Tommy Sallow is onto better and brighter things. After working a small hometown beat in upstate New York, he's finally in sunny California. As expected, it's the same shit in a different town. Except, you know, now he's near the ocean and miserable...
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Hardware. Nails, screws, tools, and more tools. It all looks the same to me. Hardware stores, building and fixing things, that's definitely outside my area of expertise. I probably should start watching some videos though. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before something breaks in the house. And now that it's just me, I'm going to need to figure it out.
My eyes glance over at Tommy. I'm thankful for this unexpected outing with him, after pulling away last week and nearly destroying something before it even had a chance to get off the ground. Today is my chance to let him know, to ensure that he knows I'm still in this. And man am I in this as my wandering eyes latch onto those small flexes of muscle in his forearms each time he reaches for something. Don't ask me what it is. One, I have no idea what any of these things are, and two, I'm enjoying a different view at the moment.
In fact, you know what else I would enjoy? Watching Tommy crawl under the sink to fix a leak.
Straining to get it right, sweat glistening off those very forearms.
I came to the realization a few days ago that I'm ready to move forward with Tommy, but that doesn't mean I plan to just dive into his arms, attacking his mouth with mine. Though the thought has crossed my mind. Especially now with this whole handyman vibe he's got going on. I wonder if he owns a tool belt.
"This should work," Tommy jolts me from my minor fantasy as he throws something on the cart. I just nod, not having a clue what he just threw on here.
I'm not completely useless on this trip. I am in charge of maneuvering this flatbed of a cart stacked with wood and other supplies that Tommy sees fit. And this is no walk in the park either. I have to gravely swing around tight corners and dodge oncoming traffic all the while keeping this boat on course without knocking down a single display. I happen to think I'm nailing it, no pun intended.
I also have another pretty important task. I'm on visual appearance duty. See what I did there? Gave myself an important title to show just how crucial I am in this whole process. My job entails picking out the paint, making small decisions about the details. That's a big undertaking. I have to dive into Mia's magical mind to capture exactly the perfect vision.
"Flower box under the window?" Tommy questions.
"That's a definite yes," I nod. That was an easy one. Mia loves flowers and especially any type of garden where she gets to watch flowers bloom or vegetables grow. Something I'm looking forward to this spring.
The rest of the adventure is spent the same way. Me following him throughout the aisles and him grabbing what we need before we make our way to pay. It ends up being a much quicker trip than I had envisioned, especially since he seemed to know exactly what we needed.
After loading my dad's truck, we both climb inside and begin to make our way back to my place. The usual comforting silence fills the cab as we pass by the coast. Walking through the hardware store today, with him, was such an everyday task. Getting supplies so we can go back and build it felt so normal, like it was just something we always do together. Minus the immense amount of sexual tension blazing the aisles. Okay, maybe I was the only one feeling it, but there's something about watching a man grab supplies with confidence, talk with the workers, asking for exactly what he needed, choosing the right wood without question. All of those tiny things have had my stomach fluttering all day. I don't know if it's some primal reaction or what, but knowing that he's good with his hands and watching it all play out in front of me has been doing something sinful to my thoughts.
