Random Acts of Kindness

"My mom's beautiful!" Tim informed their driver.

"Timothy Alan Logan!" his mom said as she looked at her son.

This time, Tim was smiling happily as he saw Phil smiling back at him in the mirror.

"She is beautiful, buddy. You got that right."

"You two!" Jessica exclaimed as though she was put out by the chatter.

"So...does she have a boyfriend?" Phil asked with a smile Jessica's way, pressing his luck.

He was getting ready to turn left just as Jessica gave him a playful shove that made Tim start laughing.

"No. She says she doesn't have time to date. But I know that's not true because she...."

"Okay! Okay! Enough!" Jessica said before turning toward Phil and adding, "from both of you!"

Phil laughed loudly and so did Tim. Jessica tried not to even smile but ended up laughing and shaking her head and secretly loving the attention. She'd noticed earlier that Phil was a very good looking man at the gas station, but he was so much younger than her that she didn't give it any real thought. She still hadn't changed her mind, but she did look over again just to confirm her earlier diagnosis, and yes, he was still very handsome, and for the first time in several years, her body tingled.

After turning off the car, Tim waited to hop out while his mom tried to find the handle.

"Hey! Don't even think about it," Phil said so sternly it took her a moment to realize he was telling her not to open her own door.

"Well...yes, SIR!" she said very playfully as she pulled her hand back and folded them both in her lap.

She looked at Phil who said just as seriously, "I'm watching you," as he reached for his own door's handle.

Again, her body tingled, but this time it felt like it was due to an electric shock.

"I won't touch anything. I promise!" she said as Phil opened his door to get out.

But before he could get out, Tim asked her to lean forward. She did, and he pulled the seat release and somehow managed to squeeze out of the car just as Phil arrived.

Tim looked up at the older man who said, "Go ahead, buddy."

The boy smile then opened his mom's heavy door as she helped him open it enough for her to stand up. It was very low to the ground, so Phil extended a hand which she took and used to get out of the car.

"Thank you, honey!" his mom said as she smiled back at the handsome young Marine then quietly said, "you, too, Phil."

"High five, buddy!" the Marine said after Tim shut the door.

The boy whacked his hand so hand it made his mom wince, but when Phil laughed, she did, too. By the time her host opened his mom's front door, Jessica realized she hadn't felt this happy in a very long time. But as she thought about the reason for feeling so good it caused her to feel an even deeper sense of confusion.

"Can I get you guys something to eat or drink?" Phil asked once they were inside.

"I'm starving!" Tim called out, drawing a look from his mother.

"Sorry," he said, trying to decide whether or not he was in trouble.

"Do you like BLTs?" Phil asked the boy as he looked at his mom for any sign of disapproval.

"I love BLTs!"

"Mom?" Phil asked, trying not to smile.

"I...I'm a little bit hungry," she admitted.

"Let me guess. You don't eat bacon."

That was true. Jessica tried not to eat anything with that much grease and fat, but she was so hungry she was willing to make an exception.

"Not very often, but that sounds really good."

"Three BLTs coming right up! Oh, and the bathroom's just down the hall if you need it."

Tim had to pee, so his mom told him to make sure and wash his hands, then, when he was finished, she did the same.

When she came back to the kitchen, she could smell bacon sizzling, and even more important to her, she saw her son on a little stool helping Phil as he gave her son some advice. He'd gotten so busy with the meal prep that he forgot about taking a shower. Besides, he'd dried off completely and couldn't smell anything too bad, so he shelved the idea for the time being.

"Can I turn the bacon over?" Tim asked as his mom moved a little closer but still just watching.

"Sure. Just be really careful. Bacon sizzles and pops, and if the hot grease hits your arm, it's gonna sting."

"Will it hurt?"

"Nah. Not really. But like I said, it will sting, and the odds are you're gonna get zapped. If you do don't drop the tongs, okay?"

"I won't!" the boy told him as he bravely reached in and grabbed one end of the first piece. He pinched it, lifted it up, then flipped it over.

"Nice!" Phil told him as he put an arm around Tim's shoulder.

He wasn't quite as lucky with the second piece and took a little zing on his forearm.

"Ouch!" he said after getting burned but didn't let go of the tongs.

"Here. Let's turn the heat way down until we get 'em all flipped over, okay?"

The other seven pieces were successfully turned over, and when he finished with the last one, Tim turned to find his mom who was now standing next to him.

