Time and Again

Bide Your Time

Chapter 2

CHARLOTTE

The sun shining though my window the next morning reminded me I needed curtains, and hoped I wouldn’t forget them today. I attempted to roll over but was stopped by a small foot in my face. Remembering Will had come to my bed some time during the night, I pushed him over and climbed out of bed and quietly made my way to the bathroom. When I was finished I went to the kitchen in search of caffeine. I mentally kicked myself for not grabbing more soda from dads house, and decided it was time to get the show on the road. I needed caffeine and tacos to start my new Texas adventure off right. I quickly woke up Will and threw on some distressed jeans, a pair of ankle boots and a white tank top with a light pink button up shirt over it, leaving the buttons open. I brushed out my long brown hair and pulled it into a tight high pony tail. Will put on the shorts and red dinosaur t-shirt I took out for him and pulled on his green dinosaur rubber boots that he loved to wear no matter what we were doing. His hair was sticking up still, but he refused to brush it, and I didn’t feel like fighting with him about it.

We hopped in the car and made our way in to town. I called my dad on the way to see if he wanted some tacos too. He said to get him whatever, so I picked up a big batch of barbacoa with tortillas and a bacon, egg, and cheese for Will then we headed to the shop. Dad owned a construction company and kept his office in the back of the antique shop that used to be run by my aunt Dee. They had renamed the boutique Dee’s Emporium when she passed away to honor her. Now my sister and sister in law ran the shop. The shop had multiple vendors that rented space to sell their items. Not everything was antique, but everything had a certain charm or was good as a household decoration. Not your average garage sale stuff. Before I moved away I had a booth as well, and was hoping to have one again once I got settled. Will and I walked in to the shop, and my sister in law Rita was helping a customer. I told Will to sit behind the counter and eat his taco while I went to see my dad and bring him food. With a quick wave to Rita, I made my way to the back of the building. I walked straight in to dads office without knocking like a big dummy, “Hey dad I come bearing fooooooodddd, Oh my gosh I’m so sorry. I should have knocked!” I exclaimed when I saw Jessie sitting in the chair across from dad. I turned to leave when dad called to me.

“Charlie, its fine. Come in. Have a seat.”

“Did you say food?” Jessie asked.

I laughed, “Yes, do you like barbacoa?”

“Hell yes. But I’d eat a cow patty if you brought it,” he said emphasizing ‘you'. I blushed and he stuttered, “well you know what I mean… I’m just really hungry.” Dad laughed and I started getting the food out to distract from the awkwardness.

I sat to eat, and popped open my soda. It was ice cold and the burn going down my throat felt amazing. And somehow made me feel braver.

“So Jessie, what brings you here?” I asked.

He had an odd look on his face and cooked his head to the side, “I work here.”

“Oh geeze, how did I not know that?” I asked turning to my dad.

“I told you I was training him to take over when I retire. “ dad reminded me.

“Well hell, I’m not sure why you expect me to remember all our conversations.” I sad sarcastically.

Dad and Jessie laughed. I took a big bite of taco, and dripped sauce down my shirt. “well that’s just great.” I grumbled. Dad laughed again.

“I’m glad you came back for the entertainment sweetie. “

“Hush you.” I smirked while wiping my shirt.

Jessie just looked at me with a silly grin on his face.

Why do I have to be like this? So embarrassing.

“So what are you doing with your days now Charlotte?” Jessie asked me.

“Well I don’t start my new job til next week, so I’m just unpacking and taking care of some things this week. And Grayson will be here this weekend.

Jessie got an odd look on his face, disappointment maybe, “Who’s Grayson?” He asked with an oddly demanding tone.

I c****d my head to the side, and dad reached for the picture on his desk turning it to face Jessie. It was. Picture of me and the boys at the beach during our last visit. “Grayson is my other son. I told you about him yesterday, remember?” I said with my head still c****d to the side.

