Disclaimer: I don't own Community. If I did, it probably wouldn't have been half as good or lasted a quarter as long.
Chapter 20: Summer Break Part 2 - Summer days, drifting away...
Author's Note: quite a bit more realtionshippy gloopiness ahead, I'm afraid. Hopefully not as much last time, but...
XXXXXX
It was the Monday morning after Annie stayed over for the first time that she reminded Jeff of his promise, with the result that Jeff Winger found himself in the very last place he expected to be on Summer Break - Greendale Community College, walking towards the dean's office. The college was surprisingly busy - Jeff had heard about summer school but hadn't expected it to be such a big thing.
"Hi Annie, hi Jeff!" The dean's secretary - sorry, helper with officey things - greeted them with a cheery wave.
"Hi Sabrina," Annie replied with a smile of her own.
"Is he in?" Jeff added. "We need to talk to him, it's somewhat delicate."
"I'll just check." Sabrina pressed an intercom button. "Dean?"
"What is it Sabrina? I'm very busy."
"Jeff Winger's here to see you."
The door to the dean's office flew open.
"Jeffrey!" He said with a huge smile. "And Miss Edison." His smile shrank by several degrees. "Do come in."
Annie skipped in first, flashing the dean a brilliant smile as she went, he ignored her. Jeff followed her in. The dean came in last, took his seat behind the desk and indicated they should sit.
"What can I do for you, Jeffrey?" He was still ignoring Annie.
"It's rather delicate, concerning Chang." Jeff said.
"He isn't qualified to teach and you're potentially defrauding your students by employing him." Annie said bluntly.
The dean did a dismissive little wave. "Well I don't know where you heard that, but we've just had an inspection and Mr Chang produced a copy of his qualifications and the inspectors were happy - so you see, there's no problem."
"May I see it, dean?" Jeff asked.
"Of course you can, Jeffrey," The dean replied with a creepy smirk. He went over to a filing cabinet, rummaged for a moment and pull out Chang's personnel file. He opened it up and passed over the topmost piece of paper.
"As you can see, it's all in order. And from the Harvard School of Education, no less." He directed a patronising smirk at Annie.
It seemed real enough to Jeff, even though he knew how Chang had got it. However -
"Harvard doesn't have a school of education." Annie said.
"What? That's ridiculous!" The dean looked outraged. Jeff had a 'that's my girl' pleased smile on his face as he passed the certificate over to Annie. "It has a website and everything -" the dean said, now frantically typing away at his keyboard.
"Harvard has a Graduate School of Education. I researched everything I could about the university when I was applying for a scholarship."
"And yet you ended up here," the dean snarked nastily.
"Low blow, dean." Jeff growled, taking Annie's hand and squeezing it gently as her face went white. She turned and gave him a small but grateful smile.
The dean ignored the byplay. "Look - here it is." He said, swinging his monitor screen around.
Annie walked up to the screen and looked closely. "May I?" she said, and grabbed the mouse and clicked on a few buttons before finding what she wanted. She pointed at some text in small letters at the very bottom of the screen. "This website is the property of Benjamin Franklin Harvard, of Cedar Tree Drive, George Town, Cayman Islands."
"You've been had, dean." Jeff said.
"Ohmigodjeffrey," the dean was suddenly on the verge of panic. "What do I do now?"
Jeff raised an eyebrow at Annie - do you want to take this, babe? he seemed to be saying. She smiled and shook her head slightly.
"If we found it this easily it's only a matter of time before someone else does." Jeff said, ignoring the point that it was so easy for him because he'd given Chang the idea in the first place. "You need to get in front of this. Tell Chang you spotted this yourself - you were doing routine due diligence, or something - and that it means you cannot renew his contract for next year. As a recognition of his previous good service or something you won't be reporting him for fraud, but he cannot be a teacher again until he gets a genuine degree."
"Is that really necessary, Jeffrey?" The dean was looking afraid now.
"As I said dean - if we could find it out so easily, it's only a matter of time before someone else does. And if it then came out that you knew all along…" He let the silence speak for itself.
