by Leger, Lori
CHAPTER 6
Carrie pushed open the back door of the office and shook out her umbrella.
Dale paused in front of her holding a steaming mug of coffee. “All this crappy weather and you’re still early. You’re such a dedicated employee.”
She chuckled, thanking God once more for her easy-going boss. “Yeah, well, I was inspired this morning.”
Roxie walked up with her empty cup. “By what?”
“My ex broke in and woke me up at four a.m. with an ultimatum.” She deposited her purse at her desk and followed Roxie into the kitchen. She’d just finished telling her about her close encounter of the ugly kind when someone pushed open the door, stomping and swearing.
Roxie stepped back to see who else had braved the weather to come in. “Look who’s here. I can see you didn’t melt in all this rain, Sam, so you must have floated in, like a turd.”
Sam pulled a bandana from his pocket and wiped the moisture from his hands and face. “I know it’s a stretch for you, Rox, but could you at least try to be a lady?”
She answered with a snort on the way to her desk.
Sam nodded to Carrie. “That must have been a hell of a drive all the way from your place this morning. It’s coming down out there.”
“It wasn’t too bad. I left early enough, thank God.”
“No,” Roxie added. “Thank Dave.”
Carrie intercepted Sam’s curious gaze. “He woke me up early this morning, that’s all.”
She flipped open a set of plans, smiling as she heard Dale rib Sam about being at the office so early, especially in rain that should last all day according to weather reports.
“Your crew took the whole two weeks off, Sam. Hell, if Carrie wasn’t here, you’d have kept your ass at home.”
Sam’s growing affection for Carrie was a commonly discussed subject around the office—so common that both had become immune to their co-workers’ teasing. She had to admit it was good for her ego.
Sam scratched at his neatly trimmed goatee. “All I have to do is show up to get paid. It’s money in the bank.” He paused at Carrie’s desk to pick up a large rubber band and looped it around his fingers. “What’cha doing today?” he asked, aiming like he would launch it at her.
She raised her hand to protect her face. “Don’t you dare,” she warned the man who gazed down at her with a devilishly cute grin on his face. “Studying for another certification.”
“You study too much. Why don’t you take a break?”
“If I wait too long, I’ll forget the math I just re-learned in technical college.”
“But, it’s raining outside, and there’s only a few of us here.”
She flipped to a clean sheet on her engineering tablet. “I need to pass some tests so my salary will rise above the poverty level.”
Carrie tried to smother her grin as Sam turned away, looking every bit as deprived as her girls when she said no to sleepovers. Despite the weather, and her rude awakening this morning, she was in a great mood. She watched him disappear into his office and wondered if he was the cause.
Carrie slipped her mechanical pencil inside the book and slammed it shut. She stood up to stretch her back and legs then grabbed her coffee cup. “Looks like I’ll be hauling clothes to my sister’s place in the rain this afternoon.”
“You have someone to help you?” Roxie said.
“I don’t need any help. I told the kids to bring just enough to last for the rest of the week. We’ll get more this weekend.”
Roxie followed her into the kitchen. “Are you looking forward to moving into your own place?”
“I can’t wait. I moved straight out of my parent’s home and into a house with Dave when I was eighteen. This will be my place, with my rules.” She washed her coffee mug and placed it into the drain rack, turning as she heard a noise behind her.
Sam leaned against the doorway and cleared his throat. “Hey.”
She watched him shove his hands in his pockets, something he did when he was nervous. “Hello again. What’s on your mind, Langley?”
“Maybe you should think about moving closer to work. Fuel costs will only get worse.”
“My kids go to school in Gardiner, Sam. I don’t want to ask them to move if I don’t have to.”
“It makes more sense than being on the road two hours a day.”
“Is your ex living in the same town as you?”
“No, she’s about forty-five miles away.”
“And where’s Nick?”
“He’s with me.”
“So he stayed with you because he didn’t want to switch schools, right?”