“Well hell, I’m not sure why you expect me to remember all our conversations. “ Jessie said with a smirk.

“He mocks me,” I laughed. “I see how it is.” I said jokingly.

We finished up eating, and cleaned up.

“Well, I’ll let you boys get back to it, I’ve got a bunch of errands to do, and I have a ton of work to do at home. I’ll see you later.” I said and turned to go.

“See you sweetie,” dad said at the same time Jessie said, “Bye Charlotte.”

I waved once more, and walked out letting a big sigh out as I left.

Good grief, what is up with that guy? He has a strange effect on me, and turns me in to an i***t. Ugh

My internal monolog was interrupted by the sound of Wills voice talking to Rita. My baby sister Andy, short for Andrea, had come in at some point. I set the left over food on the counter. “Barbacoa anyone?” I asked.

“Hell yes! You’re my savior sis!” Andy exclaimed. Rita and I laughed, I hugged them both.

“So you’re just glad I’m back because I bring you nutrition?”

Rita laughed, “I don’t know if I’d call Barbacoa nutrition.”

“True, true. But it fills your belly with deliciousness, “ Andy said. I laughed again.

“Okay, well I’ll leave you to it. I have a million things to do. C'mon Will, lets go bubs.”

“Lets hang out soon sis?” Andy inquired.

“Of course! Dinner and a movie, my treat! Later McTaters.”

“Bye Char, bye Will,. “ they said in unison.

Will and I walked out to the car, and I made sure he was buckled in behind the passenger seat. As I walked around to my side Jessie came out of the shop calling my name, “Charlotte, hold on a second.”

“Hey again, what’s up Jessie?”

“ I, uh, well I was thinking, I know your place needs some work, and I wondered if you could use some free labor?” he asked while shuffling his feet again.

Does he always do that when he’s nervous? I wondered to myself.

I smiled and thought it might be nice to have some help.

“Well, I don’t want to take advantage…” my voice trailed off.

“Its not taking advantage, when I offered it.”

“Okay, well I am afraid of heights, so I could use some help with the laddery stuff.” I said with a smile looking down at my feet trying to hide the blush that was rising in my face just thinking about him coming back to the house.

“Plus, I owe someone a Lego date. “ He grinned and bent over to wave at Will through the window.

“Yeah, sans sleepover though.” We both laughed.

“Darn, I was gonna wear my pink bunny jammies,” Jessie said. We laughed again.

“Actually, it might be worth it to see that. I’ll rethink the sleepover.” I managed to say while laughing.

We laughed for a few more minutes, both of us trying to stop, but starting again every time we looked at each other. When we finally came to our senses Jessie was the first to speak, “Well, I better let you get back to it. Here’s my number, text or call me when your ready to start a project. I’ll find some time to come over.” Jessie handed me a piece of paper with his number on it. “Or if you just get bored and want someone besides the old man to talk to.” He added as he walked away. I looked down at the paper in my hand, and smiled.

‘If I get bored and want someone to talk to’… does that mean he wants me to text him? What the hell do I do with that.

Will and I went to the hardware store to pick up some garden tools, and pick up some paint swatches. I meandered around the store looking at different things I might need for the house. Not wanting to get everything at once, I typed some notes in my phone for when I was ready for them. We checked out and headed to the grocery store. I picked up enough food for a week of meals, snacks for the boys, and a big box of popcorn which we eat almost every day. Afterwards we stopped at Dairy Queen for a late lunch and some ice-cream. We sat down at one of the red tables and waited for our food to arrive. Will was playing on his tablet making noises at the game he was playing when I felt a tap on my shoulder. As I turned I heard him say, “So we meet again.”

“Oh hey Jessie, what are you doing here?”

“Well, I promised my daughter Selena some ice-cream after school, and she wanted to come inside and sit down.” He said gesturing to a dark haired girl waiting by the counter.

“Oh well, its pretty crowded in here, y’all are welcome to sit with us. I mean, if you want and its not completely weird?” I stuttered.

