Chapter Seventeen
T he coffee shop near campus was crowded today, so Mercedes searched the room while she waited for her order.
As her tea and sandwich was handed to her, a few students vacated a table near the window.
Making her way quickly, she got there as two of them left.
One still lingered, but she needed a place to sit.
She hated eating at her desk, and it was raining outside today so that wasn’t an option.
“Do you mind if I sit here?” Hopefully, the students who left wouldn’t be returning.
The guy looked up from his phone and waved at the seat. She dropped into it and set her food down. The place was busy and noisy, but it didn’t stop her from thinking about last night and her study session with Evan.
It had been fun with Evan teaching her what the equipment was and how it worked, and it had completely changed his mood. He’d been excited at being able to share part of what he did with her and being the one with all the information.
She had to admit her favorite part was sitting close to him on the couch and inhaling his freshly showered scent. Hopefully, he didn’t realize she spent a lot of the night sniffing him.
“Hey, Mercedes, you saved me a seat. Thanks.”
Mercedes looked up, noting the guy who’d been at the table with her had left.
How had she missed that? Tasha pushed back a chair and deposited herself in it.
Oh, man. This wasn’t how she wanted to spend her lunch break.
She could hardly say she was finished. Her sandwich had barely been touched because she’d been mooning over Evan.
Giving the woman a big fake smile, Mercedes shoved her sandwich in her mouth to avoid talking. That didn’t stop Tasha.
“So give me the deets on your hunky boyfriend. You don’t talk about him much. It’s like you aren’t even dating.”
Drat. The last thing she wanted was Tasha to know that she and Evan were only friends. Her mind whirred, and she grasped at straws. “Evan is a very private guy and doesn’t like being talked about. I’m kind of the same way. Keep our private life private. You understand, don’t you?”
Tasha rolled her eyes, then took a swig of her iced latte. “If I had a boyfriend who looked like that, I’d be singing it to the world. I’d want every person I came into contact with to know exactly how gorgeous he was and how great our sex life was.”
Color heated her cheeks. Had Mercedes been thinking passionate thoughts where Evan was concerned? Maybe. Even if they managed to get together, Tasha was the last person she’d confide intimate details to.
Tasha rolled her eyes and laughed. “Look at you blushing. Must be remembering something good, huh? Did he give you a great goodbye kiss this morning? Is that why you were in such a good mood when you came in?”
She’d been happy because of the success of their session last night and how calm and comfortable they’d been with each other.
And how she’d snuggled into his shoulder as they read through his book.
Sure, they both needed to be close enough together to see the pages, but she didn’t really need to hang on him the way she had.
There had been no complaints from him, though.
He’d actually smiled at her a few times when she’d nestled against him.
“Did you finish inputting the new history books into the catalog this morning?” Change the subject. Stop talking about your imaginary boyfriend.
Tasha shrugged and checked out a group of students who’d just entered the coffee shop.
Being across the street from the campus, it did a booming business during the academic year.
“Yeah, most of them. I’ll finish the rest this afternoon.
Do you have any more pictures of Evan on your phone?
How about shirtless? Does he walk around the apartment in his underwear?
Oh, is he a boxers or briefs kind of guy? ”
Boxer briefs. It wasn’t something she’d share with her overly assertive coworker. The questions seemed to be getting worse and worse. Maybe if she shared one picture, the woman would let it go.
Scrolling through her phone, she found a picture of the two of them at her parents’ party.
Carli had taken a group picture of her parents, Jonas, and her.
Evan had photobombed the image by sliding in next to her and wrapping her in a hug.
The smile on her face had been real and happy, because Evan was hugging her.
The rest of her family had laughed but moved away once the original group picture had been snapped.
It was a great photo. She and Evan had been staring at each other like they didn’t want to be anywhere else. She usually didn’t.
“Here. This was a few weeks ago.” She held her phone with the screen toward Tasha. The woman tried to take it, but Mercedes gripped it firmly and moved it an inch back. Tasha leaned in closer to get a better look.
“Yowza. He is yummy. Those muscles from all that physical labor sure are lovely. If you two don’t work out, I’m calling dibs.” Tasha fanned her face.
Over my dead body. And if she didn’t know better, she’d say she was jealous.
Which implied she had strong feelings for the man.
No denying she did. She’d had them for a while, but since he’d moved in, they’d grown stronger by the minute.
If she didn’t watch out, they’d get to a point where there was no turning back.
If he didn’t feel the same way, it could be a real problem.
Evan stomped his boots on the porch to remove most of the dirt and entered the house.
He sniffed the air to see if he could figure out what Mercedes had made for supper.
Smelled like pasta sauce. Was it lasagna, some fancy Italian dish, or plain ol’ spaghetti?
Whatever it was, he’d be thrilled he didn’t have to cook it.
After kicking his boots into his closet, he grabbed a clean change of clothes and headed to the bathroom to shower off the crud from work.
The hot water felt heavenly on his head and back as he shampooed and soaped up, then rinsed.
With his dirty clothes in the hamper in his room, he strolled to the kitchen. And froze.
Mercedes stood at the counter, her feet and legs bare, her bathrobe hanging down to her knees. When she faced him, he noted she wore a long T-shirt underneath. It wasn’t what most men would think of as sexy, yet feelings of longing and desire sprang to the surface.
“Pajamas already?” he signed.
Her mouth turned down in a tiny frown. “I need to be comfortable today. I’m not feeling great. It’s only spaghetti tonight. Hope that’s okay?”
“It’s perfect. Let me get it. You sit.”
