Kindred: A Love Story (Editing)

Chapter Five - A Year Later

A year has passed. Pete has been extremely handy, taking care of everything Alex has asked; everything from plumbing to electrical to mowing the lawn and chopping wood for the fire place. He even does the little things like take out the trash and carries groceries into the house. His presence has definitely made Alex’s job much easier, making her extremely grateful. She has been able to catch up with some of the office work she has put to the side for so long.

There are still times when she wants to pull her hair out from being so overwhelmed with responsibilities, but for the most part she can take a sigh of relief. The hours she has to work are less than they were before meaning she has more time to spend with Sarah and she loves that. They have been able to talk, catch up on some girl time and watch the movies they have been putting off for the past year. Pete has definitely been her saving grace.

Sarah and Pete have become very close over the past year. She has been following him around and helping him with odd jobs. They talk and play whenever he has free time and she is home from school, mostly board games and cards. Sarah can’t seem to get enough of him and talks about him constantly driving Alex and Vivian absolutely insane. When she’s not with Pete or Alex, she spends time with the Murphys. Mac and Cora treat her like she’s one of their own. They have been such a big help to Alex and she can’t thank them enough.

The conversation she and Sarah had last week while they were sitting on the dock plays in her mind constantly. It completely caught Alex off guard and she can’t help but think her daughter is up to something.

“This was exactly what I needed.” Alex sighs looking out onto the lake.

“Me too! Mommy you work too hard.”

“I do it for you.”

“I know that, but you still need to have some fun. I’m old enough now, mom, you should try to settle down with someone.”

“Who are you, and what have you done with my child?” Alex looks over at Sarah and tickles her belly causing her roll around on the dock.

After a few seconds of torture Alex finally let’s Sarah go so she could return back to her upright position. Alex watches Sarah’s expression change from playful to serious and she knows how much Sarah has thought about this. The only time Sarah is really serious is when she has been thinking about something for a long time trying to figure it out.

“I’m being serious. It’s okay if you want to go out.”

“Well thanks for telling me. It’s nice to know I have the permission of my nine year old to go out on dates should a man come a calling.” She answers trying to make light of the situation.

When it comes to Pete, he and Alex are rarely ever alone for longer than a few moments, mostly by interruption. She thinks it’s probably for the best because if she spent a lot of time with him she would get absolutely nothing done. It would be her gazing at him admiring the sheer magnificence of that man but failing miserably. She figures she will save herself the embarrassment and stick to conversation pertaining to what needs fixing and where.

She isn’t the only one looking, he looks at her too. There were a couple of times she saw him staring at her face or scanning her body and it made her smile widely to herself. She couldn’t deny her attraction to him is strong but she tries to stay as professional as possible. Whenever they do lock eyes the tension is so high she can barely breathe. She just diverts her eyes trying to make herself look busy.

There is one thing that impresses her about Pete, and that’s his intelligence. It’s obvious he’s educated because of the way he speaks, so it confuses her greatly why he isn’t doing something else. He hasn’t really talked about his past, she figures if he wants to tell her he will, in his own time. Until then she can just revel in the fact that he’s there and one of the best workers she’s ever seen. He always puts other’s needs above his own. Even when Alex asks him to take a break he never does it. He’s like her in always wanting to make sure the work is done, never leaving anything unfinished.