"But only the three of us know -" the dean said. "Oh." He finished as he saw the expression on Annie's face.
The dean sighed and pressed his intercom button. "Sabrina - can you draft a letter for me please informing Mr Chang that we will not be renewing his contract for next semester? And when you've done that please inform Vice-Dean Laybourne that I will be taking three weeks' holiday with immediate effect and address all queries and disputes to him in my absence. Thank you."
"Happy now?" The dean somewhat sourly said to his guests.
Jeff gave him a grateful smile, which seemed to cheer the dean a little. "Thank you for your time, dean. You've done the right thing."
Jeff and Annie both stood up, Annie flashed the dean another happy smile as she linked her hand through Jeff's elbow. "See you in September," she said brightly as Jeff also bid goodbye and the two of them started to walk out.
"What shall we do for lunch, Jeff?" She said as they left. He whispered something in her ear, the last thing the dean heard as they left his office was her answering giggle.
XXXXXX
(Jeff Winger's apartment, 7AM a week later)
"You ready to go, Jeff?" Annie was standing at the front door. Jeff had answered it with a coffee in his hand and already fully dressed.
"Remind me again, what am I supposed to bring for this surprise road trip of yours?" Annie hadn't spent the night at Jeff's, but had suggested the previous day that it might be fun to spend the day on the road. She'd had such a plaintive tone of voice that Jeff had agreed.
"You just need to dress casually - aw thanks -" Jeff had handed her a coffee "-in clothes suitable for light physical activity and which you don't mind getting dirty and bring plenty of water and suncream. I've got everything else in my car."
Jeff picked up a backpack and put on a pair of sunglasses. "In that case, I'm ready. You can bring your coffee with you." Annie smiled and skipped out the door, Jeff locked up the apartment and followed her down.
After a quick argument in the car park -
("Do we have to take your crappy car, Annie?"
"If we took yours I'd have to tell you where we were going, then it wouldn't be a surprise anymore."
"But it's so, so -"
"Don't be a jag, Jeff. And besides, you're wearing sunglasses - nobody will recognise you."
"Annie - it takes more than sunglasses to hide this -" he pointed at his face "-I might have to pull my shirt over my head, only then people will recognise my abs."
"Get in, Jeff!")
And grumbling the torment of the unjustly martyred, Jeff got in the passenger seat.
As the car pulled out, Annie turned on the stereo -
"When I met you girl my heart went knock knock
Now them butterflies in my stomach won't stop stop"
"NooOOOoooo!" Jeff wailed in almost physical agony as Annie merrily joined in.
XXXXXX
(I-25, 20 miles south of Greendale)
"Here we are!" Annie said cheerfully. Jeff, having spent almost an hour listening to Justin Bieber, the Jonas Brothers and similar assaults against taste and decency, was a beaten shadow of a man.
"Where the heck are we, Annie?" They'd parked by the side of the road just behind a trailer with a big sign on the back that said "ADOPT A HIGHWAY - SPRUCE UP COLORADO".
"Oh," she said with a big smile. "One of the groups I volunteer with has contracted to clean up trash along a mile long stretch of the interstate."
This is your idea of a fun day out? "Annie," Jeff said through gritted teeth. " I am NOT going to spend a day picking up trash!"
"Aw Jeff," the Doe eyes were on full beam. "If I have to do it all by myself I'll get so tired, and I'll have to go to bed - alone - and sleep as soon as I get home..."
Jeff could feel bleak despair descend over him as he knew he was going to give in eventually. "Annie, this is blackmail!"
He face lit up in a brilliant smile. "See! I knew you'd understand." She linked her arm through his and started leading him to the trailer. "Now come on - we've got to watch the safety video before they let us on the road."
"There's a video, too? Why didn't you tell me that first? That makes all the difference."
Annie rolled her eyes at him. "Try not to be too much of a jerk, Jeff? Please? These may not be your sort of people, but they are kinda my friends. What did you think we'd be doing today anyway?"
