-S-
When Sara drove back to her home in Seattle, it was pitch dark. She checked the clock and it was 11 o’clock. As soon as she got into her neighborhood, she felt comfortable. As soon as she got home, she dropped her luggage and sat on the couch. She felt tired and closed her eyes. She felt at peace; she could only feel that feeling in her grandmother’s house. Sara heard Michelle slowly walking down the stairs.
“Sara, how was your trip?”
“It was good. Do you work early in the morning?” Michelle nodded and sat next to Sara.
“You should go back to bed.”
“Well. I wanted to say hi.” Michelle gave Sara a hug, and went back to her room. Sara felt Michelle was much closer to her than a friend.
“Wait, did you like the yard?” Michelle came back and asked.
Sara did not know what she meant so she just said yes.
“Wow,” was Sara’s first word when she saw her yard through the window. She was so excited and ran out to see the flowers. “These are so beautiful!” She saw all the flowers one by one. They were lined up pretty. It was the best morning for Sara. She texted Michelle and asked her who made the yard so pretty.
-Guess.
Sara could not guess. Hmm. Joe? No, he already did some of the work. Jake? Jack? Bailey?
-Did Jack do it?”
Michelle did not answer for a while. Sara brought a bucket of water and watered the flowers. When Sara went back to her house, Joe came out to water the flowers, but he saw someone already watering it and walked back. It took 30 minutes for Michelle to text back to Sara.
-No, it’s Joe. Do you feel his loveeeeeeee?
-Lol. Really?
-Yes, it’s your birthday present.
Sara went to the window and saw the flowers again. She felt something deep in her heart. Is this what people mean when they say they feel ‘touched?.’ Sara remembered what Michelle told her. She did not know how to react to that. Should I just say thank you? I don’t know how to treat him…Sara was not sure if she wanted to date Joe yet. However, she remembered the promise that she made. She went to the basement. There were only a few things. If she could push the couch in the corner, it could be a good place for dancing. She also went to the back yard. She needed to mow her lawn, but that could be a good place, too. She took off her shoes and walked on the grass. Wind touched her hair. This feels nice. Sara laughed out loud.
In the afternoon, she got out a pen and paper. She wrote ‘Goals and Plans’ on the top.
What do I want? New experiences. What could be good experiences? Hmm, part-time jobs, volunteer work, travel, and maybe dating more people?'
She thought hard about her life with a serious attitude. Nothing was sure yet, but just writing down the list of things made her feel much better. The more she worked towards it, the clearer it became.
When Michelle came back, Sara asked her about volunteer work; she told her about things that Sara could do in the hospital, and also talked about her uncle who worked at the volunteer center.
After that, Sara visited her grandmother and told her about her visit to her home. She called her mother on speaker phone, and they all talked for a while. Sara then met friends together and asked their opinion on getting a job and asked about their experiences. Sara was filled with good energy, and she was progressing. A couple days later, Sara got a message from Jennifer.
-Do you want a part time job?
-Yes!
Sara said yes without asking what it was. Anything would work for her.
-Can you come to my house?
Sara was excited and went outside with her car keys. When she was out, she saw Joe and she was really happy to see him. She realized that she had not talked to him since she’d been back.
“Hey, Joe!”
“Hey, Sara, you are back.” Robert looked at Sara.
“I heard you did all this, thank you so much.” Sara pointed at her garden. She walked to him.
“That’s your birthday present. Do you like it?”
“Yes, it’s perfect.” Sara gave him a hug.
“Are you going to teach me how to dance?” Joe asked.
“Of, course! I will let you know! I have to go now, but we should hang out.” She wanted to talk more, but she figured she could call him later. She got in her car and saw Joe in her yard. She thought her flowers were more organized and there were more of them. Do you feel his love? She remembered what Michelle told her. She blushed. She kept seeing him in the mirror. She thought he was cool.
There were a change of pictures in Jennifer's house. Sara could not remember every picture but it was noticeable. "This is pretty." Sara liked the picture with a sunset. There was one woman looking at the camera with the sun in the background.
"That's me. It was taken with a tripod." Jennifer told her while she was using her laptop. "I have a small project for you. Come here."
Sara sat next to Jennifer and she showed Sara the webpage of a kindergarten.
"I will be taking pictures of these kids, and I will need an assistant."
"Me?" Sara asked.
"Yes, I will probably do most of the picture taking, but I need a person who could help me around, including editing."
"Sure, I will do it."
"I will give you $15 per hour."
"That sounds good." Everything was going well with Sara. She was happy to be back.
The next day, Sara asked about Michelle's schedule, and called Joe. She invited Joe to her house at 6 o'clock for their first lesson. At exactly 6, Joe came to her house. He was wearing a white T-shirt and jeans. She felt comfortable with him.
"Come in." Sara greeted. "Michelle! He is here."
