Jess grabbed her beach bag and pulled a huge floral hat on her head. Humming, she pulled together the last of the picnic lunch she was making for Nick and herself. She grabbed a new jar of mango salsa and rummaged around a drawer.
Nick walked into the kitchen, carrying his old boom box and a blanket. "Sorry my hours were changed at the bar. You sure you don't mind moving our picnic to the roof?"
Jess looked up. "Don't be silly. The roof is perfect." She opened another drawer. "Have you seen the jar thingy?" she asked, pantomiming a twisting motion with her hands. Nick scrunched his eyebrows in confusion.
"Schmidt bought me a jar-opening thingy so he could stop, and I quote, 'listening to me grunt like a wounded manatee' when I tried to open jars."
Nick gave her a smirk. "How does he know what a wounded manatee sounds like?"
Jess sighed and closed the drawer. "How does Schmidt know the difference between a foster almond and a diamond almond? I don't know. He has a gift." Moving things around in now another drawer, she pulled out an egg beater, turkey baster and a garlic press but still, she couldn't find the jar opener.
Frustrated, she grabbed the jar again and tried twisting it with all her strength. Nick simply watched her, mouth now slightly open, eyes growing bigger.
Finally he couldn't take it anymore, and walked over to the counter. "If you have a jar, I can get it for you." He reached over and with an effortless twist, it opened with a quick pop which he then set back down on the counter. "You know I like doing things for you. It's all part of the Nick Miller package."
Giving him a wicked grin, she said, "Well, I do like the Nick Miller package," then added a wink.
Lifting an eyebrow, Nick's lips tipped into a sexy smile. He slipped his hands to her waist and pulled her to him. "Why thank, you, Miss Day," he said. Leaning toward her, Nick collided with the brim of her oversized hat. "Ow," he squinted as it wacked him in the eye. "That would have been a lot sexier without the hat."
Jess bit her lip to stop a giggle. "Oh, poor Nick." She pushed back the hat, and placed a gentle kiss on his wounded eye. Batting her eyelashes in a dramatic fashion, she drawled in a Southern accent, "It's my Miss Scarlett hat, to keep my delicate skin from the punishing rays of the sun." She added a small sigh. "I had a parasol, too, but one night Winston thought it was a monster under my bed and destroyed it."
He rubbed his eye, but offered her a smile. "Ah Winnie, we will have to get him over his fear of the dark." He glanced up at the floppy hat. "Good thing we aren't going to the park. I'm not sure the hat would fit in the car."
Jess spun back around to put the salsa in the bag. "Oh, I wouldn't wear this to the park, not when there is shade everywhere." She hoisted the bag over her arm. "Oooof, maybe the pie and the cupcakes are took much."
Nick frowned. "So, there's no shade on the roof at all for you?" he asked.
"Nope," Jess said, not noticing how his frown deepened. "But if I get a big, Gone With The Wind hoop skirt to match the hat, then I can sit under that."
As they walked out onto the roof, Nick looked around as Jess smoothed out the blanket. He could feel the intense afternoon sun on his bare arms. Looking back at his girlfriend, he glanced at her bare arms and legs and realized she would be fried within an hour.
Jess caught his eye and patted the blanket "Come on, Miller. Get the vittles while the getting's good."
He nodded, but made his way to the edge of the roof instead. "You know, I could always build you some shade," he said, pointing to the corner. "We could put something right over there."
Jess stopped arranging the paper cups and plates. She looked at him and slowly stood up. "You mean, like a veranda? I've always wanted a veranda."
"Well, it wouldn't be too hard. Maybe you could draw me some sketches later."
"You would do that for me, Nick? Build me a veranda?"
He shrugged. "Yeah, of course."
Jess walked over to him with a smile on her lips. "You're sweet," she said, and Nick noticed her flirty, little eyes light up.
He curled an arm around her waist. "Yeah, you think so?"
She nodded. "Oh yeah, I do." She moved closer, and he wrapped both arms around her. "How would I ever repay you for your kindness?" she asked, putting her arms around his neck and standing up on her tippy toes.
His lips ticked up in a smile Jess always found irresistibly sexy. "Mmmmm, well, I can think of a couple of different things," he said in a low voice.
"Promise?" she said licking her lips so he could see.
Nick leaned over and nuzzled her neck. "Ma'am, I am going to need to get half payment before the project begins," he said as his hands moved down her back to rest tightly on her hips.
Her face scrunched up a bit and she leaned over whispering in his ear, "You'll get payment when it's done Miller," she gave him a playful nip on his earlobe. "Full payment."
He chuckled out loud "Well then, I will go to the hardware store first thing in the morning," angling his head so he could give her a gentle kiss.