The spaghetti had already been mixed in with the sauce, and she’d thrown in some ground beef as well. Once he’d forked it onto plates, he carried it to the table. Since she already had a cup of tea, he got his own glass of Mountain Dew.
“I’m sorry you aren’t feeling great. Are you sick, or is it something else?”
Her gaze slid to the side. “Lady stuff. You have two sisters and a mom. I’m sure you’re aware of what happens with women.”
His face grew hot. It wasn’t the kind of conversation he liked having with anyone, never mind a woman he found attractive.
“Men try and avoid those discussions if at all possible.”
She took a small bite of the pasta and chewed. “You mean, when you get married, you’re not going to baby your wife with extra special care when she isn’t feeling well.”
Why did the visual of Mercedes in that role suddenly pop into his mind? She’d never even hinted that it was something she’d want. “Sure, as long as we don’t have to talk about it.”
She laughed.
He loved the way her face crinkled up, and she threw her head back a little so he could admire her slender neck. He’d always been in awe of her grace and beauty. He needed to change the subject.
“A new guy started today.”
“Oh, the one you’re mentoring?”
He shook his head. “No, he doesn’t start until next month. He’s got to get certification on some of the equipment first. The guy who started today, Tyler, is young and I have a feeling he’ll be a real pain in the neck.”
She cocked her head, always paying attention to what he said. He loved that she didn’t simply nod at him like so many others did, hoping he’d stop talking to them. Mercedes was truly interested in what he had to say.
“Why?”
Shrugging, he said, “You know kids these days.”
Her eyes brightened with humor. “Kids? Because you’re so old at twenty-eight?”
“I don’t think he’s even twenty yet. He rolled his eyes a few times when he was put on clean up duty.”
“You’re cleaning up dirt?” she teased.
He made a face at her. “Everyone starts at the bottom. You know, shoveling, flag duty, washing the equipment after, stuff like that. Unless they come with experience from elsewhere and have lots of time and the certifications for specific vehicles. This kid wanted to start on a bulldozer. One of the bigger ones. Boss told him no. He got kind of sulky. We’ll see if he shapes up. ”
Mercedes nodded and finished up her meal. “Tasha keeps asking about you at work. I think she’s hoping we’ll break up so she can move in. She’s obsessed with living with me for some reason. I don’t know why. We work together. Isn’t that enough time with each other?”
Evan knew exactly why Tasha wanted to be around Mercedes. She was an amazing individual who made everyone near her feel special and cared for. Or maybe she’d tasted her cooking and wanted dinner made for her every night.
“You can tell her I don’t plan to ever break up with you. You’re in it for life, baby.” He liked to joke around, but in all honesty, he’d love to be in it for life with this woman. He might have to settle for being a forever friend.
“That’s good to know. I really prefer you as a roommate.”
“Because of my handsome face and charming personality, right?” He made sure to throw in the right amount of sass. Would he ever get up the nerve to tell her how he felt? Like that would go anywhere with a woman whose entire life revolved around books.
She laughed again and nodded. “Absolutely. It’s what every woman looks for in a boyfriend.”
He stood and picked up his plate. “Well, how about this boyfriend cleans up the dishes and you go rest on the couch with one of your books?”
“Sounds perfect. Thanks.”
She winced as she stood, and he hated to see her in pain. Not that he knew much about what she was going through, but Deanna and Carli had gone through it at times and mostly stayed in their room.
When the dishes were done, he joined her on the couch. His Level Two book rested on the coffee table, so he picked it up and flipped to the page they’d finished with a few days ago.
Mercedes shifted closer to him. “Are you ready to start another chapter? You really seemed to get the one we were doing before.”
“You don’t have to work on this with me tonight if you don’t feel good. I’ll go through what I can and mark anything I don’t understand. You’ve given me a few tricks for figuring out some of the text.”
She snuggled up next to him, pressing right against his arm. “I don’t mind. I like helping you with this, and it’s cool how much I’m learning about construction.”
After searching her face to make sure she wasn’t uncomfortable, he said, “Okay, if you want to.”
They began with her reading the first paragraph, then she interpreted it to him.
Typically, they’d found that he knew much of the information, he simply couldn’t understand some of the words or phrases.
She’d sign the exact phrase or sentence, and then they’d work together to figure out the meaning of the sentence.
His confidence was coming back slowly as they went through the book.
When she’d first suggested teaching him to read, he thought it would be awful.
She’d see how stupid he was and how low his reading level was, and she’d be mortified.
It hadn’t happened that way. Sure, his reading still wasn’t great.
He’d never be a word nerd like she was, but she’d trained him to look around at the other words and phrases nearby and come to conclusions about what was being said.
The funny thing was that she seemed to be learning almost as much as he was. Maybe he’d get her to be a construction worker yet.
Flipping another page, she pointed to the image of an excavator, then fingerspelled it. “How do you sign this?”
He formed the letter E with his right hand and held out his left hand flat, like it was land. Then, he scraped the land with the E hand in a digging motion.
“Great,” she said and mimicked his motion. “That’s pretty easy. Now tell me what an excavator does, then we’ll dive into the text information.”
“It’s mostly for digging and lifting. Moving materials from one place to another. It can also be used for demolition if we need to tear up an old road or a building where we plan to make a new road.”
Evan actually enjoyed tonight’s session, partly because he was familiar with the machine they were learning about, but mostly because Mercedes sat so close to him.
Occasionally, she sagged against his arm if they were only looking at the book.
He missed her heat when she sat up to interpret for him.
As they continued through the book, he could almost imagine them doing this kind of thing on a daily basis. Sitting together, close as they were now, and having special time with each other.
Why had he ever thought this would be a bad thing?