Lee said goodbye to his friend he had finished lunch with and started the opposite direction of his car. As he unlocked and opened the door, he heard a familiar voice.
"Lee! Hey, Lee!"
He could see a thin, slightly older blonde waving her arms across the parking lot at him. "Kim?"
Kim started walking towards him and he met her halfway. Kim smiled big at him and put her hands on his shoulders.
"I need your help. I have these huge stone blocks for my garden at my house. One of the guys in the home and garden section in Lowe's loaded them for me, but I have no shot at getting them out at home."
Lee had known Kim for a few years, through an ex. She had always been nice to him and had a fun loving spirit. She was cute as hell too.
"Do you mind following me home and putting them out back? I can get my brother to move them where I want them next weekend but I didn't want to leave them in my car all week either."
"Yeah, no problem Kim," he smiled. "I was going to go home and keep rewatching Rocky movies anyway. I'm happy to help."
"Oh my god, you are the best!" She started walking backwards towards her car. "Follow me!"
"Okay!" Lee smiled again.
Kim's house was less than 10 minutes away. She pulled into her driveway and Lee parked in front of the house. She met him at her liftgate as it raised up automatically.
Inside, there were 12 hexagon stones, about 9 inches wide and 3 inches thick. Lee reached down and slid the first stone to the edge of the car and then lifted.
"You weren't kidding when you said they were huge..." he grunted. Kim jogged around him and led him to the back yard.
Twelve stones later and Kim was now the proud owner of two stacks of stones, six high, on her back porch. Lee walked back to her car one more time and hit the button to close her liftgate.
He wiped off his forehead and sighed. While he wasn't as fit as he could be, he was stronger than he looked. And thanks to the summer heat, his white shirt was soaked with sweat.
Kim came back outside for the first time in about 20 minutes holding an ice cold beer out to him. "I really can't thank you enough," she smiled. "And... I'll even let you drink that in here." Lee smirked, took the beer, cracked it open, and followed Kim back inside.
Her patio door led to her kitchen, with a large island a few steps from the door. Kim pulled out a stool from the breakfast bar and motioned for Lee to join her. She took a drink from her own beer.
"You have a beautiful home," Lee commented, looking around.
"Thanks. It's not clean but I appreciate it." Kim gently squeezed Lee's shoulder. "Are you really going home to watch Rocky movies?"
Lee shrugged. "I don't have anything else planned."
"I'm really sorry about you and Mel by the way. I think this is the first time I got to say that."
"Don't be. She said I wasn't exciting enough for her and that I didn't have goals. I'm sure she mentioned this to you."
"Not really," Kim said as she stood to take her now empty bottle to the trash.
"Thirsty?" Lee joked.
"I started mine before you, jerk." Lee noticed that Kim had changed from the shorts and t-shirt he had met her in to a lightweight, white dress. "I don't really talk to Mel much outside of social media anymore. Maybe I'm not exciting enough for her either!" She leaned over the island in his direction and smiled.