“Sure, if we aren’t intruding, that would be nice ,” Jessie said. “Let me just go order real quick and we’ll be right back. “ He turned and walked back to the counter, I watched him from the corner of my eyes as he talked to the little girl. He smiled at her, and pointed towards us. I assumed he was telling her they were coming to sit with us. I was thankful that we had finished our food and just had our ice-cream to eat so I wouldn’t make an i***t of myself… again. The girl looked over at us and I turned away so I wouldn’t be caught staring. After a few minutes they walked over to the table and slid in to the other side of the booth.

Will looked up from his tablet and saw Jessie, “Hey, Mom why is Jessie at our table? When did you get here? Are you a magician?” Jessie and I laughed at his string of questions.

“Your mom said we could sit with you. A few minutes ago. And I can do a few card tricks, but not a real magician.” Jessie said with a smirk.

“Well, I guess you can sit here even if you’re not a real magician.” Will replied. I laughed.

“Will, Charlotte, this is my daughter Selena.” Jessie introduced his daughter to us.

“Hi Selena, it’s nice to meet you. Will, can you say hello and put your tablet down?” I said looking at my son.

Will looked back up from his tablet, “Oh hi. Do you like Minecraft? I just made anew world and built a house, wanna see?” He asked Selena.

“Sure, Minecraft is cool. I have it on my computer at home too.” She replied while climbing under the table to get a closer look. I moved over so she could sit next to Will. Jessie gave her a stern look, “Selena, next time you need to ask before you just barge over.”

“Oh yeah, sorry dad.”

“Its fine.” I told Jessie with a smile. “So what are you two up to today?”

“Well, we’re pretty much eating ice-cream right now.” Jessie teased. I smirked.

“Oh I hadn’t noticed. I thought you were here for a dental exam.” I said sarcastically.

“I actually had a tooth pulled in that corner booth last week.” Jessie laughed, “So, did you get all your errands finished?”

“We did. I hit up the hard ware store and picked up some groceries for the week. Grayson will be here Friday, so I always get extra stuff for him. Pre-teen boy, and he can eat me out of the house already.” I told him.

“Pretty sure that never stops. Lord knows Mal can eat a house of we let him.” He said laughing.

“Have you known him long?” I asked laughing too.

“My whole life, well his whole life. He’s my younger cousin. I helped him get a job with your dad a couple years ago, he seems to have a knack for construction work.” He smiled and took a bite of his sundae.

“Oh, well I’m glad my dad has good people working for him. Does John work with you guys too?” I asked him.

“Yeah, he’s a site manager. Mal works on his crew. I used to be a site manager. But your dad has me managing the site managers now, doing bids, and meeting with potential clients. Its been nice, and I have a more flexible schedule for Selena.” Jessie explained.

We sat chatting about work, and the things I wanted to do at the house. I told him about my dream of having a mini farm, and my new job with CPS I was starting next week. After about an hour I suddenly remembered the groceries in my car. “Oh shoot, I completely forgot I have groceries in the trunk. Ugh, I’m sorry, we need to get going. Texas heat probably isn’t great for frozen foods.”

“Oh yeah, I guess time got away from us. We probably need to get home and get started on homework too.” He said while cleaning up the trash.

“Here let me help with that.” I said standing up at the same time as him while grabbing a half eaten sundae from Will. When I turned, I bumped right in to Jessie and smooshed the half sundae in between us, shooting, melted ice-cream all over both our shirts. “Oh my God! What is wrong with me? I’m so sorry Jessie!” I exclaimed while running to the garbage to throw out the now empty cup.

So much for not embarrassing myself.

Jessie grabbed the napkins from the table and immediately started wiping my shirt, brushing over my boobs. I froze, not really sure what to do. He saw the look on my face and stopped. “Oh crap, I’m sorry. Charlotte, I didn’t even think.” I started laughing then. Really laughing. People were looking, and Jessie started laughing too. We both stood their like a couple of idiots laughing our heads off, the kids finally looked up from their game and started at us.

