Holden

by Olivia Gaines

  “I don’t care. Please hurry and just get over here to the office as fast as you can,” she said.

  “Okee-dokee. On my way,” he told her.

  Holden left the Roxy, his sister’s book store, with a cup of decaf tea, a turkey sandwich, and two of his mother’s Snickerdoodles. He was very familiar with the Dr. Strom’s office since she had treated their youngest brother when he contracted a case of the measles. She was now the boy’s pediatrician as well as his brother Jem’s.

  He rang the doorbell for her to open the front door. The offices of Strom Associates were located in an older building that wasn’t nearly up to code, but architecturally, it was a gem. It also was in the perfect location, on the down end of Main Street, three blocks over from the elementary school. One side of the building was used as the pediatric practice and the other side was used for research in conjunction with the college.

  “Thank goodness you’re here. The fuse box blew, it started smoking, and I have lab specimens in that cooler. If they turn to mush or worse, a year’s worth of research will be lost,” she told him frantically.

  “Here,” he said and handed her the brown paper bag.

  “What’s this?”

  “A turkey on wheat, no mayo, with deli mustard, and two of my Mom’s Snickerdoodles,” he said to her. He gave her the cup as he walked past her. But first, he stopped to push a loose strand of wayward hair back into place on her head. The move was so casual, yet intimate at the same time, that Tallulah didn’t know what to say. The cup in her hand was so warm that she looked down at what he’d placed in her hand, confusion on her face. It was too late for coffee.

  “This is a special decaf tea my sister loves. It has notes of citrus and lavender in it with a hint of sage,” he told her. Holden pointed down the hall. “Fuse box is this way?”

  “Yes...but is this food for me?” Tallulah asked.

  “I figured if you were still here you probably hadn’t had dinner,” he said. “Go ahead, eat up; I’ll take care of you.”

  Ponytail or not, Holden Cimoc was wearing the hell out of a pair of Levi’s. He squatted to open his tool box and it looked as if the muscles in his thighs had just received a dose of gamma radiation. His arms were firm, muscled, but kind of Popeye-ish in his forearms from working in tight spaces with his hands. Tallulah took a seat, watching him as he opened the fuse box and moved a couple of wires around.

  “Be right back,” he told her, as he turned on a flashlight, and set it beside her. The power went out, leaving her sitting almost in the dark with a sandwich and a perfectly sweetened cup of tea. Holden returned with another flashlight that he held in his mouth as he adjusted, tweaked, and turned something inside the box. He went out the front door again and the power came on. Tallulah could hear the condenser on the second storage fridge kick on.

  “Oh, my Gracious!” she exclaimed. “You have saved my life!”

  “Glad to be of service,” he told her as he handed her a bill.

  Tallulah’s eyes were wide. “You have got to be kidding me. I owe you $150 for six and half minutes of work?”

  “I could have taken much longer, but you told me what you needed and I took care of you,” he said. There was more meaning in his words, which she could feel reaching out to touch her. She could also feel him reaching out to scrape a bit of something off her lab coat.

  “Whatever,” she said as she went and found her purse. “Do I owe you for the sandwich, too?”

  “No, Dr. Strom. The service call is fifty just for having me come out. The after-hours call is another fifty, plus the part, and I didn’t even charge you for my labor,” he said with a straight face.

  “Your labor?”

  “Yes, I had to bend down at least twice,” he said to her.

  “Well, I feel like you just bent me over and didn’t even kiss me first,” she said under her breath. It was too late to take the words back after they left her lips. He was going to use it against her. She could feel it.

  He didn’t respond to it at all.

  Holden only watched her as she wrote him the check.

  “Thank you for your business. I appreciate you using Cimoc Electrical,” he said folding the check. He opened a small pouch that was in his tool box and slipped her check in beside a wad of bills and several other checks.

  “You had a busy day,” she said to him eyeing his financial haul.

