Kindness is loaning someone your strength

 

Jools wanted to tell Valentina that looks were deceiving. But they went on to dinner because Mick was happy to go to someone's house for dinner.

He gushed about her mother's Mexican food. After all, Mick was rather innocent in his own way, full of smiles and gratitude.

Jools didn't talk how they had to move a lot of things out of Mick's apartment to make the place more livable. It was filthy when he got there and now there was space and they each had their own room. He managed half of the rent and finally the apartment was looking more like home. At least the locks were changed and they didn't have to worry about any of the old roommates dropping in. Jools wondered now if those guys had bullied Mick. 

Everytime, he brought it up Mick would go quiet and say he didn't really know what Jools meant. Yes, Mick did have his own beat of going through the day. He liked his afternoons at his uncle's, who Jools wasn't so sure even his uncle really liked him. Especially, Mick's hair.

Jools didn't want to ask him too many questions. He was certain Mick liked to ignore his uncle's comments. But really they got along and Mick never said a bad thing about his cooking. Yet he was too timid to even try it on his own. Jools learned it was safest if Mick only used the microwave.

"I think he used to sniff..something when he was younger," Jools told Val and her mother later. "He was in a coma when he was in middle school, but I guess..I guess he's OK now."

They both squeezed his hand as if they hoped for the best. He assured them Mick was not his boyfriend or anything else. Yet, he was certain Val's mom thought Mick just might be his life partner.

Val's mom reminded him that if they needed anything to come to her without any hesitation. She mentioned that her husband was diabetic now since COVID. She had not gotten as sick as he had. Of course, she hoped everything was back to normal now, or almost.

Jools had good news too. One of the modern language professors called him wanting him to be an assistant. This meant mainly grading papers and getting documents ready to fax for faraway places. At least he could say goodbye to the late-night job.