“Well, yeah. I guess. Among other things,” he answered.
“Then I don’t see why you’d be so shocked that I’d want to stay in the same town as my kids.”
“Because it’s twice the distance,” he blurted out.
“It’s twice the distance…As what?” Carrie watched, fascinated by the slow flush infusing Sam’s face. Her gaze followed as he spun around and left the room. “What the hell was that all about?” she mumbled.
Before going back to her desk, Carrie walked to the lobby to check out the huge wall map of Louisiana. With her fingertip, she traced the highway leading north up to Kenton, Sam’s hometown. She measured the difference between Kenton and Gardiner, and smiled when she put it together. Gardiner was twice the distance to work in Lake Coburn…as Kenton.
She turned toward the double glass doors and rested both arms on the push-bar to stare out at the heaviest rainfall of the year. Carrie watched rainwater splash from the overtaxed gutter system. She saw a woman tip toe in a ludicrous dance through water six inches deep to get from her car to the front door of the neighboring business.
Headlights glowed eerily through the frigid, sogginess of the winter afternoon. The dreary, saturated day should have been reason enough to depress Carrie. Instead, a lovely feeling of warmth radiated throughout her chest, filling her with something she hadn’t felt in years.
Hope.
Before she had a chance to revel in the feeling, the reality of her situation hit her: Three kids, school in Gardiner, work in Lake Coburn, an ex-husband, the almost certain disapproval from Lauren if she even looked at another man, not enough money, and never enough time. No way could she throw in a relationship with a co-worker. This was a formula no amount of re-calculating could solve.
Carrie turned away from the door with a heavy sigh, resigned to the fact that nothing would change anytime soon.
Sam plopped down in his rickety desk chair and dropped his forehead into his hands.
Jeff, his office mate, glanced up at him. “You okay?”
“Just dandy,” he answered. He pulled a stack of survey books from his desk drawer and slammed the drawer shut with his knee as he opened up a book. Sam stared blindly at the pages, unable to see anything but the confused look on Carrie’s face as she’d asked, “It’s twice the distance as what?” He snorted and shook his head, drawing another curious look from Jeff. He pretended to look for something as he busily flipped pages in the book, all the while silently cursing himself for the idiot he was. He’d made a complete fool of himself by first, not thinking before he spoke; and second, reddening like a school boy in front of the first and only woman who’d turned his head since Linda left.
“Way to go, dumbass,” he muttered under his breath.
“What the hell did I do to you?” Jeff asked.
Sam slammed one book shut and pulled opened another. “I’m not talking to you.”
CHAPTER 7
Carrie loaded the last of the suitcases and slammed the trunk. Rain fell in heavy, gray sheets, drenching everything it touched and obliterating the landscape. Darkness enveloped everything but the area around the brightly lit carport.
Carrie ducked her head to look inside the car. “Y’all ready to get wet?” she yelled over the sound of water splashing out of the gutters onto the sidewalks.
“Sure,” Gretchen answered from
the backseat while Lauren remained silent in the front passenger side.
Carrie straightened and pulled Grant into a tight embrace.
“Be careful driving in this stuff, Mom,” he said.
Carrie bit her lower lip hard to keep from crying. “I will, son. Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?”
“Naw, I’ll be fine. I don’t want him to be alone. Besides,” he shot a look at his sisters, “it’ll be nice to get the bathroom all to myself for a change.”
She kissed her son soundly on the cheek. “Listen, if he gives you any grief, you call me and I’ll come get you right away.” Carrie climbed into the driver’s seat and buckled up. “Love you.” She blew him a kiss as she started the car and backed out into the storm.
Miraculously, the rain let up just long enough to unload their suitcases into Christie’s small home. As soon as they’d emptied the car, the deluge started again.
Christie lugged a large duffle into her son, Max’s room. “I emptied out this chest of drawers so you won’t have to live out of a suitcase for the next several days.”
