Rob Thompson - Summer 2024
"Rob! We're ready for lunch!"
The shout jolted me out of the empty mind space induced by the hours spent painting Nora's guest bedroom. I headed to the bathroom to wash the paint off my hands, then made my way down the stairs that still needed some work.
Thomas was already sitting at the table.
"Put on a shirt, young man."
It had been a hot July morning working in a house without functioning AC. As I reached for a discarded painting shirt on the couch, I noticed Nora's head whipping around from her spot at the kitchen sink, her eyes catching mine.
After making myself more presentable, I joined father and daughter at the table. Nora began filling our plates.
"Caesar salad! It's not much but with the heat I didn't feel like using the oven." Despite her words it was clear Nora was pleased with how the meal had come out.
"I still can't get over you cooking now," I teased. She wouldn't get a compliment from me without a little ribbing. "A few months ago, we nearly set my apartment on fire trying to make pasta."
"Honestly I've just been bored out of my mind since I moved to the 'burbs." Nora sighed. "When I come home from work I can either plop down in front of the TV and then pay a ridiculous amount for delivery." She scooped more food onto my plate. "Or I can cook for myself."
"Well I'm happy to see you taking care of yourself." Thomas said. Despite his stern exterior I had come to see more of his warm and supportive side over the past few months. "You are what you eat."
Nora had bought the house at the beginning of spring. It wasn't exactly a fixer-upper, but it still required a fair amount of work to reach its current state. Thomas, who ran a small construction firm, handled the more difficult tasks, but the three of us spent most weekends working to make the house livable.
I couldn't quite explain why I felt so compelled to help. Nora and I had met years ago at work and had quickly become close friends. However, her ex-boyfriend's jealousy soured our relationship, leading her to cut me out of her life for a while.
When my father died earlier this year, and I hit rock bottom, she was there for me. Working on the house gave me something else to focus on besides my strained relationship with my late dad. The hours spent painting, tiling or pulling weeds out of the front yard with Nora rekindled the bond we once shared.
"I'm done for the weekend." Thomas announced after finishing his meal. "I feel bad leaving your mother alone so much."
"Sure. Give her a kiss for me." Nora said, getting up to give her father a quick hug.
I took the dishes to the sink and started scrubbing them under the water.
"So what about you?" Nora asked me from the table after Thomas had left. "Do you want to hang around? The deck will be really nice with this sun."
"Actually I'd like to finish removing some of the shrubs in the back."
"Come on, you know you're welcome to stay here without working. Just chill with me, I don't expect you to be slaving away all the time."
"I know, I know. But I'm way too OCD to enjoy the backyard with those damn bushes taunting me all afternoon."
She giggled. "Suit yourself, I'm not lifting a finger. We've worked too hard not to laze under the sun on a day like this."
With that, I set off to grab some tools from the shed and start tackling the remaining vegetation in the backyard. The sun was beating down hard, but I enjoyed the manual labor. It allowed me to zone out and clear my mind, a welcome change from my mentally taxing job.
The garden was fairly large, especially for a suburban property. The backyard was almost sectioned off by a row of trees and bushes running parallel to the back wall of the house. We had already cleared the area closest to the deck, which contained an empty pool.
But the section further back was still a mess. A tangle of shrubs, overgrown lawn and unruly bushes, all of which needed to be cut or trimmed. The resulting yard waste was then carted off to the front of the house, to be picked up later by Thomas in his truck.
It was during one of those trips pushing the wheelbarrow that I noticed Nora stepping onto the deck and settling into one of the chaise lounges. To my surprise, she had changed into a black bikini. I tried to keep my focus on the work, but found myself stealing discreet glances in her direction.
Nora's recent forays into cooking had altered her figure, and it showed. She had clearly not renewed her swimwear to match, and her bikini, now too snug, accentuated her curves in a way that naturally caught the eye. The contrast of her pale skin against the dark fabric was striking, especially as she began to apply a thick layer of sunscreen on herself.
Despite my best efforts she must have caught me staring and pointed to the chair next to her.
"You're sure you don't want to just enjoy the sun?" she asked with a knowing smile.
"Uhm... No, I'm making good progress over here." I was trying to keep my cool.
