Falling for Jack

Chapter 20

"Hi! Is this Frank the repair guy?"

"Hello, yes this is he"

"Hi there. Cece gave me your card and said to give you a call if I ever needed something repaired."

"OK, so what's broken?"

"My water heater. I went to take a shower and when I turned the hot water on I heard a bang followed by smaller bags. I went to the kitchen and the sound was coming from the water heater."

"OK. I need to take a look. When can I go there?"

"As soon as you can?"

"How about later today, around 5.30pm?"

"That sounds great. Thank you."

"No problem. Can I have your address?"

I gave him my address and after that the call ended.

So, number one on the list is going to have to wait.

I spent the afternoon packing orders and doing inventory on my online shop. I also made a list of yarns I needed to buy for future items to be sold in the shop.

At 5.30pm someone knocked on my door and I went to open it. When I opened the door I thought Frank was going to be on the other side but instead there was Cece.

"Hi Cece. Is everything OK?" I asked.

"Hi Mary, I just wanted to check up on you because you are sick and also because my brother was here and I know that he can be really obnoxious." She explained.

"Come on in. I'll make us some tea and I'll tell you what happened." I invited her.

I went to the kitchen and started to make tea while Cece sat on a chair.

"So, what do you want me to tell you?" I asked her.

"On Saturday you texted me saying that you would tell me everything later. So, I'm guessing that there is history between you and my brother prior to this last weekend." She stated.

"Yes there is. I'll tell you everything from the beginning." And so I told her everything from the moment I saw Jack chopping wood shirtless, got distracted and fell into a ditch until my last phone conversation with him, this afternoon.

When I finished she was looking at me wide eyed.

"I had no idea." She said.

"Well it's over now, so no more thinking about it." I state.

"Are you sure that it's really over?" She insisted.

"Cece, I told your brother that I liked him and that I would like to go on dates with him and have s*x with him and he told me that he needed to think about it. I'm pretty sure that means that it's over. Well not over because nothing started but you know what I mean."

Suddenly there is a knock on the door.

"Are you expecting someone?" Cece asks.

"Yes, it must be Frank the repair guy. My water heater broke and I called him." I explained.

I went to the door, opened it and a tall man with a beard and work clothes came into view.

"Hi I'm Frank. Sorry I'm late. The repair I was doing before took me more time than what I was expecting."

"Hi I'm Mary. No problem, come on in."

Frank gets in and follows me to the kitchen. As soon as he sees Cece he says: "Cece you're here!" There was some kind of emotion in his voice, I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"Hi Frank, how are you?" Cece gets up from her seat and goes to Frank to greet him.

"Great and you? How have you been? Anything interesting in the real estate world?" He asks. I watch their interaction with curiosity. The way he talks with Cece makes me think that he likes her.

Ten minutes later, after they catched up, Frank seems to finally remember the reason why he is here.

He turned to me, still smiling from his conversation with Cece "So… the water heater?"

"Yes, this way." I showed him where the heater was and he started to work on it.

I joined Cece on my couch while we waited for Frank to finish repairing the water heater.

"Was Frank the guy you were telling me about at your party?" I ask Cece.

She looks at me surprised "What? Frank?? No… it was someone else."

"OK. Bear in mind that I suck at relationships but from a third party perspective I can tell you that, that guy over there" I point at Frank "really likes you. You should give him a chance."

She looks at me and starts laughing "Are you serious? Frank? Really? I have known him since we were babies. I know who was his first crush. We are like brothers who know everything about each other."

"And is that such a bad thing? Being friends with the person you love and knowing everything that there is to know about that person?" I ask.

She looks at me and I can see in her face that she is thinking about what I said. She then looks at Frank and speaks really softly "Maybe not."

An hour later Frank meets us in the living room and says "It is done. I was able to fix the problem. Now you can use hot water again."

"Thank you so much Frank. How much do I owe you?" I asked him.

"If Cece agrees to have dinner with me it's nothing." He replied.

My jaw dropped. Did Frank overheard our conversation while he was working? I look at Cece and her facial expression matches mine. We are both surprised by this.

"Ahh… Cece doesn't leave here… this is my house." I try to explain to him.

"Yeah I know. It 's fine. What do you say Cece?" He looks at her awaiting an answer.

I start to think about what I could possibly say to stop the awkward silence when Cece, who now looks like a tomato, replies " ok".

Frank smiles and says "Great! How about tomorrow night? I'll pick you up at 8pm."

And tomato Cece again replies "ok".

"Great! I'll see you tomorrow then. It was nice meeting you Mary. I'm going to go now. Good night." And he turns around and leaves my house.

At this point I'm too shocked to say anything or to even move at all.

A few moments later I hear Cece "Mary I need your help. I have a date tomorrow." I look at her. She still looks like a tomato and has a worried look on her face. I can't control myself any longer and I start to laugh. "What are you laughing about?" Cece shrieks.

"This whole situation is rather funny. By the way, thanks for paying for my water heater repair." I say still laughing.

"It 's not funny! He totally heard us talking about him!" Cece states.

"Yeah he totally did. And then he took his shot! I say, still laughing.

"God! What am I going to wear? I have to go shopping! You have to come with me!! And you can't say no because I'm in this mess because of you!" She is clearly very nervous about her date. One of the things I hate the most is shopping for clothes but since I took part in this I'll accept my punishment. "OK, don't worry, I'll go shopping with you."