“Speaking of right there,” Deacon said. “We need to head out right over the hill to get some lumber down. It’s going to take all three of us and the boys we called in all day, but if we keep up, we should get out by five.”
“Sounds good,” I said, then turned to Lauren. “I’ll see you later.”
“You better,” she said.
Grinning, I went into my office got my gear, and then followed the boys outside. We went down to the lot and began work. And I found that for the first time in a long time, I felt like I could concentrate. I was energetic and moving to the best of my abilities. Sure, I still had a bit of a limp, but it wasn’t really slowing me down. And when we broke for lunch, we ate the food we brought in coolers, I was in a much better place than I had been in weeks.
Being able to concentrate better with things out in the open and being energized by our new situation helped to get work done quickly. We were packing up at about four, and I pulled out my phone to text Lauren. We had discussed her coming over to my place that evening, but that was assuming she would have left the office far before I was done.
When I got to the office a little later, she was waiting on me, sitting in her chair with a bag by her feet. I grinned and kissed her lightly before heading to the bathroom to wash up. When I felt like I didn’t smell entirely of sweat and wood, I changed into a fresh shirt and pants and bagged the dirty ones. Then, Lauren joined me in the truck, and we headed back to my place.
“What’s that?” I asked, looking down at the bag by her feet as we made it into the mountain.
“Just some stuff. I thought it might be a good idea to have some things that I might need over at your place. Besides the stuff you bought, which was very sweet.”
“What did I forget? I thought I got everything.”
“You’re a man,” she said. “You missed a few things. It’s okay, though. I don’t mind.”
The mystery of what it could be that I forgot was overridden by her seeming dismissal of the topic as we pulled into the driveway.
“So, I was thinking we could watch that baking show tonight,” she said. “You said you were interested in it.”
“I am,” I admitted. “It’s weirdly fascinating to see British people so calmly making cakes. Very relaxing.”
“Great,” she said. “What about dinner. What would you like?”
“I don’t know. I thought we could order something when we got inside.”
“Or I could make you something.”
I grinned as I opened the front door and let her in.
“You want to make something?” I asked.
“I do,” she said. “You sit down and relax, and I’ll make dinner.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
There was a definite sense of domesticity to how she was acting, and I wasn’t going to argue with it. She was already the sexiest woman I had ever met. I could only imagine how much sexier she would be with a little apron on. Ten minutes later, she pulled a purple apron out of her bag, and I wasn’t disappointed. She was extremely adorable.
I sat in the living room for a while and then got bored with not being able to talk to her as she banged around in the kitchen. I moved to the dining room table that occupied the wall across from the kitchen. Sitting down, I smiled as she turned and saw me.
“So,” she said, “I know that you grew up in Ashford, and you were in the military, but I don’t know much else about your past.”
“That’s on purpose,” I said. “There isn’t much there.”
“That can’t be true,” she said. “You have to have had something interesting happen. Places you went, things you did, girls you dated.”
“Ahh, I see what this is.”
“What?” she said innocently. “You know all about my ex. Don’t you have any exes I should know about? Someone who might come out of the woodwork looking to steal you back?”
“God, no,” I said. “Are you sure you want to hear about that?”
“I am,” she said, checking something that was in the oven.
“Alright. I have one ex. Exactly one. I went on some dates with girls in high school, but I met Giselle my senior year, and that was it. We were together for, I think, four years?”
“You think?” she asked.
“Well,” I said, scratching the back of my head and taking a sip of my beer. “She left me a Dear John letter when I was deployed. I called her about it, and she just said she was done. It was over. She had already moved out of the apartment I had downtown and that I shouldn’t try to contact her anymore.”