"So when does he get here?" I asked folding my arms. My husband sat in his chair with a beer in his hand watching the television.
"When he gets here." he shrugged. He did not even look at me. "He called earlier and said he had to do a few things, then he would be here." he said his eyes still glued to the television. I shook my head at him and went into the laundry room. I looked back at him. At one time he would do anything to help me around the house. Now he just sat there, collecting dust and drinking. I couldn't blame him for the sitting part. He had an accident at work just over a year ago. The doctors said he would never be able to walk for long periods of time, or carry anything heavy. So going back to construction was out of the question. So there he sat day after day. While I worked at the nursing home, cooked, cleaned and did whatever around the house that needed to be done. The bills did not stop though, and since it was his fault for getting into the accident the job did not pay workers comp.
"You better wash your hair, if you want me to cut it." I yelled back at him.
"Whatever. I will do that later." he yelled back. Which meant he would not do it. Which also meant, his hair would smell like smoke and whatever crap was in that chair. I shook my head. We had been married for a little over fifteen years. The first few years were the best. Now we tried to stay out of each others way. I dumped the last load of his clothes into the washer, and gathered myself. Today was the day another man was going to come live with us. Since the bills were too much for us to pay on our own. Tim my loving husband decided to rent the downstairs basement to one of his ex co workers. I had not met the man, or did I want to. But he paid for three months in advance in cash, so who was I to say no to that. I looked over at Tim as he laughed at something stupid on the television. He was thirty seven and looked in his forties. He used to be a track star in high school, that's where we met. But now he could not run to save his life, even if the accident did not occur. A beer belly the size of a beach ball, graying hair with a receding hair line. His eyes used to give me shivers when he looked at me, but now they looked defeated, as if life had beaten all the motivation out of him. I was no bombshell either. So I could not complain. When he met me I was a head cheerleader. I had kept in shape up until a year ago. But after things went bad, I to began to put on weight. I was not huge, or obese but I wasn't going to do any cartwheels anytime soon. I looked in the bathroom mirror one last time.
"Well this is as good as it's going to get." I said to myself. My ginger hair was all a mess, but it usually was. My mom used to say there was no gel or cream that could tame my hair and she was right. But I loved my eyes. They were green, the lightest green I had ever seen. People still stopped me to tell me how my eyes looked. The door knocked loud.
"I'll get it." Tim said. I nodded. Here was the moment my life would change. Babysitting two men. I shrugged and walked out. I heard the two of them laughing at the front door. I turned the corner from the bathroom into the front room, just as they came from the hallway.
"Sandy. This is Jeremy." Tim said introducing me to a giant of a man.
"Hi Sandy." Jeremy said reaching out his giant hands. I smiled and shook his hand. Jeremy stood there looking down at me with a perfect smile. He stood almost seven feet tall, bald head, very muscular, there must not be an ounce of fat on him. And he was black, not charcoal black but almost brown. He reminded me of the black guy on my show criminal minds but much taller and much more muscular.
"I'll show you around the house." Tim said with a smile on his face.
"You got the money right?" Jeremy asked.
"Yeah of course." Tim said nodding his head. The two walked into the hallway towards the stairs to the basement. Well that wasn't as bad as I thought. I sat down on the couch listening to Tim, giving the giant the tour. After they were done, they came into the front room.
"Thank you again for having me." Jeremy said sitting down on the other couch.
"No problem." Tim said. "Happy to help." he said picking up his beer. "Did you want one?" he said offering Jeremy a beer.
"No. I don't drink." he said. "Or smoke" he said looking over at me. "I gave three months advance because, I should be out of your way in that time." he said as he explained his situation. He had just gotten a divorce and by the sounds of it, it was a nasty one. He was planning to move out of state and just needed a place to stay till the dust settled.
"Well make yourself at home." I said as I got up to check the laundry.
"I will get the stuff out of my truck." Jeremy said as he stood up. He towered over me as I only stood at 5' 6. "Sorry." he said as we nearly bumped into each other. The rest of the day, we saw Jeremy load and unload things from his pick up, back and forth. Tim did not ask if he wanted help and by the way Jeremy lifted things, it seemed he did not need it. He finally stopped close to dinner time.
"Dinner is ready." I said as I made Tim his plate. I brought it out to him and looked around for Jeremy.
"Downstairs." Tim said as he took his plate. I sighed. Just like a man, did not hear me when I talked. I walked to the door, I began to open it then realized it was not mine to just open anymore. I knocked hard and announced dinner. But heard nothing. I opened it a touch and looked down the stairs. I could see movement down there.
"Jeremy. I made dinner." I said. He peeked his head around and looked up the stairs.
"Thank you. You did not have to. I brought a hot plate to make my own dinners. So I would not be a bother." he smiled up. I was curious how he had the place looking down there. "Want to come down?" he asked. As if he sensed my curiosity.
"Sure." I smiled. As I went down the stairs. "Wow." I said marveled at what he had done. "All of this was in your truck?" I asked as I looked around. Most of the cement floor was covered with a thin carpet, there was two sofa's. A huge entertainment cabinet with a large screen television, some kind of game console. Over on the other side was a medium sized fridge, right next to it was a small cabinet with a two faced hot plate on top. "Where are you going to put your clothes?" I said looking around for something to put clothes in.
"I will just live out of my suitcase for now. It's only a few months." he shrugged.
"Typical." I nodded. "We have a clothes cabinet, we are not using. It's yours if you want it." I told him.
"Of course. Till I move out." he said nodding. We walked back upstairs. As I turned around I saw him checking out my ass. I smiled but he looked away just as I had caught him. Well at least I still had a nice ass it would seem. Tim was still in his usual place.
"Going to give him the cabinet. We are not using." I said to him. Which he just nodded. I shook my head at him and went upstairs. This time Jeremy was ahead of me. I guess he did not want me to catch him checking out my ass again. But it was me checking out his. For a man he had a very nice one, very firm and tight. I saw a smile on his face as he looked back. "Damn" I thought to myself he caught me. Well it was only fair I thought.
"Here you go." I said pointing it out in the other spare room.
"Perfect." he said. As he looked it over.
"Good. I will get the dolly from the garage." I said as I began to walk away. I heard some grunting and a large heaving sound. I turned to look and the giant had lifted it up. It had taken two men with a dolly, nearly an hour to get this thing up here. When we moved in, here he was picking this thing up by himself.
"You mind. It isn't that light." he said still with a smile on his face. I moved out of the way as he moved towards the steps.
"Want me to..." I began to say as he put his back against the wall. He began to walk down the stairs. I heard him counting. I smiled it was something my father had done. Count the steps so he knew how many there was. I followed him down as draws slipped in and out.
