"Hellooo? Is anybody here?"
Lisa was startled awake by the voice so close to her in the house. She immediately jumped up and threw on her robe over her t-shirt and underwear. It was midday on a breezy spring Saturday. "Who is in my house?" she thought to herself.
Heart pounding, she crept out of her bedroom where she had been napping and headed down the hallway. Her bare tiptoes made no sound on the carpet, yet she was sure who ever it was could hear her pounding heart.
"Hellooo?"
It was definitely a male voice, though not one she recognized. Clutching her robe closed, she realized how foolish she was to investigate and sprinted back to her room. She needed to grab her cell phone and call the police, or her brother down the street or someone, anyone.
"Can someone lock up the dog, so we can take measurements? Hellooo!" the voice boomed. "Damn!" she thought to herself as she stopped half way back to her room.
She had totally forgotten, that they were supposed to come to measure for the addition to the house. She quickly cinched the belt to her robe and headed down stairs still wondering why they were in the house. When she got to the bottom of the steps she totally expected to find someone standing right there as she could hear men talking. That's when she realized they were not in the house but standing at the front window which was open.
Heart still in her throat, she managed to smile at the two middle aged men standing outside the widow.
"Hi there! Sorry to bother you ma'am. We were supposed to come out to measure for the new addition today, but, um, the dog seems to be loose in the back yard and he is kind of big," the larger and older man who seemed to be in charge blurted out.
Finally having calmed down enough to speak, Lisa only got out "Oh sorry, uhh I'm Lisa ... I forgot you were coming out today, let me go take care of him. It will just take a second."
She walked away from the window and started to head up the stairs to put on some jeans. She felt kind of vulnerable dressed as she was. "I'm just being foolish, we're all adults and I am sure I am not the first woman they have seen in a robe. Hell it's probably one of there fantasies!" she thought to herself feeling a strange twinge of excitement she hadn't felt in a while. She was a very attractive 29 years old after all and running kept her body pretty tight. Plus they didn't look too threatening. So she turned down the hallway toward the back room.
As she opened the back slider, she saw Salty, her two year old German shepherd, was still on his runner in the back yard. "What were they worried about? All he could do was bark." Somewhat annoyed she quickly scampered across the grass in her bare feet and grabbed Salty's leash to unclip it from the runner. Of course, Salty was happy to have her attention and came running up to meet her just as she was unhooking the leash. He jumped up on her and she had to push him down with her free hand as she struggled to get the leash undone. Finally she got it and pulled her robe, which had been knocked open, back closed. Just then, Salty realized they were going in side and took off for the house. Caught off guard with the leash wrapped around her wrist, Lisa was pulled off her feet. With a high yelp, she landed in a heap face first in the grass and mud. Salty, a little startled, came back to see if she was all right.
Laughing at herself she got to her knees and checked that everything was all right. The wet grass had soaked her robe, t-shirt and underwear and she had to pull her robe back around herself as she got up. Salty again started his pull toward the house. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of movement, as did Salty who began barking, and she saw the two forgotten handymen standing by the fence.
Suddenly she turned red as she realized they had witnessed the whole thing and had probably gotten quite a show. She struggled to pull her robe farther closed as she continued toward the door. Putting the barking Salty inside, she leaned out and shouted to the two men "It ok now. He is inside."
"Thank you." the men shouted back in unison.