He seemed to be a nice man, and she couldn’t believe how much she’d told him about what had happened at theSheep.She wasn’t one to trust easily and was surprised that she’d trusted him with as much as she had.Getting ready to make the first pizza that the woman ordered, she was able to make it without any trouble.Just as she put it in the oven to cook, the woman was getting loud to Cheryl.Tuning the two of them out, she wondered again why she’d trusted so much the first time she’d seen him.
The poke to her ribs had her turning toward the person who was standing behind her.She smiled at Cheryl and asked her what she needed.The laughter caught her off guard, and she didn’t know what was going on.
“She’s left.You can have the pizza if you want it.I don’t think she’ll be back for a while.”She said good.“I agree.She thinks that if she comes in here complaining again, I’m going to say she can have them for free.I don’t work that way.You go ahead and have that one, and I’ll just take a slice.It’s better than letting it go to waste.”
After eating a couple of slices of the pizza, she was ready to quit.It wasn’t something that she would normally eat, pineapple and ham, but it was all right if you liked that sort of thing.Deciding that she didn’t want any more, Cheryl decided to take it home with her, and she did when they closed up.For a Wednesday night, they’d been busy, and she was ready to call it a night.
She tried to look out for Gleason when she was walking home.She knew that he was out there someplace, but she couldn’t tell one car from another.When she got to the greenhouse, he beeped his horn and drove away.She was going to have to tell him to stop this before he got her caught.But she didn’t know how to do that since it was his place she was staying in.Wondering what to do next, she readied herself for bed and got under the covers.It wasn’t really chilly out, but the blankets made her feel like she was being wrapped in warmth from a hug, and she really enjoyed that.
Getting up the next morning, she showered as best she could and washed her hair.It was long,and all she ever wore it in was a fat braid down the back of her shirt.Braiding it now, she kept an eye out around the area to make sure no one was snooping around.She didn’t know what she’d do if someone came into the greenhouse while she was there.Scream, she supposed, but no one would hear her.Shivering about the fact that she was alone out here, she knew better than to think of things that would get her into trouble.That would prey on her mind all day, and she’d never get anything done, looking over her shoulder all the time.
When the large truck pulled into the lot, she tried to think where to hide.Before she made it back to the office, where she could at least close the door, she heard her name being called.At least the one that people around here knew her as.It was Gleason, and he had a bag with him.
“I brought some breakfast.”She asked him if he was trying to give her a flipping heart attack.“No.I never thought of how scared you might be if you saw me.I’ve been following you for a week.I guess I was doing a good job of it because you didn’t know my truck.”
“I barely know a truck from a car.”She did know better, but that wasn’t the point right now.“What do you have in that bag?It smells wonderful.”
“I bought us some breakfast.Then I thought, if you’d not mind, I’d take you out to my new house.It’s finished.Even the back yard.”She asked him if there was anyone there who was going to take her.“No.I told you that you could trust me, and you can.The only people who will be at the house are you and me.I haven’t even told my family yet that the house is completed.David knows, but he won’t say anything until I’m ready.”
She took the still-warm donut from him and moaned at the taste.It was just sweet enough that she wouldn’t get a headache from it and warm enough that it didn’t burn her.Taking a second bite, he pulled out one coffee for her.Telling him that she didn’t drink it, he gave her the tea.She loved hot tea with donuts.Eyeing him while she ate the second donut, she asked him why he wanted her to see the house.
“Because when I got the keys yesterday, all I could think about was showing it off.And you’re the first person that came to mind.I have no idea why, but there you have it.”He was biting into his second donut when he told her that he’d have to remember she didn’t like coffee.“I don’t drink it either and should have gotten two teas, but I didn’t know what you’d drink.”
“I had to give it up when I went on the lam.There is no way that I can brew myself a cup of coffee while being in here, so I went cold turkey.It was painful there for a while.”He said he’d gotten into the habit of drinking it while in the service, but never really cared for it.“I can imagine.Jamie, the guy I worked with at theSheep,would like it bitter and black.I swear that it curled his hair; it was so nasty.I used to drink mine without anything in it, too, but it was not bitter.I like it smooth.”
They finished off the donuts.She had two, and he had the other four.She would hate to have to feed him; she’d bet anything that he could eat his weight in food.Asking him about his house, she was shocked to see how happy he was about it.Not only was it finished, he told her, but he was ready to put furniture in any day now.She told him that she was excited for him in that.