"Your loss then."
I forced myself to look away, tightening my grip on the wheelbarrow, and refocused on my campaign against the wild backyard shrubs.
About an hour later, Nora called for my attention.
"Rob! Time for a break! I made cookies."
On the deck table, she had set out a plate piled with fresh cookies and a single tall glass of milk.
"I thought you didn't want to use the oven."
"We're not even indoors anymore, it doesn't matter, stop pulling my leg." Her tone was sharp, but her smile showed that she was enjoying the teasing. "So what do you think? Are they any good?"
The freshly baked cookies were warm and chewy, with just a touch of saltiness. I had already started stuffing my face, so I could only answer with two thumbs up.
"Pace yourself you pig!" she chided, pointing at the glass. "Drink your milk too."
"What am I, six? Why would I drink a glass of straight milk?"
"I had some leftover. It was going to go bad. Also it's not straight milk, it's half cow half almond."
"Okay, weirdo. Whatever you say."
With a smile on my face, I started drinking from the glass. She was right, the usual tangy flavor of milk was there, but with a strong sugary note.
The coolness of the drink was more than welcome. Working under the blazing sun had left me slightly dehydrated. As I chugged, I noticed that Nora was staring at me quite intently.
"So you like it?" she asked.
I shrugged. "I mean, it is milk." I realized how ungrateful that made me sound. I tried to switch topics. "Anyways, how are things at Wearstone since your big promotion?"
I had always admired Nora's social skills, she never felt out of place in a group setting and could always find a way to relate to someone. Unsurprisingly this led to her being a great saleswoman, and her promotion to head of her team had only been a matter of time.
"I guess it's been a bit strange. Going from spending years working for Kyle to working with him was jarring at first."
Kyle Ramos was our boss when we both started at Wearstone, but Nora had been promoted to manager a few months ago.
"Now I'm settling into a new routine, it feels more natural." She paused for a while before adding with a smirk. "Lydia is still a bitch though."
"Some things never change."
"It's reassuring in a way." She shrugged. "And what about you? I don't think I ever congratulated you on your move to Rockedge. It's been what, almost two years?"
"Yeah we weren't talking anymore at the time."
Back then Nora was dating Corey, whose growing jealousy over our closeness eventually led her to end our friendship. Despite all the time we had spent working on her house in the past few months, a strained silence always surfaced whenever certain topics came up.
A wave of anger surged in my chest, drawing from resentment I had not realized was still there. Nora's eyes widened, telling me I did not hide it really well.
"I better get back to it. Garden won't fix itself."
"Rob, wait, I..." She started, but I was already up and heading back to pick up the tools, leaving no room for further conversation.
Once again, manual labor proved to be therapeutic, allowing me to focus on my movements and use my body, taking my mind off my emotions. Nora did not attempt to confront me, opting instead to go back inside.
I eventually found myself facing down a thorny bush. Fortunately, it was no match for sharp steel tools and I was soon hacking away at its branches, piling them into the wheelbarrow. Soon enough it was full and I began hauling it towards the front yard.
As I moved closer to the deck, my foot suddenly slipped. My right knee scraped badly against the ground and my torso fell sideways into the wheelbarrow. My head landed onto my hand, sparing my face from the thorny branches. But I could feel them scratching the entire right side of my upper body.
The fall must have made quite a lot of noise. As I was trying to get up, I could hear Nora running out of the house towards me. My head was ringing and my shoulder was on fire.
"Oh my god! Rob, what happened to you?"
The impact of the edge of the wheelbarrow with my stomach had taken the wind out of me, but I think she still managed to piece the events together.
"Come inside, you're bleeding. I'll check you up."
Nora grabbed my left arm and pulled me into the house. I could feel the cooler air on my scratched skin as we hurried up the stairs and into the master bedroom. She sat me down on her bed and bolted into the adjoining bathroom.
An instant later Nora came back to the bedroom with a washcloth, an antiseptic spray, a pair of tweezers and a box of band-aids.
"Are you ok? Do you feel like you have broken something?"
I finally caught my breath, the pain dulling slightly, though a wave of embarrassment hit me, making me wince.
