Page 46 of Mia Amata

I scratched Lucky behind the ears. “He is pretty easy to love. He has definitely become a good companion for me.”

“I’m glad that he has a good home,” Randy said.

“Does anyone want dessert now, or should we wait a little bit?” I asked.

Everyone groaned. “I’m so full,” Jacob said. Randy and Josh voiced their agreement with him.

“OK, so we will wait for a bit. What would you all like to do now? Should we find a movie to watch?”

“That sounds great. What type of movie do you like?” Jacob asked me. Having not been able to watch much TV over the past five years, I went on with what I have watched since I gained my freedom.

“I like old black and white classic movies the most I guess.”

“Really?” Jacob asked. “I’ve been wanting to watch some older movies, but just haven’t yet. Maybe we can find one to watch.”

We all sat down on the couches. Josh and Randy sat on the bigger couch, leaving the smaller one for Jacob and me. Randy had a slight smile on her face, so I knew it was deliberate. Jacob and I sat down on the smaller couch.

I turned on the TV. We found TMC where Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds was on. We started to watch it when Randy jumped up, shutting the lights off. “Alfred Hitchcock is better watched in the dark I hear.” She sat back down with Josh, and we all settled in to watch the movie. We were all enjoying the movie, chatting about it.

About halfway through it, Jacob and Josh declared they now had room for dessert, so we paused the movie. Jacob and I went to the kitchen, serving up dessert for everyone. I made a pot of coffee. We all enjoyed chocolate cake and coffee while we watched more of the movie. We were pretty soon all quiet, involved in the movie while we finished our cake.

When the movie ended, we pulled up the guide. It turned out to be an Alfred Hitchcock marathon night, so while we waited for the next one to start, Randy and Josh cleaned up our dessert dishes, to their insistence. We discussed how much we enjoyed The Birds and were looking forward to the next one starting.

Lucky decided at that time to join us on the couch. He lay down next to me with his head in my lap. I stroked his head and Jacob commented, “I have never seen a dog-owner relationship like yours before. He is definitely devoted to you.”

Randy laughed, “Yes, he was definitely a good escape artist to get here to you.”

“Yet, now that he is here with you, he hasn’t run away once,” Jacob said.

I paused, “No, he hasn’t. He never wanders away from me.” Jacob reached across me to scratch Lucky’s head, purposedly making sure we touched in the process.

“I bet he would defend you against any danger. You probably have a great guard dog here.” His face was close to mine, he looked at me. I found myself looking into his eyes and couldn’t look away. “I can understand why he would be so devoted,” Jacob said quietly so only I could hear. Randy and Josh came back over to the couch, having finished the dishes. Jacob sat back up.

I glanced at Randy and Josh to see if I could read what they were thinking. They didn’t appear to give us a second thought. The next movie, Psycho, soon started; we all went quiet as we watched the classic movie. Lucky hopped down, heading to his dog bed, curling up, promptly falling asleep. I pulled the blanket off the back of the couch, covering up with it.

Jacob put his arm around me. I didn’t pull away but felt rather anxious and tried to concentrate on the movie. We watched the rest of the movie with his arm around me. Not too long after the movie had started, I heard light snoring from the other couch. I looked over to find both Josh and Randy sleeping. I smiled and looked at Jacob who had also heard them.

He looked at me and smiled back. He leaned close and whispered to me, “Let’s go outside on the deck.”

I nodded, so we got up quietly, letting the movie play while we went out on the deck, with Lucky joining us. Lucky went down into the yard. I walked to the deck rail, looking out over the backyard. Jacob joined me, putting his arm around me. We stood like that for a couple of minutes, watching Lucky run around. Then Jacob turned toward me, pulling me closer.

“Mia Amata,” he said softly. I looked at him. He leaned over and kissed me. He pulled back, “I’ve been wanting to do that all night.”

“Jacob, we need to talk. I can’t… I don’t know what we are doing. I’m not good enough for you. I’m… terrified.” I walked over, sitting down on the top step of the deck, looking out at the yard, watching Lucky.

Jacob sat next to me. “Listen to me. I never want to hear you say you’re not good enough for me. You have nothing to be afraid of, I will never hurt you.”

I was crying. “I have heard that before, by my foster dad, by my ex—by everyone that ended up doing just that, hurting me.”

“I’m not them, you can trust me.”

“I don’t trust anyone. I don’t know how.”

“I will help you learn to trust me if you will let me,” he said.

“Then there is your family. How would your brother feel about your getting involved with me.”

“You mean because of the baby?”

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