  “It’s been a busy week. This time of year, when it starts to heat up, the rats begin to mate, make nests, chew through wires and stuff...it keeps me busy,” he told her.

  “Must be hard on relationships, all the after-hours calls,” she said before she caught herself.

  Holden was trying desperately not to hit on her as he was certain she was accustomed to getting from every man she met. He held his tongue while he packed up his items, including the flashlight he loaned her. He bid her good night as he walked towards the door.

  “Hey, how did you know to bring me something to eat?”

  “You work too much,” he told her.

  “True,” she said. “Thanks for my dinner.”

  He was losing. He wasn’t going to let that one get past him.

  “I would be more than happy to take you for an actual meal, at a table, with people serving you food. I am even open to cooking you a meal,” he told her.

  “Thanks, but I’m not looking for a boyfriend,” Tallulah told him.

  “Good to know because I am not a boy. I have no interest in being your friend either,” Holden said. The blue eyes were piercing into the nasty thoughts building in the back of her mind.

  “What do you want to be to me, Holden Cimoc, master electrician?”

  “I want to be your everything,” he told her.

  He turned and walked away from her on that evening, which may have been the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. Holden had been drawn to her from the first time he met her in Janie’s bookstore in her crisp linen suit. The second time he saw her with the stethoscope at his parent’s house examining his youngest brother, his heart nearly stopped beating. Dancing with her last week at the wedding had set him on fire. All he wanted, needed, and craved was one night with her to her make her his. He had to be patient. The switch was turned on. Based on the look in her eyes, so was she. He had to wait for all the currents to reach the woman, to spark her circuits. He climbed into his truck and started the engine, careful not to look over at her because if he did, he was climbing out of the vehicle and kissing those sexy lips. He knew he would be unable to stop at just one kiss. He wanted all of her. He wanted Tallulah to give him her everything.

  “Call me when you need me,” Holden said.

  Two toots of his horn and he drove off.

  Tallulah picked up a cookie and nibbled on the corner of it. “My everything...?”

  Chapter Four – Checking the Wiring

  Everything was wrong.

  All of it was wrong.

  The whole damned day was turning out wrong.

  It was a nice Wednesday afternoon on which for once, Tallulah was free. Unlike most of her counterparts, she didn’t enjoy playing golf on Wednesdays. On occasion when she would get a tee time, it was always wedged in between the times of her rivals or chauvinistic men who would wait for her to bend over to retrieve her ball from the hole. Crass, unprofessional comments were made about her bottom, her top, her hair, and anything else the assholes deemed to be fair game. Every man in Venture seemed to have the same attitude - Tallulah Strom was the prize to be won. Especially the butt muncher who was standing in front of her at the big box electronics store, pretending to be a knowledgeable salesman.

  “No, seriously Doc. This TV is a much better deal. It has all the modern features for hooking up Netflix, the Firestick, and anything else you may want to watch in the wee hours of the night,” Edward Davis, the incompetent salesman, told her.

  “But, I don’t want that television Edward,” she said softly. “I want that one.”

  “Yes, but that one is not
on sale. This one is...I mean, a single lady like yourself has to watch her budget,” he said condescendingly.

  “Are you really standing here telling me...me, that because I am single I should get the cheaper television?” she asked with her eyebrows arched.

  “No... I’m saying this one is better deal,” Edward said with a cheesy smile. “I will even come over and install it for you.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah, then afterwards, we can grab a bite to eat or whatever,” he said with arch eyebrows which resembled a mad scientist with a hair growth problem.

  Tallulah took two steps backward to bump into something solid. “I’m sorry,” she said as she turned around to see Holden standing there. The look of relief on her face spoke volumes. Holden read it and the situation instantly.

  “Which television are you looking to get, Doc?”

  “I want the curved one,” she said. “I also want the surround sound system to go with it.”

  “Good choice,” Holden said. “Where is it going...I mean which room in the house?”

