If You Tell Me To Stay

Chapter 4

Can forced his hand to release hers and started towards the door.

"Um, I wonder if I could ask for another favor."

He turned to face her, "Anything." And he meant it.

"Do you have some shoes I could borrow?" she smiled and looked down at her socked feet and wiggled her toes for emphasis.

Can laughed, "Yes, hang on."

He came back with a pair of sandals and placed them on the floor in front of her. She slid her feet into the massive shoes. Using her toes to grip so they wouldn't fall off.

Sanem put on her coat, and draped the rest of her clothes over her arm.

They walked to his truck, Can scooped up the pile of blankets on the way, and he opened the car door for her.

Driving back down into town, Sanem noticed Can lived on the side of a mountain in a rather secluded spot. "At least you don't have to worry about nosy neighbors." she gestured to the surrounding forest.

"Yeah it is kind of in the middle of nowhere. I'm not overly fond of crowded places, not that you could really call Fener a crowded place. But I have always preferred being on my own. I'm not usually home at any rate, I'm always off working. But when I do come home after a job it's nice to have a quiet place to myself."

They had a pleasant conversation all the way back to the house. Can gave a quick glance to Melihat's window when they pulled up. She wasn't there. But he knew she wouldn't still be asleep. She probably saw the red scooter and is off to find out more information.

"Thanks for the ride, and well... everything else too."

"You're welcome."

She got out of the car and was surprised to see Can get out of the car too. She looked at him quizzically.

"I'm not going to let you stay in that refrigerator of a house."

Can grabbed a small toolbox out of the bed of the pickup truck. They walked in together; Sanem went to change into her own shoes and Can went outside. He was scouring the back wall when Sanem joined him.

"I looked out here last night for the breaker box when I woke up and realized the power went out. But it was too dark and pouring rain."

Can felt this worry creep over him, knowing she was out here in the cold and rain, probably in the middle of the night.

He knew it was irrational, but he had this thought that it should have been him out here.

He envisioned himself waking up next her, realizing that the power went out. He would be the one to go outside to reset the breakers and then crawl back into bed beside her. Wrapping his strong arms around her to keep her warm.

"Can?"

Snapped out of his daydream by the sound of his name, he realized he was just standing there, staring at the wall. "Oh, I was lost in thought." He smiled to himself and went back to looking along the wall.

He located the breaker box hiding behind an overgrown bush. Sanem asked him to explain what he was doing so she would know for next time if it happened again.

"Looks like a few of the breakers have been tripped, including the one for the heat pump. Even if you managed to find this last night and reset the breaker, it would have just tripped again. We need to find the reason why it tripped in the first place and fix that."

He found the heat pump and established it was a clogged filter. It needed replacing. He could get another one at the hardware store. As he was there already with his toolbox he started walking around the house fixing various things. Sanem followed behind him as he explained what he was doing. He loved that she stayed near him and actually seemed to enjoy her lessons in home repair. She asked intelligent questions when she didn't understand and wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty.