The time on my phone says I’ve been gone for twenty minutes now. Way too long. I practically have to hang up on Angel, who’s insisting he’s well enough to come out here. He thinks it’d be an adventure to stay in my trailer with me.

Maybe for him, it would be. For me, it’d be a major pain in the ass. I mean, I love the guy but I don’t wanna give up my bed for him.

He does sounds a lot better. Much better, in fact. Just the same, I doubt he’s ready, and I don’t have any home care plan in place for him yet. Hell, I don’t even have a home!

He’s just going to have to wait.

My parents have already offered to host him here in their home but Angel said no, thank God. They travel a lot these days and Angel doesn’t like the idea of taking over their house when they’re not here. And even if they were around more, he won’t obligate them to help a man in recovery from a stroke.

They’re not close with him like I am anyway. He doesn’t mind imposing on me, but that’s different. We’ve been imposing on each other for twenty years now, one way or another.

I’ll have to worry about that later. I don’t want to keep Jennifer waiting.

I go to the patio door to apologize for taking so long, but she’s not outside any more. I hear the powder room toilet flush.

She comes into the kitchen.

“There you are! Sorry to take so long. I got a call when I was using the bathroom and it took longer than I expected.”

“It’s fine. I was using the bathroom myself.”

“Okay, good. So, you ready for that gelato now?”

“Yep!”

I take the cartons of ice cream out of the freezer while Jennifer opens a drawer and finds an ice-cream scoop.

I open the first carton to discover that it’s over-frozen, the contents as hard as a rock. I struggle to carve a few chips out of it.

“Shit,” I mutter. “I guess I’ll stick it in the microwave for a few seconds.”

“Here, lemme show you a little trick.” She takes the scoop from my hand and opens the faucet, letting some hot water run over the scoop. “Now, this thing’ll cut through even the toughest ice cream…like buttah,” she jokes.

Of course, she’s right.

We use her hot-water technique to fill the glass dessert bowls. She says it’s chilly out now, so we sit at the table. I watch her take a small portion onto her spoon and put it into her mouth. Her full lips close over the spoon and pull the icy treat into her hot mouth. My dick thinks this is sexy as hell.

We eat in silence, my eyes riveted to Jennifer’s movements. She feeds herself delicately, eyes downcast, savoring her treat. I love how she concentrates on enjoying it, barely looking at me.

I finish first and lean back, smacking my lips. My foot finds hers under the table. I can’t help myself, I need to be touching her.

She smiles at me, a quick up-turning of her mouth, then she tucks her feet under her chair.

Then, she spoons up the rest of her dessert and finishes it in two enormous bites.

“Yum, that was great! Thank you!” she says, standing up. “I should probably get going now.”

“What? Already? It’s just past eight o’clock.” I’m disappointed. I was hoping to spend some more time with her, get to know her better.

Maybe even, take her into my old bed for round two.

But if not, then I’d love to just hang out and joke around with her as well. I’ve gotten to know a certain side of her at work. A highly organized, hard-working and competent side. I respect that part of her very much but it’s not the part that draws me as a man.

Now, I’m seeing her more-feminine and vulnerable side, and that’s the side that makes me soft and gooey for her in my heart… and rock-hard elsewhere.

She takes our bowls over to the sink and runs some water into them. “Yes. Uh, well you remember I mentioned that my dad passed away some time ago?”

I nod, frowning.

“Mom still feels…a little fragile about it. From time to time. And, I, uh, you know…I like to be there for her, when I can. Soooo…yeah. I should take off.”

She turns to face me, glances at me and then looks out the kitchen window. The fingers of one of her hands stroke the fingers of the other, interlacing and then pulling away from each other nervously.

“Alright. Sure. I understand.” Hmmm. Something seems off, but a quick memory-search through the events of the evening leaves me coming up blank. If it was something I said or did, I don’t see what.

She picks up her purse, slings it over her shoulder and heads towards the door. I follow her and wait as she gets her shoes on.

“Thanks for a lovely time,” she says. “Dinner was awesome.”

I take her in my arms. She’s a little stiff, so I pull her in close, enfolding her, and hug her to me as close as I can get. Her tits against my chest make me really wish she could stay. I bury my face in her soft neck, unable to suppress a sigh.

“My pleasure,” I murmur. I go in for a kiss and she hesitates. I’m about to ask if something’s wrong when she relaxes against me and returns my kiss properly.

That’s more like it.

And then her kiss goes from a proper kiss to an almost desperate kiss. Like, we’re lovers about to be torn apart by war or something.

What the….?

She breaks the kiss and gives me a quick smile. “It’s been a slice, Blake. See ya tomorrow!”

And then she practically jumps out the door.

“Okay, thanks for coming,” I say to her receding back. “Loved having you…” I watch as she practically runs to her car, wasting my razor-sharp, witty innuendo. Ah well, can’t win ‘em all.

I have no idea what’s going on but she looks so funny, so… adorable, I can’t help but smile.

Women! Who can figure ‘em out?

