As she walked up to the door of his house, she hesitated, thinking about how bad the day had gone. She didn't want to think about any of it right now though. She had been surprised, after finally deciding to call him, that he was actually home and alone on a Friday night. Since he had moved back to the Dallas area, she had visited with him a few times and he had always made her laugh and smile, made her feel special as he always had, and was the perfect gentleman. She had also seen him more than a few times with some very beautiful young women on his arm since his relocation back to Texas. He had recovered nicely from his divorce from a couple of years ago, worked out like a madman, and gotten into very good shape. He was quite the hunk now, but still the same old down-to-earth Mike that had befriended her back in 2006, out of the blue. She still couldn't fully believe he had actually had a crush on her back in high school, all those years ago.
Even for December, it had gotten very cold last night, and the snow, still drifted up on his front porch, had reinforced that thought in her head. As she reached to ring the doorbell, the door opened and the friendly, wry smile he seemed to always have on his face, shined back at her. He looked at her briefly and the smile faded as he quickly opened the screen door and led her into his home.
"Are you OK darlin'?" he asked, hugging her. "I was worried as hell about you," he said as he walked with her into the living room, taking her coat she had just removed.
"Yes, I am good, really," she replies to a very concerned man, who had always seemed to care for her more than he should. He did not look convinced. "Please, Mike, I am OK, you have to believe me," she said.
"Oh crap! Dammit!" he yelled suddenly, dropping her coat into a chair as he went running into the kitchen. She followed him into the wonderfully smelling chef's haven he had created for himself; the fine cookware, the expensive cutlery, and all of the refinished cabinets reflected his simple, but sophisticated style. As she walked into the kitchen, she sees him closing the oven and walking back to her and the granite countertop she is standing beside, wearing that ever present smile and carrying a cookie sheet with some nice looking, and wondrous smelling pastries on it.
"This is an experiment I was working on, and I am glad they didn't burn," he says, as he sets the hot tray onto the counter to cool. "I hope they are as good as I think they will be," he finishes. Looking directly in to her eyes with real concern on his face he adds, "OK, Kelly, you did not sound 'good' on the phone awhile ago. You know you can confide in me, but I will not pry into your personal life. You know you can always talk to me, about anything. Anyway, I went ahead and setup the guest bedroom for you, and you can stay here, in my house, as long as you like, just like I have always told you," He then walked over to the stainless steel refrigerator he had been thrilled about buying for himself a year or so ago. "Wine, dear? I have some really good German Auslese I bought a month or so ago when I was thinking about you. It is very chilled," he said, as he retrieves two wine glasses from the top cabinet, and snags his corkscrew from the drawer in an easy motion, that must have been routine for him.
She looks at him for a second, before answering, "Yes, wine would be nice. So do you still think of me often?" she queries, continuing to look at him now with interest as to what he will say, doubt showing on her face. He had always told her he had been thinking about her when they spoke or talked by e-mail in the past. She never fully believed him.
He replies, "Only when I am at the grocery store, looking for wine to add to my collection for the new wine racks I built, or seeing a bag of M&M's, or," a devilish grin spreads across his face, "just before I go to sleep at night sometimes," as the cork he had been working on in the bottle makes that classic 'POP' sound. "Ta da," he says and smiles in a triumphant way.
"Oh you do not, you silly. You have to be thinking of one of those gorgeous sweet young things I see you with, in their hot little short dresses, and skimpy tops, before you go to sleep, not me," she says, wondering if he really did think of her that much, doubts of him and his thoughts beginning to fade from her mind.
He walks around the counter to her with a glass of wine, hands it to her, and says, "I would never lie to you Kelly, ever. Always remember that. Those little 'sweet young things' you talk about? They do not happen very often, and if you notice, I am here alone tonight. I got dissed by one of them for a 'boy' closer to her age. It was bound to happen though because she was really very boring, and kind of needy and clingy, like a lot of those 'sweet young things' are." He then goes over to the other oven he had had installed over the existing one earlier in the year, and opens it, pulling a glass pan out of it with a hot pad. When he lifts the lid, another wonderful smell permeates the room. This one however smells very, very, yummy. She hadn't realized how hungry she actually was until she smelled the aroma of this dish, obviously a green chile concoction of some kind by the distinctive smell. He had introduced her to some of the New Mexican food he liked to make, when he had first moved back, and she was in love with green chile almost as much as he was.
"Green chile chicken enchiladas? I made enough for two," he teased. "When you called I had just started preparing these because I was craving them, since I was home alone and felt like treating myself. You so have excellent timing, dear, since I know you love this stuff too," he said with a smile, and he placed the pan next to the cookie sheet of his 'experiments', that were almost cool by now. He went to the cabinet by the sink, pulled two plates, and grabbed some silverware out of the drawer, walked over and placed them by the pan, and said, "please help yourself, I need to go tend the fireplace", and disappeared into the living room.
The enchiladas looked and smelled wonderful. She had always been impressed with his skill in the kitchen. She heard the back door of his house open and close, and figured he needed to get some more wood for the fire. Looking around, she was just astounded with what he had done with this house. Originally, when he had first bought it, she had a lot of doubts about it. There had been so many brand new houses on the market, when he picked this 30 year old house, that had never been updated, but because of the location, and that big shop building behind it, he chose it. He said he did get a good price for it, but when she had viewed it for the first time, she had not been impressed at all. Now, it was just impressive as hell. The beamed ceilings, the updated kitchen, the amazing bathrooms; he had done well.
She had just served up two plates of the enchiladas when he returned to the kitchen. He quickly washed his hands, then went over to the refrigerator and pulled some shredded lettuce, tomatoes, a bowl of guacamole, some salsa and some sour cream out and said, "Shall we retire to the den? If you would be so kind as to carry my plate, I will bring this stuff." The sparkle in his eye was obvious as he glanced at her briefly then collected everything on a tray, to bring into the den.
She went into the den off of the living room and was almost floored by what she saw. The old ugly red brick fireplace that had been in the room when he bought the house was gone and this massive black marble hearth was there; a nice warm fire blazing in it. As she set the plates of food on the coffee table she turns to him, who was just entering the room, and says, "when did you do this?" pointing at the gorgeous, and massive new fireplace.
He grinned at her and said, "Oh this guy at work had owed me some money for fixing his car, and we made a deal for him to make this for me. You like it?"
"It is beautiful Mike, he must have owed you a lot," she says to him as he sets the side foods tray down on the coffee table and places the open wine bottle and both glasses in the center.
"Yeah, he did. I saved him some serious money though. He was very appreciative," he said, and sat down on the floor at the coffee table. "So are you going to eat, or gawk at the fireplace?" He teases, and hands her wine glass back to her.
The dinner was wonderful. The enchiladas were exquisite, and his 'experiments' turned out to be chocolate and caramel filled. YUM! The wine was so good too, and she had three full glasses of it, and was feeling good, and relaxed.
She sat looking at Mike. He had just finished clearing off the dirty dishes from the coffee table, and had insisted she sit back and relax while he cleaned up. The excuse that she was a guest was the one that had finally made her do as he asked, and she was curled up very comfortably on the couch in front of the fireplace. He was tending the fire again, and turned to see her looking at him.
"What?" he asked, a slight smile appearing on his face.