Eleven Days: An Unexpected Love (10 page)

When you're smitten nothing else matters, and
that
's the way it should be. He
was
major smitten!

Chapter 8

4:38 a.m.

A bumping noise woke
Lana
from a restful sleep.
She
crawled out of bed, and
she
thought the noise came from the back porch. It
was
windy, but
she
didn't think it's windy enough to make such a racket. It sounded like someone
at
batting practice in a batting cage.

She
wrapped the heavy flannel housecoat around
her
shoulders, and curled
her
arms next to
her
body to keep warm.
With
out pulling back the drapes,
she
stood near the back door and listened,
she
heard nothing.
She
quickly threw a few logs on the fire and walked through the house
,
peaked out the windows and doors, nothing.

About
that
time
her
phone rang.
She
jumped out of
her
skin and looked at
her
phone to see who
would
be calling t
his
early. When
she
looked
she
realized it
was
only
her
alarm.
She
laughed and told herself
she
needed to stop acting
like
such
a scaredy cat. But
she
did peak
out the curtain. The only odd thing
she
noticed
was
a piece of wood lying on the
ground near the back door. It
had fallen
about five feet from the bin.
She
decided Mike sat it there to bring in, forgot about
it and the wind knocked it down
on the porch
.

Standing there bewildered and trying to decide if
she
wanted some tea when suddenly there
was
a tap on the front door.
Her
heart skipped beats thinking Mike came back for some reason. Although
she
didn't hear the usual sound of the truck driving on the gravel,
she
hoped.
She
ran to the front of the house and peaked out the window, nothing. Again,
she
looked out all the windows and nobody
was
there.
She
decided
she
had lost
her
mind.

She
went back to the couch and crawled under the covers and left
her
housecoat on because it had already warmed
her
.
She
watched the fire for awhile and dozed off thinking I don't remember setting my alarm for four-forty.

Chapter 9

Day 3

October 17, 7:50 a.m.

Today
started
out
as
one of the
most wonderful days of
her
life
and
she
wanted to look the part.
She
looked through the few clothes
she
brought, and what
she
brought
was
n't suited for dating. There were only three cute tops and
she
decided to go
with
the red striped sweater. After inventorying the wardrobe
she
knew
she
needed
to shop.
Not realizing
she
would
meet someone all
she
brought
were
swea
ts
, sweaters, a couple of pair of jeans, and t-shirts.
She
didn't bring anything to dress up
and all
her
clothes looked drab
.
Her
size six jeans were a little loose, and
she
knew the last few weeks
she
lost weight, but
she
didn't realize
she
lost
that
much. The mirror's image
was
n't so bad, but
she
knew
she
had
to buy a couple of things.

The clock said seven-fifty and
Lana
felt like a school girl when
she
heard
his
truck driving down the gravel road. When he knocked
she
ran to the door unable to control
her
enthusiasm. When
she
opened the door
she
was
so nervous, but one glance at him and all
her
nervousness went away.

My God he looks good
,
she
thought. He had on tan cargo pants which showed off
his
thick muscular legs, and he wore a navy blue sweater
with
long johns on under it. The sweater
was
tight on
his
arms showing off the outline of
his
triceps and biceps through both layers of shirts.
The cutest part of him happened to be
the furry
camouflage colored
hat he wore
covering
his
head and ears completely. He
was
definitely dressed for cold weather or in
his
case a cold attic.

My God
she
looks good
, he thought. He noticed how cute
she
was
with
only a little makeup,
she
didn't need much. What little light
that
came through the front door made
her
eyes look even greener, piercing green, melting
his
heart.
Her
shape made him take a deep breath. Admittingly he hasn't dated too many women
with
large chests, but
she
made up for
his
loss.

"The coffee is brewed, and what did you bring?"
She
added as an afterthought since
her
mind
was
preoccupied on the goodies in the bag.

"Hold your pants on little lady, it's a surprise." He teasingly answered while taking off
his
hat.
His
hair stood on end since there
was
so much static electricity in the air. He pushed it down as he walked in the kitchen, and he could have cared less how
his
hair looked.

She
laughed and knew immediately nothing changed from last night.
She
also knew at
that
split second last night's
caught in the moment
just changed to
caught in a lifetime
.

He handed
her
both bags and as
she
set them on the bar.
She
closed
her
eyes
with
anticipation when
she
smelled the pastries. The
y
smell
ed
scrumptious.
She
immediately opened the brown bag first because
she
was
famished, and
she
pulled out a metal tube. Sadness filled
her
heart
because
she
knew he might be finished
with
the furnace in a few short hours.
But those emotions
would
not be
address
ed
today. Instead
she
decided to tease him a little. "Talk about iron in your diet." And they both laughed. "I see you got the part?"
She
had to admit
she
was
a lot disappointed.

"Yea Hardin Hardware went to Boston and picked it up for me yesterday. You should have heat in a few hours."

She
rummaged through the cabinets for paper plates, and there were none. Oh well,
she
guessed
she
would
have to do the dishes, there were worse things.
She
dug out plates, mugs and
her
french vanilla coffee creamer.

Mike walked outside to
his
truck to get
his
tools.
She
intently watched him through the kitchen window. He organized
his
tools, taking out pipe wrenches and putting in socket wrenches and smaller screw drivers and any other tool he might need. All the while he loudly w
his
tled. Even though he
worked
outside and all the doors and windows were closed
she
could hear what he w
his
tl
ed
; Johnny Cash's
Folsom Prison Blues
.

Since
she
loved Johnny Cash
she
couldn't resist giving him a hard time.
She
opened the front door he stopped
w
his
tling to look
at
her
. "Hey,
Mike where did you learn to w
his
tle
that
song?"

"In prison," he answered then he started w
his
tling again. Just before
she
shut the door he winked and smiled back at
her
.

She
took a deep breath.

The door slammed as Mike walked in the kitchen and
his
nose
was
red from the cold.
She
reached for a mug and asked. "How do you like your coffee jailbird?"

He stopped in
his
tracks, scanned the items on the counter and saw the creamer, and answered
with
a grin. "I am a true man, I like mine black. I don't use
that
sissy stuff."

Were
her
ears deceiving
her
?
His
personality didn't change a bit from last night, actually quite the contrary. "So you're calling me a sissy?"

He walked over to pour
his
coffee and never looked at
her
. "If the shoe fits, and in your case if your tiny shoe fits."

Lana
looked down at
her
feet, he's right, they were small.
Her
eyes widened and
she
walked over to him and put my hands on
her
hips. "Remember, I own a Dodge truck and you don't mess
with
girls who own a Dodge."

"Shall I pull up a chair so you can tell me
that
, eye to eye?" He looked into
her
eyes and
his
happy, feisty expression changed. When
her
gaze pierced
his
eyes,
his
dancing eyes turned solemn, being jolly left
his
soul. At
that
very moment, at
that
very minute he wanted
her
more than he's ever wanted anything in
his
life.
Her
eyes mesmerized him, made him want to pick
her
up and never let go.
My God, I want to
be with
her
so much, I hurt, and I hurt desperately
, Mike thought. He licked
his
lips ready to kiss
her
parted lips.