A piece I did six or seven years ago, and had forgotten about!... I thought I was worth a little editing; and putting there.
... Enjoy!!
Lacey and the Kid
She had needed some help with the garden; the landscaping garden.
"Call this number," a friend told her. "He's home from school; needs the money... understands 'work'."
She had already placed red flags, when he arrived, where she where she wanted the just arrived plants placed. She explained the process; the width and depth of the holes: could tell that he understood the concept.
She left him with the task at hand; went back to her own self-appointed activity: training the vines on the grape arbor.
Two hours later.
He wasn't embarrassed, she noticed, to reach for the fifty she held in her hand; extended in his direction. She liked that. Marc was his name, he told her.
She watched him drink his lemonade. Sweat on his forehead, his face, running down his arms and his chest between the partly unbuttoned halves of his khaki shirt.
She was aware the she was sweating a bit herself.
"You can come by again tomorrow?" she asked. "Carlos won't be here until Friday."
"Yes, ma'am," Marc said. "Five-thirty?... And thanks for the lemonade."
"That would be great," she said
Lacey always had goals when gardening, '... don't stop until the job is completed.' The time got away from her. She was still weeding and delineating hostas beds when she heard the crunch of tires on the gravel driveway, a silver extended cab Ford Ranger: Marc.
She showed him were the tools were. For the most part he had his own. It would take most of a hour, he told her.
"You want a beer later?" she asked. Thinking, 'surely I'm not contributing to the delinquency of a minor.'
"Sure," he said. "That would be great."
She took a shower, and, drying off, watched him from the upstairs window. He had taken off his shirt. He was an athlete, just watching him she could tell. I wonder what sport he played? An annoying tingle moved into her groin.
'For god's sake,' Lacey, she told herself, '... he's a common laborer, a gardener!... A kid!'
She squeezed her legs together.
She took three beers from the garage fridge, two for Marc, one for herself. Normally she wasn't a beer drinker.
He saw her coming, the walk across the lawn, the lower part of the garden. He picked up the shirt, wiped sweat from his face and chest, slipped the shirt over his head and shoulders.
"Thanks," he said, reached for the beer, studied the label. "Ah... Life Is Too Short... the bumper sticker says. Got get me one of those.
She gave him a blank look.
"To Drink Cheap Beer." He finished out the bumper sticker quote; drank down half the beer without coming up for air.
It turned out that he was studying horticulture, down in Raleigh. He was working at the local landscaping place for the summer, seemed to know his stuff. Wanted to have his own nursery in ten years and maybe a retail outlet sometime in the future.
He finished the second beer, Lacey still had half hers. He looked at her straight on. Not cocky like some kids, just self-assured. "If you need help, Miss Lacey," he handed her a folded over sticky-note with just a phone number, hand written. "I'm here 'til school starts, a month or so yet."
Lacey looked at the note. "Thanks," she said. Then: "... You don't have to call me Miss Lacey."
"Yes, ma'am," he said, with a touch of a grin.
She gave him three twenties.
Lacey knew she was going to call him. Woke up in the middle of the night. 'I'm not gonna call him', she told herself. She took off the bottoms of her shortie pajamas, touched herself, felt the relief flood through her body. 'I'm not gonna call him.' But, she knew she would.
"Marc?... This is Ms. Lockwood."
"Yes, ma'am."
"You delivered a golden chain tree for me last week, planted it."
"Yes, ma'am. I remember. The lady with the good beer."
"Ah.... I need a couple of things moved. They are too close together."
"Yes, ma'am."
"You have an afternoon?... Several hours maybe, you could help."
He came on Tuesday. She meet him still sweaty, grubby from the day, got him started.
"A beer?" she asked.