessica was a lovely girl, so polite and good-natured. Trudy hoped that whatever had possessed Jeff to leave her in the first place was now, or would soon be, gone and he would see sense. Trudy would be damned if she was going to see her son marry some common trollop when he could be with Jessica.
O>
Jeff and Lucy's sleeping arrangements worked out well for at least a week. Every night Jeff would make up a bed on the sofa and wait until he heard Trudy stop moving around and her light go out. Then he would sneak into the spare room where he would crawl into bed and curl up with Lucy. She was never asleep when he arrived, but they both quickly nodded off once they were settled together.
Jeff or Lucy usually cooked dinner for the three of them, insisting that Trudy was the real guest and so should be excused from this task. Mealtimes were strained, with Trudy speaking only to Jeff and shooting evils looks at Lucy when she dared to speak. The psychiatrist often heard Trudy make comments about her under her breath, and wondered how such a spiteful woman managed to raise such a wonderful son. Still, she would never retort, because she loved being so close to Jeff and did not want to do anything to spoil their relationship, which was a strange one.
They were definitely more than just colleagues and more than friends, but they were not yet a couple. They worked together day in day out, spent the evenings together, talking about their day or watching soppy movies, and even slept together, and there was still nothing about each other they didn't like. Lucy was desperately trying to find something about him that annoyed her so that he would not be so perfect, but she loved everything about him. And she prayed that he felt the same way, but was just doing the same thing she was. Waiting for the other person to make the first move. For now, though, they both seemed perfectly happy to be stuck in their limbo relationship.