“I’d love that.”
“Just remember no hanky panky,” he said and waved his finger back and forth.
“Did you really just say hanky panky?”
“Your rules, and now that we’re dating, I’m just making sure we stick to them.” He grinned, obviously quite happy with himself.
“Fair enough, I’ll be there right after work,” I said and turned to walk away before I leaned in for a kiss.
“I’ll be in the shower but walk on in,” he said before turning on his heel and disappearing into the building I’d seen him in yesterday. One day and I was already questioning my choice of taking it slow.
“He’ll be the death of me,” I said to myself once again, and made a mental note to stop talking to myself as a few people walked past and gave me a look.
Nine
Isaac
“You’re doing a goodjob, Isaac. You catch on very quickly,” Roger said, as we were in the middle of replacing a gasket on one of the many machines that were part of the whole complex. It was a lot, but I knew I could handle it as long asRoger showed me how to deal with all the little things I was still learning about.
“Thank you. I have to admit, so far, it’s not that bad.”
“Wait until we’re in the middle of harvest season and you have trucks lined up that want to dump their loads and one of the dryers goes offline, or the loading conveyer won’t work,” Roger said with a shake of his head and a knowing chuckle.
“I think you’re not retiring until everything is in tiptop shape, so I don’t have to call you in a panic to come back here and bail me out,” I said. “Because I’ll do it, you know I will.”
“Okay, kid. Let’s get to it then,” he said, and we worked right up to lunch. There were lots of maintenance jobs that needed to be done because Roger hadn’t been able to get to them being the only one qualified, so it was good to know even he had a challenging time keeping up on it. There were three other guys under him that did some of the less important maintenance, but not without Roger telling them what to do.
Lunchtime came quickly since we’d been so busy. As soon as Roger told me to take my break I hurried out to my truck to get my ice chest and look for Tig. He walked out of another building just as I was looking in that direction. “Did you bring lunch?” I asked.
“No, I was going to run to town real quick.”
“No need,” I said and walked over to where a few picnic tables had been setup under a canopy for breaks. I looked back and he was still standing there looking confused. He looked confused a lot lately. “Come here, Tig.”
“It won’t take me long, I’m just going to go to the grocery store,” he said, still not understanding.
“Have a seat, I brought you lunch.” If we were really going to be dating, then I was going to take part in this too. I’d never had anyone to make lunch for or to plan special moments with, and last night after he’d dropped me off, I realized I liked the idea ofthat. Even if I did have to wait for who knew how long for him to jump me. Because I fully planned to make him want me more than he’d ever wanted anyone ever before in his whole life. He just didn’t know that yet, but he would.
“You didn’t have to do that,” he said, but his smile said he liked it.
“I know, but I wanted to,” I said as I took out the sandwiches I’d made and passed one to him along with a bag of chips and a bottle of lemonade. “I didn’t know what you like to drink but I usually try to avoid caffeine. You may have noticed I’m already sort of high-energy. Well, you do not want to see me after a cup of coffee or even a soda.”
He unwrapped the sandwich and took a big bite before meeting my eyes with a grin. “This really is nice,” he said around a mouthful of sandwich.
“Well, get used to it. So far, I kinda like spending lunch with you.” Which was a complete lie. I totally loved it. Usually, I either ate in my truck or bought something in town and ate it outside wherever I’d bought it. This was new, and fun.
He grinned at me the whole time we ate, and he looked so damn happy which for reasons I didn’t understand, it made me happy that he was so happy.What the hell was going on with me?“Good thing, because I like it too. What kind of movies do you like?” I asked, wanting to change the subject.
“Oh, just about anything. Was there something you had in mind?”
“Not really. I guess we can decide when you get there,” I said and considered scrolling to see what was out there to watch.
“That’s fine. I’m just happy to spend time with you,” he said.
“You’re not sick of me yet?” I asked and he shook his head.
“Not even close.”
“We’ll see,” I said, fully knowing that I could be annoying as hell and estimating he’d realize that either later today or tomorrow. But hoping he really did want to know me better.