She fires up her Honda and a thick cloud of blue smoke belches from the exhaust pipe before clearing up.

I wince. Oh shit. Yep, something’s burning under that hood. I’ll talk to her about that tomorrow and make sure she takes it in. Or, take care of it myself, if I have to.

She gets the vehicle turned around. I wave at her but she’s not looking.

I close the door and go back inside. I’ll finish cleaning up the kitchen, put the dishwasher on and tidy up before heading back to my lonely trailer.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, I’m driving back to my trailer when I see a car pulled over on the road.

It’s Jenny. She’s standing outside the vehicle, her phone to her ear. My headlights illuminate a haze of blue smoke hanging in the air.

I pull over and get out of the truck.

She looks embarrassed and not all that happy to see me. “Blake just pulled up, actually,” she says into her phone. “Yeah. No, I…it’s okay. Let me call you back, Mom.”

“Hi again,” I say. “Looks like your car’s having a bad night.”

“Argh,” she says, looking at me helplessly. “It just started smoking. Like, a lot!”

“I saw that back at the house, yeah.”

“Do you think it’ll need a tow?”

“That’s probably the safest bet.”

She looks at me from under her eyelashes. Her hands join together in front of her belly, her fingers restlessly stroking each other.

My heart squeezes. “It’s okay, we’ll get it looked after. When was the last time you had the oil changed?”

“They did that last time it was serviced, just before I started work at Delcroft.”

She looks scared, lost, and one hundred percent purely sweet and adorable right now. Jesus Christ! I just want to enfold her in my arms and keep her safe, forever.

But also, drag her into the bushes by the side of the road and fuck her silly again.

“Okay. Well, something’s wrong obviously. Might be leaking oil onto a piston head or something.”

“Right, right, that’s exactly what I was thinking,” she says, her expression deadpan.

Then she rolls her eyes and makes an exaggerated shrug. Her discomfort is so cute, I can’t help but laugh.

“It’s okay, honey,” I say soothingly. “Come with me. I’ll drive you home and get a tow truck out later.”

“I…I….wait! Ah…dammit!” She covers her face with her hands and then blows through her palms in an exasperated way. “You sure…you don’t think I could just, I don’t know, let it cool off and then drive it?”

“No. Blue smoke means burning oil. Depending on what’s going on, you could destroy the engine if you keep driving it.”

“Shit!” She looks around helplessly. “I wonder how bad this is going to be…maybe I better call a few places first, get some idea what this is going to cost me.”

I nod soberly, as if I’m not going to take care of it.

Hell, as far as I’m concerned, I’d just as soon buy her a new car. But that might be pushing it.

“We’ll get it looked after, sweetie. Hop in, I’ll drive you home.”

Poor girl! I’m dying to tease her but, I decide against it. Her pride’s had to take enough of beating yesterday. I’ll go easy on her, give her a break.

I smile at her, open the truck door for her and hold it while she climbs in. I go lock up her car and then get back in the driver’s seat.

“I’m so sorry about this. Thank you, Blake.”

“Don’t worry about it.” I start the truck up. “Hey, didn’t you say you were gonna call your Mom back? Better let her know know I’m bringing you home. ”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll text her.”

When she’s done, I hold my hand out to her and she takes it. I bring her hand to my lips and kiss it, hoping she feels more reassured and less stressed now.

* * *

In a few minutes we’re pulling into the driveway of a small but tidy two-story home. There are two women standing under a light in front of the garage door, talking. Their heads turn towards us as we pull in.

Jenny gets out of my truck. “Hi Mom,” she says to an attractive older woman with soft-looking, graying hair. They embrace and then turn to me as I exit the truck and move towards them.

“Mom, this is Blake,” Jenny says. “Blake, this is my mother Elaine and this is our neighbor, Marta.”

“Nice to meet you Elaine…Marta,” I shake each of their hands in turn.

“Oooh, hello Blake,” Marta says. She’s an older woman, with brown eyes made owlish behind a pair of large-framed glasses. “Nice to meet you.” Her eyes dart from Elaine to Jenny to me.

“Hi, Blake,” Elaine says cheerfully. “Thanks for bringing my kid home.”

“My pleasure,” I say. I notice that Elaine doesn’t look like she’s in a state of grief right now. Or even, particularly upset. Maybe the neighbor came by to cheer her up or something.

“Blake, ah…he’s just dropping me off.” Jenny says, uncomfortably.

“Oh, can’t you come in for a coffee, Blake?” Elaine says.

“I’d love to.” I look at Jenny, who’s standing there with a rather stiff smile on her face. “That is, if it’s okay with you, Jen.”

She hesitates, then says, “Sure, of course,” a bit too quickly. Then she turns on her heel and beelines for the front door. Elaine watches after her, frowning.

“I was just leaving,” Marta says. “Have fun, kids.” She walks away down the driveway, waving over her shoulder.

We all say goodbye. Elaine gives me a warm smile, and turns to follow her daughter, saying, “Come on in, Blake.”