Happy Times

I never thought I would be sad walking down¬ the aisle of a church but knowing that my dead grandmother was lying in a coffin at the end of it wasn’t the happiest thing. I sighed as I thought about Jeff and how sweet he was tucking me into bed. I wonder what he and Sierra are doing. I caught myself before I started the jealousy thoughts. “I need to trust them.” I muttered under my breath. I looked at my cousin Ashley who was crying on her husband’s shoulder. I sighed again wishing Jeff was here with me.

As the coffin came closer and closer I took a deep breath and forced myself not to cry. I was surprised to find myself relaxed as I looked into the peaceful face of my loving Grandmother. I jumped as John came up behind me and hugged me.

“She died peacefully, you know.” He whispered soothingly in my ear. I responded by resting my head on his. “I was there the day she died. She told me that she was ready to see Grandpa. I didn’t know what that meant, how could you predict your own death time but now I realized, she really knew.”

I smiled a little glad to see that it was the natural way of death, no tumors or heart attacks. It was peaceful and I knew she was happy.

“I love you so much John.” I told him as I smiled a little wider.

“You’re not supposed to smile in a funeral.” He joked, “And I love you too.”

The rest of the funeral was definitely sad but I felt lighter that I knew she was happy. John kept joking around with me making me glad that I had a brother.

“Where’s Janie?” I asked realizing that she wasn’t there.

He shrugged, “Left early and took a plane back to Tennessee, she had a great job interview and guess what? She got it.”

“That’s great! So do you think you could come back to North Carolina with me? Just for a couple of days?”

“I don’t know Madeline, Janie is expecting me back soon.” He said as we walked out of the church.

“Come on!” I pleaded, “Just for a couple of days, I want you to see what we’ve done with the apartment and you can finally meet Jeff.”

“All right,” He agreed.

I laughed, “Yay! I’m sorry but I’ve had enough of this sad stuff. To be honest I’ve been pretty depressed and I need to lighten up.”

“All right let’s head back to the hotel and drive down tonight.”

I nodded, “Yeah, it only takes a couple hours.”

We headed back to the hotel room and packed up all our stuff in John’s Kia and left for Raleigh. The ride seemed shorter than it was. Don’t get me wrong, deep inside me there was a dark pit where I was depressed from the loss of my Grandmother but my motto is to recognize the situation, and get over it, and that’s what I’m trying to do.

Anyway, we got back to Raleigh in only a few short hours and John was getting pretty excited to see what we did with the apartment.

“I like it.” He says automatically as he walks in.

I laugh, “Thanks but you should give Sierra the credit.” I said as she walked in from the hallway.

“Look who’s happy.” She said a little shocked as she gave me a hug. She seemed awkward and I started to once again begin the jealous thoughts.

“Yeah. John,” I said poking him in the stomach, “Really knows how to cheer me up.”

Ebay ran through my legs trying to get my attention. I bent down and pet him for awhile. “Is Jeff home?” I asked.

Sierra’s eyes grew wide and she nodded. Is it just my imagination or did she get nervous when I said his name. I was beginning to get angry at how bad my jealousy is. “Trust,” I mumbled to myself.

“Yeah, in his apartment upstairs,” She answered quickly.

“C’mon John, you guys should meet, you’ll love him!” I told John grabbing his hand and pulling him back out the door.

I knocked quickly several times before Jeff answered. I get really hyper and excited with John is around. He’s a really great brother. I giggled and ran up to Jeff and hugged him.

“Hey,” He said as he started to smile a little bit.

“John meet Jeff, Jeff meet John.” I said.

Jeff smiled awkwardly and shook John’s hand. John didn’t smile but gazed curiously into Jeff’s brown eyes, which is never a good sign. I rolled my eyes and shook it off. Jeff is a great guy. John just has to get to know him.

“I have to go.” John finally says after a long silence.

“What?” I asked, “But you guys just met!”

“I have to uh, unpack.” He says making up a lame excuse. It’s official, John doesn’t like Jeff. I made a promise to myself to talk to John later.

I sighed, playing a long, “Okay, if you have to.” Besides, I wanted some alone time with Jeff, I haven’t seen him for three days.

After I closed the door behind John I walked back over to Jeff. “How was it Babe?” He asked as he slid his arm around my back and pulled me closer to him.

“Pretty depressing but John always knows how to cheer me up.” I answered smiling and leaning in for a kiss.

“We don’t keep secrets right?” Jeff asked with a guilty face after I pulled away.

I nodded, “Right, and I have a confession to make.”

Jeff look genuinely surprised, “What is it?”

“Do you remember when I went on the lunch date with Max?” He nodded in response, “Well, I wasn’t actually planning to tell you and then I felt jealous and it blurted out. I didn’t mean to make you jealous and I’m sorry. I promise to trust you from now on.”

Jeff smiled somewhat pathetically and I started to get the impression he was hiding something, “Is something wrong?” I asked.

He shook his head, “No. Everything is perfectly fine.”