“So now that I’ve bribed you with donuts, would you come and see the house with me?It’s off the beaten path, so no one will see you if that makes you feel better.”She said that it did actually.“Good.We’ll leave here when you’re ready.I’m glad to see that the blankets have come in handy.I love to snuggle down deep into blankets when I’m going to bed at night.”
She didn’t want to imagine him snuggling anywhere, but she did.Getting her jacket, as it was still chilly outside in the morning, she followed him out to the truck before her mind got her into trouble.It wasn’t new, but it was large.Getting in proved to be a little hard, but with his help, she was able to get in and see everything around her at the same time.They drove out to the site in silence.
At first glance, she thought that he’d taken a wrong turn somewhere.Then the closer they got to the house, she realized to call it a house was something of an understatement; it was a frigging mansion.Jumping out of the truck, she stood there while he came to her side.She looked up at him and could see that he was proud of his home.
“It’s beautiful.”His face turned red, and she thought that was charming.“I thought when yousaid you were single that the house would be small.It’s huge, isn’t it?”
“I have seven bedrooms, counting the master.And five bathrooms.I didn’t want to have to wait in line when I had to use the bathroom anymore.I have five brothers, and we all lived in the same house for a long time with just one bathroom, so I wanted enough that no one had to wait.”He laughed and took her hand into his as he dragged her to the house.“The living room is my favorite.I can have my whole family over and not be crowded in the same room if we want to watch television.How do you like sports?”
“I like it well enough when I can watch it.I don’t have a television where I’m staying right now.”She didn’t think he was listening to her as he was going on about the rest of the house.
He dragged her from room to room, telling her some of the specials about it.Like, there were plugs in the floor for the couches to be plugged into and not have to run wires around the room.There was even an electrical outlet high on the wall in the corners so that he could put his Christmas tree there and not have to overload the plugs.He had given a lot of thought to this house, and it was infectious how excited he was about it.Then he took her into the kitchen.
“I wanted enough plugs around the room that we could plug in everything that we needed.There are even plugs in the walls beside one another to double up the electrical outlets.”He took her to the pantry.“I’m going to hire myself a cook and have this filled with anything that she’d need to bake up a batch of cookies whenever I want.I even had a chef go over the plans so that it would be fit for a cook when I hired one.”
The second floor held the bedrooms.It was a nice layout that had a double wall between each bedroom so that it was quiet in each room.He told her how, when he was a kid, he could hear people talking in the other room when he was trying to sleep, and thought that it would be nice to have thicker walls.The bathrooms were lined up in a way that each bedroom had its own bathroom/closet so that they could get dressed right out of the shower/tub.The master suite was large enough to hold two toilets.She loved the thought that went into this room and told him so.
“I’ve been dreaming of my own home since I was ten.I didn’t think I’d ever get one, but I’ve been making notes on what I wanted in it since then.Once we sold the farm, I had to go back over my notes and revise them, but I think I did all right.”She said that it was spectacular.“Thank you.I wanted someday to have a family.A big family like the one that I came from.”
“Those are big dreams.Don’t you have five brothers?”He laughed and said that he did.“I’d like a big family too.I was an only child.My parents only remembered they had me when something would come up at school, or I’d get hurt.Mostly, I was raised by nannies and tutors.Not a bad childhood, I suppose.Much better than yours was, I heard.”
“Yes, mine was a terrible childhood right up until they were both dead.”She said she’d not heard that his father had died.“Yes, he died a few weeks ago.Not that any of us cared, but he’s out of our lives now, and we couldn’t be happier.I’m sorry if that sounds cruel.”
“It doesn’t.I heard about your family.And what I didn’t read about, people are always willing to have their version of what happened.I won’t know the true story until you tell me.If you wish.Otherwise, I’ll keep my opinions to myself.That’s the way that I get along with people.I just ignore them until they say something smart.Which isn’t all that often if you ask me.”
“I’ll tell you about them sometimes.And just so you know, the worst version of what happened is more than likely the truth.You can’t imagine what we went through as children living with him around all the time.And when he killed our mother, that was the end of his being our father for us.”She told him she was sorry.“No need for that.He wasn’t a violent man, but what he did to our mother made up for all the threats that he put upon us.All because she told him no.”
“I’m truly sorry about that.I read that she was making jam that day with you boys.”Gleason told her that was right.“Isn’t it funny how I’m betting right now that you, none of you, eat jam at all.”
“We don’t.Would you like to see the kitchen again?There are things in there that I forgot to point out to you.”She smiled at him and told him she wanted to see them.“I like you, Candy, or whatever your name is.”