"Mom? Did you see me flip them over?" Tim asked, a huge smile on his face.

"I did, and may I say—very nicely done Chef Tim!"

The smile on her son's face touched her, and by the time she looked at Phil, who was also smiling at her, she felt herself tearing up again. She could tell that he noticed, so she mentioned something about the bacon as though it was more like an onion that a strip of pork.

Phil didn't take the easy layup and tease her, mostly because he knew why she'd teared up. And the fact that it happened told him how much she loved her son and gave him insight into how hard it must have been for them to lose a husband and father.

"All right. We just need to slice some tomatoes and...."

"Can I slice them?" Tim asked, anxious to help out even more.

"How about letting me do that, and maybe you can help Phil with the lettuce or the bread?" his mom suggested.

Normally, her son would have protested for being 'babied' in front of a grown man, but he was having such a good time he didn't notice.

Phil pointed to the knives as he got out two ripe tomatoes and set them on the cutting board.

"Toasted or plain?" he asked his guests.

"Toasted!" Tim said as his mom replied with, "Plain for me, please."

"How about you?" Tim asked.

"Well, I guess I'll toast mine, too. We men gotta stick together, right?"

Jessica nearly teared up again when she heard her son say, "Right!" as he looked up at the tall Marine officer with another smile that warmed her soul.

The adults both chose iced tea while Tim asked for a diet Dr. Pepper, his favorite soft drink, and the only one his mom didn't mind him having occasionally.

"There's butter or mayo, so feel free to put whatever you like on your bread," Phil told his guests as he set the slices of bread on their plates.

Jessica preferred mayo, but because she was eating bacon, she didn't put anything on her bread, something Phil noticed.

"So that's how you stay so small," he told her with a smile.

"Small. Ha! I've put on so much weight since...."

She stopped smiling and talking as Phil saved her.

"Well, you must be hiding it somewhere, because I don't see any hint of that."

He stopped, too, for a moment, smiled then said, "Not that I was looking."

Once the sandwiches were cut in half diagonally, Phil told them to dig in.

Tim sat there causing his mom to ask if everything was okay.

"Do I have to take small bites?" he asked a little sheepishly just as Phil started to take one that was nearly a half of the first half.

When he stopped in mid-bite, Jessica smiled. When he looked over at her with a sheepish look of his own, she laughed.

"No. Just don't shove the whole thing in your mouth, okay?" she told her son as she smiled back at their host.

Phil, of course, knew she wasn't even hinting about how he ate, but even so he took a slightly smaller bite as Tim took one appropriate for a boy his age.

"Taste okay?" Phil asked as Tim chomped away.

Too busy chewing to speak, he nodded his head several times then took a second bite as soon as the first cleared the back of his mouth. Jessica finally took a small bite of a corner of one half, and as she slowly chewed, had the feeling that this was not only pleasant but extremely so.

"Thank you. For everything," she told the younger man after taking a sip of iced tea.

"My pleasure. I'm just glad I was there to help out."

"Me, too!" Tim said in between his second and third bites.

His mom wanted to tell him to slow down, but she knew he was having the nicest time he'd had in quite a while and let him do his thing.

"So, how is it that a Marine is here in the middle of Oklahoma?" Jessica asked before taking another tiny little bite.

Phil explained what an MOI was and how he'd ended up back home then asked Jessica where she was from originally.

"You won't believe this after telling me you work at the college, but I just got my nursing certificate, and I have my first job at the campus infirmary."

"Wow. Talk about a small world," Phil replied. "And what are the odds of getting a job like that, my presence there aside?"

"We're from Edmund which, as you know, is just north of Oklahoma City. The university is public, so they have to advertise online. I was looking at job openings of all kinds and just kind of stumbled onto it. I put in an application, interviewed for the job three days ago, and just got hired yesterday."

"Congratulations, Nurse Logan!" Phil told her enthusiastically.

Jessica laughed then said, "Thank you. Just don't call me Nurse Ratched, okay?"

That made Phil laugh who said, "I won't. And I'm uh, I'm really glad you're here, Jessica."

He smiled at her then added, "Both at the university and here. At my mom's house."

"Me, too," she replied in a very sweet voice that caused an unexpected reaction in Phil's body.

He shoved the last of the BLT into his mouth, chewed it up, then, as he stood up, said, "I really need to take a shower. There's not a lot to eat for dessert, but feel free to look around and take anything you like."

