I Knew You Were Trouble: Accidents Happen

by Potter, M. X.

  "It did look bad, but I thought you were going to live with it," Adeline added.

  "You didn't like it so I decided to replace it."

  "Are you trying to impress me?" Adeline asked. There was a challenge in her tone that confused me. I think she was trying to pick a fight over fixing a bent door. I really didn't want to fight over the damn door.

  "Yes, I guess I was," I said firmly and put my hands on my hips. Adeline smiled as she moved close. I could see a sparkle in her eyes.

  "I am impressed," Adeline said and kissed me. This time I didn't have a mouth full of pancake. I wasn't going to be satisfied with a little peck. Not after her bent door teasing. I pulled her into me, our lips at first caressing, then pressing, then sharing. I felt the tip of her tongue tickle my upper lip. I could feel her heartbeat strengthen, and a heat rose through my core.

  "Oh," Adeline breathed as she separated from me, "that was more than expected." I wanted to devour her right then. I stopped, not sensing I had permission to continue. It was something in her posture. I dropped my hands to her hips -- less aggressive, but still sensual. I didn't want to lose it all.

  "Too fast?" I asked.

  "No and yes," Adeline answered cryptically. "I meant to kiss you, I just didn't think...I liked it more than....we've only known each other for a day." Her floundering was adorable. I could see it in her eyes. I was as much an enigma to her as she was to me. I released her hips -- there was no danger of losing her right now.

  "I have to get something at the hardware store to patch the wall. I'll pick up my phone and see if I can't get your stuff from Rose's." I paused for a moment. "You know I'm going to spend most of the day trying to figure out how to impress you again." Adeline laughed.

  "I'll try my sister again," Adeline said. She looked serious for a second. "I'd like to stay tonight, even if I find her."

  "I would love for you to stay." I loved her smile. This time I allowed a simple peck.

  ***

  I drove to the phone store first. Life was different without my mobile. It was not unpleasant, I just felt undressed without it; almost off balance without that little rectangle bulging out of my left front pocket. I was the only customer. It was the first time I had ever been there and was waited on before I could say hello.

  "We have it in the back, Mr. Richardson. It will just be a minute," the young techie said before he disappeared into the back room. I walked around aimlessly, looking at a rack of phone covers. I had one once, but didn't like how thick it made the phone. I laughed inwardly, thinking a cover may have saved my phone when Adeline dropped it. I started to go over to the tablet displays, and my foot caught on something. I absently pulled harder without thinking. There was a slight screech, and I turned in time to see the six-foot display of hundreds of phone covers fall in slow motion to the floor. My feeble attempt at reaching out to stop it was entirely too late. When it crashed, the covers scattered like scared mice across the floor.

  Three of the employees came out of the back room with looks of shock. My foot was still caught in the bottom of the rack and my attempts to stand the rack back up seemed to be making the problem worse. "I'm sorry," I said quickly, "I'm, not sure what happened."

  "Don't worry, Mr. Richardson," the techie said as he handed me my phone, "we'll take care of this." His tone was condescending, and I was in no position to dispute it. He kneeled down and untangled my shoe lace from the stand. The other employees began gathering the scattered cases.

  "Look, I'm really sorry about this," I repeated. He waved me off without saying a word. I felt like an idiot. The other two were avoiding my eyes. I made my exit, with embarrassment tingling in my spine. I sat in my rental car for a few moments, letting the feeling subside. If anything, I knew part of what Adeline felt like. It was inwardly painful, burning deep into the mind. Adeline must be deeply burnt inside. I could be her aloe, that much I could do.

  At least it was nice to have a phone again. The thought made me remember to call Rose. It was a brief conversation. For a moment, I thought Rose would hang up on me, but she was willing to allow me to pick up Adeline's stuff as long as Adeline wasn't going to be there. I thought it was pretty childish. I intended to tell Rose, once I had Adeline's stuff loaded. I got the address and disconnected politely.

