You Only Love Twice

It really shouldn't be this hot when football season has already started, he thought as he locked the front door. He hit the remote start on his truck, not that it would cool down much during the 15 steps it would take to get to it. Better than nothing though.

10 minutes later the AC was blowing nice and cold as he found a spot in the Home Depot parking lot. He sat in the truck for a minute, responding to a text he'd gotten on the drive over and looked up to see a young woman almost staggering as she pushed a cart loaded with bricks past his truck. She stopped behind a small Mercedes sedan.

He debated his course of action. He could pretend to be busy on his phone and watch how this played out. He had an odd fascination with people's propensity to overload their vehicles at home improvement stores. Common sense just seemed to go right out the window. He could just go about his business and head inside or, he could offer to help.

Well, it was the gentlemanly thing to do, and he had to admit, from what he could see, she was pretty cute.

He got out of the truck and walked over to her. She turned at his approach and gave him a weak smile.

"I didn't really think this one through," she admitted, gesturing at the trunk.

Not only was it too small to begin with, it was half full of other stuff.

He smiled back, "I've been guilty of that a time or two."

She laughed softly, and they fell into a silence.

"I've actually got the perfect vehicle for this kind of job," he said, pointing back at his F450. "Maybe, I could deliver them for you?"

She started to take a step away, and he held up his hands.

"I know, inviting some strange guy in a parking lot to follow you home and all that. You could take a picture of me, my truck and my driver's license. Send it to a friend. If I was crazy enough to do something the police would know exactly where to go, right?"

She seemed to relax, and the smile returned.

"Probably safer than internet dating," she remarked.

"True enough."

"You wouldn't mind? I could pay you."

"I wouldn't mind, and no need to pay me, you're saving me money."

"Saving you money?"

"Yeah," he said with a laugh, "if I go in there, I'm going to spend money on something I don't need."

"Oh, you're one of those guys?"

He gave her a puzzled look, and she continued.

"That have a garage filled with every tool under heaven."

"Yeah, you got me there. What can I say, I like to be prepared."

"Definitely one of those guys," she said smiling.

He took out his driver's license and extended it to her, but she shook her head.

"It's fine."

He gave her a shrug and put it away.

"Well, let's get loaded up."

Twenty minutes later he was following her through traffic, heading right back to his own neighborhood. She pulled into the driveway of a house only a mile or so from his own. The garage door opened, and she pulled inside. He parked his truck on the opposite side of the driveway, so as not to block her in. No sense making her nervous he thought.

They both exited their vehicles and met on the driveway.

"So, where is this stuff going?"

"I thought we could just leave it here," she said gesturing to the side of the house, "you've done enough already."

"Well, first the HOA would go crazy if we did, second there's no reason to move them twice, less work to put them where they are going."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely"

"Well, let me show you then."

She led him to the gate on the side of the house and into the backyard. Half the yard was taken up by a large pool. Two sets of French doors opened out onto an expansive covered patio. There was a fancy outdoor kitchen to one side and a seating area to the other with a huge TV mounted to the wall.

"Nice set up, I knew this place had a pool, but that's really nice."

She stopped and gave him a worried look.

"I live in the neighborhood," he quickly explained, "when I go for a run I actually run down this street. The for-sale sign said pool home on it."

"You really live that close?"

"Probably a shade over a mile as the crow flies, on my running route you're near the 2-mile mark."

She stared at him for a long moment.

"I think I've seen you out running. You're the guy who's usually out at 8 or 9 pm, right?"

He grinned, "Yeah, that's probably me. Never been much of a morning person, so I usually run after the sun goes down and it cools off a bit."

"Well, I'm glad you didn't have to go too far out of your way."

"Wouldn't have minded if it was."

She smiled and shook her head.

"Well, they are going right over there."

She pointed towards a grassy area in the back corner of the yard.

"Can I ask what you have in mind."

She gave him sheepish smile, "I found this really neat fire pit on Pintrest. They really made it look easy."

"They always do."

Forty-five minutes of hot, sweaty, work later all the bricks were neatly stacked where the fire pit would eventually be and the exhausted pair were sitting on lounge chairs by the pool.

"I'm really tempted to accidentally fall in," he remarked.