After the fastest shower he'd taken since Officer Candidate's School six years ago, Phil came back wearing a nice shirt and a pair of Dockers taken from the few things he kept at his mom's house—just in case.

"You clean up very nicely!" Jessica told him when he walked back into the kitchen.

Phil laughed and asked what they found for dessert.

"Cinnamon candy!" Tim said as he opened his mouth revealing a red tongue.

While his mom said, "Tim!" Phil just laughed.

"I told you it was slim pickins."

"We never eat dessert," Tim blabbed before looking at his mom.

"We do, too," she replied a little defensively. "Just...not very often."

Phil chuckled then told Tim he was welcome to take some more candy with him IF it was okay with his mom. She gave in and told him he could have one more piece on the way out, and with that, lunch was over.

Only then did Phil realize that Jessica had cleared and cleaned the table.

"Thank you," he said as he nodded toward the dishwasher.

"Oh, gosh. It was the least I could do after everything you've done for us. For free."

Phil got serious then said, "How do you know I won't be sending you a bill?"

Jessica saw the corners of his mouth turn up and started laughing.

"Until I get a paycheck, you may have a hard time collecting," she told him through the laugh.

"Money? Who said anything about money?"

Phil was smiling, too, and the way he said it made her wonder if he might possibly be flirting with her. That, in turn, caused her brain to release another flood of chemicals. The chemicals made her heart beat a little faster and she looked away from him.

"I hope the shop calls soon. I feel terrible making you stay here while we wait."

"Huh. That's weird," Phil replied.

"What's weird?"

"Well, I'm not hating it at all. In fact, I'm really enjoying staying here and waiting. With you. You...two."

"Oh. I...see," Jessica said as she looked around for something to distract her. "Tim? Why don't you go wash up?"

"What? Mom, I already did that before lunch. And I didn't get anything on me. See?"

Her son raised his hands to prove it, having no idea it wasn't really about that.

"I guess it can wait, but please brush your teeth as soon as we get back to the motel, okay?"

He saw Phil looking at him and said, "Okay," without argument.

"Hey. You guys want to maybe watch a movie or something? We've got another couple of hours to kill," Phil asked in an upbeat tone.

"Cool! Do you have action movies?" an excited nine-year old boy asked.

"I do, but shouldn't we maybe ask your mom what she'd like to watch or see if she's even interested in watching one?"

"Oh. Sorry," Tim said as he looked at his mom.

"I'm game, but I don't much care for shoot 'em up movies."

"No problem. I've got a ton of choices, and if we don't find anything, maybe we can talk for a bit."

"Yes. That...that would be nice," Jessica told him, knowing her son loved action movies.

As they began sifting through Phil's extensive collection of DVDs from high school and the few his mom had bought, Jessica found one she wanted to watch.

"Hey, look!" she said to Tim. "Onward. Remember asking me to take you to see it?"

"Mom!" he said, confusing his mother for a moment. She realized it was a Pixar movie, and because of Phil, he didn't want to appear to be a kid even though he was one.

"I loved that movie. If you guys want to watch it, I'd be happy to see it again," Phil said while looking right at Tim.

"You watched it?" the boy asked.

"Yes, and it was great. Cmon. Let's pop it in and get this...show started!"

He saw Jessica roll her eyes at his pun, but he also noticed the smile and the way her eyes seemed to sparkle as he dropped the DVD in then handed the remote to Tim.

"You're a brave man," Jessica said with a laugh. "My son loves to rewind, so be forewarned!"

Tim smiled in a way that said that was true, and as they watched, Phil found out that it was. At yet, each time he hit rewind, Phil found himself laughing as much at Jessica's exasperated reaction as to what was being said by the teenage elves in the movie.

It was 1hr 42min long, but with the rewinds, it ended up being an extra ten minutes. And just as the credits were rolling, Jessica's phone rang with the news that her car was ready to go.

"Well how about that?" she said as she hung up. "Can we time it or what?"

Phil chuckled as he agreed with her then told Jessica know he was ready anytime they were. She excused herself to use the bathroom then let him know they were ready.

As they headed back to Tire King Tim asked if they were going to see Phil again.

"Oh, he's very busy, honey, so it doesn't seem very...."

"I wouldn't mind that," Phil said, cutting Jessica off but not in a rude way.