  “I was thinking my bedroom,” she said almost blushing.

  “Personally,” he said looking over her head at Edward. “If it were me, I would go with the smaller TV to mount on the wall in bedroom. If you go that route, your brain isn’t on overload from all the bright vivid colors of this unit before you try to get some sleep at night. The smaller one on the wall is great size if you have like a treadmill in the bedroom or exerbike...you know?”

  “I really like the big curved one,” she said adamantly. “I am buying the big curved one.”

  “Okay, let me get a cart to help you,” Holden said.

  “I want the small one, too, for my bedroom,” she said.

  “Would you like me to come install them for you?”

  “I don’t know. Is it going to cost me an arm and leg like the service call to my practice?”

  Holden pulled a silver chain from his pocket which held an intricately carved silver pocket piece. He pressed the button at the top of the shiny case to open the timepiece. It was two in the afternoon.

  “No, but I have to make a service call before I can install it,” he said. He loaded the cart with the televisions, then selected the hardware she would need to install it on the wall. “Anything else you wanted to get while you are here?”

  “I do want surround sound for it as well,” she told him.

  “Okee-dokee,” he said as he stepped around Edward to select a mid-line system. “Doc, this is a mid-grade system. It gives you high quality sound without the high price tag. Now, if you want to pay the $200 extra for the name brand, we can, but I recommend this one.”

  “If it will get the job done,” she said, eyeing the two boxes.

  “I installed this one in the bookstore. The sound is amazing, considering the size of the store and the acoustics of the old theater. Your home, I assume is smaller than a three level bookstore, so I can imagine the sound will be crisp and clean.”

  “Thank you,” she said to him.

  “You are welcome. Let’s get you checked out; I will load you up, follow you to your house and put this stuff inside. I should be able to get back to you by 6 or so this evening and get it all installed. Is that okay?”

  “It sounds good,” she told him. “I’ll make us some dinner.”

  “I appreciate that,” he told her as she made her way toward the register. He looked back at Edward, giving him a look. Holden faced forward when Edward physically poked out his bottom lip. “Lead the way, Doc.”

  On the way to the register, he’d nearly forgotten what he came into the store to purchase. He grabbed the bulbs and fittings for Mr. Murckle’s shop, the job he had been called in to take care of at the last minute.

  Am I forgetting anything else?

  “Oh, Doc,” he said to her as he loaded the items in her SUV. “I don’t eat red meat,” he said to her.

  “Noted,” she said.

  “I just wanted you to know so...you know...I would hate for you to make like steaks or something and I don’t eat it,” he said.

  “Thanks for letting me know,” she said, watching the muscles strain against the cotton of the Cimoc Electric Tee Shirt. “Anything else I need to know about your dietary constraints?”

  “No, but I do want you to be aware that I don’t like shopping, I don’t go to the movies often, and I love the outdoors,” he said as he closed the fifth door of the vehicle. “Also, I am a planner and I have a touch of OCD. I am learning to control it.” He added the last part as he pushed the wayward strand of hair back into place. “A bobby pin or some Pro-Style gel will keep these in place.”

  Tallulah had a moment of panic. What did he know about Pro Style gel? It was a very African American product. Maybe I shouldn’t let him follow me home. I can get my Dad or someone to hook this up for me instead. The twinkle in his eye made her ask the question.

  “What are you planning?”

  He took her left hand, isolating the ring finger, kissing it again as he had before. “To be your everything,” he said.

  Tallulah paced back and forth in front of the large picture window, looking out at every vehicle she’d heard drive past. Why am I so nervous? Why am I so nervous? The scent of Holden Cimoc was still in her house and all he’d done was walk in, unload a few boxes, and leave. Her nerves were raw, her hormones were open, and the smell of his sweat was like some sort of wild aphrodisiac.

  What is taking him so long to get here?