"Oh, I don't know - when you mentioned a road trip, light physical activity and clothes I didn't mind getting dirty I thought maybe you meant driving into the mountains, going on a hike through a forest and finding a secluded spot for a picnic and maybe some light making out…"
"That actually does sound nice." She said in a small voice.
"But instead we'll be picking up trash."
"Hi Annie! Who's your friend?" She'd been spared the need to reply by the door of the trailer opening and a man in his late twenties stepping out.
"Hi Bill," she looked up at him and smiled. "This is my boyfriend Jeff, he's joining us for the day."
"Hi Jeff - good to meet you, A friend of Annie's, etcetera etcetera!"
Who actually says 'etcetera' out loud? "And you, Bill." Jeff took the proffered hand, crushed it, and let go.
"You've just got time to get a coffee before we run the video," Bill said, discreetly trying to flex some feeling back into his fingers.
Jeff followed Annie up the steps into the trailer, he paused in the doorway to take off his sunglasses in the sudden gloom and had a quick look round the room - maybe a dozen or so teenagers with six adults, four women and two men, not including Bill.
"Who's the hunk behind Annie?" he distinctly heard one female voice say. He turned in that direction, spotted her and gave her his best thousand watt smile.
"Amber, Jocelyn, I'd like to introduce you to my boyfriend Jeff." Annie had also heard the comment. Oh babe, I think I know how I'm going to make you pay for dragging me out here. Jeff thought to himself as he greeted Annie's friends with a smile and a pleased-to-meet-you-ladies.
And he did. In truth, showing off for an appreciative audience was second nature to Jeff - he probably didn't need to change into the skin tight muscle shirt he'd brought along as a spare, nor spend quite so long rubbing sun cream into his biceps, not to mention easy conversation that stopped just on the proper side of flirtatious and a dozen other small things, but it came naturally enough. By the time they were saying their goodbyes and getting into Annie's car however, steam was practically coming out of her ears.
"Well, that wasn't so bad -" he started saying.
"OKAY JEFF! I get it!" Annie was practically screaming. More shocking to Jeff, she appeared to be on the verge of tears. "The stuff I like to do is lame, and it was stupid of me to want to involve you! You didn't have to humiliate me in front of my friends though - I wanted them to meet my boyfriend, I didn't want them to see what a jerk he can be!"
"I've never had a boyfriend I wanted people to meet before." Now she really was crying.
Oh crap - way to mess things up, Winger. "Look Annie, I'm sorry but -"
"I don't want to talk about it Jeff."
"Annie -"
"I said I don't want to talk about it Jeff!"
Jeff gave up. The journey home took place mostly in silence, Annie dropped Jeff off at his apartment and turned her head away when he tried to kiss her goodnight. You might really have screwed things up this time, Jeff thought as he watched Annie's car disappear into the distance. Jeff stuck his hand in his pocket to look for his door key, but instead the first thing he found was a leaflet he'd been handed by Bill at the orientation meeting.
XXXXXX
(Annie Edison's apartment, 7 o'clock next morning.)
Annie had been up for a while - in truth, she hadn't slept much. Part of her was wondering if she'd been too hard on Jeff, but then the other part remembered just how big a jerk he'd been. Who can that be at this time? She thought as she heard somebody hammer at her door.
"Who is it?"
"Mandatory safety inspection!" She heard her landlord shout through the door. On confirming through the spyhole it was him, she opened the door. As soon as it was open, Jeff stepped into view, handed the landlord a twenty and pushed his way into the room.
"Jeff, what the hell -"
"Annie, get your bag - we're going on a road trip."
"I'm not sure I want to go anywhere with you at the moment."
"Annie, this is me trying to say sorry. Can you give me one chance?"
"I'm not sure I can, Jeff."
"Please, Annie?"
Annie hesitated, rolled her eyes and grabbed her bag. Jeff sighed in relief. "Thanks, Annie."
He led her down to the Lexus, opened the door and got in. Wincing slightly with pain, he took out a CD and slid it into the player. Annie saw the cover - "My World" by Justin Bieber - and despite herself smiled slightly.