Carrie started unpacking the duffle to place items into drawers. “I really hate to put you and poor Max out like this, even for a short while.”
“No problem, sis. I know what it’s like to be displaced thanks to my ex,” Christie said.
“Yeah, I know, but he sure helped you make a good-looking little boy, didn’t he?” She grabbed the tow headed two year old under the arms and lifted him, making the toddler squeal with delight. “Hey little man, is it okay if Aunt Carrie sleeps in your bed?”
“Yeth!” he lisped through his big, cheesy grin as she kissed him on the neck.
“You’re a man of few words, Max—just what Aunt Carrie likes.” Carrie sat down on the edge of the bed and began to nest empty suitcases as Christie pushed them under the bed.
“Yeah, and uh, speaking of what Aunt Carrie likes, how are things at work?” Christie asked her older sister.
“Things are great at work. I’m almost finished with the training to get my second certification.”
“That is not what I’m talking about and you know it.”
“I knew I shouldn’t have told you about him,” Carrie whispered, speaking of their phone conversation about Sam the night before. She checked to see if her daughters were near.
“They’re in the living room with Max,” Christie answered her unspoken question as she got up to close the bedroom door for more privacy. “Now, what’s going on over there in that office of yours with Mr. Six Foot Two, Eyes of Blue?”
Carrie rolled her eyes. “He’s closer to six three, but you need to stop, okay? I’ve only been divorced a few months. If anyone gets wind of this, I’ll go from divorcee to tramp in one night.”
Christie waved off her sister’s statement. “That’s crazy.”
Carrie placed her hair supplies and make up in the drawer of the night stand. “You know how people around here will twist this like an old dishrag until they’ve wrung out the last microbe of truth. When they’re done, I’ll be the old dishrag.” She sat on the bed. “It’s not fair. As nice as it is to feel wanted by another man, the timing is off. Lauren would freak if I started dating now.”
“Are you thinking about it?”
Carrie flopped back on the bed and threw her arm over her eyes. “I try not to, but I can’t help thinking about him. Some of the things he’s told me—”
“Ew, give it up, girl!” Chris plopped down on the bed next to her sister. “What kind of things?”
Carrie ran her hands through her dampened hair, her curls more pronounced because of the rain. As she related Sam’s comment about her being worth the wait, and Kenton’s proximity to Lake Coburn, a slow smile spread across her sister’s face.
“Oh God, that’s so sweet. And he wants you to be closer to him,” she whispered. “Maybe you ought to think about it.”
Carrie raised herself to one elbow. “I can’t do that.”
“Why not? We all know how two hours on the road every day is eating you up. Mom’s worried sick you’ll get in a wreck. It’s crazy to think about doing that for the rest of your career.”
Carrie traced a finger around the robot-shaped figure on Max’s quilt. “I can’t ask the kids to switch schools.”
“Sure you can. Mom and Dad moved us to another state, and we adjusted.”
Carried sat up to rub her eyes and face, as a wave of exhaustion washed over her. “Sometimes I wonder if any of us will adjust.” She dropped her hands and stared at them. “This whole situation with Sam scares the crap out of me.”
“Hell, I didn’t think you were afraid of anything.”
“I’m afraid of everything. Of moving too fast with Sam or anyone else, or not moving fast enough, of losing my kids or their respect, and losing my family’s respect.” She dropped to the bed once more. “But then again, I’m getting older. How many chances at this am I going to have in one lifetime?” She gazed over at her sister. “You know, the last time I went on a date, I didn’t have stretch marks from carrying a set of twins.”
“I hear that,” Christie agreed.
“Whatever I decide to do, I need to be careful, Chris,” Carrie spoke, her tone soft, but sincere. “My kids need at least one of their parents to act like an adult.”
***
The skies opened up the next day, drenching the city of Lake Coburn with another day of rain.