"Seriously?"

"It's up to your mom, but I'd like that."

Phil glanced at his passenger then said, "A lot."

"Can we, Mom? Please?"

"Oh. Well, we kind of do owe him a dinner or maybe...."

Phil looked her way, smiled, then said, "You don't owe me anything, Jessica, but I accept."

He laughed then said, "No matter what the offer is."

They both heard Tim say, "Yes!" as he did a fist pump in the back seat, and his mom and her new friend both smiled at one another when it happened.

Suddenly flustered, Jessica blurted out how nice it would be if Phil's mother could join them, too.

"Unless you'd rather bring someone. Else. Like a date or something."

This time he didn't turn his head, but he cut his eyes her way before replying.

"I'm sure my mom would enjoy that. And just so you know, I'm not seeing anyone, so there isn't a date—or anything else—for me to bring."

"Oh. Okay," Jessica said feeling a little foolish and not sure what else to say.

Mercifully, they ready to turn into the Tire King's parking lot, and Phil turned without saying anything else. This time, Jessica remained seated, and a happy, smiling Tim let the older man open his mom's door.

"Thank you," she told him as she stood up. "For everything. Really, Phil. I...can't thank you enough."

"You're very welcome, and I'm really looking forward to seeing you again."

As he went to shut the door, the back of his hand brushed against hers, and when she became aware of that she almost instinctively grabbed his. But that brief thought caused her to pull hers back like his was on fire.

"Sorry," he told her as the door slammed shut.

"No. That...that was fine," she told him as her tummy fluttered.

"Mind if I walk in with you just to make sure the car really is ready?"

"Oh. Um...sure. That wouldn't be so great if there was an issue, huh?"

Jessica didn't look away this time. She looked right at him and smiled as she said it, and when he smiled back, her tummy did a flip she felt certain he had to be able to feel himself.

There was no issue with the car, but before she drove off, Phil said he'd text her so that she'd have his number even though she already did.

"I'll look forward to it," she said as he opened her car's door for her.

Once she was inside, he looked in at Tim then said, "Maybe next time we can do actually do something rather than just sit and watch a movie."

"That would be awesome!" the boy replied with genuine enthusiasm.

"Okay. So I'll see you...and your mom...soon, I hope."

"See you soon, Phil!" Tim called out as his mom smiled and thanked him yet again for all his help.

"My pleasure," he told her as he rested his elbows on the door frame of her window just inches away.

"Bye," Jessica said as she started the car.

Phil stood, smiled again, tapped the roof and told her 'bye', too. He kept smiling as Tim waved while the car went by him, and once they were out of sight, he found himself wishing the three of them could spend more time together. A lot more time.

That evening Marsha called her son as soon as she got home from work to ask how things went with Jessica's car.

"Good. Yeah, they got the tire patched up, and fortunately there was no damage to the rim. They just moved here, and I get the sense money is very tight."

"Oh, thank goodness. I kept worrying about the tire blowing out on the freeway and that sweet boy of hers being in it."

"He's a really nice kid."

"I agree. And his mom seems like a very nice young woman."

Phil smiled then told his mom he agreed.

"I don't suppose we'll be seeing either of them again, but as long as everything's okay, then...."

Phil could tell there was more his mom wanted to say and decided to voluntarily mention going to get them and bringing them home.

"You know what? I saw quite a few dishes in the dishwasher and wondered what was going on. So they spent a couple of hours here?"

"Closer to three," Phil said before explaining how long it took to patch the tire and why.

"That must have been nice," Marsha offered.

"It was. It was very nice."

"Uh-huh. And?"

"And what, Mom?" Phil replied, knowing there was still more she wanted to say.

"I was thinking how...young and pretty Jessica looks. That's all."

"I won't argue with you on either count."

"It's obvious she's a little older than you, but not that much. Don't you think?"

"I'm not sure, but that wouldn't bother me."

Phil paused then asked, "Are you trying to play matchmaker here, Mom?"

"Of course not. I know the university is filled with pretty girls closer to your age. I also know that finding a pretty girl to keep you company isn't a problem. I just thought Jessica was a really nice girl herself. That's all."

Now that he knew where his mom stood, he decided to tell her he might be seeing Jessica again.

"In fact, she said she'd like you to join us. If we ever actually do get together."

"That sounds absolutely delightful!" his mother said in a way that made him smile.