"You don't have to do this, Jeff."
"Unfortunately, I think I do."
He headed out of town, joined the I-25 and started heading south. It took barely two-thirds the time to do the journey in the Lexus.
"Jeff, what's going on?" Annie said as he pulled up behind the same trailer they'd been to yesterday.
"I spoke to Bill last night. They're here for the entire week, doing a mile a day." Was all he said.
He got out of the car, walked round to her side and helped her out. He walked her up to the trailer and opened the door for her.
"Hi Annie - didn't expect to see you here today." Somebody said. "Hi Jeff," they said as he came through too.
"Hi guys," he said. "Can I say something?" There was a rumble of yesses.
He put his arm around Annie's shoulders. She looked up at him in surprise.
"This is my girlfriend, Annie. She's got the biggest heart of anybody I know, and sometimes I'm too self-centred to realise that if it's big enough to have space for me it's going to be big enough to have space for all sorts of other crazy stuff too, and if she wants to share that stuff with me it's because she wants me to be as much a part of her life as possible and I need to learn to appreciate that. I was wondering if it was okay with you if I could have another go at doing this thing and try to get it right this time?"
"Awww, Jeff!" Annie looked up at him with a happy smile as she hugged him. This time, Jeff did do it right - he knuckled down, stayed by Annie's side, kept the posing to a respectable level (hey, he was still Jeff Winger and he still looked damn good in a muscle shirt and glowing with toil and honest sweat) and kept the flirting strictly for his girlfriend.
On the way home, Annie suggested they get take-away pizzas and spend the night at her place. It went well until in the early hours of the morning Jeff was jolted awake when the tannoy in Dildopolis starting announcing the special offers.
"What the heck -" He cried out.
"I'm sorry, Jeff."
"Annie - you can't stay in this place, you just can't."
"Jeff - we've had this conversation before. Just because you're my boyfriend now doesn't mean you get to tell me what to do."
Jeff sighed. "It's not about telling you what to do, it's about being worried about you and wanting you to be safe."
"I know Jeff, but this is the best I can afford."
We'll have to see about that. He thought to himself as he put an arm around her and pulled her into his side.
XXXXXX
Jeff had a routine for the increasingly rare mornings when Annie had not slept over. He'd get up early, run – not jog – the three miles to his gym, work out on weights for an hour and then run back home where he would shower and have breakfast. This particular day in early July he was interrupted while making breakfast by a banging on the door.
When he opened it he saw Annie in a flood of tears on the other side clutching something in her hands. She surged forward, threw her arms around him and sobbed into his chest.
What have I done now? Was Jeff's first, rather unworthy, thought. On searching his recent memory and coming up blank – rather to his relief – he ushered her in, sat her at the breakfast bar and put a mug of coffee in front of her. "What's the matter, babe?"
Annie took a deep breath and began, rather shakily, to talk.
"I tried to get back in touch with my mother," she said. "I wrote to her to let her know I'd completed my first year at college and come top of all my classes and that I was in a relationship with a good man –"
"Who is he? I'll kill him!" Jeff said in mock outrage. Despite her tears, Annie smiled at the joke.
"-and that she had no reason to be ashamed of me any more." She continued.
Jeff learned over the table, took her hands in his and spoke with deadly seriousness this time. "Annie, you're an amazing girl – she never had a reason to be ashamed of you."
"Thanks Jeff," she smiled shakily at him. "But I didn't hear anything back from her until today when I got this in the post."
She passed over the letter she'd been clinging onto since she'd arrived. Jeff took it, scanned it through quickly then read it in detail as though he couldn't believe what he was reading.
"…bitch." He finally said.
"Is it as bad as it looks?"
"Worse, if anything." Jeff said. "This is a Cease and Desist Order, forbidding you to attempt to contact your mother again and putting you at risk of contempt of court if you try. Any future communications you wish to make have to go through –" he looked at the top of the headed letter "- Sue, Grabbit & Runne and they're under no obligation to pass them on."
"I only ever wanted to make her proud of me." Annie sounded utterly desolate.