  Rose lived in an apartment complex. She had a place in the back on the fourth floor. It was a gated establishment with a guard out front who insisted I show an ID to enter. I smelled money, though I thought it was wasted fencing out the world. I parked in a guest spot, close to the door the guard indicated would be best. I had to speak into an intercom before Rose buzzed me in.

  Rose was a heavy woman. Not, a two-plane-ticket woman, but someone who really likes her meals. She spent a lot of money on stationary hair, the type that is curled, then glued in place on the top of her head. It looked like her dirty blonde hair wouldn't have moved in a hurricane. She was much older than Adeline, but what surprised me was her kind smile.

  "How is Adeline?" Rose asked. I wasn't ready for the question. I suspected the 'here's her shit now get out,' message.

  "Upset," I answered truthfully, "she wants to talk with you about it." I wanted to add a small tirade about human decency, but her kind face was too disarming.

  "Yeah, it's kind of unlike me," Rose responded. "Cathy thought it best not to encourage Adeline to rely on me anymore. She knew I would cave if I talked with her again."

  "Cathy?" I asked surprised. What kind of crap was going on?

  "Cathy...her sister. I couldn't reach Adeline's cell two nights ago... after the insurance company called, so I called Cathy." Something sounded wrong, but I let it sink in and followed Rose into what looked like a guest room. The apartment was bigger than my house. It looked like she had paintings on the wall worth more than my house.

  "These two boxes are hers and those three suitcases." Rose sighed. "Not a lot to show for her life." She shook her head slowly. "The fire kind of zapped the drive out of her." I grabbed the first box and headed to the door. "Here, this will let you back in." Rose slipped her key card into my back pocket since my hands were full. I loaded the first box in the trunk and returned to the apartment.

  "So, Cathy said you shouldn't talk with Adeline anymore?" I asked casually as I went for the second box.

  "She thinks Adeline needs a lesson in self reliance," Rose said while nodding, "Adeline has had a rash of incidents, and people keep bailing her out. I am the worst of the bailers." I lifted the box, a little dubious of the psychology involved.

  "So, you two were just going to leave her in jail?" I asked.

  "Jail! No one said anything about jail!" Her eyes went wide, "Oh, the poor girl. How long was she there?"

  "Just a night," I said as I headed back to the door. A few minutes later I was back up for the suitcases.

  "I'll call Adeline," Rose said when I returned, "I didn't know anything about jail. It was the third accident with one of my cars...I was a little angry. I was going to leave the problem to Cathy. She's been taking care of Adeline since they were kids." Rose looked a little embarrassed about the jail part. "Shit, I'll be lucky if the guy she hit doesn't sue me into the next century." The swearing didn't fit what little I knew of Rose's personality. I could tell she felt guilty about ignoring Adeline and was trying to justify it.

  "Yeah," I joked, "I hear the guy's a real asshole." The expression on Rose's face was priceless, but I couldn't keep a serious face. I laughed and added, "I'm not suing anyone, just keep the lawyers away. I've had my fill for lifetime."

  "She hit you?" Rose smiled.

  "Yep," I said as I lifted the two suitcases, then added without thinking, "kind of a love tap." The words shocked me inside. It was just a misused cliché. I hurried with my load down to the car. I returned for the last suitcase and found Rose pouring two glasses of wine.

  "Sit," Rose said, pointing to a chair. There was concern in her voice. "Please." I sat and she handed me a glass of white wine and took the seat opposite me. "Lov
e tap?"

  "It's just a saying," I said. The wine was pretty good. Rose looked at me in a strange way.

  "Adeline needs someone. I just don't know if it is the guy she hit with a car." I became confused and somewhat irritated. I set the wine down and stood to get the last suitcase out of the guest room. "Sorry, I said that wrong," she said.

  "You think it's best to ignore her and now you question me," I said, trying to keep my tone civil, "I'm not sure if Adeline needs friends like you."

