Boomtown

by Lani Lynn Vale

  I said into the darkness, “We don’t even know each other, nor are we even together officially.”

  “Woman,” he growled into my ear, “You were mine before we even left the bar. I saw you walk in and knew right then and there that you were going to be mine.”

  I got a little spark in my belly, and smiled, but I didn’t let him know that what he said made me feel good inside.

  “Whatever. I’m going back to sleep. Stop talking.”

  The whole bed was shaking with his laughter, but I didn’t say anything else to him. I drifted off to him spooning me from behind, thinking that I could really get used to this.

  Chapter 6

  Lips ran down my arm, then up again trailing across my neck to my lips. I blinked my eyes open and smiled at Sam. He was fully dressed, sitting on the side leaning over my body with his hand fisted on the other side of me trapping me in.

  “I gotta get to work, babe.”

  “Okay, what time is it?”

  “Quarter till six.” He answered “You have a little more time to sleep. Come see me today if you have some time.” He kissed me on the back of my head and lightly patted my butt.

  “Mmmk.” I murmured, already slipping back into the fog. I was not a morning person. His hand rested on my cheek for a time, but I didn’t open my eyes again, and was asleep again shortly after.

  My eyes opened when I heard banging coming from the direction of Janie’s room. I threw the covers off and headed in her direction, that is until I realized that I was naked and needed a shower. So I rinsed off in the shower, and then threw on black matching sports bra and panties, black yoga pants, and a hot pink stretchy V-necked shirt. I stepped over Chewy as I headed out my bedroom door to get Janie. Janie was a morning person. She would wake at the crack of dawn if I let her. If my mom was here, she would have gotten up with her over an hour ago, but I liked my sleep, and Janie played well in her crib until I finally hauled my ass out of bed.

  Janie let a happy cry out when she saw me and started using her mattress as a trampoline. I lifted her out of the crib, changed her diaper, and headed to the kitchen. I got her a sippy cup of milk, and set her down so she could play. Thank God it was Saturday, it had been a tough week, and I needed some down time.

  I walked outside with Chewy when he went to the bathroom to water mom’s Potato plants. I saw Mrs. Kowalsky outside watering her plants as well. We exchanged greetings, and I headed back inside checking on Janie, then heading into my room to get dressed.

  I dressed in a pair of short blue jean shorts, an old high school t-shirt, and my tennis shoes. Walking into the bathroom I twisted my hair up into a messy knot on the top of my head, swished on some deodorant that smelled like baby powder and exited the bathroom. I snatched Janie off the floor in the living room where she was pouring out lucky charms onto the coffee table and headed into her bedroom to get her dressed.

  I dressed her in about the same as I was wearing, because I had the philosophy that babies should be comfortable too, and dresses blew. I wasn’t putting her in a dress, even though my mom bought a gazillion of them. James and I thought it was hilarious that we dressed her so comfortably, and mom hated it with a passion. I at least dressed her in clothes that matched and did her hair nicely. James never did her hair, and was lucky to put two things on that matched.

  Today I dressed her in tight black Capri leggings, and a shirt that said, “I love my auntie.” Of course, I was partial to it because I bought it for her. I put new squeaker shoes on her, and decided to tape a video of it to send to James since he despised them and tried to throw them away every chance he got.

  Janie and I ran errands for most of the morning, hitting the grocery store first to drop them back at the house. After that we went to Target so I could get a few new pairs of workout pants since all of mine seemed to be worn out from over use. Although, the overuse wasn’t from working out, it was from wearing them as much as just wearing them in general. I liked how they made my ass look, and sucked in my fat.

  Janie fell asleep around noon, so I decided that now would be a good time to visit with Sam. I picked up tacos after getting the order from Sam.

  “Hey, is it all right if I come by the shop?” I asked him

  “Yes, why wouldn’t it be ok? Have you eaten yet?” he said in reply.

  “No, I was thinking about getting tacos. Do you want anything?”

  “Yea, just get me whatever you are getting times two.” He answered.

  “Alright, I’ll be there in a little bit.” I said to him before hanging up.

  I ordered our lunch, and then headed to Free.

  I happened to look into my rear view mirror and see a red compact following me, but didn’t think much of it until she turned down Second St. which was the fourth turn that I had noticed them taking with me.

  I pulled into Free and the car passed by, but I still had an uneasy feeling so I decided to tell Sam anyway. I drove up close to the bay doors and hopped out leaving it idling. I walked up to Max since he was the first one I spotted and said, “Is it alright if I pull the truck in? Janie is sleeping and I don’t want to take her out, but I want to have some shade over here so it’s easier for her to sleep.”

  “Yea, just pull in here, there’s plenty of room.” He said.

  I nodded then pulled into the garage and shut the truck off. About that time Sam came out from the office with his phone to his ear. He sounded like he was arguing with someone, so I waited until he was through to go to him. He wrapped me up in a hug and I leaned my head against his chest breathing in deeply. Gosh he sure did smell good. Like fresh detergent, and some man body wash. I took another sniff thinking I needed to steal one of his t-shirts after he wore it all day.

  “Are you sniffing me?” he rumbled out.