"I'm proud of you."
Annie looked up sharply.
"I know it's not the same thing, but every time I tell somebody you're my girlfriend it's the best feeling in the world - I'm proud that I get to say that. There are a bunch of people around here – Joelle, Abed, Marcia – who are proud to say you're their friend. If there's somebody around who knows you and isn't proud of that fact that's their problem not yours, Annie. You really are an amazing girl."
Annie had started to smile again. "And there goes another Winger Speech, making everything look a little better."
"Hey," Jeff grinned. "I'm just glad for once it's not one of my screw-ups I'm attempting to clean up after."
"Look," he continued. "Have you had breakfast yet?"
Annie shook her head. "I checked the mail as soon as I woke up and came straight over here."
Your first thought when you were hurting was to come to me. Jeff felt oddly humbled by that idea.
"Then sit down. I'll fix you something and after that we can go for a walk."
"Where to?"
"Nowhere in particular, I was really only thinking of showing off my awesome girlfriend." He winked at her.
She smiled back. "Thanks Jeff, you're kind of cool sometimes too."
"…Sometimes?"
XXXXXX
Later that day, Jeff had asked Annie to name her choice of a night out to take her mind off things and she had named a performance of "Lysistrata" being put on by a local feminist theatre collective. Jeff had never heard of "Lysistrata", but the phrase 'feminist theatre collective' sent chills down his spine - the mischievous smile on Annie's face was enough to subdue all but the most token of protests on his part however. He privately vowed to look his absolute best though - he was just glad that Britta was apparently off at some protest somewhere or he'd worry about running into her in the audience.
After Annie left to get changed, Jeff found himself mulling over the events of the day which led to thoughts of his relationship with his own mother crossing his mind. Annie is upset because she's tried everything to salvage a relationship with a mother who has never been anything other than vile to her, whereas I go out of my way to avoid a mother who has never shown me anything other than kindness. One of the things that Jeff found - uncomfortable, for want of a better word - about having Annie in his life was the way that simply by being there she forced him to examine the sort of man he was and measure that against the sort of man he increasingly wanted to be. A year ago, the idea of there being any difference between the two would have struck him as absurd - now however? Jeff realised he was heading into dangerous territory so he cut the introspection short by picking up his phone.
"Hi mom," he said when the call was picked up at the other end. "Are you doing anything this weekend? It's been too long since I came over."
XXXXXX
(Saturday afternoon, Doreen Fitzgerald's house)
"Remember, don't call her Mrs Winger," Jeff said. "She dropped her married name after the divorce, though she left me with it because she didn't want me picked on in school or something."
This must have been about the tenth time he said this on the journey over - Annie realised it was a sign of how nervous he was - but instead of saying anything she just squeezed his hand and smiled at him. "I'll remember, Jeff."
"Hi mom," Jeff said as the door opened. "My law licence has been suspended until I re-sit my Batchelor's and I'm now a student at Greendale Community College. But enough about me - I'd like you to meet my girlfriend Annie!" Jeff essentially grabbed Annie and shoved her in front of him as a human shield.
"Pleased to meet you Ms. Fitzgerald," Annie said, holding out her hand and smiling.
"And you, dear. Do call me Doreen," the older lady said with a stunned expression on her face as she attempted to process all the information Jeff had just hit her with while simultaneously shaking Annie's hand.
"Do come in, dears." The older lady said, holding the door open. "Can I get you something to drink? Coffee?" She ushered them through the house. "I thought it was such a nice day we'd start off by sitting out in the backyard." She said as they reached the back of the house.
"Do take a seat, dear." She said to Annie, pointing out the garden furniture. "Jeffrey, can you help me get something down off the top shelf please?" Annie gave him a cheerful little wave as his mother basically dragged him back indoors and turned to look at the yard.
"Jeffrey, what on earth is going on?" Doreen said as the door closed behind them.
"Well," Jeff said. "I've been seeing Annie for a few weeks now and things have been going really well –"
"That's not what I meant and you know it. What's all this about your licence being suspended?"
