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Instead of being uncomfortable around each other all night, the alarm blasted, and they had a fire to fight. It would take all of the evening into the late night, and when morning came, the exhausted men left without a word, waving to each other and driving off their separate ways.
He’d gotten a few hours’ sleep after the fire. When he got home, the first thing he did was set his alarm for noon. Then even though it was early, he sent Emily a text.
Looking forward to today. We worked last night, but I’m getting into bed now, so don’t make a poolside bed for me just yet.He added a little smiley face at the end.
She didn’t answer, so he figured she was still sleeping.
At noon, his phone alarm went off. He lay there with a smile on his face. Today would be a turning point for him. He was actually going to spend some time with a woman who wasn’t self-absorbed, who knew how to carry on a conversation about a topic that wasn’t fashion or acting related.
It had been a long time, like junior year of high school, since he’d been vaguely interested in a girl with a brain. The attraction to Bethany, a beautiful face devoid of personality, was due to Clare. He hated to blame her, but her insistent badgering turned him completely off. When she realized Paul didn’t want her attention, she poured it on his poor brother, Oliver, who couldn’t wait to get away from her.
Getting out of bed, he saw the face of his phone light up. It was a reply from Emily.
I’m just getting home from shopping. No cell service on the roads up here, as you know! See you when you get here.
He answered right back, not worried about seeming too eager. If she didn’t like it, she’d refuse to see him again.
Hopping in the shower, then on my way.
Feeling like a giddy schoolboy, he thought of her when he was in the shower. She had been working just as hard as the men, swinging the heavy weed whip around, yet she never complained. When he stood next to her, the only indication that she’d been exerting herself was damp hair on the back of her neck. She smelled like piney soap and cut grass. He got an erection, washing his crotch, and started to laugh. He wasn’t going to take care of it perchance she might be interested, so he left it alone. It was difficult being a man, he thought, and still laughing, he turned on the cold water.
While he was trying to calm down, Emily was fixing food for their lunch. She’d spent a small fortune on fresh deli meats and a huge crusty loaf of bread. It would make a great sub, with potato salad, potato chips and a cheesecake for dessert. No point in pretending she didn’t like to eat. And she’d send the rest home with him.
At one o’clock sharp he pulled into her driveway, and excited he was there, she walked out to greet him.
“Hey,” he said, reaching into his car. “I would have been here fifteen minutes sooner, but my neighbor has ESP, and she insisted on cutting this bouquet for you.”
“Oh, how beautiful!” she said, reaching for the flowers. “Does she have a cutting garden? I mean, she must, or is this just random flowers growing around her yard?”
“Good observation, Emily. She has a real florist cutting garden,” he replied.
“Come in and I’ll find a vase.”
They chatted on the way in. “This is a great house,” he said, looking around. “Do you own this, if I may ask.”
“I do. My grandmother died and left me a little money, and I used it as a down payment before I blew it on something else.”
“It’s really nice.”
He walked through the living room to sliding doors that led out to the pool. The vast mountain view looked to the west.
“You have this amazing view from your pool. I could sit right there and look at it all day. What’s it like at night?”
“It’s not as compelling as an urban view. There are a few lights, but it’s mostly agricultural, as you know, so unless there’s a full moon, it’s black mountains.
“Are you hungry?” she asked.
“Starving. That looks delicious.”
“Oh good. I went a little nuts, not knowing what you like.”
“I like everything,” he said.
He stood by her while she prepared a platter, oohing and aahing over everything she did until she was giggling and charmed.
“Tell me all about what it’s like to teach,” he said as they sat outside under an umbrella.
She gave him her standard answer, but then something told her she could venture out of her comfort zone with him, so she told him the truth. “When I was a little girl, we traveled all over, with my father being in the Marines. It was probably my size that made teachers single me out occasionally. It didn’t happen all the time, but when it did, it was never positive and always left a mark. And the kids picked up on it, so the bullying started. I just decided that someday I was going to make a safe classroom for kids.
