5. Chapter 4
Mitchell
Sarah is a complete surprise to me. She's young. So young. But has had to deal with a lot in her young life. Once the crisis was averted, she calmed down and was able to have a normal conversation with me. I've never felt more at ease with someone than during that conversation.
It's how I decided, without any urging from her, that I was going to help her restore her home. I didn't say that to her, but inside I made up my mind. I don't know if she was overwhelmed with everything that had happened, but she agreed to it, and I'm not letting her back down.
Today I'm taking her shopping for some tile and maybe even granite for her counter. I'm not certain how I will convince her that I will be paying for everything, but that's a worry for another time.
I park once again in her driveway and ask myself why I've been so moved by this tiny person that has come into my life so randomly. And she is tiny, around five feet five inches to my six four. I knock on the door and I hear a shout to come in.
"I'm in the kitchen!"
I place my toolbox on a table and go find out what she's doing that's making so much noise.
"Oh my God."
I rush to where she's standing on a ladder and manage to catch her before she falls to the ground. The dishes she's holding are not as lucky as she is and go tumbling down the floor and crash into a million pieces.
"Oh no, my grandmother's china."
"What do you think you were doing?"
"I wanted to clear the cupboards before you came in so we could start with the repairs around the kitchen."
"If I hadn't just come in you could have hurt yourself."
"But you're here and I am saved."
Her arms are around my neck and her sweet strawberry scent is making me weak at the knees. Her body is flush against mine, and I don't really want to let her go. She has other ideas and starts to slide down my body as she lets go of my neck.
"You need to be more careful."
Her hands, still on my shoulders, squeeze me as if she doesn't think I'm real, but I am. I am very real and very aroused at having her all to myself like this.
"You're not wearing any shoes. You'll cut your foot if you walk around. Let me take you to the living room while I take care of the mess in here."
I grab her legs and she jumps up and holds on to me as if she's a koala bear. I take her back to the living room and place her on the carpet there.
"I can put some shoes on so I can help with the clean up."
"Just tell me where the broom is."
"Are you always this grumpy in the afternoons?"
"Only when I have to save someone from disaster."
She giggles like the young woman she is, and a pang hits me in the stomach at realizing I could never have her.
She's just so young. But I can be her savior, and I'm starting by removing all the glass that's broken in the kitchen.
It takes me about thirty minutes to get everything cleaned up and out to the garbage.
"Sarah?"
"Hmmm?"
She's working on her computer in the living room and I hate to bother her, but I really need to find out what her vision is for the kitchen.
"I thought we could go and see about materials for the kitchen. Are you busy?"
"What were you thinking? I thought you'd only do surface repairs."
"I mean if we're doing the kitchen now might as well do it properly."
"I don't have any savings, Mitchell. I can't do a whole renovation right now."
"We can work something out."
"You mean like a loan?"
I mean like I'll take care of you from now until the end of time, but I keep myself from uttering the words. She doesn't need to know how far deep I am into her.
"Something like that."
"Okay, I'd love to see what they've got at the store. Let me change, and we can go."
When she comes down from her room, she's in tight jeans and a shirt that fits her curves perfectly. I try not to ogle her like the dirty old man I am, but I think I fail because she's smiling and blushing as we leave for the store.
The drive is comfortable, and I shouldn't be surprised because that's what it's like to be with her. Simple and easy, like we fit.
"Any particular colors you were considering for the kitchen?"
"I haven't really thought about it because I didn't know we were going to do a total overhaul of the place, but now I'm thinking the possibilities are endless."
"Hmmm."
"Let me check on the Internet while we get there. There are so many different ideas for kitchens, but I want to respect your time as well."
"You have all the time you need. You don't need to rush."
She blushes again, making her face look oddly angelic. I need to get a grip on myself so that I don't start drooling right in front of her. The rest of the trip to the materials store is spent with her making little noises of approval every time she finds something she likes.
"Find anything you like?"
"Honestly, a lot. I want to keep it simple, though. I want us to stick to a budget."
"You don't need to do that."
"I do, otherwise I'll never be able to pay you back for the materials and the work itself."
"Let's just go in there and dream a little. At the end, we'll see about the money."
"I can do that. And Mitchell? Thank you."
We spend the next two hours choosing paint, tiles and granite. I manage to get her to accept the better materials instead of the cheap ones, but she keeps frowning at me. At one point her frown is so fierce I pull her to me and smooth the creases on her forehead with my thumbs.
"You're too young to be wearing a constant frown. Relax."
"I'm not that young, I'm twenty five."
And I'm an old geezer, who wants her more than anything.
"Let's go. I want to see how the stuff we got is going to work in the kitchen."
Sarah seems more relaxed after the trip and is talking very animatedly as we get back to her house. I park on the driveway and look at her with her face flush and smiling at me.
"Looks like you had fun."
"I did, thanks to you."
"The kitchen is going to look great once we're done with it."