Jeff sighed. "I did a really stupid thing, mom." He gave an abbreviated version of the whole story, other than put the kettle on and dig out some coffee cups Doreen focussed her entire attention on him without saying a word.
"Is this why you've hardly been round this last year, you've been trying to keep this a secret?"
Jeff nodded. "I thought if I could just keep it quiet until I graduated then you'd never need to know and you wouldn't be ashamed of me."
"Jeffrey, I've known you all your life – I can live with you lying to other people but I never thought you'd lie to me, not about something this important. If I were to be ashamed of you it would be because of that not because of what you did." Her tone was now heavy with disapproval.
"I'm sorry mom."
She sighed. "Can you get the coffee pot down off the top shelf? I have no desire to be a liar today." Jeff winced, but fetched the pot. Doreen put some ground coffee in the pot and poured freshly boiled water on top of it.
"And where does that poor child fit in in all of this?" She'd moved over to the kitchen window where she could see Annie sitting outside, looking entranced at the antics of a squirrel attempting to raid the bird feeder at the end of the garden.
"She isn't a child, mom." Jeff was starting to get a little angry now – the part of him that hated to see Annie criticised or belittled was kicking in, even against his own mother.
"She doesn't look a day over eighteen, Jeffrey." Doreen had picked up her son's tone and turned to face him.
"She's nineteen, and I'm well aware of the age difference."
"Well, then-"
"We'd been friends for over six months before we started dating." Jeff interrupted. "And it feels like I spent most of that time coming up with reasons why this was a bad idea. And I came up with a lot of reasons!"
"Then what happened?" Doreen looked like she was fussing about putting the coffee pot and mugs on a tray, but that was on autopilot while the whole of her attention was focussed on Jeff.
"I ran out of reasons." He said. "And I reached a point where the only thing left that I could think about was that I couldn't imagine what my life would be like if she wasn't a part of it any more, so here we are."
Doreen had gone to the fridge to pick out some homemade cake. "Lemon drizzle, your favorite," she said.
"Just how much do you really like this girl?"
Jeff sighed again. "Every day when I wake up I'm terrified this will be the day she comes to her senses, that she'll realise she's in a relationship with somebody who's too old for her, has messed up his life and is stuck in community college in his thirties trying to get it back on track. I'm terrified that this'll be the day she finds somebody her own age, who hasn't messed up his life and who stands a chance of being worthy of her. And every night when I go to bed I give thanks none of that happened that day and I'll get to go through it all again the next day."
"There's a word for what you just described, you know." She said quietly.
Jeff shook his head decisively. "No, mom. I'm not touching that one with a ten foot pole."
"You may have to, if you don't want to lose her." She sighed and picked up the tray. "Hold the door open for me please. It looks like I need to have a long chat with this girl who seems to have convinced my son there's a woman in this world who's too good for him."
XXXXXX
They sat down at the table in the yard and talked for over an hour over coffee and cake. Doreen asked Annie a series of questions, deftly drawing her life story out of her, up until the point she met Jeff. Although nothing showed on her face, she noted the calm dignity and lack of self-pity with which the younger woman described what must have been a horrendous ordeal. As well as listening though she also noted with care the way the two of them interacted with each other – the way Jeff looked at Annie when she was speaking, and the way she looked at him when he was. Eventually –
"Jeffrey, can I ask you to light up the barbecue? It's perfect weather for it and I haven't had a chance to use it since last summer."
"Of course, mom."
"And Annie dear, can I ask you to help me to fetch some things from the kitchen?"
"I'd be delighted Doreen." Annie flashed Jeff a wry smile that seemed to say my turn now as she got up from her seat. Jeff smiled back and wandered off to the garage to see if he could find the coals and lighter fluid. Annie followed Doreen into the house.
"So, do you love my son?" Annie was surprised by the bluntness of the question, she hesitated slightly over the answer.
"This is just between us, isn't it?"
"If you wish, dear."
"Please. And yes, I do." She said slightly sadly.
