THREE
“Thank you.” Ashley could not take her eyes off his averagely built body. With awe within her, she watched as his biceps flexed with the slight raise of his hand- which was holding his cup of tea.
It was not as if she had never seen a body like his before, but throughout her two years of marriage, she had gotten used to seeing a man who was gradually growing a pot belly and gradually achieving a receding hairline.
So, don’t blame her if she can’t take her eyes off a fine specimen.
Clearing his voice, Ashley’s eyes diverting to the cup on the little table separating her from the gorgeous man, Dave asked a surprising question. “So, what’s your story?”
“What do you mean by story?”
“Ashley...”
A frown was quick to grace her face. “How on earth do you know my name?” she asked cautiously.
Shrugging, his arms crossing, causing his muscles to strain against his body fitting black t-shirt, he answered, “I had to make my findings before coming here.” Her brows went up, his lips twitched. “Ashley Steve- Edwards. You are an entrepreneurial fashion designer and strangely that’s all I could find out, hence my question.”
Ashley watched him cautiously, her teeth doing a great work of helping her think by biting the sides of her mouth. After some seconds she said, “Ashley Steve. Just Ashley Steve.”
The sides of his mouth went dome- shape, “So the rumours are true after all.”
“If they are true, they shouldn’t be called rumours." She took a deep breath and let it out instantly. “Listen Dave, I don’t mean to sound rude, but if the person I have called to help fix my pipes starts telling me that he decided to gather some information about me, I have to be concerned. Maybe I shouldn’t even have served you tea at all.”
“Ashley,” his voice stayed calm, his lips were smirking now, that twinkle in his eyes was still there. “,the same way you decided to run our company through Google for like two minutes, is the same way I decided to know a little about whose house I was coming into.”
Ashley became tongue tied. He was sort of right. With the security problems out there, that was a good thing to do. But then, she was not going to give him the satisfaction of shutting her up, so she asked with a sprinkle of sneer, “Why the question about my story then?”
“Well, a busy woman like you being at home on a Tuesday afternoon with a flooded kitchen was not something I expected. Besides, I didn’t miss the sunken look in your eyes,” he went on to glance through her body. “,the burden you carry all over you, thus the question. So, Ashley Steve, what is your story?”
Ashley semi- consciously reached for her face. ‘Is my misery that obvious?’ she thought.
“Well uh…” she wasn’t doing so well in giving him a reply and she needed to. For some reason, she felt like she had found a reason to gradually transform to Ashley before the divorce.
“What makes you think I would want to share my life story with a stranger?” she spat at him.
Chuckling softly, he returned, “Do you check out every stranger that walks into your house?” A light gasp escaped her lips. “I certainly did not miss that either.”
“Wh- what do you want from me exactly?” Ashley asked quietly. She knew her game of slightly snarky replies had been lost.
“Ashley,” he called her name so carefully, she felt a ting in her body. Or maybe it was the way his eyes narrowed at her. “I just want to help you. Look at you, you are a mess. No offence.”
What could she be annoyed for? He was right. Totally right.
“You are obviously not taking your divorce quite well and you can’t certainly go on like this.”
With caution, she asked, “How are you going to help me?”
“I think that is a thing only known to me.”
“Tell me,” she shifted in her seat to fully face him, her eyes capturing the one picture of Kevin that was still in the house.
‘I have to take that crap down.’
“Why does it feel like this ‘way’ of yours,” she air quoted. “,has a lot to do with physical intimacy?”
Amusement suddenly taking over his soft looking face, he asked, “Is that what you want?” His question took Ashley aback.
It was so direct and now that she was thinking about it, it had really being a while since a man touched her. And it was not a matter of a month ago, it was more like months.
There she was, seated opposite a handsome, built man with an accent that keeps drilling her head and filling it with sweet sounds, and he had just asked her if she wanted to jump into bed with him.
“You don’t have to think so much Ashley, if that is what you want, I can grab you right now and the next thing you know, you will be withering and twisting because of my touch, under my touch.
Ashley felt a little shiver.
Oh, his words. And the way he said them with so much confidence and intent. She was tempted. Very tempted. Keeping her knees together to try and suppress the new feeling that had erupted, she said, “L- let’s focus Dave. How, on earth are you going to help me?”
“I will just do it.”
“So, you will be like subjecting me to therapy?”
“No darling, I don’t do therapies, I fix.”
“I hope you realize I am not a pipe. You are talking to a human. You can’t fix a human.”
“To some extent I can. I just can’t tell you how.”
“This is ridiculous,” Ashley could not help but shake her head unbelievably. “What do you stand to gain from all this?” He shrugged. “That’s not even an answer!” she exclaimed.
“It is the right amount of answer I can give you for now. So, what do you say Ashley? Do you want to end this misery that you are in and let me help you?”
“I am sorry,” she got up, her hands slapping the sides of her blue jean trousers. “,you are a stranger…”
“A stranger you just had a few minutes talk with over a cup of tea. Am I really a stranger?” He got up, walked a little towards her until they were inches apart. “Tell me, Ashley, am I really a stranger?”
‘Definitely not to my body, she is acting like she has known you for years.’
“Dave, please,” she groaned.
“What?” he questioned amusedly. “You even know the name of this stranger?”
“Please, I appreciate your concern, but I don’t think I need your help. Thank you for fixing my pipes though, at least I am assured of sleeping in my own house tonight.”
Slowly, he backed out, Ashley looking anywhere but his face. “You and I know you need more than my help. When you change your mind Ashley, you know where to find me.” He smirked, reached for his cup and downed the rest of the probably cold tea.
“Well, that’s my cue.” He dropped the cup, the latter clinking as it landed on the glass stool and he reached for his tool box that had been laying on the cold white tile for a while.
“See you later Ashley.”
His previous words were still racing through her mind, so she did not even hear him at all. And she certainly did not hear him when he advised her to get someone to evacuate the water in her kitchen.