by Natalie Ann
“They sleep all the time,” Maddie said. “I want to play with them more.”
“They take naps like you should,” Shannon said.
“I had my nap on the couch after lunch,” Maddie told him. “That is when I need to lay down. Taffy slept with me. She’s my puppy. Oreo is Jeffrey’s. Do you know which one is which?”
“I think I can figure it out,” he said, “since I love Oreos so much.”
“Me too,” Jeffrey said. “But Mom’s cookies are the best. She’s making sugar cookies while we work and then we get to decorate them later tonight.”
“Sounds like fun,” he said. “My mother used to do that too.”
“Why don’t you and Ryan go in the garage and get to work,” she said. “It was very nice of him to take time out of his day to spend it with you and we don’t want to waste it.”
“Can Ryan stay for dinner with us?” Jeffery asked. “Mom’s a great cook. She’s making homemade hamburgers on the grill and fries. She makes them by hand. She makes everything by hand.”
“And salad,” Maddie yelled. “I like tomatoes.”
He looked at Shannon and saw her flush. “Please. We have plenty and the least I could do is cook for you. If you don’t have plans?”
“No plans. Dinner sounds good.” He picked the box up. “We’re going to make a birdhouse today.”
“We are?” Jeffrey asked. “How?”
“When I was about your age my grandfather made one with me. I’ve got all the wood cut and we’ll glue it and then I’m going to show you how, where, and when to use the different screwdrivers, a hammer, and wrench. Maybe we can walk around the house and see if there are any loose screws for you to fix?” He winked at Shannon and couldn’t believe he’d done that move. When had he ever done anything as frivolous as that?
“I think there might be a loose handle on a drawer. Maybe the builders didn’t tighten it enough,” she said and laughed at him.
He shook his head and walked down the hall and to the garage, then pulled everything out and laid it on the ground to start to explain different things. Jeffrey’s tool bag was already in his hand ready to go after he’d grabbed it from the mudroom.
“Do you see how this nail is flat and has a slit in it?” he asked the little boy.
“Yes.”
“Which of these two screwdrivers do you think you need to use?”
“This one,” Jeffrey said, picking it up. “Because it looks like it fits in that slit.”
“That’s right. It’s called a flat head screwdriver.”
“So, is this one a round head screwdriver, or maybe a star head screwdriver?”
The kid was smart and fast. “No. That one is called a Phillips head?”
“Because Philip had a round head with a star on it?”
He laughed. “No. It was named after Henry Phillips, but I don’t think it’s because his head was shaped like that.”
The two of them got to work, moving and twisting things. Gluing and building.
Over an hour later, Shannon opened the door to check on them. “How’s it going? Can I get you something to drink? Oh my, that’s a birdhouse already.”
“Look, Mom. We built it together. I get to paint it when I’m done. Ryan brought paint too.”
“That’s so good. I’ll have to get a little metal stand to hang it on and a place for bird food and water.”
“Can I have some water?” Jeffrey asked.
“Yes, you can. Ryan?”
“I’ll take a water too,” he said.
“Mom, Ryan says lefty loosey and righty tighty like you.”
He felt some heat fill his face. “I was explaining to him how to know which direction to go in.”
“That’s what I do too,” she said, her own face red.
“But you say it out loud every time you open and close jars,” Jeffrey said.
“Water coming right up,” she said and left them there together.
“Mom knows what she’s doing,” Jeffrey said. “But she has to talk to herself to get through it a lot. Sometimes she swears when she thinks we aren’t around, but she tells Aunt Zoe to watch her language.”
“I’m not sure you are supposed to hear those words.”
“I think there are a lot of things we shouldn’t hear. Like Aunt Zoe thinks Mommy is alone. She needs some friends and needs to get out and live a little. But she’s alive so I’m not sure what that means.”
“Adult talk,” he told Jeffrey, knowing Shannon might not appreciate that her children could hear those conversations.
“Well, maybe you can be Mommy’s friend. The only man that’s been around is Uncle John since my daddy died and now Uncle John is in Seattle where Daddy used to work.”
“Is Uncle John your father’s brother?” he asked, wondering if that was a name for a guy Shannon was dating. Then he had to stop himself from caring. It wasn’t any of his business.
“No. Uncle John is married to Aunt Abby. Uncle John and Daddy were best friends and owned their company together.”
“Here’s your water,” Shannon said, walking out.
“Thanks,” he said, taking the bottle, and hoped to hell she didn’t hear the conversation he was having just now.
10
Adult Time
“How’s it going out there?” Zoe asked her when she walked back in.
“It seems like it’s going well,” she told her sister. She wasn’t going to say she’d overheard Ryan asking who John was. It seemed her son was talking more than he normally did. Jeffrey had never opened up to anyone other than Tyler and John.
“It’s kind of sweet of Ryan to do that. Ask him out to dinner as a thank you.”
“What?” Shannon whispered. “I’m cooking dinner for him tonight. And don’t think I don’t know you put Jeffrey up to asking him to stay.”
Zoe grinned. “I really didn’t. He’d been talking about Ryan for hours. But, honest to God, I didn’t say a word to him about dinner. That was your kid. Maybe he thinks you should ask Ryan out too.”