"Why? " Again, the bluntness of the question took Annie by surprise.
"It's difficult to say. He's an infuriating jackass – sorry –" she remembered she was talking to the jackass's mother.
Doreen smiled. "It's quite alright dear, I've known him longer than anyone after all."
Annie smiled back. "Okay – he's a lazy, infuriating jackass who is far too pleased with himself and obsessed with his appearance and who too often has a knack for being incredibly selfish and hurtful." She paused for breath.
"I hope there's a 'but' heading our way soon," Doreen said sardonically.
Annie smiled. "But. I told you what high school was like for me – imagine what it felt like to be that girl and then one day Jeff Winger walks into your life, offers you his hand and treats you with kindness and respect and silences a baying mob in doing so." She smiled at the memory. "He had no reason to do that, it just offended him to see someone like me being picked on."
"You're a very beautiful young woman Annie, for a man like my son that would be reason enough."
Annie shook her head. "I wasn't back then, and he certainly didn't look at me that way. I was just the nerdy girl who sat in the front row of Spanish class and who could be charmed into doing his homework for him." She smiled again at the memory.
That sounds more like my son, Doreen thought to herself.
"And when he is being a jerk he knows it and will apologise and put it right afterwards, and he really is trying hard to be less of one." Annie continued. "Nothing upsets him more than hurting me, and nothing makes him angrier than other people trying to hurt me. It's nice to be at the centre of somebody's universe like that." Annie smiled a deeply happy smile.
"So have you told him yet then, dear?"
Annie's smile went away. "No!" She said. "I had to work so hard not to freak him out by coming over as some schoolgirl with a crush – saying anything like that would cause him to flee in a blind panic. It was hard enough to get him to admit to himself he had feelings – actually talking about them is quite out of the question! When the time is right though we will have that talk." She said with calm certainty.
"He thinks you're too good for him, you know." Doreen said. "I'm starting to think he may be right." She added with a smile.
"Well he isn't right." Annie said. "But so long as he thinks that way he'll never take me for granted." She smiled again, one that Jeff would have recognised as showing there was mischief on the way.
"Are you happy dear? Really, truly happy?"
"Yes Doreen, for the first time in my life I really think I am."
XXXXXX
Doreen and Annie left the kitchen with arms full of packets of meat, bread rolls and salad ingredients. Outside, they saw Jeff standing next to the barbecue, occasionally prodding the coals and chatting amiably to Doreen's next door neighbours, Pete and Barbara, over the garden fence - Doreen said there was plenty of food, and they absolutely must come over to join the party. Ten minutes later they were in the back yard with their three kids, having brought over a six pack of beer, a bottle of sparkling wine and a big bag of potato chips. Barbara went over to help Annie and Doreen prepare the salad and lay the table and Pete took a beer over to Jeff.
"Cheers, Jeff." Pete said clinking bottles.
"Cheers, Pete." Jeff said back with a smile.
"So, is that really your girlfriend?" Pete said, looking back at the table where the women were chatting and preparing salad.
Jeff felt his guard go up. Pete didn't notice. "She seems nice," he said. "I never had you down as the settling down type."
Jeff relaxed again. "Neither did I," he said with a wry grin. "But I think Annie has different ideas."
"Just so long as you remember the two golden rules of relationships you'll be okay, Jeff." Pete said with a fond expression on his face as he looked at Barbara.
"And they are?..."
"The first one is - she is always right."
"And the second one?" Jeff said with a curious expression on his face.
"When she's wrong, check rule number one."
"Amen, brother." Jeff said and clinked his bottle against Pete's again.
XXXXXX
It wasn't long after that before the food was ready, and not long after that before Doreen's neighbours on the other side popped over, making a total of seven adults and five children - at one point there were so many people there that there weren't enough chairs for everybody, so Annie simply dropped into Jeff's lap and proceeded to feed him slices of red pepper dipped in barbecue sauce when he attempted to protest, then she wriggled herself into a more comfortable position and he didn't feel like protesting any more. At the far side of the table Doreen Fitzgerald watched this scene with a feeling of quiet contentment - she had honestly never expected to see her son look so happy with another person. This is your last chance, Jeffrey - don't ruin it. She found herself thinking.