  "Please," Rose said, pointing at the seat, "you're right, of course." I sat back down, but left the wine where it was. "I just don't want to see her hurt." I shook my head.

  "I'm confused, she's old enough to make her own decisions." I looked around the apartment, at the art and expensive furniture. "Why do you care?" Adeline didn't seem to fit with Rose. I was missing something and I wasn't sure I even cared to know.

  "I was friends with her mother," Rose admitted, "very good friends. When she passed away, I promised to keep an eye on Adeline, that's all."

  "So you ignore her?" I wasn't sure I wanted to be there any longer. Rose sat back in her chair and studied me for a moment.

  "What do you do for a living?" Rose asked, ignoring my question.

  "Excuse me?" I said as stood again, "I think I'll just finish loading and be on my way." I had no idea why she switched to interrogation mode. None of it made any sense, and I decided I would prefer ignorance. I moved to the guest room and retrieved the last suitcase. I handed Rose the key card as I was walking out.

  "Please don't hurt her," Rose said as she took the card. It was a plea, a desperate one. I looked at eyes that were wetter than they should be. I almost reminded her, again, that she was the one doing the hurting. I thought better of it. I just nodded and headed down to the car. A strange woman, that one.

  I next went to the hardware store. I talked with someone who seemed knowledgeable and then gathered joint compound, some wood for furring strips, mesh drywall tape and a quarter sheet of drywall. I had to laugh, the quarter sheet cost almost as much as a full sheet. My mudding skills left a lot to be desired, but the hole was behind the washer/dryer. If it wasn't perfect, nobody would know.

  I came home to find the house smelling like a pine forest. The kitchen was sparkling clean. I could see myself in the stainless steel handles of the appliances. I called to Adeline and heard a weak reply from the bathroom. I found her there, inside the shower scrubbing away at my years of hard-water stains.

  "What are you doing?" I asked. Adeline was wearing another of my old t-shirts, and I could see she had worked up a sweat. She smiled when she saw me.

  "I'm just repaying your kindness. Besides, your bathroom was a little gross."

  "You don't have to do that," I said, as I looked at the gleaming sink and pristine toilet. I couldn't remember the last time the shower doors were fully transparent. "I'm not going to stop you though. It looks so damn clean." I guess the bathroom was a little gross. I opened the shower door. "Thank you," I said and kissed her smiling lips. A wet, chemical-smelling hand wrapped around my neck and pulled my lips back to hers. I felt my heat rising again as her lips parted slightly and her tongue began to explore. I almost slipped as I stepped into the shower, and she broke the kiss, laughing.

  "Let me finish this," Adeline said, giving me another quick kiss. Her face lost its smile and she looked into my eyes. "I want to be with you tonight. It's entirely too soon, and I don't care." I smiled, my blood rising more than it should. I quelled my impatience.

  "I'll start on the hole in the wall," I said as I stepped carefully out of the shower, "and try hopelessly to keep my mind on the job." I loved Adeline's sly smile. I turned and walked back to the garage to unload the car. All I could think of was her. She was becoming more attractive as her confidence increased. I kept trying to imagine what was under that t-shirt. I tried to develop a picture in my mind of the breast I had felt last night. I wondered if her panties were still blue or had she changed to another color, or none at all. My mind was a sewer and I wanted so much to wallow in it.

  I measured the hole and cut a rectangular piece of drywall to cover it. I placed the piece over the hole and traced around it with a pencil. I used a hand saw to enlarge the hole to fit the piece perfectly. I cut two furring strips a little taller than the hole and screwed them to the inside of the drywall on both sides of the hole, thus building a frame to attach the piece. I put the piece in the hole and screwed it to the furring strips. I was overly proud of my work.

  "You've done this before?" Adeline asked. She had come up behind me as I was working.

  "Nope,the guy at the hardware store told me how to do it. I won't even tell you what I was planning before I talked with him."

  "Looks professional," Adeline complimented. I put mesh tape around the seams where the drywall patch met the wall. The phone rang. It was finally Adeline's sister.