"Just make sure your cell phone accidentally falls out of your pocket first."

"That's some solid advice."

She got up and went to the outdoor kitchen. Opening a small fridge, she took out two bottles of water. Handing him one before sitting down with hers.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome but really thank you."

She stared at him for a moment, "and I don't even know your name."

"It's Brad."

"Well, hello Brad, I'm Megan."

"Nice to meet you Megan, you have a beautiful home."

"Thank you, haven't really used any of it I'm afraid. Feels like a waste sometimes."

There was a note of sorrow in her voice, and Brad wasn't sure what to say.

"Well, it's only been what, two months?"

She gave him another surprised look.

"That's when the for-sale sign disappeared," he answered the unasked question.

"Oh, yeah, I sort of forgot. But, yeah two months..." she dragged out those last words.

Then she looked up, a smile on her face.

"Did you have any plans, for later?"

"Not really, was going to watch the UT-Michigan game. Nothing terribly exciting."

"Well," he could sense the nervousness in her voice, "If you wanted to, you could watch it over here."

She gestured towards the TV on the wall, hoping the nervousness she felt wasn't obvious.

"And maybe we could grill something, finally use all this."

"That sounds like a great idea. Game starts at 4, so maybe dinner?"

"Dinner would be great, if you want to come over early enough to catch the kickoff?"

"Sure, I'll aim for 3:45, what should I bring?"

"Nothing but your appetite, you've done enough for me already. Dinner is the least I can do to make it up to you."

"You're sure?"

"Absolutely."

He took a long drink of water, looking at Megan and found himself immensely grateful that he'd offered to help her. She was, without a doubt beautiful. She'd obviously dressed for practicality, her blonde hair was up in a ponytail, and she didn't seem to have any makeup on. She clearly didn't need it. He forced himself to look away, he didn't want to get caught staring, freak her out and ruin whatever chance he had.

He reluctantly got to his feet.

"Well, I'd better go and get cleaned up. I'll see you at 3:45."

"See you then," she responded, and watched as he went out the gate, closing it behind himself.

She took a drink and wondered what had possessed her. She'd invited some random guy back to her house without even knowing his name. Now, he was coming over for dinner. She'd done crazier things in college, but that was college. She was 28, she was supposed to know better by now.

Then again, what had the last few years of being responsible gotten her? No, she thought, we aren't going down that path again. It's all behind me, in the past. Hakuna matata, right?

Besides, Brad seemed really nice. He wasn't what she thought of as her type. She'd always gone for tall, dark and handsome. Brad was more short, fair and cute. No, short wasn't true, he was probably 5ft 9in, maybe 5ft 10in, a good 4 or 5 inches taller than she was. That wasn't really short, unless you had a history of 6ft tall men, which she did.

Then again, she thought, how's that been working out for you? What was that old saw about doing the same thing and expecting a different result? Maybe it was time for something new. If things didn't go well, she had dinner with him and that was that.

Her mind a little more at ease she went into the house and took a nice shower. Wrapped in her robe she did a quick inventory of her kitchen. She hadn't been doing much cooking lately and hadn't planned on grilling at all. She quickly made a list, then got dressed and headed to the store.

By three o'clock the prep work was all done, she'd straightened up the house a little and was standing in her closet wondering what to wear. He'd already seen her a frightful mess, and that hadn't dissuaded him. Still no sense pressing her luck. She settled on a pair of black and white checked shorts and a black top. She dressed, and with one last check in the mirror headed downstairs. She made herself comfortable on the couch, pulled out her phone and tried to take her mind off things. Ahh Pinterest, you got me into this, you can at least distract me for a while, she thought.

At precisely 3:45 Brad pushed the doorbell and resumed trying to relax. How long had it been since he was standing on a woman's front steps like this, he wondered. The answer came to him, and he quickly pushed the thought away. It wasn't a time for that, today was going to be a good day.

The door opened and Megan greeted him.

"Hello," she said stepping to the side to invite him in.

He held out the bottle of wine he'd brought, "My mom always told me it's bad manners to show up empty handed."

She took the bottle, examining the label for a moment.

"Thank you, my mom said the same thing."