XXXXXX
Night crept on, and guests made their way home again with cheerful hugs and good wishes. After the mess was cleared up, a potentially delicate issue arose.
"I didn't know you were bringing anyone Jeffrey, so only the bed in your old room has been made up. Annie can have that - I'll get you a pillow and blanket and you can sleep on the sofa."
Jeff was about to protest, but he stopped when he saw the expression on his mother's face.
"Yes, mom." He said instead. He didn't know what his own face looked like, but it appeared to hugely amuse Annie.
"One night sleeping apart won't kill us, Jeff." She said as Doreen walked away.
"Perhaps Annie, and perhaps not - do you really want to risk it?" Jeff said dramatically.
Annie rolled her eyes and smiled, then closed in for a hug.
"Goodnight, Jeff."
"Goodnight, Annie."
XXXXXX
Jeff was up first the following morning – the sofa really was not conducive to lying in – and he'd already showered, dressed and made coffee before Doreen came down. She thanked him for the coffee and proceeded to bustle about making breakfast, which was on the table by the time Annie made an appearance. She gave Jeff a happy smile – which got wider when he put a mug of coffee in her hand – and sat down. Breakfast was an unhurried affair, and after it was done Jeff and Annie re-packed their overnight bags and loaded them in the Lexus, ready to say their goodbyes and hit the road again.
"For your journey," Doreen said, handing over a bag of sandwiches and a thermos of coffee.
"Thanks mom," Jeff said and put them in the car.
"Oh, come here and give your mother a hug," she said with a smile.
"It's been fun mom, I'll see you soon." Jeff said as he complied with her request.
"This one's a keeper Jeffrey – if you let her go I'll disinherit you on grounds of terminal idiocy. Now get on your way!" Jeff smiled ruefully, but he couldn't help looking at Annie as he did.
"And you –" Doreen said, grabbing Annie for another hug, "I don't know what you see in him, but I hope you stay around – you're good for him. Now make sure he doesn't wait so long before coming back next time."
"It's a deal Doreen," Annie said, hugging her back.
"Don't I get a say in this?" Jeff said with mock outrage.
"No." The two women said simultaneously, then chuckled as they realised what had happened.
"Oh great – my mom and my girlfriend are ganging up on me!" Jeff wanted to sound dismayed, but couldn't quite keep the happiness out of his voice.
"Bye Mom," he gave her one last hug and got in the car.
"Bye Doreen," Annie got in the car too.
"Bye dears," Doreen said, and waved as the car disappeared down the road.
XXXXXX
(Outside Jeff Winger's apartment block, that evening)
"I really do have to go back to my place, Jeff." Annie said with a plaintive smile. They were standing next to her car in his parking lot, what had supposed to be a goodbye hug had just turned into five minutes of increasingly enthusiastic kissing.
"But it'll have been three nights before we next -" Jeff sounded despairing.
"I'll be back in the morning - early," Annie said. "And we won't have to go anywhere all day…"
"Well so long as –" Jeff suddenly thought of something. "Annie – wait here until I get back, I'll only be gone a few minutes." Then he ran off before she could say anything.
Fortunately he was as good as his word and was back barely five minutes later.
"What's the deal, Jeff?" She said when he got back.
"It's something I've been thinking of since last week when you came over after you got your mother's letter," He said. "If you'd been twenty minutes earlier I wouldn't have been back from my workout and you'd have been stuck on the doorstep not knowing what to do."
He took her hand and pressed something in it. "This is a key to my apartment. If you ever come around and I'm not in, just let yourself in and make yourself at home. In fact, do that whenever you want – any time of day or night, whether I'm at home or not. If you need to come round for any reason or none at all, just do it. You don't need an invitation anymore."
"Aw Jeff," she said with a teary smile, and closed in for an even bigger hug.
"Best boyfriend ever?" He said with a grin.
"You'll do." She smiled back at him.