At the mention of the store, Jess cringed. "Ugh. The place where I was knocked out cold by a plank of wood? My jaw hurts just thinking about it. Can't we just order a kit? I saw the cutest wrought-iron veranda online. And we can add a beautiful canopy to it that will just drape down the sides. It could be…."
"Yeah, Jess," Nick rolled his eyes, "and then we will install an elevator to take us up to the penthouse where we can have caviar and pick out our limousines," he laughed. "I can build you a veranda, Jess. I know a guy, Henry…"
Jess' eyes grew large, and she leaned back. "Henry, from the scrap metal place? That place is frightening, Nick! It's like a scene from The Wiz before they all become fabulous dancers. The last time you came back with a project from there, you nearly set the apartment on fire." Jess remembered Nick's last attempt – a wine rack for her that had been so misshaped the wine bottles rolled off the side and smashed to the ground. Although Schmidt complimented Nick on finally ridding the loft of Jess' "pathetic pink" wines, he still hauled it to the curb for the garbage collectors. The neighbors complained of the "obscene art deco sculpture" outside the apartment until trash day.
Nick sighed. "Fine, we can make it out of wood." He saw her uncertain expression. "Jess, it will be nice, I promise. Look, you spend some time making up designs of what you want it to look like, and tomorrow I will get the supplies. I'll take care of it, Jess."
The next morning, Jess sat at the table with her markers sketching out ideas. Nick frowned over her shoulder at the ornate decorations she drew of flying cherubs and fairies.
"Jess, stop decorating it and draw the actual shape you want."
She sighed. This was not his first commentary of the morning. "I did. Right here, see? I want the corners to have these shapes."
"Well, prepare yourself then, because none of that will be there," he said pointing to her flowers. "Here, let me try." Nick took a black pen from the box that smelled like licorice and drew out a veranda with four giant posts and a square flat roof.
Jess furrowed her brow. "Nick, that looks like a garage."
"Exactly! It looks like it can handle a damn hurricane!" He said with a satisfied huff. "Now, get your shoes on so we can go get the wood for this thing. I have to work tonight and want to get a head start."
The hardware store was not a pleasant experience for either of them. Every time a piece of wood clanked, Jess jumped a little, expecting something to come crashing down on her. Frustrated, Nick began plowing through the place, tossing items into the cart without even asking her. She tried to complain when he started loading plain, old 2x4s, pointing toward some darker wood that had better shapes – and that would allow her to attach something to it. He quickly dismissed all her ideas, and soon she stopped offering them.
When he finally asked her what color she wanted the canopy, Jess answered, "Does it matter what I think?" before she could stop the words from coming out of her mouth. Nick's eyes narrowed as he shoved the cart further down the aisle.
By the time they were ready to start building, Nick and Jess were barely on speaking terms. They returned with her Volvo packed with supplies and spent the next hour carrying the wood up and down on the elevator to the roof. Jess accidentally ran into Nick a few times trying to get through glass doors, and he flashed her an accusatory look each time. By the time it was all up on the roof, they were both covered in sweat and more than a little annoyed.
"What do we do now?" she said, trying to temper the edge in her voice.
Nick finished putting up the saw horse. "We? No, there is no we. Now you can head out of this sun, and I will get to work on the veranda," he said.
Jess frowned. "No, I am going to help you."
Nick knew he needed a break from their tension to concentrate on what he was doing. "No offense, Jess, but you helping me would be a lot like you trying to play football. It is a bad idea."
Jess eyes widened. "Are you saying I would tackle you with a 2x4?" she snapped. The look on her face told Nick she was thinking of doing just that. He knew he should back down, but he was hot, sweaty and had spent a day with his girlfriend trying to turn a simple cover into a freakin' Barbie Dreamhouse.
He slammed a piece of wood on the saw horse. "I'm just saying, I got this."
Marching over to him, she stood firmly in front of the pile of wood. "So this is another, 'I'm Nick Miller and I'll fix everything the way I want to fix it. The heck with what anyone else wants.'"
He leaned toward her, lowering his voice. "When everyone else is wrong, then yes."
Something inside Jess snapped. "Oh really? Well, that's a great attitude, Nick." She stormed over to his tool box. "Maybe I'll just get to work without you." She grabbed a tool from the box.
Nick rubbed his face with his hands. "That's great, Jess. You'll do a lot of building with that pipe wrench, especially since we don't have any pipes for the veranda."
She dropped the wrench and reached in to grab another tool. It was then Jess stopped. Gently, she pulled something out of the tool box. "Nick, what is this doing here?"