  “You know that Febreeze commercial, the one where the people are playing charades and the guy is lying on the floor, and the people are trying to guess what he is?” I said to him.

  “No. Don’t watch much TV.” He told me.

  “Well, in the commercial he is sniffing the carpet, and he smells so good. He just stays there, and keeps sniffing, all the while the people around him are shouting out their guesses. Well that’s what I feel like doing to you right now. You smell so good. I need to see if they make a candle of the way you smell.” I said distractedly while still smelling him.

  “Weirdo.” He said but didn’t make me stop.

  “Yes, this is one of the more normal things that I do. Just you wait.” I smiled and said.

  “I will wait with bated breath.”

  “I also like the smell that comes out of the air conditioner just after you start the truck.” I said.

  “What smell? There is no smell.” He asked.

  “There is too! I’ll point it out to you next time! MAX!” I yelled

  Max came out of the office and said, “What?”

  “Tell Sam that there is a smell that comes out of the air conditioner right after you start the truck.”

  “Please God, not this argument again. Listen Sam, just say that there is. She and Ember argue about this at the beginning of every summer. It also gets physical. There is hair pulling, and name calling. It really isn’t worth it. Just say that there is.” He said rather emphatically.

  “You can suck it, Max.” I said turning around to stomp off, but a hand came around me and pulled me roughly into a hard body.

  “No one sucks you but me.” He growled into my ear.

  I shivered and turned in his arms to give him a kiss. Then I remembered the red car.

  “Ummm, on the way here there was a red car following me.” I said gently.

  “Yes, I know. Jack already reported it. We will run the plates when Elliott calls us back.” He said, but before I could ask why he would already know, his phone rang. He answered while grabbing my hand and pulling me into the office. Sam spoke for quite a while in between bites of tacos. I ate mine, and glanced through the office window to the truck to make sure Janie wasn
’t awake every couple of minutes or so. After about twenty minutes, I forgot about wanting to ask him about how he already knew, and instead focused on playing angry Birds on my phone.

  His phone call ended about an hour after I arrived. I was reading a new erotic romance novel by that time. When I had looked up earlier, he was sorting through some papers at his desk, but not even two seconds later I noticed him reading over my shoulder. I didn’t actually realize this; otherwise I would have closed the book because I was in a particular steamy scene with two couples having sex. While in the throes of some steamy sex, the hero was asking the heroine if she had ever had anal sex, and I started squirming in my seat.

  “Do you want to do this?” Sam asked from close behind my right shoulder.

  I squeaked and spun around in the chair to see Sam squatted down beside my chair just enough that he could read what I was reading. My face flamed and I just stared at him in shock.

  Finally able to find my wits, I said “Want to do what?”

  “What that couple was about to do in that scene. Is that something that interests you?” he asked a different way.

  I thought for a couple minutes about what he was asking. Was I interested in that? I sure didn’t mind reading about it, but actually doing it? Who the hell knows?

  “Umm…..I don’t really know. You are the sum of my sexual experience. I really wouldn’t know until we tried.” I finally admitted.

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” He said while grabbing my hand and pulling me into the shop.

  We eventually wondered over to the bike that he was working on, and I sat on the seat while he worked on what looked like the engine. Most likely I was in his way, but that didn’t seem to bother him.

  I was asking him about what he was doing when Janie woke up with a wail. I moved to get up when Max came from somewhere on the other side of my truck and got her out. I walked to the office to get the taco that we’d saved for her, and walked back out to Janie and handed it to her.

  We all laughed when she bit into it and it fell to pieces, luckily she was on top of the tool box with a napkin spread out to catch any stray pieces. She ate the entire thing in less than two minutes, so I went to the truck to get her juice and a snack that had gotten at Target earlier.

  I was eyeing a little VW Bug that he had in the corner.

  “Does that have a 5-speed in it?” I asked.

  “Yes. Why do you ask?” Sam said distractedly.

  “Well I was going to ask if I could drive it, but since it’s a 5-speed I can’t.” I answered.

  “Why can’t you?”

  “I don’t know how to drive one.”

  “What do you mean you don’t know how to drive a 5-speed? You’ve been working on cars since you were twelve you said.” Sam said.

  “James got frustrated with me, and never finished teaching me. He said I was a bad learner and I needed to find someone else to teach me.” I confided.

  He gave me a searching look, and then threw the wrench he was using on top of the tool box. He walked over to the Bug, started it, and drove it out of the garage bay. He got out.

  “Get in.” He said to me, and then got in to the passenger side.

  My heart was pounding. I didn’t want to look like a dumbass in front of him. I got Janie from the ground, walked her over to Max and left him to watch her. I turned around and headed to the Bug. I eased down in the seat, closed the door, and looked at him expectantly. He also looked quite funny, his big body scrunched up into this tiny space.

  “Whose car is this?” I asked.

  “It was my mom’s car.” He answered.

  “Really? Why doesn’t she have it anymore?” I asked.

  “She has a new Bug, and didn’t need this one any longer. Nowhere to put it either. Stop stalling. Put your foot down on the clutch, make sure your in neutral, and start it up.”

  I pushed the clutch down to the floor, put it in neutral, and turned the key. The Bug fired up and idled like a dream.

