Chapter 4
The house was coming along nicely. The kitchen was nearly finished; they were just waiting for the appliances to come in and be set.
The pantry, the place that she loved most of all because of the shelving in it, as well as the living room, now had two overhead fans that would distribute the air in the winter when the fireplace was going.
Olivia loved the house that she was going to be living in with Thatcher, and that she had something to do with it as it was being remodeled.
She knew that Sidney was going to be living here as well, but she tried not to think about him too often.
He was a nice man and had given her the ability to talk to her son when she wanted, but she just didn’t know about the two of them coming together as a couple.
She really did think of herself as damaged goods.
She turned in the direction of the light when she felt it slide over her.
It was Gravely trying to get her attention.
“I have an outlet that’s not working right, and was wondering if you could come and have a look at it.
I think it might have been damaged when someone stepped on it, but no one is owning up to that, so I don’t know.
” She nodded. “Good. The kitchen is finished, but for the stove. I’m having it wired up to the wall as we speak.
I don’t want someone to pull it down on top of them like they do dressers. ”
Sometimes she could understand Gravely, but most of the time she would only catch a word or two of what he was saying.
He didn’t have a mustache or anything that would keep her from reading his lips, but he would forget to stay still so that she could.
When he turned away from her, she couldn’t see his mouth, which made it difficult for her to see his lips moving.
After fixing the plug, not the outlet, she finished up her area and moved to the dining room.
She’d been changing out outlets all morning and was just about finished with the main floor.
The kitchen, with all its new outlets, gleamed in the morning sunshine, and she liked knowing that they were as safe as she could make them.
The glass panels in the dining room made the room sparkle with colors while she was in there, and she thought that it was the most beautiful room in the house, next to the master suite.
It was a large room that had a fireplace in it, too.
There was plenty of room for a couple of chairs, and the little library made it so that someone could be cozy in the room while reading a good book.
There were windows from floor to ceiling in the room that looked out over the back yard.
She wondered if animals came out to play in the area in the evening, but hadn’t been around when that time of the day was upon her.
She would just have to imagine it and hope that someday she would get to see it.
Turning to head back to the kitchen, where her supplies were, she ran into Sidney.
“Sorry. I didn’t see you.” She nodded, still unsure around the big man.
All of the Welsh men were large men, including the father.
She’d met him just the other day. And Mrs. Walsh had introduced herself just this morning when she’d been looking for her son.
All of the Walsh family had been in sometime over the last few days, and she felt like they were there only to meet her and her son.
Thatcher usually didn’t hang out at job sites with her.
Usually, he was at school or on some adventure when she was at a job.
But this week he’d been on break from college, and she had enjoyed having him around.
Plus, he was working for Gravely and making some extra cash, and that was always good.
He was going out with his friends now on the weekend and needed the extra cash when having fun.
She didn’t worry about him going out too much, but she was his mom and did worry about him some.
He was a great kid, and she loved him to pieces.
After cleaning up her gear, the job was nearly finished, and she was going to be leaving soon, Olivia decided to get herself some dinner and go home alone.
Sidney had mentioned that he was going to be spending the night in the house, not that she blamed him; it was a wonderful home, but she didn’t have anything to do with that, so she didn’t ask if she could stay too.
It was something that she wanted; to sleep in the big house, but she’d never intrude on his time here.
Putting her things in the car, she was just starting the engine when she heard from him.
“I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner with me tonight?
I know that Thatcher is going to have pizza and a movie in the mall, so he’ll be taken care of.
” She asked him where he was eating. “I was thinking about having dinner at home. I was going to pick up some Chinese food and bring it back with me. The dining room table and chairs have arrived today, and I want to break them in with you.”
“You said Chinese? I love Chinese food.” He told her it was one of his favorites, too. “I’d love to get to know you better by having a meal. We still aren’t going to be mates, but we can be friends. Right?”
“If you say so.” She didn’t know what that meant and asked him about it. “I want to be more than friends with you. I won’t rush you, but I’ve fallen in love with you over the last few days. And Thatcher is wonderful. He’s a smart kid, isn’t he?”
“He didn’t get that from me. I showed him how to work hard for what he wanted, but I never got how he could read something and know it hours later, like he does.
I’ve been lucky in that.” He asked if he’d had any kind of idea what he wanted to do when he got out of college.
“So far, he’s just taking what he needs to take.
Then, in a couple of more quarters, he’ll be able to pick a major.
I think it’s going to be nursing or something in the medical field.
He changes his mind about once a month on what he wants to do. ”
“Sounds like something that I did each time I went back to college. I would want to go back for one thing and end up in another field altogether. But it all worked out in the end. I have a lot of education that I might not have had otherwise.” She asked him what he’d done this time.
“Computers. Mostly to set them up and get them going, but I can program them as well. It’s been nice to be able to go in and set up the families’ computers for them.
I think of all the jobs I’ve had, this one is the one that keeps me from being bored the most. In a couple of years, I might say that about something else, but there you have it. ”
“I’m an electrical engineer. I can and have wired new homes and rewired homes for a while now.
It pays good, and I like the hours.” He asked if she had to take an interpreter with her everywhere she went.
“No. Just on jobs where the owner might be around. Usually, they don’t care to allow me to read their lips. Kinda a man thing, I think.”
“I’m glad that I got to know you a little better through your job. It’s been really nice for me to be able to talk to you when I want to.” She said that was certainly a perk. “Thanks.”
True to his word, he didn’t rush her into anything. Dinner was delicious. And it was fun to share it with Sidney. He was such a nice man that she didn’t feel uncomfortable around him like she usually did with big men. He was…well, he was different than any man she’d ever met.
They laughed and talked throughout dinner and clean up.
He told her what his life as a dragon had been like, and she, in turn, told him about growing up with Thatcher.
She’d never thought of how the two of them had grown up together until today.
But she thought that she’d done a good job of raising him so far.
“You have. I mean, he’s a personable, great kid.
Smart and funny. The few times that I’ve spoken to him, he’s been polite and behaved himself.
One thing that I have noticed about him is that he doesn’t have a cell phone in front of his face all the time.
” She said that she didn’t have one either, and they both laughed.
“He’s a great kid, and I can’t wait to get to know him better. ”
“Do you expect him to call you Dad?” He said that he didn’t, no. “I guess it would be up to him on what he called you.”
“I’d rather he called me Sidney than Mr. Walsh.” She nodded at that. “My dad doesn’t even like to be called Mr. Walsh. I think he is always surprised when someone calls him that.”
They talked about different things throughout the night. Nothing in particular. Just whatever they thought of, that’s what they talked about. he was even surprised when she brought up the day of the kidnapping. She told him how she’d broken her arm trying to get Toby Lea away from Winchester.
“He stomped me. Not just on my arm, though that hurt enough, but he also stomped me in the ribs when I was in his van. I don’t think he was happy that he got me over her.
I fought him so much those first few days that I think he wanted to kill me.
” He asked her if she thought Toby Lea would have survived.
“Years later, she came to me. I think she thought that I’d hate her for some reason.
I knew what I was doing when I tried to save her.
I was a couple of years older than she was, and we’d been practicing stranger danger for a while now.
It’s funny, they only teach you how to scream bloody murder, but they don’t teach you how to get away.
I was surprised when he hit me back. I thought he’d just run away and leave us alone. ”
“I’m sorry this happened to you. You were very brave.” She said that she was stupid for getting herself messed up in all that. “Perhaps. But you saved her life. What did she say when she saw you all those years later?”