Which meant that I was probably going to mess it up.
16
It turned out that being in love with J.J. was a lot easier than I expected.
Mostly because he made it that way.
As our first week together slid into two, then three, I realized he wasn't putting on an act or trying to get on my good side.
J.J. had always been one of the best boys my brothers had brought home when we were young, and it seemed that he was one of the best men I knew now that we were adults.
Not that he was perfect. Lord, the man was far from it.
He left his shoes in the strangest places. Sometimes he would kick them off in random spots in the house. Once even my bedroom when he'd come in looking for me.
I'd learned to pay attention to where I was walking because I often tripped over them if I wasn't.
Then there was the fact that he had to have the remote for the TV in his hand at all times. Even when he asked me to choose what we were going to watch next. The remote didn't leave his hand, he would just scroll through the menu until I saw something I liked the look of.
You also couldn't argue with the man. He was reasonable all the time. And mule stubborn. That was how we ended up having our first semi-fight.
It was a semi-fight rather than an actual fight because he refused to argue with me.
One afternoon, J.J. came home early from work with a strange expression on his face.
I was sitting at the kitchen table, eating a snack and studying for an upcoming test. Okay, so it was still a few weeks away, but if I started studying now then I wouldn't have to cram later.
"Hey," I said when he came in. "You're home early. Everything okay?"
True to form, he kicked his shoes off right inside the door. I gave them a pointed glance, which made him laugh, and he used his toe to nudge them against the wall and out of the way.
As he set his laptop and lunch bags on one of the chairs, he answered me, "Yeah, everything's okay. But I just realized something—I need access to the bills so I can pay them."
I frowned at him. "I have them on auto-pay," I replied. "You don't have to worry about them being late or anything."
"That's not what I mean," he said with a sigh. "I'm living here, eating food, using electricity, water, Wi-Fi, etc. and I need to contribute to that. There's also the fact that I'm established in my job and making more money. You should be saving your money to finish grad school and invest in your future."
I put the apple slice in my hand down and studied him. "I'm fine with you paying half the bills, but there aren't that many and they're not a lot of money."
"Lee, I need to at least pay the utilities, taxes, and for the groceries. If you want to continue to pay for your cell phone and car payment, that's fine, but I know you want to finish grad school and doing that with a baby is going to be hard enough. If I take over some of the bills, you can drop some of your cleaning clients and focus on school and making sure you're getting enough rest."
I stared at him, my mouth opening and closing as I tried to process everything he just said without my head exploding.
Finally, I said, "If I want to continue to pay for my cell phone and car, that's fine?" I asked.
I'd thought that my brothers were the only ones who could make me lose my temper, but I was wrong. I was dangerously close to losing my cool after just a few minutes of conversation with J.J.
He didn't seem to realize that he'd stuck his foot right in the middle of a pile of manure with that statement. "Yes."
"First, I don't have a car payment. Second, I do pay insurance on it and I will continue to do so. Third, what do you mean, 'drop some of my cleaning jobs?'"
J.J. stared at me in consternation. "Lee, I'm not trying to tell you what to do."
I raised my eyebrows at him, and he exhaled.
"I'm not, I promise. I'm trying to help. You're pregnant and you won't be able to continue hard physical labor for much longer."
"And who's going to clean our house?" I pointed out. "Pregnant women have been cleaning their own homes for centuries now."