  "No, Cathy, I'm fine .... No, I am staying here tonight." She looked up and smiled to me. I knew what that smile meant. "Damon Richardson .... no .... he picked me up yesterday." Adeline's eyes rolled as she talked. "It's not like that ..... no .... well, he's kind of the guy I rear ended .... NO!" Adeline brought the receiver away from her ear and gave me a frustrated I-currently-dislike-my-sister look.

  Adeline listened for a moment longer, then covered the phone with her hand. "She wants to meet you," she whispered. I shrugged my shoulders and nodded okay. "Sure." Adeline continued with her conversation. "Tonight?" Adeline looked back at me; I nodded and pointed at the kitchen counter. "How about dinner here?" Adeline nodded to me and proceeded to give the address. A moment later she sighed and hung up the phone.

  "Sorry about that, Cathy is kind of protective." I smiled so she would know I didn't mind.

  "What should we make?" I asked. I had little in the way of good dinner food. I could do pancakes, spaghetti and canned chilli, but those didn't seem appropriate. "Shopping trip?"

  "I'll cook," Adeline said in agreement. With a four day weekend, there was no reason to finish the hole today. I cleaned up the mess, covered the half-repaired hole with the washer/dryer and took Adeline to the grocery store.

  Some women brighten when you take them to a jewelry store while others find a shoe store the greatest experience. The grocery store was Adeline's destination of choice. Her whole demeanor changed when the door swished open. She didn't even turn around to look at me when she pointed at the carts. I grabbed one and followed her.

  Adeline was a closet gourmet, and I was her lackey. Watching her shop was simply amazing. Her brain held some menu and she seemed to know exactly what she needed. She grabbed some lettuce, Butterhead and Red Leaf. I pointed out the convenient bags with lettuce already ripped into nice edible bites. Adeline laughed, not with me, but at me. She gave me a quick kiss to soften the chastising. She gathered some red cabbage, raisins, walnuts and a small container of raspberries. Not the iceberg and ranch I was used to. I always liked raspberries so I was going to remain open to the strange salad concoction.

  We picked up a two-pound sirloin tip roast. She added cayenne pepper and olive oil to the cart. I was informed I already had the other necessary ingredients. I knew I had A1 at home, though I don't think she meant that. We had to go back to the salad dressing aisle; it seems we had forgotten red wine vinegar. I was busy reading the vinegar label, wondering why it was so special, when I felt a pair of arms circle me from behind. A pair of happy lips kissed my neck.

  "Thank you," Adeline said softly.

  "For what?' I said, hoping she wouldn't let go of me.

  "Everything and allowing my sister to come for dinner," Adeline whispered. Her lips tugged on my ear and her hands caressed my chest. I almost dropped the vinegar. I tried to turn in her arms, but she released me and took a step back with a devious smile.

  "You're teasing me," I warned with the best intentions.

  "Yes." Was all she said, though her eyes made promises. I laughed as she took my hand and the cart and headed to th
e checkout lane. She was watching me, her eyes alive, as she drove the cart right into a corner display, and a tower of cereal boxes came tumbling down. Not just one or two, but the whole damn rack.

  I watched life drain from Adeline's face and her confidence fly away. I thought it would be fleeting, but it lingered past a second, and I saw lines begin to form around her eyes. Her body jerked when the rack hit the ground. People turned and Adeline began to recede into herself. It physically hurt to watch those few seconds, my muscles strained and my throat thickened. I could not let it continue. I pulled Adeline into my arms. She didn't struggle as my lips found hers, my intent was to be there with her and let her forget. It only took a moment as the grocery store faded away, her hands found me and pulled me closer. I drifted with her, her soft lips embracing mine, through a world of our own making. She returned to me, stronger and more alive.

  "Excuse me, Sir," a man in white smock said to get my attention. I separated slowly from Adeline. Her eyes were sparkling, and my heart leapt to see it. I looked to the man, a grin glued on my face.