Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 21964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
“What were you doing?” Lucy asked.
“Nothing.”
“Were you checking out my ass?”
“I might have been.”
There was a giggle that came from her, but it wasn’t irritating or forced. It was a genuine laughter, like she couldn’t quite contain herself.
She wrapped a towel around him and rubbed at his shoulders. “We’ve got to get you dry.”
“Have you heard from your friends?”
“Yeah, Marge called me. Everyone is fine, but they’re going to stay a few extra days, until the rain subsides.” Lucy stepped back as he took the towel from her and quickly dried his hair. “I figured I’d go to the home tomorrow, when the rain subsides, and do a bit of cleaning or something like that, so the place is in tip-top shape when they all return.”
“I can come with you if you would like,” he said.
“Come with me?”
“Yeah, I can help.”
“You want to help me clean up?”
He nodded. The truth was, he just liked spending time with Lucy. When he was around her, she made all the bad shit disappear. It stopped him thinking about the shit that happened with his father. It helped him to just focus on the now, rather than the crap that happened.
“I’d like that,” Lucy said.
She then gasped and he pulled her into his arms, as the lights went out.
“I guess we’re getting those power outages after all.”
****
Lucy handed Isaac the plate of sandwiches she made for him, and then took a seat beside him. She didn’t feel like cooking, and the stove was workable, but the electric oven was not.
She also didn’t have any of the machines to help light the gas, to use the stove. Isaac didn’t have a lighter either, nor matches, so they couldn’t eat cooked food. At least, she had enough bread and fillings to make sandwiches.
Opening the bag of cheese-and-sour-cream chips, she grabbed one, then picked up the bag to shake it toward Isaac. She loved the flavor of them. “Care for a chip?”
He looked at the bag, and then shrugged, delving in, and grabbing a chip. He put one in his mouth and started to chew.
Lucy loved his company.
They had checked the whole house, then sat and talked about everything and nothing. He asked her questions about Marge, Harry, Betty, and the people she worked for. She tried to talk about his past, but she had come to see that his past was very much off limits. They were not talking about it.
She took a bite of her cheese and pickle sandwich, and it wasn’t too bad. She wasn’t big on sandwiches for dinner, but it was better than a bowl of cereal. Not that there was anything wrong with having cereal for dinner. She had done that quite regularly when she didn’t want to cook.
“When do you think the power will come on?” she asked.
“Hopefully as soon as possible,” he said.
“I’m sorry you had to come here.”
“Lucy, there’s nowhere else I would rather be.”
She looked toward him, and it was like she couldn’t look away. His blue eyes looked so intense, as he stared right back at her. It was strange as she glanced down at his lips. He hadn’t kissed her yet, and she wanted to feel those lips on hers. But, if he didn’t want to kiss her, then she didn’t want to make a fool of herself.
“I’ll be right back,” she said, getting to her feet and making her escape to the kitchen.
Come on, Lucy, get your head together.
She put her plate on the counter. She had a half-eaten sandwich still left on it. Gripping the edge of the counter, she tried not to think.
Lucy jumped as a plate clicked on the side. She opened her eyes, and she hadn’t even realized she had closed them.
Isaac’s hands moved to the kitchen counter, and she was suddenly trapped between his body and the counter. She felt him at her back, he was so close, yet he didn’t touch her at all.
“What’s going on?” Isaac asked.
“Nothing.”
“Freaking out and leaving me back in the sitting room is not nothing, Lucy. I don’t like being lied to. Don’t lie to me, when I know you don’t want to.”
She couldn’t believe what was happening. Spinning around in his arms, she had every intention of pushing him away. She even had her hands flat on his chest, and was going to do exactly that, only she stopped herself. She didn’t shove him out of the way. He didn’t budge and she rested her hands on his chest.
The words she was going to throw at him got trapped in her throat. Lucy had no idea what was happening, only it felt like a constant buzzing in her ears. She couldn’t make sense of it. She looked at him, without knowing, without thinking. What was she to say?
No words were spoken, and Lucy didn’t know how much time passed. Was it seconds or minutes?