"Why are you really doing this, Mitchell?"
She's looking at me, interest on her face. She's obviously not thinking I'm trying to take advantage of her or any of the like, but it bothers me that another man could do the same as I'm doing. I want to be the only one for her. I let out a deep breath.
"I think you are a good person going through a tough time and you need a break. I can give that to you."
We're sitting so close to one another that I can almost feel the warmth of her body. It should burn me, but it only calls to me.
"Stay for dinner, Mitchell."
"I'd love to."
There was no way I would have turned down that invitation.
I want to spend more time with this girl and find a way to make her mine.
Old geezer or not, I'm starting to get attached to her and her bright light.
When we're back inside, we both move to the kitchen to visualize the changes with the samples we got from the store.
"Thanks so much, Mitchell. Grandma would have loved this renovation. The colors look great, and I'll have a working kitchen once we're done. I love to cook."
"Is that why you invited me to dinner? To showcase your cooking skills."
"It's the only way I have right now to thank you."
"You don't have to do that."
"I want to."
We're toe to toe and looking into each other's eyes. I want to kiss her, but I don't know how she'll take it. Am I being too forward? Moving too fast? All I want is more of her. Instead, what I do is ask for work. Work I can do.
"I can start moving things from the cupboards to the back room so that we can start working on the kitchen on the weekend."
"Sure, you can do that while I cook."
We both work in silence as if we were an old married couple. I might be fifty, but I've got some good years left in me that I can spend giving Sarah the world. Let's face it, I'm a grumpy billionaire with more money than I know what to do with.
"Dinner is served."
I sit down across from her at the dining room table. She looks so beautiful, I can't stop watching her every move. She serves me a plate with what looks to be a risotto and I wait patiently for her to sit down again so we can eat together.
These little things like eating together and going shopping give me comfort and show me a possible life for the both of us. I groan inwardly. I've known Sarah for two days, and I'm already making a life with her in my head.
"It's mushroom risotto."
"Where did you learn to cook?"
"My grandmother taught me the basics. Later I saved up for cookbooks. They're back there in the bookcase."
I take a bite, and the rice is creamy and flavorful. I could get used to eating like this every day of my life. Of course, I would offer to cook every once in a while, or rather, get delivery.
"This is delicious, Sarah."
"I'm glad you like it."
Her cheeks turn rosy as she blushes from the compliment.
"How long do you think it will take us to finish the kitchen, Mitchell?"
"If I can get away during the afternoons I think two, maybe three weeks. I can come around 3pm after I'm done with my other work. How does that sound to you?"
"Mmm, I'd only be able to help starting at five when my workday ends."
"That's fine. I think we're going to work well together."
"I think so, too. What got you into doing construction work?"
"Actually, I'm an architect."
"Really? That's so exciting. Is it hard work?"
"It can be demanding, but once you're doing better with the business you bring others on to help you out, and it's not so bad. That's why I'm able to spend my afternoons here."
"I think it would be cool to study architecture. I'm saving up to further my education. I've only got a Bachelor in arts."
"You can do it. You can do anything you put your mind to."
"You think?"
"I know. You're not scared of hard work and curious enough about things to teach yourself about them. Those are important things to get ahead in life."
"Sometimes I feel like I'm not enough. I should have been able to help grandmother with her bills, and I was a burden to her."
"Stop talking like that. Your grandmother appreciated everything you did for her, and she loved you exactly as you are."
I'm surprised at my harsh tone. She looks startled too, but I can't help myself. I don't want her thinking poorly about her life and her achievements. After a while she goes back to her smiling self.
"I appreciate that. I have this tendency for negative talk in my head and I need to figure out how to get rid of it or make it better."
"Just tell me when your thoughts go on a dark spiral and I'll set you right."
"Why are you being so kind to me?"
"I admire you. You're young, full of life, and ready to take on the world."
"I think I like how you see me. Let me go get dessert."
"There's dessert?"
"Of course, there's always dessert."
The dessert turned out to be apple pie, baked from scratch. If I wasn't already half in love with this girl, I'd probably be asking her to marry me right now. As it is, I'm in big trouble. After dessert, we go back to the kitchen to try and visualize how everything will turn out.
"You have a great eye for design, Sarah."
"I don't know about that."
"It will help you if you study architecture or design."
She gets close to me, and my heart starts beating harder. Having her so near to me is a gift and torture at the same time. Our eyes lock and I swear I'm having difficulty breathing. I grab her hand in mine and bring it to my mouth to place a soft kiss on it.
She's an angel and deserves to be treated like one. But deep inside a fire is burning with desire for this twenty five year old that called me by mistake instead of a plumber. I pull her closer to me so that we're chest to chest and I look deep into her eyes.
Going up on her tiptoes, she grabs my t-shirt in her fist and starts to pull me down. Before our lips touch there's a knock on the door and I stand straight and back up from her. That was close, maybe a little too close for comfort. I'm definitely in trouble.