Page 21 of Room 1003
“Yep, absolutely.” I knew he was stressing over his deadlines, with all these unexpected mishaps throwing off his schedule. Besides, I wanted some distance between him and Roman, or I wouldn’t be able to concentrate.
Shane thanked me, placing a hand on my arm and giving a gentle squeeze, and I watched him head back to his room where he’d set up his desk. Then I led Roman to the scene of the most recent disaster.
“Yep, you guys have got carpenter ants. They can make a real mess of your structure.” I didn’t correct him when he lumped me in with Shane, sayingyou guys. It felt good to be tied to him like that. “How long have you two been together?” Roman asked casually, not making eye contact as he leaned closer to check out the extent of the damage, his poking setting the ants on the defensive.
I didn’t answer him, because honestly, what was I supposed to say? We weren’t together but admitting that didn’t feel quite accurate. There was something there between us, and to deny it felt wrong.
Roman saved me the trouble of coming up with an answer. “Never mind, it’s none of my business. Sorry if I overstepped my boundaries there. I didn’t know.”
“It’s all good,” I told him, rolling my shoulders to work out the tension. “A good man is hard to find.”
“And a hard man is good to find,” he said, chuckling, making me blush as I thought about Shane… hard.
He rose up to standing and finally turned to me. “They’re persistent pests, but we should be able to get rid of them with some diatomaceous earth. It’s a powder I put down, and as they walk through it, it essentially causes them to become dehydrated. It’ll start to work within a day or two.”
“Oh. So no fogging under a big tent or anything? They don’t need to leave for a couple days?” Damn. I’d hoped I would have an excuse to bring Shane back to my bed. Guilt followed behind the disappointment; I should be glad they wouldn’t be uprooted more than necessary.
“Nah, it’ll be quick and painless.”
He should speak for himself. I was feeling plenty of pain, and the only cure was Shane.
I let Roman get to work. He put on some protective white coveralls, gloves, goggles, and a mask, then he headed up to the nest to get started. Meanwhile, I headed back to my electrical work. It almost felt weird to make progress on the job I’d been hired to do. And if I was being honest, I’d been glad to drag out the job for as long as I could. Hopefully there would be more delays, to prolong the torture I felt at being so close to Shane all day.
When Roman was finished, I made sure to show him out, and I paid him myself. Shane would want to pay me back, but I could at the very least lie about how much it cost.
Shortly before four in the afternoon, the front door opened, and it sounded like a stampede of elephants came in. Turned out to be just one six-year-old, though.
“Hey, little man,” I greeted him, holding my hand up for a high five. “Where’s your grandpa?”
Kit leaped up to smack my hand. “Gramps dropped me off and went to the store. He told me to come straight inside. Did you bring Dmitri?” This kid changed gears faster than I could keep up.
“No, not today, but maybe I could bring him with me later this week, as long as your dad is okay with it.” I would wait until the ant poison was cleaned up. I didn’t want to risk my cat getting into it.
“Hey, Papa! Can I have a snack?” he yelled in his dad’s general direction.
Shane didn’t answer, probably because he hadn’t heard his son’s bellowing from the other side of the house. Kit filled his lungs to shout again, but I put a hand on the top of his head. “You know, your dad’s been busy working all day, but I’m sure I can manage a snack. What do you like?”
His eyes lit up, like this was the opportunity he’d been waiting for. “Um, my dad always gives me cotton candy after school. And, uh, a chocolate bar and a can of pop.”
I knew a scam when I heard one. “Oh, I see,” I said, nodding, playing along. “That certainly does sound delicious. Let me see what we have in the kitchen.” I headed down the hall, Kit skipping along behind me. I pulled open the fridge and rifled through. “Hmm, looks like we’re fresh out of cotton candy.” I emerged with a head of broccoli and grabbed a can of kidney beans from the cupboard. “This is as close as we get, I’m afraid.”
“Not broccoli,” he groaned, slapping a hand over his face. “Fine, I guess a peanut butter and jelly sandwich will just have to do.” He sighed dramatically.
“A wise decision,” I agreed, putting the beans and broccoli back where I found them.
While I made Kit a sandwich, he chatted away about his friend Terry at school and how he brought olives and stinky cheese for lunch. Kit seemed kind of sickly fascinated by the bizarre food.
“We all have different tastes,” I told him, passing him the plate. “And you’ll never know what you’re going to like if you don’t try it. Maybe you would be surprised to find you like them too.” I went back to the fridge and found a jar of sliced olives. I fished one out with a fork and put it on the edge of his plate. “What do you think, should you try one?”
His face scrunched up in thought, and he bent down and sniffed it. “Ehhhh, I might taste it,” he said warily, but the fact he hadn’t outright shot down the idea seemed like a win in my books.
He took his plate and headed down the hall, probably going up to his room. He passed his dad coming the other direction. “Hi, Papa. Gramps went to the construction store for paint, and I asked Ben to make me cotton candy, but he didn’t do it.”
Shane stood there blinking after him for a second. “Um, okay?” Then he turned back to me, his eyes wide. He whispered, “Was that an olive on his plate?”
“Yep.” I grinned wide. “I made you a sandwich too. I noticed you skipped lunch, and I figured you would be hungry.”
“Wow,” he said softly, rubbing at his chest over his heart. “That was really… thank you.” He seemed to be getting choked up. I hadn’t known the small gesture would be taken so seriously.