5
~ Ian ~
The ride back to my - scratch that, our - house is much more animated than the drive out.
Teri is almost overflowing with excitement for both her new home and the chance to finally, really, truly, get her business venture off the ground.
She’s almost bouncing in the passenger seat, unable to stop herself from smiling for the entire journey.
I’ve only ever seen one person anywhere near this level of bubbly delight before in my life, and that was Lorna, after she had signed up to attend college again.
A man could get used to feeling this swell of pride in his chest, I tell you.
Finally, there’s enough of a lull in Teri’s giddy monologue for me to ask a simple question. “Has your old roommate always been so… endearing?”
“Beth?” She scoffs at the notion. “Honestly, she’s always been kind of a pain in my ass, but beggars can’t be choosers, right? Besides, as weird as it is to admit, she’s far from the worst roommate I’ve ever had.”
“I shudder to think.”
“Oh, I’ve got stories.” She giggles. “Maybe you get enough wine in me and I’ll start spilling the beans. Some of the shitholes I’ve lived in will probably make your toes curl.”
I pull up in front of the house and park to make the unpacking trip as smooth as possible.
Teri hops out of the car and pops the trunk and begins ferrying the first box inside before I’ve ever unbuckled my belt.
I step out of the car and watch her disappear through the grand front door of the house.
She’s humming with happiness. That sound - and the sight of her jubilant, bouncing steps - makes my heart swell with delight.
Only a day or so back, I had joked with Lorna about adopting a bunch of stray young women.
At the time, it seemed absurd. Now, however, it feels better.
It feels right. This is what a man like me should be doing with his remaining time on earth.
I have the means and the ability to make a difference to as many people as I wish. Why shouldn’t I do exactly that?
Teri emerges from the house and almost skips to the trunk of the car for the next box. She says, “Everything in the trunk can go to my room. The stuff on the back seat is cleaning supplies; that can go in the hall for now. I’ll sort it out as I work.”
“You’re going to start work now? Today?”
“Sure I am. I’ve gotta clear out the kitchen, otherwise, how am I gonna make dinner later?”
I purse my lips, unable to make a comeback.
Teri grabs the next box from the trunk and races back inside the house.
Meanwhile, I open the back doors and begin unloading her cleaning equipment into the main hall.
She has a lot of stuff. Not just the usual solutions and wipes and sprays, but a vacuum with more attachments than I have fingers, plus all manner of clever-looking handheld gadgets that serve purposes beyond my limited imagination.
As silly and pathetic as it sounds, I’ve never really paid attention to cleaning and housekeeping duties.
Most of these items are far outside the range of my experience.
After a few minutes, I emptied the backseat of all the bags and boxes.
Now I turn my attention to the trunk. Teri has already taken most of this indoors, leaving me to grab the final piece of luggage; a tattered and beaten-up suitcase.
I grab the handles and gasp at the weight.
Whatever is in here, it’s heavier than it looks.
I haul it out of the trunk and lock the car and haul the case through the doors and into the house.
Now, for the first time, I regret owning such a large house.
It’ll take me almost thirty minutes to lift this case up the stairs and along to the bedroom.
“Oh my gosh! Let me help you with that!”
Teri appears like an angel, bouncing down the stairs toward me, her beautiful figure framed in wondrous light. It’s impossible for me not to enjoy the sight of her curvy chest jiggling with the momentum. Hey, I’m still a man, after all.
She grabs the other end of the case and together we carry it up the stairs and all the way to her bedroom. She guides me toward the bed and we drop the case to the mattress. I could swear that the frame protests under the weight.
“What the heck have you got in there?” I flex my aching fingers. “Bowling balls?”
Teri laughs. She yanks the zip and the case almost bursts open.
It’s filled with clothing. We laugh together.
I glance around the room. She’s stacked boxes full of possessions here and there already, spaced out on the floor and on top of the furniture.
It already feels like the room belongs to her. I nod in approval.
“Anything I can do to help?”
Teri thinks for a minute. Then she turns her back to me and takes off her top. Her smooth, silky back and the clasp of her bra are completely visible to me. I almost flinch in surprise. She says, “You can grab my cleaning outfit from the case. Should be in the zip compartment inside the flap.”
