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ELIZABETH
I came down for breakfast. I'd taken to eating the cereal that was up in a higher cabinet.
Ty was a simple eater. He didn't have anything extravagant, which I appreciated. We seemed more matched than I originally thought. Unless he was eating out a lot and I was just trying to convince myself of everything that might put us together.
Great, I had it bad.
I stutter-stepped at the bottom of the stairs at the sight of Tyler standing at the slider with a cup of coffee in his hand. The part that shocked me was his wardrobe. He wasn't wearing his normal business suit which threw me off.
I'd never seen him in anything but a suit and tie. Right then, he wore charcoal slacks and a V-neck cream T-shirt. His cologne could convince me to jump off the roof of the house, if that’s what he wanted.
Glancing out the slider over his shoulder and then toward the front door, I couldn’t figure out what the plan was. Had Casual Friday switched to a different day? “Good morning. Are you not going to work?”
He turned to partially look at me and then returned to look out the window as I came up beside him. Drinking from his mug, he answered, “I'm working on the sales contract but I'm going to do it downstairs. I figure that's better for me to step out for the day so he can realize just what he’s taking on. I just made the decision yesterday and discussed it with him. Honestly, I kind of need a break today. What are you up to?”
I looked around the house. I had actually been planning on doing a consult. But if he was there, I couldn't do it. Rats and rabbits! He wasn't supposed to be there. “I just have some things to do. I'll be around.”
Pouring myself a bowl of cereal, I ate it quickly and then ducked out to the garage. I could organize my calendar but I couldn’t do much if he was going to be home all the time. I hadn’t thought this through. I didn’t want to have to pencil in “waiting for owner to leave.”
I twirled around on my tall stool and tapped the pencil on the work surface. The business line rang after about thirty minutes and I nearly fell over.
Was it Tyler? I wasn’t prepared to tell him why I wasn’t coming. I felt like he’d lied to me about why he wasn’t going in, not that I could blame him. I was lying like a rug!
“Hello?” Was my trepidation blatant or was I doing something successful finally?
“Yes, hello. This is Tyler Manning. We spoke about a consult this morning at ten.” He was hesitant, like a man calling a woman with something other than business on his mind.
I looked out the window, spying him standing in the downstairs office slider. We were almost on level, but I think because of the direction of the sun he didn’t see me. I ducked out of the way just in case. “Hello, Mr. Manning. I was just about to call you to reschedule. We had a plumbing emergency with another client and that had to take precedence, I apologize. Would you be okay with that?”
“That’d be fine. Are there any other openings today? I’d like to get it done as soon as possible.” His voice took on a disappointed undertone which left the part of me with a crush oddly happy and sad at the same time.
I flipped the pages of my empty calendar. “Today? Yes, we are full. Like I said, this emergency put us back. I can shuffle tomorrow’s appointments, but I won’t know what time until the morning. I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”
“Shoot. I'm going in to work tomorrow.” His dejection didn’t dim my relief.
We sat there in silence for a moment while considering our options. Staring at the desk space in front of me, I wished he would realize it was me and I could just go inside and get started.
Why wasn’t he thinking of me as an option anyway? I couldn’t be the only one thinking of the other in this relationship. Even if it was a relationship he didn’t want. I spoke up. “Did you say last time we spoke you had someone that would be there?”
“Yes... Um...” His discomfort was palpable which sparked my curiosity further.
I braced my elbow on the counter and tried not to get frustrated with him. We were married, why couldn’t he own it? “Is it your wife or your girlfriend or someone else?”
“Well, it's complicated.” He hesitated and I was losing my humor about the whole thing. Maybe I shouldn’t take the job, even though I didn’t have any others calling.
“Oh, boyfriend?” I was having fun now. For whatever reason he didn't want to admit that he was married or that the person going to be there was going to be a girlfriend or whatever. I wasn’t stupid. He was interested in the phone-me and the wife-me was horribly hurt, but the phone-me enjoyed his attention and discomfort very much.
His inability to see that I was one and the same was affecting how I saw myself. This couldn’t be good.
Tyler spluttered on the other end of the line. “No. I mean... I like women. It's not bad. I...”
“Mr. Manning, can someone meet us there?” I’d lost my patience and Wife-me brought me up short.
He sighed. “Yes. I'll make sure. I would like to be the one that’s here. I feel like I should meet you by now. You know? If I can’t, I’ll make sure someone is here.”
“Perfect.” I avoided his blatant come on. “I’m going to shoot for ten again tomorrow, but I can’t guarantee anything right now. I'll write up an estimate and an inspection report and send it to you via email as soon as it’s ready. Do you have any questions?” If he asked me out, I might walk across the drive and clock him one with my mallet.
“No... Thank you. I'll talk to you sometime tomorrow.”
He'd flirted with the phone-me and hadn’t recognized my voice. Was it worth it to pursue things like I was as his wife? Or would I be better off just telling him who I really was and moving out?