  As quickly as she went back to the kitchen to check on their dinner, she made it back to the window in time to see him pull into the driveway next to her vehicle. She watched him closely as he collected tools from the tool box on his truck. He bent over to show her a tight little backside, which made her blush at the thoughts she was having over her sister-in-law’s brother. Her younger brother. He didn’t need to ring the doorbell, she opened it before his very long index finger touched the buzzer.

  “Come on in,” she said with a smile.

  “Something smells good,” he said to her. “I have been on one call after another today, and I’m kinda hungry.”

  “Would you like to eat first?”

  “I’m still on a tight schedule, and I have one more stop to make after this one,” he said. “I may have to get it to go.”

  “Oh, okay,” she said, the disappointment evident in her voice.

  “While I get everything set up, describe what you cooked,” he said to her.

  “It’s nothing fancy. I steamed a bag of veggies, threw some chicken breasts on the Foreman, and made a side salad,” she said.

  “Okee-dokee,” he said as he set to work.

  It didn’t take him long to situate the television in the great room and connect the few wires to the surround sound system, along with her cable. The sound was crisp and clean like he’d promised. The voices came from every corner of the room when the speakers piped out concise verbiage. The television screen was so clear she could see a pimple trying to be born in the epidermis of a television star.

  “I can’t wait to watch Game of Thrones on this!” she said with excitement. “Are you a fan of the show?”

  Holden was flattening boxes, prepping to open the smaller box to get the television on the wall in her bedroom. “I don’t watch television,” he said, removing the screen from the box.

  “What? Are you telling me, the most iconic show on modern television, you are not watching?”

  “I don’t have cable but I’ve read the books,” he said. The blue eyes gazed at her with interest. “Which way to the bedroom?”

  Tallulah’s cheeks warmed. “Uhmm, follow me,” she said.

  Holden tripped twice as his gaze remained on her butt. It was a cute little bottom, just the right size to palm in his hands. Tallulah was the right size for everything happening between them in his imagination.

  He asked, “Where do you want it?”

  “I’m sorry, Holden, what?”

  “Where do you want
me to put this on the wall, Doc?”

  “Tallulah, you can call me by my first name...if you want,” she told him.

  He had not moved. He held the television down low in front of him as he gazed upon her, wanting to say so many things which he had no right to voice. He hadn’t earned the right to say what he needed to tell her.

  “Oh, you are waiting for me to tell you where I want it,” she said. Her eyes went to the king-size bed. “Ahh, that wall would be fine.”

  “Consider it done,” he told her.

  Tallulah sat on the edge of the bed, watching him. Strong capable hands worked the hooks, rods, and pieces to place the mount on the wall. The television slid right into place and he hooked up the cable, clicked a few channels, then tossed her the remote.

  “You’re all done?”

  “Yes, I am,” he told her.

  “You’re not much of a talker, are you?”

  “No, not really,” he said.

  “Well, how am I supposed to get to know you?” she said to him.

  Holden walked over to her and bent in front of her, taking the remote from her fingers. Her hand he took and placed over his heart. The rapid heartbeat quickened the moment he looked her in the eyes.

  “You have to feel me,” he told her.

  “I am feeling you with both hands,” she said, pushing him away and moving quickly down the hall to the kitchen. “I will make you a plate to go, Holden. Is there a charge for getting this all set up for me?”

  “Charge it to my heart. It seems to have a soft spot for you,” he said as he gathered the boxes. “I will put these on the curb for tomorrow’s pick up.”

  Strong arms lifted the light weight boxes, carrying them out to the curb. He walked back to the house, collecting her trash cans and dragging those to the curb as well. Mrs. Moresy, her nosey neighbor, had come out to see what was happening when she heard Holden in her yard, pulling her cans to the curb as well.

  I didn’t ask him to do that.

  Suddenly, her palms felt too sweaty to shake his hands.

  “Thank you for...everything Holden. I made you a small to go container with dinner. I don’t know how to repay you,” she said to him.