Forever More
Part 1 - Hope
Chapter Four
Rebecca spent most of the next day at work on the phone trying to get someone to go out and take a look at her truck, or at least tow it. Mechanics had never been her favorite people when she had to deal with them on other occasions after Jack’s death. He had always taken care of that sort of thing. Now when she needed help she was at their mercy and for the most part, they knew it.
It was late afternoon when she found someone who would be able to fit her in. She thanked him profusely all the while knowing that he had her right where he wanted. He would probably go pick up the truck the next morning and tow it back to the garage. What was one more day? Rebecca had hoped Scott meant it when he said that it was all right to leave the truck there.
She got out of work at five that evening and drove to her sitters where she picked up her boys. Once home they piled out of the car and into the house. Rebecca followed with two bags of groceries that she had ran out and purchased on her lunch hour. The boys headed right to the television. She was in the kitchen unpacking the groceries when she heard a vehicle drive in. Going to the back screen door she saw that it was her truck.
Bewildered she pushed the door open to get a better look, thinking that the mechanic had come through for her sooner than planned. But as she reached the top step the door of the truck opened and Scott stepped out.
He had one very large smile that ran the from one side of his face to the other. He waved and greeted her with a simple, "Hi."
Rebecca just stood on the steps confused. "What happened? Did it start?" "Nope. I got it fixed," he added as he walked to the tail gate.
She wasn’t sure what to feel. Relieved came to mind, but then so did embarrassment. She started toward the truck. "Why did you do that?"
"Cause I wanted to. "He grimaced as he tried to unlatch the tail gate. Her truck was old and rusted but with an upward jab the latch loosened.
"But I can’t ask you to do this."
"It’s done. No big deal."
"Yeah, but..."
He stopped her, "Answer me this. Could you get it fixed right now?"
She had to admit, "Well, no."
"Then its done. Now are you gonna stand there or help me get these bales in the barn?"
He had six bales of hay on the back and was on his way into the barn carrying one by the twine. She chased after him.
"Where do you want this?" He turned as he plopped the bale to the dirt floor.
Rebecca just stood there. Another grin lit up his face. He stood with his hands on the hips of a pair of jeans with rips at the knees. A Chicago Bulls T-shirt fit snug across his chest. The long blond hair with hints of gold cast from the late afternoon sun was pulled back behind his ears and held in place by a black baseball cap. Dirty white tennis shoes completed his wardrobe.
"What?" Rebecca shook her head not being able to help but muster a smile herself. She could see that he was quite pleased with himself right about then. "What are you doing?"
"Well, evidently I’m unloading all this hay myself."
He brushed past her and back to the truck. They each slid a bale to the end and hoisted it up. She had moved a few bales in her life and she could tell that so had he.
They had no sooner gotten back to the barn when Rebecca heard the screen door bang a few times. As they turned around and straightened up Ethan and Kyle appeared in the doorway.
"I take it these are yours," he said as he looked them over.
Rebecca nodded. She made reference in the direction of each as she spoke their names, then adding, "Guys, this is Scott Taylor. Remember I told you that I am doing some painting for him?"
They looked at her sheepishly. They didn’t remember.
The two boys, nearly the same size looked more like twins than the nearly two years that separated them. Both had dark hair that fell into their eyes. Ethan’s was straight while Kyle’s was more curly. They were cute little guys and Scott picked out Rebecca’s eyes and smile in their faces.
"You guy’s strong?" he inquired as he started back to the truck.
Kyle yelled after him, "Sure!"
"Well, good. Get up there and slide those bales this way." He hoisted Kyle up and then Ethan. Scott and Rebecca made one more trip to the barn while both boys struggled to drag one across the gravel. Scott rescued their attempt.
Once the hay was all stacked in the barn they stood in the doorway and Rebecca told her sons that as long as they were out there they should water the horses and hoped that they would actually do something that she asked in front of company. Grabbing a pitch fork she shoved it into one bale breaking off chucks that she spread out between the three ever grateful recipients. "You know, I plan on paying you back for all this."
"All this? Hell, I had this lying around."
