Page 4 of Falling for the Enemy

5

Amber

Frank did the yard shirtless, and I have to say, it was one hell of a show. He was such a strong, powerful man, that it was hard not to look at him. And when I started, it was even harder to look away. I found myself staring, and the only thing saving me from complete embarrassment was the fact that he didn't know. I knew though and that was bad enough. I did not want to look at him in that way. I did not want to feel anything, but I quickly realized that it didn't matter what I wanted. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of him, no matter how hard I tried.

When he was done, he left and soon after that, he left for what I assumed was work. I noticed him taking off the night before at the same time, and the next morning he arrived home a little after six.

I was waiting for the sun to come up and drinking my first cup of coffee when he pulled in. He wasn't on a bike today, but a souped-up older model car that was just as loud. He seemed to like everything loud and extreme. That was the way that I would describe the man himself. What he had to do to make his body that ripped had to be pretty extreme. It didn't seem like he went to the gym, but he was muscled in a way that made my mouth dry. It showed a dedication to whatever it was that made him look that way. I can't imagine most people being able to do it.

Frank was like an Adonis and as I watched him go in his house, he waved, and I waved back. This time I didn't give him a dirty look, but a smile. It wasn't because I felt any better about the day before and how we had met. It was more because I couldn't help but smile after the thoughts that ran through my mind. He had given me a reason to wonder. I wondered to the point that it was hard to pay attention to anything else.

I stayed outside for a while, hoping that he would come back out and maybe do some more shirtless work like he had the morning before, but then it became clear that he wasn't going to come back out. The coffee was done, and the sunrise was over. It was for the best.

It was on my way back in the house that I looked around and realized that it was time to make a few changes. I wanted to keep her things around, I’d always loved the house and everything in it, but there were a few things that needed to be upgraded. She didn't even have a microwave. I didn't know how long I was going to be able to subsist without one. There were a few other things that came to me that needed to be bought. A good strategy to get Frank out of my mind was to put something else in it. I planned a shopping trip, made a list, and left about an hour after coffee and the show was over.

I tried not to think about the caveman next door. He had no manners, and I was better off keeping my distance.

* * *

Shopping went welland it was late in the afternoon by the time I got back. Shopping in the small Ohio town was different than shopping anywhere else that I'd been before. When I had been there for summers, shopping with my grandmother, I didn't pay attention to such things. I didn't pay attention to what was there, what wasn’t there, or how much things cost. I was really just worried about candy at that point in my life, and now I could appreciate how unique an experience it was compared to what I was used to.

Seemed like I was having a lot of those lately, unique experiences. This unique experience included going to three different stores, the only ones in town, trying to find the simplest ingredients and coming up empty handed. This quite annoyed me if I was honest. Something as simple as corn tortillas eluded me. I looked high and low and was unable to find what I was looking for. I then considered that I'd have to order them online and how funny it was. Some of the specialty things that I was used to were going to be hard to find here. If I was going to live here for the year that I was mandated to, I was definitely going to have to order online for the basics. I couldn't make my corn quesadillas without the tortillas, and it just seemed amazing to me that nobody sold them. Did nobody in this town have tacos?

I was so sidetracked when I got home, I didn't even realize that Frank was on my porch until I was unlocking the door. He said my name only a few feet from me. I jumped a mile high, because I hadn’t been expecting him to be there.

I had no idea how I had missed him when I was coming up to the porch. Frank made the same comment, and it didn’t help my mood.

“You just keep showing up, don’t you? What can I do for you?”

Frank smiled and he acted like there was a sexual innuendo in the middle of it. He told me that he wanted to start over, though I wasn’t quite sure what Frank meant by that.

I had dropped a few things when he said my name and startled me, and now he was picking them up and handing them back to me. Why was he trying to make his peace with me now? Why was I so against doing so? I didn't know what it was about this guy, but he made me nervous, and he put me on guard. Either way, something inside of me told me to pay attention. What I was paying attention to or why I was doing it, I really had no idea. I just knew that I had to.

“There's nothing to worry about if we don’t get along.”

“Wouldn't you rather us get along?” Frank inquired.

My first instinct was to say no. The guy was trouble and the further I stayed away from him, the better. I knew that I was meant to believe that everything happened for a reason, but I didn't think that all reasons were good. Maybe Frank was just around to show me a lesson or experience. Lessons can be some of the hardest reasons to accept. I didn't need a lesson.

“Of course, I think you're really just looking into it too much. It's not a big deal. I'm sure that after a while we will get along. If not, I won't be here that long. I’m staying as long as I have to and then I'm going to sell. And then you’ll have someone else to charm.”

I tried to go in but Frank stopped the door from shutting again. “You know, you’re really going to have to stop doing that.”

“And you really need to stop walking away from me like you do.”

I was about to tell him that he had no right to even talk to me that way but knew that there was no use. Guys like Frank, ones that thought that they were God's gift to women, was the type of guy that I needed to stay away from. He never got told ‘no’, so he didn't know how to accept it. I told myself that I would help them by creating boundaries and sticking to them. Even as I thought it in my head, I knew that it would be harder than ever to actually do it.

When I realized that he wasn't going anywhere, I figured the only way to get rid of him was just to hear him out if that's what I had to do. I wasn't in the mood.

“I need to get these groceries in, so come on.”

He had a brilliant smile on his face, one of triumph, and it bothered me. I didn’t want him to think that he had won, but maybe Frank had.

I noticed that he put his shoes in the spot that my grandma had always wanted the shoes to go. Everyone stuck them in the middle of the floor and it used to drive her crazy. He had stuck them off to the side, where she had explicitly told everybody else to do it. Nobody really listened and it drove her nuts, but he did. I guess it made me look at Frank a little differently, because not only did he do her yard, but he must have come over enough to know that little detail about her. I didn't know how many other people did.

“So, you knew my grandmother?”

He shrugged. “I told you I did.”

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