“Stop it,” she said and looked over to see Maddie on the couch watching TV with the dogs. She didn’t want the dogs on the furniture, but everyone was behaving and it was better than nothing.
“She can’t hear us. Relax. But you should ask him to dinner. You could use a little adult time away. I see the way he looks at you.”
“No, he doesn’t,” she argued, then asked, “Do you think?”
“He does. You see it yourself or you wouldn’t have just asked me that. It’s been over a year. No one is going to think anything of it and, if they do, too damn bad. You’re entitled to move on. Tyler wouldn’t want you not to. You’re too young.”
She knew that. She’d had plenty of dreams of her husband and they all were the same. He didn’t want her alone. He didn’t want her worried and overdoing things. He wanted her happy.
Was she trying to convince herself of that? Most likely.
She missed him. Not just having someone around to do all the little things she never had to worry about before but also having male companionship. Someone to talk to at the end of the day. Someone to snuggle with on the couch.
To hold her in bed at night. To make her feel like a woman.
Those feelings had been dormant for so long and then in the past few weeks they seemed to have been woken up faster than jumping out of bed during an earthquake.
“I’ve never asked anyone out before. If he was interested, he could ask me,” she said.
“Maybe he is nervous because he doesn’t know your history? That’s what the date could be for.”
“Him nervous?” she said. “I’m nervous. I’ve only been with one man my whole life. I only know one way to do things.”
Zoe laughed and leaned down. “I’m sure you know more than one way to have sex, but that isn’t what this is about. Is it? Are you horny, Shannon?”
“Shhh.”
“Oh my God. You want his body,” Zoe said.
“Stop it.”<
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“I can’t. That’s great. Ask him out. You need someone to pop that cork for the first time. Why not a hot sexy construction worker? I see you looking his body over when you’re around him. And have you noticed he has been showing up near you too? Helping you at the picnic when I left? Helping Jeffrey right now?”
“Maybe he thinks I’m easy pickings. I don’t want that. And I’m not using anyone for the sake of sex. That isn’t me. I wouldn’t sleep with anyone that I didn’t feel something for. You know that.”
“I know,” Zoe said, rubbing her hand. “Let me help you with dinner. It sounds like they should be done soon. I’m just picking on you, but you know I want what is best for you and the kids too.”
“That’s another thing. What will the kids think? I don’t want them to think I’m replacing their father. I’m not.”
“No one is going to think that. Trust me. If it gets that far that is when you have those talks. No one is looking into the future but you. That’s always been your problem. You want to plan everything out and life can’t happen that way.”
“Don’t go there.”
“And that’s avoidance too. I’ll stop now. You’re the older sister and the wiser one.”
“Now you’re just busting on me,” she said.
“Of course,” Zoe said. “I’ll wash and peel the potatoes while you make the patties.”
“Thanks.”
“Mommy,” Jeffrey said, running in twenty minutes later, slipping back into “Mommy” mode in his excitement. “We painted it. It’s blue and yellow because Ryan said that will be bright and let them know where their house is when they want to get out of the rain.”
“Hmm. What a sweet thing to say, right , Shannon?” Zoe said, looking at her. “Maybe I’ll take the kids for a quick trip to the hardware store and get a metal hanger and some bird food like you mentioned you wanted to do. Kids, want to run to the store?”
“Yay,” Maddie said. “I love the store. Can I get some candy?”
“No,” Shannon said. “No candy. We have cookies for later. And you really don’t need to do that, Zoe.”
“But the kids want to, right? Don’t you want to hang your birdhouse and show Ryan what it looks like in the yard?”
“Yes, I do. Please, Mommy, can Aunt Zoe take us while you cook? You aren’t going to leave, Ryan, right? You said you are staying for dinner?”
“I’ll be here,” he said.
She shot her sister a stare that she’d deal with her and her manipulating ways later.
“Sorry about that,” she said once everyone deserted her. “My sister thinks she’s being cute leaving us alone.”
“Not a problem. My sister can be like that too. So, how do you like living in Paradise so far? Finding everything in the area okay?”
“It’s great. I’m not sure I’m going to enjoy the snow when winter comes, but it will be nice to have the changing seasons. Everyone says fall is beautiful here. I’m glad you keep some of the trees between the houses when you build.”
“We don’t want it to look too barren. Many plant more, but it’s nice to have some of the older trees too. It gives it character. I’ve got several in my backyard.”
“How far away do you live?”
“About a mile. I’m in the new section but not the newest. I actually didn’t build my house. Sorry. Of course our family built all the houses here, but I’d bought mine.”
“In the new section? How old is it?”
“It was five years old. Not nearly as big as yours,” he said, laughing. “It’s one-story living. The upstairs is a bonus room and office or guest room with a full bath. More like a loft. The downstairs is three bedrooms, two baths. It’s about twenty-five hundred square feet total.”
“Sounds like a big house to me,” she said.
“For one person it is. The basement is finished too, but only part of it. I did that when I moved in. I’ll do the rest at some point. Anyway, the people who built it relocated out of the area. It suits my needs.”
