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“You don’t need one.”
His frow furrowed for a second. “I don’t think we should be taking any chances.”
“Brad, I can’t get pregnant if that’s what you are worried about. I had a partial hysterectomy a few years ago. And if you are worried about some disease, well, I haven’t had sex with anyone in two years, so I’m pretty sure I’m STD-free.”
“You tell me that now?” He laughed. “If I had known that, I might have taken you up against the wall earlier today.”
I laughed with him. “We were rather dirty.”
He leaned down and kissed me. “A little bit of dirt never hurt anyone, did it?”
I shook my head as a notification came from the floor, and Brad sighed. “Text message. It’s probably one of my brothers wondering where I am.”
“Well, then you better get going.”
“Yeah, I should.” Before he got up, he kissed me again, and then I told him to feel free to use the bathroom before he dressed. I had my robe on when he returned with his jeans back in place and I watched as he slipped his t-shirt on, then his socks and shoes.
I walked him to the door. “I’m sorry I have to leave. This isn’t me. I don’t just have sex and run away.”
“I know you don’t, Brad, but you have places to be, and I have things to do. I’m glad you came over. Now go enjoy dinner with your family, and I’ll see you later.”
“Can I call you later tonight?”
“I have work to do,” I told him. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Go have fun.”
“Fine.” He sighed, but he was smiling as he did so. “I’ll see you later.”
After one final kiss, I watched him walk down the front steps to his truck. I closed the door after a last wave and leaned my forehead against the door.
“Well, damn,” I muttered to myself. I had wanted to have sex with Brad as a stress reliever. A wham-bam kind of thing, but it had felt like more than that. I didn’t need or want more than that.
I had seen it in his eyes as he’d said goodbye. He had feelings for me—or he could have feelings for me. I didn’t want him to have feelings for me, and I sure didn’t want to have feelings for him. My life was way too busy to add in a man who had two children.
I pushed off the door and went back to my room to get dressed, call the girls, and then work on my papers.
* * *
School was busy the next day, and then we had soccer practice. By the time I got out of there, I was dragging. Unfortunately, I still had things to do for school, which ended up being an early night.
Tuesday after work, I drove to Summersville, which was an hour away, to shop in the larger hardware store. I knew what color paint I wanted for my bedroom but needed swatches for the house's other rooms.
I heard my phone announce a few notifications, but I was in my element and focused on what I was doing. Or more like, I was in planning mode as I moved slowly down each aisle, looking for things that I would need to complete my projects.
I had about a hundred and fifty thousand to put into restoring the house. That was after selling my home in New York for a significant profit and getting this new one for a bargain, plus tapping into my savings. A good thirty grand was going to the plumbing job. Another thirty to my kitchen and about ten thousand for the rewire, plus or minus a grand. Right there was seventy thousand dollars for those three projects alone. That didn’t include the bathroom remodels, the new washer and dryer, replacing the porch that ran around the house on three sides, the stone wall in the entryway, new lighting fixtures, or floor restoration.
Oh my god! What was the floor going to cost? I rubbed my temples for a few moments. Maybe I should do some research on wood floor restoration and do it myself. It wasn’t anything I had ever wanted to do before, but if it would save me some money, then maybe.
I would have to ask Brad if he knew anyone who restored old wood floors. I’m sure he knew someone. He knew practically everyone. In a weekend, he had almost sourced out my entire house—except my garage. Damn. I forgot about building the garage.
I pulled out my phone and quickly searched for the average cost of building a two-car garage. The estimate was twenty to thirty thousand. I winced. Maybe I would put up a one car garage instead. The highest estimate on that was only fifteen thousand.
While I had my phone in hand, I checked to see what messages I had. I had one from Kayley asking if I was going to be home for dinner. I replied that I wouldn’t.
I had a second message from one of my soccer player's parents asking about an upcoming game. I replied to that one too.
Lauren sent me a picture of her and Emmy doing a puzzle. I replied that I loved it and told her I’d talk to her at eight tonight.
Then I stared at the message from Brad.You working on your house tonight?
