Page 10 of Home Between Homes

“They’re all over sixty. So, yes,” he explained, still standing there as if he had all the time in the world.

“Come on,” I said, motioning for him to get to work. I turned to the coffee maker. “Or I’ll make you call me‘sir’ for real.”

“Yes,sir,” he replied with a grin, picking up the bucket.

I took a deep breath. This wasn’t good because it would only create more dirty images in my mind.

Twenty minutes later,I was sweating.

I stood in the living room and tried to stop myself from panting.

Jack was on his knees in front of me. With my right hand, I held myself steady on the shoe cabinet while my left hand dug deep into Jack’s shoulder. It took all my strength not to get lostin feeling his muscles through his shirt. I lifted my right leg and slipped into the boot he was holding up.

I had put on half of the clothes I had with me to go outside with Maggie as the thermometer now read a frigid ten degrees below zero. It wasn’t until I got down to the shoe closet that I realized I couldn’t bend over with three shirts tucked into my jeans and two sweaters on.

“This must be so weird for you,” I said, staring at the ceiling.

“It’s closer to my regular workdays than I’m proud to admit,” Jack laughed, tugging so hard on my shoe that I wobbled. I tightened my grip around his shoulder to keep from falling over. When the boot finally swallowed my foot as it was supposed to, Jack sat it down, tied the laces, and looked up as he finished. The smile on his face brought new images to my mind that weren’t at all appropriate for this situation, and I forced my gaze outside.

“Don’t be embarrassed. I bet you would have done the same for me.” He got up and returned to the fireplace and his feather duster.

Of course, I would have gotten down on my knees for him, albeit for very different reasons.

“Thank you,” I said, turning to Maggie, who was standing at the door, her leash already attached to her collar by Jack. He had wrapped it around the doorknob so I wouldn’t have to ask for his help again. “And excuse me for taking more time out of your busy day.”

“I’m thirty minutes ahead of schedule,” he said, dusting off the sideboard. “So, no worries.”

I pulled the door open, and a blast of cold air rushed inside. There was no snow yet, but the clouds were dark, and everything outside looked like the least inviting winter landscape I’ve ever seen. The wind had blown some snow onto the porch. Maggie looked at the white stuff for a second, but now that she had seen it, she didn’t move an inch.

“Come on,” I told her, but she glared at me with a face that questioned if I was serious. I sighed and spread my legs to climb over her. I walked down the four steps to the front yard, hoping she would follow me, but all that happened was that her leash was now taut across the porch.

“Looks like she doesn’t want to,” Jack laughed, standing in the open doorway wearing only his shirt.

“Aren’t you cold?”

He pushed his lower lip in front of his upper and shook his head lightly. “I don’t get cold that fast.”

I tugged on the leash, but Maggie turned her head toward Jack as if to ask him if he thought I had gone crazy, too.

“Sorry, girl. It’s for your own good,” Jack said, pushing her out onto the porch and quickly closing the door behind her, still watching us through the window in the door.

Maggie looked back at him with an expression of utter betrayal that made him knit his eyebrows together as if he were about to cry.

“We’ll go back inside as soon as you’ve done your thing,” I told Maggie, but she demonstratively turned her head away from me as if I was the one who had put him up to this. “Don’t give me that. It snowed yesterday, and you were fine. Besides, you were the one who wanted to go out in the first place. Come on, I promise you’ll get another one of those dog biscuits you liked.”

She still didn’t look at me, but as if that was a deal she could accept, she plodded across the yard. A minute later, she was done, and without waiting for anything, she made her way back to the front door, whimpering, ready to go back inside.

“I hear you,” I said to her as I stomped up the stairs to get most of the snow off my boots.

The door opened, and Jack had a towel ready to wipe Maggie’s paws. Knowing the routine, she lifted her feet and let him clean them, but not without still avoiding looking at him.

“She knows I get cranky when she leaves her footprints all over the floor,” Jack said. “And I don’t have time to clean everything twice today. Mrs. Candice is waiting for me and some of your other friends, Maggie.” He tried to get his face in front of hers, but the further he went, the more she turned her head. When her head was twisted almost 180 degrees, Jack gave up. He looked up at the sky and narrowed his eyes. “Oh, shoot.”

A handful of snowflakes floated through the air.

He jumped up. “I must hurry.”

I sat on the porch steps and lifted my legs to take off my boots, not wanting to ask for his help again. “If you have so little time, you don’t have to finish. The house looked pretty clean to me before you started.”

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