"Ok, I will be down there soon." Michelle answered from upstairs.
"We are practicing downstairs." She and Joe went to the basement. There was a big space with a couch in the corner. Just like the living room, there were many family pictures on the wall. While Sara was checking the songs with her cell phone and speaker, Joe was looking at the pictures.
"Is this you?" Joe asked about one of the pictures on the wall.
"No, it's an old picture. It's my mom." Sara laughed.
"You really look like your mother.”
"Yes, we look alike."
"Hey, Joe," Michelle said, coming down the stairs.
"Are you ready? I am the man, you follow me." Sara showed a basic step.
"Is this the waltz? It looks different."
"Oh, no. This is a foxtrot. I thought this would be good to start with."
"Ok." Joe held Michelle’s hand. Michelle was almost laughing.
"Here, put your left arm up straight, put your right hand here." Sara fixed Joe's hand.
"Good, now, one, two, quick quick."
Joe followed Sara with Michelle. When Sara was teaching, she was very focused. Sara thought Joe was following very well. She liked teaching him.
"Why don't you teach dancing?" Michelle suggested. She actually never thought about that before.
"That sounds good, but will I make a living? I don't have any professional experience."
"I'm not sure. You need to do some research."
Sara kept Michelle’s idea in her mind while she was working with Jennifer. Sara helped the children get ready for their pictures. Sara thought it was very fun to guide the children. Sara fixed one of the children sitting on the chair.
"Can you see the camera? Right, you will look right there for five seconds."
"Can I count it out loud?" Boy with glasses asked her. He seemed nervous, and Sara though he was very cute.
"Can you do it in your mind?"
"Yes, I can."
"That's great." Sara smiled and patted the child's head. Some of them were not that obedient, but she still liked to talk to them.
"You do very well with children," Jennifer told Sara after work.
"Yes, they are so cute. What about you?"
"No, not really. They are whiny, needy, and they break stuff."
"But you will be a mother someday?"
"Well. We will see." Sara and Jennifer were wrapping up for the day.
"We will come back tomorrow, and I will teach you what we will be doing for editing at home."
They ate lunch, and Jennifer taught Sara how to edit a portrait photo. It was not as fun as talking to the children.
"Do you want to go to see a movie with the others?" Jennifer asked while she was checking her phone.
"Yes, I am good. Who asked?"
"Jake."
"Ok, I will ask Michelle. What time is it?"
"At 7pm. Are you inviting Joe, too?"
"Yes, that's a good idea."
"I will ask Bailey and Shawn."
Sara was wondering if Jennifer liked Joe. However, in spite of Joe admitting that he liked her, he never asked her out. She remembered her mother asking her to date other people.
"How do you like Joe, Sara?" Jennifer asked.
"Uh, he is very nice and kind."
"You don't like him?"
"I, I don't know." Sara did not know what to say to Jennifer.
"Michelle told me he really likes you."
"Oh, Michelle..." Sara felt uncomfortable.
"It's ok." Jennifer smiled. “I was interested in him because he was very understanding and not judgmental. He was genuine. Nobody was ever like that to me."
"Was he?"
"Yes. A lot of people think I am weird. They think I am pretty, but what's going on in my mind is crazy, so sometimes I test people and Joe was pretty good. I would love to get to know him better but…" Jennifer looked at Sara and continued.
"The way he looks at you is really different than when he looks at other girls. He sees you like you’re some kind of treasure."
"Treasure?"
"Yeah, he looks at you the way you look at something you really care about."
She got the message from Joe that he wanted to go to the movies.
After that day Sara watched Joe carefully. He was always gentle and thoughtful. She could ask him anything and her friends liked him so much that they started inviting him whenever they hung out. He was always there for Sara when she needed him. Sara knew that she liked Joe as a friend, and she went out with Jack and a few other guys too, but there was something different about Joe.
After Sara finished her work with Jennifer, she and Michelle went out to dinner.
"I really wanted steak. Thanks." Michelle was enjoying her meal.
"You’re welcome. I really wish I could’ve worked at the school longer." Sara thought about the children she met. Maybe I should be a teacher.
"Have you ever thought of teaching? Oh, how are things going with Joe?"
"We are doing well."
"Did he ask you out yet?"
"No, he didn't. I think where we are now is good. We are good friends."
"Really? I thought you liked him."
"What? I don't think so. Maybe you’re right, I should try teaching." Sara changed the subject.
“Really?”
"Yes, I like teaching and children."
"You should talk to Joe about it."
"What? Why?"
"Because you guys are ‘good friends’." Michelle laughed.
When they came home, Sara thought about talking to Joe, but she did not. She went outside to see her flowers. Outside it was getting dark, and the deep red sunset was painting every roof on the block. She pulled out her phone and took pictures of the sky, houses, streets and flowers. She realized that her phone was pointing at Joe's house. She smiled.