"What about the truck?"
He shrugged, "I know a guy."
Rebecca thought she was laughing to herself but noticed Scott’s expression and knew that she hadn’t been. Finally, shaking her head she yielded, "Why do men always, quote, know a guy, un-quote? I have been trying since yesterday to even FIND a guy."
He shrugged again, "We have contacts."
"I still intend to pay you back."
"Well, the way I see it I owed you money anyway."
Rebecca looked puzzled.
"For the paintings."
"But they aren’t even done yet."
"So? Finish them."
She stopped and thought, "But I bet that starter cost more than what I was gonna charge you in the first place."
"Why? What were you gonna charge me?"
She pondered the question.
He came back, "Besides I think that I said I would cover your travel expenses."
Rebecca pursed her lips as she did vaguely recall that at one point he had said that.
"So I guess technically, this was my expense."
She wasn’t going to win, and he knew it. That satisfied grin shot across his face again.
"Oh, I got your stuff in the truck too," he added as he walked back out and opened the door pulling out her paint supplies. "But I’ll let you take this," he said tilting his head in the direction of the canvas. "I was so afraid I would smear that and you’d kill me."
Rebecca leaned in and carefully picked it up by the edges. He followed her up to the back door reaching around and catching the latch with a free finger and holding it open with his foot while she passed through still holding the canvas away from her body. She stood it up on the kitchen counter and he set the paints and brushes on the table.
"So this is home?"
Rebecca tried to not comment.
"What?" He must have seen the look on her face. He had this way of saying something almost expecting her to not answer.
"Yeah, its a far cry from your place." Rebecca admitted.
He stood between the kitchen and the living room. "No, I mean, its nice."
"Yeah right. Remember I’ve seen the inside of your home? Its like from a magazine or something."
"Oh, well, Linda likes things nice and neat."
She ventured into an unknown area. "Neat? There wasn’t even a dirty dish in sight," Rebecca said noticing her own sink had dishes from last night still soaking. "And what’s with those magazines? It looked like a doctor’s office?" She squirmed as she regretted hearing what just came out of my mouth, thinking to herself, Great Becky, insult his wife!
He laughed. "Yeah she does tend to go a bit overboard, but that’s just her. See, THIS feels like a home. Toys, clothes," he looked about, "You just know kids live here."
Rebecca shrugged in agreement as she noticed Kyle’s half eaten bowl of cereal from that morning all soggy on the end table by the sofa. "So I guess you don’t have kids?"
"Me? No."
"So how long have you and Linda," she had hoped she heard the name right, " been married?"
"Oh, were not married, but we’ve been together for a few years now. I’m divorced."
"Oh," She was relieved to hear in his voice that he wasn’t annoyed that she had asked.
He turned back toward the kitchen, "And what about you? I kinda got the idea that you are too."
"No." Rebecca changed her tone. "My husband was killed nearly three years ago." She looked up at him.
"Oh, that must be really hard what with the kids and all?"
Rebecca turned back to the grocery bag and reached in to empty a few more things. "We do OK. Its just when things like trucks not starting happen that I tend to get a little on edge."
"Yeah, I could tell you were upset the other day."
Just about that time the boys came in the back door. Instructing them she said, "Why don’t’ you two go in and wash up." Then turning to Scott, offered him a glass of iced tea. He said that sounded good.
She poured it and he pulled out a chair and sat down. Rebecca finished putting some canned soup in the cupboard and then sat down in the chair to the left of him. He put her so at ease every time she talked to him. Right then sitting at her kitchen table he seemed so normal. She tried to picture him up on stage playing and singing but couldn’t.
Ethan came back out in the kitchen and wanted some food. She said that she would start supper in a little while and to just go watch television until it was ready, then suddenly came back, "No wait! Why don’t you go get that record and maybe if you ask Mr. Taylor really nice he will autograph it for you." She glanced Scott’s way to see if he thought that was all right.
"You got a record of mine?"
"Sure," Ethan piped in," We got a lot of records!" and he took off toward the bedroom coming out a few moments later with a small black disk that Rebecca had purchased recently and had been playing a lot.