I yank my eyes to the case and begin to search, not daring to look in any other direction.
Heat rushes to my face. The sound of rustling fabric fills my ears, followed by the gentle humming of a happy woman.
I wade through a bottomless sea of feminine attire and find the zip compartment nestled within the case’s inner flap.
I open it and pull out the contents. It’s a simple loose gray T-shirt and a pair of red shorts.
“Here.” I turn around and almost drop the clothes in surprise. Teri is standing there wearing nothing more than her panties and a smile. As much as I try not to look, my eyes have already seen her firm, perky breasts and soft pink nipples. “Oh, gosh - I’m so sorry, here-”
She giggles and takes the clothes from me. “Relax, Ian. I figure that we live together, you’re probably gonna see me eventually. Why not get it out of the way?”
“Uh… sure. Right. Makes sense.” My eyes are fixed on a point of incredible interest that happens to be located on the ceiling. “Do you do that with all your roommates?”
“Only the hot ones.” Even with my gaze far in the air, I can tell that Teri is smiling. “What’s the matter? Is this a problem?”
“I’m not used to women I barely know getting undressed in front of me.”
“Better get used to it, Ian. Because I can’t clean in my nice, normal clothes, so I’m going to change a lot. It doesn’t bother me if you’re in the room or not.”
“I… I see…”
There’s the rustle of fabric as Teri gets changed. I can feel her move in front of me. I should walk out of the room but she’s blocking the route, whether she meant to or not. After a moment, she says, “There. You can look now.”
I pull my gaze from the ceiling to her amused face and sparkling eyes.
She’s now wearing that loose gray shirt and red shorts.
It’s a curious choice of outfit. Humble, homey, relaxed, and yet she still looks sensational.
Teri grabs a scrunchie from the case and styles her hair into a loose bun. I can’t take my eyes off her.
“You know,” she says, offering a teasing smile, “I kind of thought you’d take the chance to eyeball me. Lorna wasn’t kidding, you really are a gentleman.”
“Wait, that was a test?”
“Kind of.” She shrugs. “I was mostly curious to know what you would do. But I also really did want to get any awkwardness out of the way up front.”
“You’re a bad girl, Teri.”
“You have no idea.”
She winks and backs out of the room. I hear her footsteps pad down the hall, before the stairs creak. I stand in the middle of her room, still stunned. These young women with their sexual freedoms will surely be the death of me.
~ Teri ~
My cheeks hurt from smiling so hard but I can’t stop.
My heart is racing with excitement – in just 24 hours, my situation has done a complete 180 and I’m giddy with the idea that I never have to deal with Beth or that stupid apartment ever again.
But most of all, I’m vibrating with excitement that I am now living with a woman I’ve longed to be with for years and a man who, while he doesn’t press all my buttons, he’ll do.
First things first, though. I need to tackle the kitchen.
It’s a gem but it’s been neglected for years, maybe decades judging from the buildup of grit and grime on the surfaces that matter.
I need to focus on getting things under control so I can do the job I was hired to do, which is cooking for Ian.
I’m sure that Lorna will be happy with whatever I put in front of her but Ian has lived in one of the culinary capitals of the world for the past five years and even though he said my apple pie was world-class, I’m sure that was an exaggeration for effect in the moment.
It worked – I was touched by everything he said and did at my apartment, from putting Beth in her place to spending an ungodly amount of money just to smooth my exit.
Still, he’ll be tough to please. Not that I’m worried I can’t do it, I just have to get my ducks in a row.
“Anything I can do to help?” he says as he rounds the corner a few minutes after I’m done carting my cleaning supplies from the foyer to the kitchen. “I don’t mind pitching in, you know.”
“I appreciate the offer, Ian,” I tell him with a warm smile.
“But I am very particular about my workspace and I’ve found over the years that nobody lives up to my unrealistic expectations, so let me do it myself,” I tell him.
It’s total BS but I need to set the right tone and ground rules from this moment forward.
“Well, if you change your mind…” he says as he just stands there watching me unpack my supplies.