The Landlord

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Getting back to hard labor right at 6:00 the next morning... ugh, it sucked. I was super tired. Gee, wonder why? It's not like I got home at like 2:00 in the morning or anything. Not in Blake's mind; he didn't need to know shit. Instead, I blamed my tired state on sleeping on the floor. Which was also true. Getting home late only to sleep on the floor didn't help.

While I painted the porch boards, Blake stood the grass and painted the spindles. "Those beds are clean, I'm telling you. You don't need to sleep on the floor."

"How do you know they don't have bed-bugs?"

"They just don't. The beds are cleaned before each new tenant; I hire a guy to come in and he does a thorough job – and he checks for things like bed-bugs."

"Still gross."

"Yeah? Is it gross to stay at a five-star hotel?" he asked, nonchalantly. "Different people every day, same bed."

I didn't like how logical he was... because that was such a good point.

We had finished repairing all the porches by 12, so now we were just painting. For 'slacking' yesterday, and since we were close to done, I didn't take a long break today. Yeah, I'm an angel, I know. So, by the time we were finished at 6:00, I was sweating like a hog, hungry like anyone would be, and sore like a used hooker. Therefore, naturally, I was a little on edge.

"You hungry?" he asked, shoving all the paint cans together in a corner.

"Yeah, you could say that." All I had today was a sandwich. Another damn sandwich. At like 11:00

Finished, he turned to me. "Well, if you want, we can go to Louie's. Show you the town more. I'll pay so you don't have to worry," he shrugged.

My stomach flipped around. Was he asking me out? Was he just being nice? No, he was just being nice. Then again, who the hell just asks to take someone to dinner because they are nice? Was it some country thing? Because guess what, people in the city are not like that.

Trying to play it cool while stalling, I said, "Um, what is Louie's?"

I found out first-hand. Which meant yes, I accepted his offer. Sue me. I was hungry, broke, sick of sandwiches, and he offered to pay. His continuous nonchalant manner told me he was just being a nice guy, but it was hard to believe. Which made me insecure (even though I showered before hand and got 'dolled up'). Which is stupid; I didn't even want to be on a date if it happened to be one! Plus, it definitely was not a suitable place for a date.

Louie's was one of those casual small-town bar and grills. I've never been to a place so laid-back and where everyone was a regular. I looked over-dressed obviously for this... kind of place. Blake didn't shower, but he changed out of his sweaty shirt into a regular green tee. He looked just as casual as this place – yet, still looked amazing.

It was fairly busy, and everyone was chatting it up. Just walking in, I shook hands with maybe three people after they greeted Blake. Not a fan being thrown into social situations like that. I was nice, but noticeably stiff, even after sitting down and ordering our food.

The waitress set our drinks down and took her note pad out. "What can I get you, Blake?"

"I'll just have the mushroom and swiss burger."

The older woman smiled down to me. "And you?"

"I will have the grilled chicken salad with ranch. If it's okay, no tomatoes, light on the croutons (no more than four please) and can I have mozzarella cheese instead of cheddar?"