Page 32 of Lovewell Lane

We scarfed down our halves of the sandwich together, mostly in silence. The longer I knew Margo, the more comfortable she seemed to let there be silent moments.

Every now and again as we ate, she’d let out the sweetest little grunts and moans which nearly made me choke. By the end of our meal, all I could think about was my ex-wife to keep me from getting hard. Nothing kills a boner like a raging bitch that ruined your life.

“So, what do we think?” Margo asked when I was down to my last bite.

“Great,” I mumbled. Reaching for my bottle of water, I thought about the fact that I could be eating this for lunch every day. The idea of Margo making a sandwich every day, especially for me,sounded too good to be true. “You’ll need sweet tea, though.”

She tilted her head at me. “I’ll put sugar out on the tables. It’s for coffee too.”

I choked on my water. “No. Adding sugar to iced unsweet tea is not the same.”

She stared at me and shrugged. “Okay, I’ll take your word for it I guess.”

“Trust me.” I watched her pick up the plate and admire the countertop we had just eaten at. “The food is great, you’ll do well.”

She gave me a cheek-splitting smile. “Thanks, that means a lot coming from you.”

My cheeks heated up. Before I had to respond, a truck beeping out front caught both of our attention. “Expecting another delivery?”

Margo looked down at her phone and flipped through a bunch of different screens only to look back up excitedly. “I think it’s the sign.”

“Fun, are they installing it?”

She looked at me guiltily. “I don’t think I paid for that. But I bought a ladder last week, so I can put it up.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m finished for the day. Let’s just knock it out together.”

Once again, we found ourselves in a similar position. Margo 'held’ the ladder for me while I tried slipping the sign into the slots the front of the building already had. She kept giving me tips and advice despite having never done this before.

“Maybe I’ll just go get my ladder and we can both do it,” she offered.

“This ladder has two sides, just climb up opposite me, and it should be fine.”

I held the heavy sign at the top of the ladder and waited for her to nervously take the first few steps. “Margo, if you aren’t comfortable on a ladder, I can just wait for Sam to get back.”

He’d spent the first few hours of the day with us but had to drop out to do a food delivery. I watched as Margo shook her head petulantly and kept climbing. Her knuckles were white as she approached me and clung to the sides of the ladder.

“Are you afraid of heights?”

“No,” she yelped. “Yes, but, it’s a rational fear, okay?”

“Margo—”

“I’m already up here, dumbass. Just give me my side and let’s get this thing put up.”

I scoffed at her bossiness but followed orders. We both wanted her off this ladder as fast as possible. She took her side, and we were able to slide all four corners within the slats of the building.

“Perfect.” I looked over at Margo to see her as white as a sheet. Her face plainly gave away how scared she was. “Alright, time to get down.”

I hauled my ass down those steps and walked around so that I was holding the ladder for Margo. She hadn’t moved since we popped the sign into place. Like a cat stuck in a tree, she was frozen suspended in the air.

“Nice and slow, sweetheart. We’re going to take this one step at a time,” I coaxed. “I’m holding the ladder. I promise I won’t let you fall.”

“What if I die?”

“You won’t die. I promise. Now take a step down.”

Her foot shook as she lowered it to the step below. “Great. Just like that, you’re already almost halfway there.”

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