“Dad you’re so embarrassing!” Selena exclaimed with a groan. Jessie and I laughed a while longer and finally agreed we should go. We finished cleaning up without incident and said our good byes and Will and I hopped in the car to head home. The drive was relatively quick, and before I knew it we were pulling down the long dirt road again.

Jessie

Selena and I got in my truck and made our way home. “So, who was that lady dad?” she asked.

“Oh, a new friend. She’s Mr. Bens oldest daughter, they just moved here from Oregon. I helped them unload their moving truck on Sunday, and we just happened to run in to them today.”

“Oh sure dad. A pretty lady just happened to be at the same place as us, at the exact same time. Puuuleeze!” She rolled her eyes.

“Yep, that’s pretty much what happened. Though I’m not sad about it, and it was nice to sit with them.” I told her with a slight laugh.

“Well, she’s nice, and she has kids I can play with so don’t blow it. When are you going to ask her out?”

“One thing at a time kid, who said I wanted to ask her out?”

“It’s completely obvious, you had that weird googly eye look on your face.”

“Hummpf, “ I replied and dropped the subject Selena just rolled her eyes again.

Damn kids are smarter than you think.. Guess I better work on my facial expressions. Sheesh.

Selena sat at the table and worked on her homework while I did some work in the yard. I had some bushes to cut back and the edges needed to be trimmed. Yard work was a mindless escape for me. I plucked away at the bushes and thought about Charlotte. She was beautiful, easy to talk to, funny, and single.

But why is she single? That woman is a mystery.

I made such an i***t of myself when I started wiping her shirt off for her. When I saw the shocked look on her face, and realized I was all but groping her in the middle of the damn Dairy Queen, I couldn’t apologize enough. Not that I minded the close contact with her at all. But I tried to be a be a gentleman as a life rule. I was so thankful she laughed about it, and dispelled the awkwardness quickly. I need to think of another way to see her soon without being a complete tool.

I finished up in the yard and put my tools away. Then went in to check on Selena. “How’s the homework going hun?”

“Fine, I’m almost done. What’s for dinner dad?”

“Steak and mac and cheese, probably some salad.”

“Yes! I love steak!” she exclaimed. I smiled knowing she loves steak.

“Anything for my best girl. I’m gonna shower. You can watch TV when you’re done with your work.” I told her with a wink and left the room. I went straight into the bathroom dropped my clothes in the hamper and stepped into the hot water letting the heat wash away the muscle aches along with the grime from the days work. After lathering up, I stood under the water for a few more minutes and rinsed off, then dried off and threw on some briefs and joggers with a white under shirt. I made my way back to the kitchen and pulled the steak from the fridge to let it rest before I put it under the broiler. Reaching under the cabinet I pulled out a pot and filled it half way with water for the macaroni, and set it on the stove to boil adding a little salt to the water. I set to chopping the veggies for the salad and heard the TV click on in the living room with some awful preteen music blaring.

“Selena, turn that down a notch would you?” I hollered from the kitchen doorway.

“Okay dad.” She called back.

When the steaks were done cooking Selena set the table and we sat down to eat, chatting about our day, and what she wanted to wear to school tomorrow. Selena prattled on about her friends and what they talked about at recess, and how so and so was mad at someone else because they didn’t want to share the jump rope. I listened and inserted the appropriate ‘Oh’ and ‘wow’ at the right places, and though the conversation wasn’t what I would call exciting I enjoyed listening to her talk about life from her perspective.

After dinner we watched television for a little while then headed to bed. I tucked her in and said prayers, turned out the light and left the door ajar. Back in my room I tossed my joggers and T-shirt over the chair in the corner, and slipped in to bed. I picked up my phone to do my usual scrolling when I noticed I had a new message. I opened it and was surprised to see a message from Charlotte.