She guided him through the house to the backyard. He took the opportunity to look around. It was tastefully furnished, as far as he could tell from his admittedly limited sense of style. But it just seemed, what was the word he was looking for, he thought. Staged? Yes, that was it, this didn't feel like it was a house someone actually lived in, but more of a display.

Megan took a moment in the kitchen to set the wine down before ushering him onto the patio. She picked up the remote control from the table and handed it to him.

"I'll let you handle that; can I get you a drink?"

"Just water would be great."

"I'll be right back, make yourself at home."

He turned on the TV, found the correct channel and sat down. Megan returned carrying two insulated glasses. She extended a solid red one to him, keeping a dark green one with a Spartan helmet on it for herself.

"Go Sparty, are you a fan?"

"Alumni, actually. What about you, do you come by that honestly?" she asked, gesturing towards the burnt orange polo he was wearing.

"I do, for grad school anyway."

She sat down on the seat beside him.

"And your bachelor's?"

"Utah State, when I got to Austin, I had to break the habit of calling myself an Aggie pretty quick."

"I'm sure, how did you end up at Utah State?"

"The easiest way possible, I stayed in my parent's basement. I grew up in Logan."

"No kidding?"

"No kidding."

"That's crazy, I'm from Garden City."

"Up by Bear Lake?"

"That's the one."

"Wow, small world. How does a girl from Garden City end up in East Lansing?"

Megan looked at him biting her lip, lost in thought for a minute, then finally answered.

"It was the school the farthest away that I thought I could afford. I really needed to be someplace else."

They sat quietly for a moment, then she continued, "but what about you, UT makes sense, but what brought you to sunny Orlando?"

"I met my wife in Austin, she was from here, was a student as well. Undergrad, I finished up a year before her, got a pretty good job. When she graduated, she wanted to move home. I went to give my two weeks' notice; my boss asked me if I'd rather telework. I said sure, so we packed up and headed east."

"Sounds like my situation, moved down here because of my husband, ended up getting divorced."

"I'm...", his voice seemed to crack a little, "I'm not divorced, a widower," he finally managed to say.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..."

He cut her off, "it's fine, no reason you should have known. It's been six years. Not to pry, but how long for you?"

"I guess that depends, we're technically not divorced yet. I served him papers 7 weeks ago. Two weeks after we closed on this place. How's that for terrible timing."

"Yeah, I'd just assumed you got divorced and found a new place."

"I wish," she shook her head ruefully.

"We met in college too, graduated, he got a job in Lansing. I started a company with 3 of my friends. Things were going well. He told me there was this big promotion opportunity, job down in Orlando. I didn't want to hold his career back, so I agreed. Lived in a short-term rental for a month until we bought this place. A week after we closed, this private investigator contacts me. Turns out my husband is having an affair with some other guy's wife. He thought I ought to know, handed over all the documentation. I did a little digging of my own, there wasn't a promotion to move down here. It was just a transfer, bastard just wanted to be closer to his girlfriend."

"That's...wow... I don't know what to say, I'm sorry."

"Yeah...if he'd just asked for a divorce back in Michigan I'd have gladly walked away. I take mine; he takes his and we go our separate ways. Instead, he dragged me down here."

"Well, it IS the happiest place on earth."

She laughed, "Yeah, people keep saying that."

"It's not so bad, once you get used to the heat, and it's better than shoveling snow."

"I don't miss that at all."

"I miss the skiing, but otherwise I'm happy to be snow free."

"How come you stayed? I mean if you telework, you could move home."

"I thought about it. Almost did a few times. Considered torching the place and just walking away when I hit bottom. I realized I couldn't run away. I'd just be miserable somewhere else. I needed to be moving, but I needed to be moving towards something, so I started looking."

"What did you find?"

"Sailing, of all things."

"And here you are in a land locked city."

"Yeah," he chuckled a little, "but it's Florida, the ocean is never far away. It's funny, I was out driving, and a song came on the radio. It was about a car crash of all things, but there was a bit about how for every dream that's shattered, another one comes true. So, I started thinking about all my childhood dreams. All the stuff you put away as you get older. I loved sailing as a kid. Saved up my money and bought a Hobie Cat, used to pull it up Logan Canyon to Bear Lake on Sunday morning. Spend the whole day on the water. It was great. Sold it to pay for the move to Austin, figured I could always get another. Then life, marriage, moving expenses. Wife wasn't really a boating person. She'd rather just go to the beach. Wouldn't have felt right to spend the time away from her to sail."

