{This chapter is intended to stand alone, however, characters are evolving and new characters are being added. For clarity read chapters 1 through 15.}
"What the hell!" I exclaimed when I heard boards hitting the ground outside our back door.
"That's Charles," Laura said. She was sitting across the breakfast table, having gotten up to see me off to school. "I called them yesterday after we talked. He wanted to get started."
"We haven't settled on a price for the work," I complained.
Laura waved her hand, squelching my alarm. "We'll work it out. If we don't think his price if fair we'll... We will... You can speak to him," she laughed and I couldn't help laughing with her.
On the way to the back door she caught me. I stopped to run my hands across her cheek and down her hair. "You're a softy," I said, giving her a wet kiss on the neck.
Charles was sizing up the lumber stock. We shook hands and went over the plans for both additions, deciding when special items such as the windows would need to be ordered. I could see how eager he was to show what he could do. I told him that I would call the lumber yard and hardware store to let them know that Charles would be charging supplies to our accounts.
"What's your last name Charles?"
"Graves," he said.
"I'll tell them if Charles Graves shows up they should roll out the red carpet," I said, leaving him in good spirits.
Having my breakfast interrupted, I was starving by lunchtime. Huley watched me eat, curious and confounded at the same time. "Do you want some of mine?" She asked, offering her plate.
"We'll talk tonight," she said when I wanted to resume our conversation about Jake Trainer. "I'll close my door and we can have a private conversation."
"Did your dad give you any more shit about changing your clothes in front of me?"
"I told you I don't want to talk about yesterday here. We'll talk tonight," she snapped, later apologizing for her outburst as we parted.
I noticed that she no longer touched me or clung to me as she had before our Friday night motel-room date. It made me wonder if she was losing interest or if it had something to do with Jake Trainer.
"Call me, I'll be waiting," she said.
"Are you sure this is the color they wanted?" Jimmy asked as soon as I found him and Davey on the back side of the house. I was there to let them know that I would be working with Charles but when I saw how the new light green was covering the old glossy yellow paint I decided to change my plans. The yellow was showing through.
"I never should have let them pick that color," I lamented.
We talked about the possibility that the paint store had mixed the paint wrong or if the second coat would hide the old paint. The owners of the house were not at home.
"Let's pack it up and go meet Charles," I suggested. "I'll come back tonight when they're here."
We didn't get much done in the hour we worked with Charles. Mainly, we talked about what Jimmy and Davie could do on Thursday and Friday to help Charles, assuming they finished the house with the paint color problem.
"Where have you been?" Huley wanted to know when I was five minutes late placing the telephone call to her. It took me five more minutes to explain that I had interviewed an applicant, neglecting to say that Lacy had insisted that I see her boyfriend, Eric. Afterward, I had been to a customer's home to resolve a paint problem.
"Ugh," was her reaction to my description of the paint combination. She didn't seem to care that it had taken me hours to resolve the problem and that I had not had a minute to study.
We compared notes on what we had missed by not attending the football game. Jake Trainer, a two way player, tight end on offense and middle line backer on defense, had stopped the opposing fullback from scoring on a short running play with seconds left in the first half. By stopping the rush Jake had kept the score tied but in so doing he had suffered a broken collar bone and there was possible damage to his lower back. His season was finished and there was talk that he would not be able to play again.
"You're going to have to tell me," I said, trying to move the conversation along. While I felt obliged to listen there was something nagging at me. Besides, I needed to prepare for the next day's classes.
"I told you," she answered placidly.
"No, you told me that you and Jake had a summer fling or whatever you want to call it. You didn't say what has happened since and you haven't told me why your sister and your parents were sympathetic and secretive yesterday," I said more bluntly than was necessary.
"Nothing has happened."
"Then why did Petri and your parents react the way they did yesterday?"
"I don't know. Maybe they think I'm still in love with him. I don't know."
"Are you?"
"I don't think so. No, I'm not."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes Randy I'm sure. Please believe me."
"But you were? Is that right? You loved him?"
"I told you. That was two summers ago. I thought it was love but I don't know any more."
"Your parents must think it was love. They were very concerned for you. Even Petri was concerned."
"He's been calling. He's been trying to see me," she said, her voice low and hesitant.
"Oh, I see," I said. And I did see. Thoughts were rushing into my head. She had wanted to be seen with me so guys would not hit on her. Was it one guy, Jake Trainer? Was this the reason she had not fawned all over me in the cafeteria? Had she been using me?
"Randy?"
"Yes?"
"They knew. My parents knew that I was sleeping with him. That's why they let me go away to school. They thought if I went away I would forget about him and I guess it worked."
"You guess?"
"It must have worked. I didn't take any of his calls and I stayed away from him at school."
"Did he try to talk to you at school?"
"Yes, a couple of times until he saw us together then he stopped."
"It sounds like you have been using me as a shield," I said without emotion. It didn't matter. She had used me and I had let her for my own purposes. The difference between us was that I knew her reasons, she did not know mine.
"No, it's not that way. At first it was, I'll admit that but now that we're together it's different."
I couldn't let her off that easily. "You hardly touched me today. Was that because Jake Trainer was not around to impress?"
"No! No, don't say that. I didn't touch you because that's what couples do. They don't touch because they are a couple. I didn't touch you because we're a couple. It shows we are secure with one another. Don't you see?"
"You have got to be fucking kidding me," I said, incredulous. But the way she had spoken, candidly and confidently as if she believed and understood what she was saying made me give her some slack.