Charlotte: So, how do you feel about a little painting on Saturday?

I smiled and texted back right away.

Problem solved.

Me: Sounds like my kinda party. What time?

I waited a few minutes and she texted back.

Charlotte: How about noonish? Feel free to bring Selena, she can play with the boys. :)

Me: it’s a plan!

I almost said date, s**t that was close.

Me: have a great night see you Saturday.

Charlotte : you too. :)

I set my phone on the night stand and rolled to my side with a smile thinking about seeing her again.

Charlotte

Once we got home Will and I carried the groceries inside and I made quick work of putting it all away. Will played in his room for a while, then asked if we could go for a walk. We pulled on some sneakers and made our way down the dusty road. Will picked some wild flowers and I put them into my ponytail. While we walked he prattled on about Selena and how she knew all about Minecraft. “She’s really good at building houses!”

“Oh yeah, well she must get that from her dad.”

“Why?”

“Well her dad works for poppa building houses remember?”

“Oh yeah, I just forgot that.” He said then asked, “hey mom, can I climb that tree?”

“Sure, but let’s check for snakes and ants first.” We walked over to the big oak tree with low hanging branches, some that touched the ground and curved back up towards the sky. We looked all around to make sure it was safe, and Will began climbing up and around the big branches. He was too scared to climb too high, and I had to help him down a few times. While we played there, my dad rolled up in his old brown and white 1980s model Chevy pick up, and rolled, down the window.

“Hey sweetie, y’all havin' fun?” He asked with a smile.

“Hey Poppa! Are you going to your house?” Will asked.

“Sure am.” Dad told him.

“Can I come?” Will ran up to the truck and tried to reach through the window.

“Actually, I tried to call you to see if you wanted to come to dinner tonight, but you didn’t answer your phone.” Dad said.

“Oh, must have left it at the house. Sorry. It looks like Will is good with it, so suppose we will take you up on that. “ I replied with a laugh watching Will climb in to the truck bed. I climbed up a with him and tried to brace myself for the bumps ahead. Will giggled as we drove along, luckily it wasn’t a long ride to the house, I’m pretty sure my ice-cream would have come back up if we had gone much further. We hopped out of the back once dad was parked and went inside to some delicious smells.

“Sammie, I don’t know what you cooked, but I’m ready for it!” I exclaimed walking through the door.

“Tortilla soup, and salad.” Sammie said while stirring the giant pot.

“Ewwww, I don’t like soup!” Will yelled.

“And macaroni and cheese, for mister picky pants.” Sammie added.

“You’re the bestest Sammie!” Will gave her a big hug. She hugged him back and laughed a little.

“Thanks for that Sammie. You didn’t have to do anything special for him.” I told her softly.

“It’s no problem at all. I remember how kids are.” She turned back to the stove to finish up.

We ate and talked about the days events. I mentioned casually how we had run in to Jessie and Selena at Dairy Queen. Dad just gave me a side eye and “mmmhmmm”. Sammie was more curious, asking if I was interested, and told me how he had come to work for dad. “He`s a good guy, and a great dad.” She said with a sly grin.

He’s somethin alright.

After dinner Will and I left so we wouldn’t have to walk home in the dark. When we got back to the house, we kicked off our shoes, and I sent Will to the tub. I unpacked a couple of boxes of books and set them neatly on the book shelf in the living room, then sat down to watch ‘Vampire Diaries'. Will finished up his bath and put the jammies on I laid out for him. I tucked him in to bed, said prayers with him, and kissed him goodnight. I left the door ajar and went back to my show. I scrolled through my phone and on a whim I decided to message Jessie.

Me: So, how do you feel about a little painting on Saturday?

I don’t even have paint colors picked yet… oops.. Well, I’m committed now…

After about 30 minutes he messaged back and we made plans for him to come around lunch time.

I guess I better pick out those colors tomorrow.

“Still worth it.” I whispered to the empty room.