Kindred: A Love Story (Editing)

Chapter Seven - I'm Glad You Came Out

Halloween rush has come and the B&B is at full capacity through the weekend.  Sarah is in the kitchen helping Vivian make a special cake for the upcoming Annual Halloween Festival. Alex is at the front desk working on the computer preparing the monthly budget, but is distracted watching Pete out of the office window. He is in the driveway working on the truck. It is a red 1959 Ford which her father adored. The body still looks like new, but the engine needs some work.

 

She needs to get near him. It has been almost two weeks since they were alone together walking on the path from the lake. The conversation wasn’t intense but the heat passing between them was, almost making it unbearable.

 

Alex thinks about the ridiculous conversation she had with her mother later that same day.

 

After she enters the house, she washes her hands in the kitchen sink and begins to prepare a large salad. Sarah is setting the tables in the dining room with napkins and silverware. Vivian is taking a cake out of the oven.

 

“What was that all about?” Vivian asks as she sets the cake on a cooling rack.

 

“What?”

 

“Don’t what me. It looked like some serious conversation going on with you and that man.”

 

“That man? Not that serious mom. He’s going to fix daddy’s old truck. I told him he could have it.” She said walking into the dining room, placing the salad on the buffet table.

 

“You what! What in the hell would possess you to do something that asinine?” Vivian raises her voice way above normal.

 

“Mom calm down. It was just sitting there collecting dust, and I thought he could make some good use of it. Plus he’s earned it.”

 

“I can’t believe you did that, without even asking me.”

 

“What were you going to do with it? We can’t keep holding onto these things. You need to let go.” She said annoyed with the conversation as she walks back into the kitchen.

 

“But him, Alex?”

 

            “Mike has been nothing but a good hard worker since he got here. He hasn’t hurt you, me or Sarah. So what if he has a past. Who doesn’t? We all have things in our past that we’d rather not talk about. Maybe he just needed a fresh start. The least we can do is help him.” Alex answers, folding her arms over her chest.

 

“Why are you so hell bent on helping this man?”

 

“Because it’s what daddy would have done.” She says firmly.

 

Vivian looks at her angrily then exits. Sarah and Alex finish setting out the food as guests begin to enter.

 

She shakes her head chuckling to herself. Her mother is never going to accept that man no matter what he does. She gets up from her desk, goes to the kitchen, pours a glass of lemonade and walks out the kitchen door toward the driveway. Pete is bent over the truck under the hood. Alex can’t help but admire the view as she walks up to him. She lets out a low moan before speaking.