He paused, staring off into the distance for a minute before continuing.

"Then she was gone, and I had nothing but time. So, after I got my head back on mostly straight, I bought a boat, and that's where I usually spend Sundays."

"Maybe that's what I need to do."

"Buy a boat?"

"No," Megan said with a laugh, "well maybe, you never know. I meant start looking. I'd move back, but financially, I just can't yet. So, I've been cooped up in this house, working, getting food delivered and slowly going crazy. That's why I was at Home Depot today. I just had this weird need to do something real, not just sit in front of a computer but touch something, build something. So, I saw that stupid firepit on Pintrest and I was off. Just some half-baked idea, I barely use the pool, let alone the rest of this. I don't need a fire pit. I guess I need to figure out what I do need."

"It took me awhile, tried some other hobbies, wasted money on quite a few things. Who knows, maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and change my mind."

"When were you sailing on Bear Lake?"

He hesitated, confused by the non-sequitur, "I bought it my senior year in high school, so fall of 2008. Sold it after I got accepted to UT in 2013. Why?"

"I was just thinking, we went to the lake all the time in High School. Not much else to do. I liked watching the sailboats. I've never been on one, but it always looked fun. I might have seen you."

"It was kind of distinctive, another reason I regret selling her. The jib was blue, with stars. The mainsail was red and white, striped, but in a v pattern."

She gave him a blank look; he quickly dug out his phone and started scrolling. He extended the phone and Megan took it, looking at the picture of the boat, flying a hull, with a lone figure standing on the hull, extended back over the water.

"That's a cool picture, is that you?"

"It is, one of my friends took it. Had to make several passes to get everything right."

"And now you do that every Sunday?"

"No, the boat I have now won't do that. I've been tempted a time or two to look for another cat, but I think I'd rather just sail what I have now."

The game started and they turned their attention to the TV. Brad grilled the steaks she had bought, and they had a pleasant dinner as he watched his beloved Longhorns triumph, and she saw the hated Wolverines beaten.

"Well, I guess it's time for me to head home, thank you for dinner."

"Thank you for cooking and of course thank you for helping earlier."

"My pleasure."

The pair walked back through the house, stopping on the front porch.

"I was thinking," Brad began, "if you haven't completely changed your mind about the firepit I could come over next Saturday and help you build it?"

"You wouldn't mind?"

"Not at all, I've been thinking about building one of my own. This way I get to practice."

"Well, you're welcome to practice with me then."

She paused, biting her lip for a moment, then went on, "and maybe I could text you the link, so you could look at it yourself. In case there's anything I missed."

"Sure, never hurts to put a second pair of eyes on a project."

She pulled her phone out from her pocket.

"What's your number?"

He provided it and she sent him the link.

"I'll take a look when I get home, see you Saturday."

"See you Saturday."

She watched him drive off and then went back inside.

Megan logged off her computer, closed her eyes and let out a satisfied sigh. Finally, the weekend, and finally a weekend with something to look forward to. She stood up and prepared to leave her office when her phone chimed.

She smiled when she saw it was from Brad.

"I realized we never set a time for tomorrow, what's best for you?"

"You said you weren't a morning person, and you're helping me, so whatever you prefer."

"9 sound ok? Before it gets too hot?"

"Sounds great, and..." she paused, thinking, before making up her mind, "if you want to bring your swimming suit we could cool down when we're finished and have lunch."

The response was almost instant.

"I'd love to."

Brad sat on his couch, his eyes on the phone, reading the message over and over, the happiest he'd felt in a very long time. Then he got up, went to his truck and headed to Home Depot.

Her doorbell rang at 9 o'clock and she found Brad standing there.

"I've got some stuff in the truck, I was just going to bring it around through the side gate, if that's ok?"

"Sure, of course, do you need help?"

"I've got it, I'll just meet you back there."

She headed to the backyard and a few minutes later he came around the corner pushing a wheelbarrow loaded with tools and supplies.