The local weatherman spouted more bad news from the country radio station blasting from Carrie’s car speakers. “Well, folks, the weather doesn’t care that it’s the last work day before your Christmas holidays. It’s more rain throughout the weekend.”
“Great,” she mumbled, pulling up to the building. Since the carpool was down to her and Sam, she’d decided it would be better to drive their own vehicles until everyone else returned after the holidays. She regretted it now, remembering how Sam had dropped her off at the front door one day last week so she wouldn’t get wet. She stepped out of her car, right into a puddle of water deep enough to soak her shoes, socks, and hem of her jeans. Carrie hurried inside to her desk, cursing with every squish of her saturated footwear.
“Take your socks and shoes off,” Roxie suggested.
Carrie squished over to her locker and pulled out her leather work shoes, thankful for the extra pair. She walked into the kitchen and propped one foot on the plastic chair seat to try to loosen her knotted laces. As she struggled with the tangled mass of cold, wet strings, she heard a low groan from the doorway. She peered up to catch Sam standing in the doorway, his gaze on her neckline. She looked down at her cleavage, visible due to the gaping neck of her wet shirt and her awkward position. Carrie looked up, seeing Sam’s gaze still transfixed on her bosom.
“Like what you see, Sam?” When he turned to leave the kitchen, red faced at being caught, she stopped him with one word. “Hey!”
He turned back without looking up. “Yes ma’am?”
“Think you could help me with these wet laces?”
“Guess I could try. Can you slip your shoes off?”
“I tried that already. My socks are wet and I laced my shoes really tight this morning.” She waved her long nails, recently polished. “I don’t want to break a nail, but I can’t stand my feet wet.”
After a slight adjustment to his jeans, Sam sat down on the chair across from her. He tapped the seat, signaling her to put one shoe up on the seat between his legs.
Carrie propped her right foot on the chair seat and settled back to watch him fight the laces.
Sam grunted as he worked at the tangle. “These damn things get hard to manipulate once they’re wet. They have a way of swelling up.”
Carrie kept her silence, pursing her lips as she waited for him to think about what he’d said. She watched his hands freeze mid-air when the double entendre finally hit him.
He lifted his gaze to meet her amused expression then went back to his task, jerking hard on her strings. “I’ve lived like a
freaking monk for over a year now. Cut me some slack, okay?”
“My momma taught me it was rude to stare. All you had to do was look away.”
Sam met her gaze head on. “Now why would I want to deprive myself of the best thing I’ve laid eyes on in ages?”
His hands kept working as their gazes remained locked for several seconds. He broke eye contact, and loosened the lace enough to remove her shoe.
Carrie held her breath as he slowly peeled off her wet sock. When he rubbed the arch of her foot with his work roughened thumb, the skin to skin contact broke her trance.
He stopped her when she tried to pull her foot out of his hands. “Hold on, now.” His devilish grin exposed that one adorable dimple. “What’s this?” He bent to examine her polished hot pink toenails.
“Oh…” She jerked her foot out of his grip and placed the other shoed foot on the chair between them. “My girls practiced on me and Christie’s toes last night.”
He got the next one untied with no trouble and removed her shoe, along with the second sock. “You have nice feet.” He lightly caressed her foot.
“I have big feet. None of the other women in my family have feet as big as mine. I’m a size nine and a half in a family of size sevens.”
Carrie pulled her foot away and slipped her feet into her dry work shoes. She shivered as her bare skin touched the cold leather.
Sam rose, unfolding his long body from the chair. “Wait, I have something you’ll appreciate.”
Carrie watched him exit the kitchen, thinking she appreciated the sight of his rear end from behind. In less than a minute, he came back with a pair of new tube socks.
“I always keep a couple of extra pair in my work bag. You never know what’s going to happen when you work like we do.”
“Oh, yeah,” Carrie purred, as she slid the comfortably dry tube socks onto her ice cold feet. “That feels delicious.”
“Have I redeemed myself?”