Jennifer

"I was thinking...I could stay here, with you?"
Jennifer looked away for a moment, staring straight ahead, as thought she were deep in thought. "I don't know. Why would you want to stay here, after all this shit? You should really stick with your father, even if he is an asshole."
"That might be what you think but, it's not what I want. Seriously, you're the better person in this situation. He's been a miserable, cranky old man lately; I don't want to be near that."
Jennifer chuckled, "Yeah, you're not wrong."
"So? Can I stay with you?"
"There's going to be a lot of rules, if you do."
"Whatever you want, it's done."
Jennifer took a deep breath and exhaled. "You're unemployed right now, which means you can't pay me rent. So if you're going to stay with me, you'll have to make up for the rent some other way..."
"Whatever you want," I said, nodding my head.
Jennifer seemed to stare at me for what felt like an eternity, and I felt for a moment, like she was going to say "No" and force me out.
"Fine," she said finally.
"You can stay here and contribute, by working in the yard every day. You'll keep things nice and tidy out there and maintain the pool, as well. I want the lawn mowed twice a week; sound fair?"
"It's a deal," I agreed.
It was more then a fair deal in my opinion. We shook on it and I felt a great deal of relief, that I did not have to leave. Aside from the fact that I really did not want to leave, I also didn't want to have to look for another place to stay. There was no way in hell, that I would be going with my father...where ever he was going. Since I didn't have a job at the moment, that meant that I couldn't afford an apartment. Jennifer had really saved my ass by letting me stay and not throwing me out on my ass, with my dad.
So over the next few weeks, I carried out my end of the bargain and did everything that Jennifer wanted me to do. I quickly developed a regular routine, of waking up every morning around seven o'clock in the morning. I would get dressed, make something for breakfast and get right to work. From eight o'clock in the morning, until about eleven o'clock, I would be out in the front and the backyard. I would pick up any debris left in the front yard by the asshole kids, who wandered the neighborhood at night.