Kyle was in the kitchen by then. "You sing that?"
"Well, actually, no." Scott said half apologetically. But I do play the guitar and if you listen you can hear me."
"So who sings it?" Ethan asked.
"A man named David."
Rebecca had gotten up and handed Scott a pen. The autograph had been more for her anyway and she had hoped that fact wasn’t too obvious. Scott signed his name in the circle in the middle and added," So you hang on to this and someday you can sell it for millions of dollars and become rich."
Kyle’s eyes lit up. "Really?"
"No, but maybe you can become rich anyway."
Kyle was still impressed and tossed the record in the air and caught it coming down. Rebecca stood up," Oh, great! Break it now!"
The boys went back into the living room and plopped down directly in front of the television.
Scott and Rebecca continued to sit at the kitchen table and talk. He hoped she wouldn’t mind but could he ask how her husband died? Sitting there nursing her glass of iced tea Rebecca told about the accident and a little about Jack.
She asked him about being divorced and about Linda. As they both sat and shared more private details of their lives Rebecca felt more like she was meeting a new friend and that they had to catch each other up on their lives up to that point. She poured him a little more tea.
Soon Ethan was back at the table whining that he was hungry. Rebecca had forgotten all about supper.
She had just started to get up to start something when Scott stood up, "How would you guys like pizza tonight?"
It was all over. Both boys went into a show where they ran around dancing and shouting, "Pizza!"
Rebecca looked at Scott who had wondered just what he had said, "WE don’t get out much, "she explained.
"Evidently." He motioned to the door, "OK everybody pile out."
Ethan and Kyle took off running but as Scott reached the door he stopped, "Oh, shit! I forgot I don’t have a car."
Rebecca gave him a look. She had already figured that one out.
He smiled, "Can you drive?"
"I guess I’d better."
"And then can you run me back home?"
With a heavy sigh of sounding as though she was put out Rebecca agreed, "Yes, I suppose. Do I have to pay for supper too?"
That was the way that their relationship had evolved already. Just being with him she felt that she didn’t have to watch what she said. They could joke and she loved to see him laugh.
At the pizza place he didn’t even seem to be bothered by all the things that two little boys pull. Rebecca was trying to make them behave and he would tell her to forget it. He had nieces and nephews. He was used to kids.
She relaxed and enjoyed the moment as best she could. She would look over at him and wonder why he was even doing this. He didn’t know her at all before a few weeks ago. Yet here they were. He had come to her rescue with the truck and the hay. He seemed in no hurry to get back home. She tried again to imagine him up on the stage. She couldn’t. If she didn’t know better she would have thought she had him confused with someone else.
Scott played video games with both boys and Kyle spilled his pop, but on the way out Rebecca commented that it went much better than she had anticipated. Scott did stop to pondered that thought.
Rebecca drove back to his place and up the long driveway. It looked so different in the dark. There were no lights on. She asked if no one else was home.
"Oh, Linda went back to Chicago today. I have to drive there tomorrow too. I got a flight to New York in the afternoon. "
"So Linda lives in Chicago?"
"Well, we have an apartment there. Linda’s really. She lived there before I met her. We stay there on weekends or whenever."
He opened the car door and sat there. Turing to the back seat he gave last minute instructions to the two seated there, "Now don’t give your mother any grief and get to bed when you get home. Tomorrow’s a school day, right?"
Rebecca smiled. He tuned to her, "And you, finish those paintings. I get back a week from Monday."
Oh, she thought, a deadline.
Scott hesitated in his departure from the car and Rebecca took the opportunity to thank him again for everything. It all meant so much to her, even taking the boys out for pizza. It made their day.
"No problem. I’m just happy that I was able to help." He got out and shut the door shaking his finger toward the back seat where Kyle had just hit Ethan in the back of the head with his shoe.
Rebecca added, "See how lucky you are? You get to go inside. I’m stuck with ‘em."
He nodded in agreement.
Rebecca backed around and headed home all the while wondering who this man really was. What she didn’t know was that he was asking himself the same question.
Chapter Five
(Coming Soon!)