“And then some, I’m sure.”
He tilted his head to the side and she wished she didn’t say that. She wasn’t sure she even knew what it meant when she said it.
“Can I help with anything? I’ll confess I’m not that good in the kitchen though. I’ve got a nice oven and stove that hasn’t been used much at all.”
“I like to cook. But if you want to slice those potatoes that’s fine. That was Zoe’s job before she left.”
“Your sister is interesting,” he said.
“She is that. She means well. She’s twenty-five and thinks I should be like her. I’m not much older but old enough that I’m not out to party like she is. I’ve got a lot more responsibility than her.”
“So you’re probably close to my age,” he said.
“Twenty-eight for me. Almost twenty-nine.”
“I just turned twenty-nine myself,” he said. “So you started out having kids early.”
She turned and looked at him. “Right out of college. I married my high school sweetheart. He proposed right after we walked down that stage and got our diplomas and we married a few months after. Then came Jeffrey about a year later.”
“I don’t mean to be nosy or pry.”
“You didn’t ask. I offered the information,” she said.
“Why did you?”
She took a deep breath and figured what the hell. Might as well go for it. “Because I’d like to ask you to dinner sometime when I don’t have a meddling sister and two young kids around. But I want you to know that I’m not someone who dates a lot and I’m not even sure why I’m asking you. I mean I know. Don’t get me wrong. And wow, I’m making a total mess out of this.”
“Dinner sounds good,” he said.
“Really?” she asked. “I don’t sleep around. I’m not looking to just date one person to get that out of the way to move onto someone else.”
“What?” he asked, looking shocked by her words.
“Oh my God. I didn’t just say that. I tend to talk out loud when I should be talking to myself in my head. I just didn’t want you to think I was easy or that I was getting the first one out of the way after my husband died.”
“The first one?” he asked, his lips trying to grin. “Like being a born again virgin.”
She started to laugh. “Not possible. I’ve had two kids. Urgh. You didn’t need me to say that. This is a mistake. I’m not sure why I let Zoe talk me into this.”
“So it was your sister’s idea to ask me to dinner?” he asked, the smile he was working toward gone.
“No. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t something I wanted too. I guess I just want you to know that I’m clueless right now. I’m pretty clueless about life in general it seems.”
“I don’t think you are. You’re honest and sincere and that means more than anything.”
“Just remember that when we are at dinner if I try to reach over and cut the meat on your plate.”
11
Nothing To Worry About
The following Saturday Ryan pulled into Shannon’s driveway ready to take her to dinner.
He wasn’t sure what to expect out of the night and didn’t have a lot of high hopes.
He was attracted to her. There was no doubt there. She wasn’t anything like anyone else he’d dated in years.
She wasn’t out for his name—at least he didn’t think so. Not if she could pay cash for this house.
She didn’t seem like the type of person that would want to change him. He figured she had too much on her plate to even worry or think of something like that. Which was a good thing because he was who he was and didn’t plan on changing his ways for anyone.
But she’d asked him out and he knew it took a lot for her to do that. Which was odd because the few times he’d talked to her before the move she was firm, direct, and didn’t seem to lack any confidence.
Now all of a sudden, she was a different person.
And when he rang the doorbell and she ope
ned it up wearing a pretty peach sundress and sandals he knew he might be in trouble.
Didn’t she say that her sister made a comment about her letting herself go and he wondered if that was the case what she would look like if she dressed up?
Well, now he knew.
She was stunning. Almost angelic with her dirty blonde hair floating along her back but pulled away from her face. Normally it was in a ponytail except for the day of the picnic. It’d started down and was blowing everywhere and kind of wild. He liked it like that, but she ended up throwing it up.
“Hi,” she said, a big smile on her face. “Come on in. I’ll just get my purse.”
He glanced down at her bare toes in her sandals. Her nails were painted a bright red. She had long thin feet. Pretty feet.
When had he ever looked at a woman’s feet and thought they were pretty before?
Shannon didn’t even have a chance to turn before Jeffrey came running toward the front door with two puppies trailing behind him.
Ryan crouched down to give the furiously wiggling bodies a rub and saw them both flop over onto their back and expose their bellies. “They like their tummies rubbed,” Jeffrey said. “Are you here to show me how to build something again?”
“Ah, no,” he said, not sure how to really answer.
“Jeffrey,” Shannon said. “We talked about this. Ryan and I are going out to dinner tonight. You’re staying with Aunt Zoe and Maddie and ordering pizza.”
“Why can’t I go too?” he asked.
“Because this is an adult dinner,” Zoe said, running forward and putting her hands on Jeffrey’s shoulders. “You’re going to hurt my feelings by saying these things. I’ll think you don’t want to stay with me and watch movies like we planned.”
“Oh yeah,” Jeffrey said. “Bye, Mommy. Give me a kiss.”
Ryan watched as she leaned down and kissed her son on the forehead, then Maddie came running and wanted one too. Shannon picked the little girl up and did the same. “Kiss the puppies,” Maddie said.
She turned and looked at him. “How about I give them belly rubs instead?”