Nick's eyes grew large for a moment, and he struggled to answer. "I don't…it's there…how did that get…"
Jess walked over to him, and handed him the jar opener Schmidt bought her. "Did you hide this in your tool box?"
He opened his mouth, then closed it again, and simply shrugged with a bit of a smile edging up the corners of his mouth.
"Why would you do that, Nick?"
Nick jammed his hands into his pockets. He sighed. "Because I open jars for you, Jess. That is my thing." He looked down at his feet, pointed directly at her, and added in a quiet voice. "If I'm not the guy who fixes things, then what can I do for you?"
Jess stared at him, wide-eyed. "What are you talking about, Nick? You do a lot for me."
He shrugged. "Yeah, for now. First it's jar openers, then you figure out the Internet, then you put down mouse traps, and then what good am I?" He looked at Jess. "I don't have money, or a car that can drive more than a 20-miles radius. I don't have many things I can give you, Jess. This stuff," he gestured to the mess in front of them. "This I can do for you."
Jess' shocked expression eased into a smile. "Nick Miller, you do more for me than you can imagine, and it has nothing to do with pipe wrenches or jar lids." She wrapped her arms around his waist. "You are enough for me, Miller. Just you."
He chewed on his lip, but still did not look at her. She rested her chin on his chest. "I tell you what, Miller. You figure out how you want this big, wooden, hurricane-proof veranda to be put together. I'll go make us some lunch, and we can work on it together."
He looked down into her eyes, and a slow smile crept across his lips. "Okay, yes ma'am, I'll come down in about twenty minutes."
"Sounds good," Jess said smacking him on the butt as she left the roof.
He walked back into the cool loft, shirtless now, his hair sweaty from moving the wood. "Jess, I think I came up with a design that will work for what you want. What do you think about these shelves in the corners for you to put your troll dolls or whatever, and I can leave some nails on the posts we can wrap some lights around."
Jess hadn't heard a word he had said. She only saw his skin, his hair, his eyes and mouth. The tension they had between them earlier mixed with the heat on the roof transformed into something that twirled her into a bit of a small frenzy.
"What?" she asked, looking at her boyfriend who stood only in jeans. "I didn't hear a word. Something about lights or was it beds or, um, what?"
Nick saw her walking towards him, but he backed up before she got to him. "No Jess," he laughed grabbing a pillow from the couch to guard his chest from her. "No, we are making a veranda," he said with insistence. "Hey, eyes up here, woman. I am not some workman to be oogled."
She smiled slow, her eyes full of promise. "That's right. You work for me, Miller."
He cleared his throat. "Yes ma'am, but I am not done yet, ma'am." He winked, but began backing away from her, laughing until he ran into the couch.
Taking advantage of the pause, she grabbed at the pillow, yanking it away. She pushed him down on the couch and lifted her eyebrows. "Hmmmmm. I think I told you I wanted it to be a cute veranda." She shook her head. "And you have been very, very bad, and designed me a garage fit for a hurricane!"
Nick smiled up, quickly catching onto the game. "Oh yes," he nodded as she straddled him on the couch. "I am bad. Yep, very, very bad." His hands came up around her back.
Hovering over his lips with her own, Jess whispered, "Now show me how you plan to make it up to me."
"That I can do ma'am." he said as he pulled her shirt up over her head. Leaning her back so he could bite at her neck, he made his way up to her mouth. "That I can do."
Later – much later – Nick carried the cooler of beers up to the roof and found Jess still working on the decorations. The cover was now on, draped over the wood, though not without some fighting over how to hang the blue fabric. There were twinkly lights, each shelf in the corners now sat bird houses and ceramic butterflies and Jess had been working all afternoon hot gluing flowers around each shelf and down the edges.
Nick ended up with enough scraps leftover from the project to build an extra table to sit between their new beach chairs. Jess had, of course, painted it multiple colors until she had deemed it perfect. Shaking his head at his girlfriend, he watched her bend over to glue on a flower. She peeked between her legs and caught him staring. "Ahem," she cleared her throat. He smiled and winked.
Standing up, she returned his smile. "We did it!" she declared as they high fived. She looked around the roof and her smile turned softer and she whispered "Yep, we did it."
Nick put his arm around her shoulder as they surveyed their accomplishment, "This," he said, pulling his fingers across a blue, silk flower, "is definitely an unusual combination."
Jess laughed, "Well sure, it's OUR veranda."
A small smile spread across his face, and he squeezed her a bit tighter. "Yeah," he said softly. "Now ma'am, can we talk about this payment in full situation..."
Let us know whatcha think of this collaboration as it was a first for us. Thanks again for your time...Mayalala & RayKay72