  “Now, the gas and the clutch are opposites. If you let off the clutch, you need to be pressing the gas. You can’t give it too much gas. Let off the clutch slowly.”

  I followed his directions to the letter. And died. Fuck.

  I tried again. And died. Motherfucker.

  This went on for a while, Sam teaching me patiently. My mouth spouting off curse words, and finally I started to get the hang of it. I drove around the garage area, around the back, and made circles around the entire lot. Finally I came to a halt outside the bay doors again and shut the car off. I sat silent for a while, turned to Sam and gave him a big smile.

  “You did well. I just think that maybe family members shouldn’t teach each other some things. Especially when both family members have tempers. James and you both have tempers from hell. And I’m sure y’all fight like cats and dogs.”

  I smiled and agreed, leaned over and gave him a soft wet kiss.

  “Thank you!” I whispered.

  Sam parked the car back into the spot it was originally in, and walked over to where I was standing with Max and Janie.

  “That is some miracle shit you just worked. Neither James nor I could teach the girls how to drive. They were awful. You should get a medal of honor.” Max teased.

  The sun was setting when I decided it was time to leave. I gathered all of Janie’s crap and tossed it into the floor of the truck via the open window. I had just turned around when I found myself pinned to the door by Sam’s very hard body. He leaned down and kissed me. His tongue slipped into my mouth when I gasped and ours dueled for a few seconds before he pulled back. My lips were tingling, as well as a few other parts of my body when he leaned away from my body.

  “Anything else you want to do that you never have?” he asked.

  “I’ve never gone fishing.” I answered.

  “We can do that sometime. I have a boat at Lake O’ the Pines. As soon as we both have some free time we can go.” He said.

  “Yay! I’ve always wanted to go fishing! I don’t like swimming in lakes though, so don’t expect me to do that.”

  “I’ll see you tonight.” He whispered, and then wandered back to the bike that he was working on.

  After getting Janie into bed, I took a quick shower and headed to my room to get dressed. A low rumble of thunder shook the house. I loved thunderstorms, what I didn’t like was tornados, which were a likely possibility in the south in the spring months. The most relaxing thing in life was sitting on the porch watching it rain.

  The power had gone out at the first gust of wind as usual. When I happened to glance out the window of my bedroom at just the right time, the lightening had flashed and lit up the sky and illuminated the entire back yard. Our house is set up in an L shape with the living room and kitchen and garage on one side, and the bedrooms were located in longer half of the L on the other. A man in a black trench coat and black cap was squatted down and messing with something beside the back door that led into the kitchen.

  I leapt for my cell phone on the end of my bed tripping over Chewy who was at my feet. I quickly held the 3 down and it dialed Sam's number that I had programmed into my speed dial so I could reach him easily and quickly. While doing this I headed into the direction of Janie's room.

  Ringing two times he answered with a gruff sounding "Yeah?"

  My breath hitched a little when I whispered, "Sam, someone's trying to get into the house."

  Sam immediately said, "Grab Janie, furthest bedroom from entry, closet. Cover yourselves with what's already in there. I’ll be there in five."

  I opened Janie's door quietly, went to her crib and carefully lifted her trying not to wake her. She curled her little body into mine and stayed fast asleep. My heart pounded as I walked back to my room and into the closet. I laid her down and covered her with one of the sheets that I stored on the floor. Pushing her as far back as I could between the clothes hanging in the closet, I did the same with myself protecting her with my body. I left chewy on the floor by my bed an
d closed the closet door. My shotgun was in a safe in my mom’s room so it wouldn't be accessible by Janie who had begun to be curious about everything. I was rethinking that move as I put the phone back up to my ear and whispered, "Here" And waited.

  I could hear the roar of an engine in the background of the phone when he said, "Two more minutes." And hung up.

  I couldn't hear anything over the storm, so I just stayed as still as I could and prayed. A little while later I heard Chewy's dog tags jingle and a low menacing growl sound from his throat.

  I was about to hyperventilate from holding my breath when I heard Sam say, "It's me. You can come out. "

  I launched myself out of the closet and threw myself at him. He wrapped his arms around me and ran his 5 o'clock shadow over my hair. I quivered in his arms and he just held me until I got some control back.

  Walking back to the closet, I bent down and picked Janie up and held her to me.

  Sam watched silently, and finally said "No one here. Back door was breeched, but other than that no signs of anyone being in the house. I made a lap around the house also, but didn't see anything. I called max and asked him to come help me check out everything. We are going to wait for him to get here so he can stay with you while I check a little more thoroughly."

  At that my body simply deflated. I collapsed onto the bed and let out a relieved sigh. Sam took Janie from me and cradled her in his big strong arms.

  You would never know by the ease at which he held her that she weighed nearly thirty five pounds. He held her with such little effort you would think she weighed next to nothing. Thankfully she was still blissfully unaware of anything that was going on around her.

  Max called to let us know that he was outside. Sam laid Janie down on my bed, and walked out of the room. He came back a little later with Sam, and they started talking in gibberish, something that sounded like military speak, but went right over the top of my head.

  Max left the room, and Sam came up to me.