Thank you for your continued support.
Standard disclaimer.
After a doctor's appointment this morning, Mercedes' mom was in the best mood she'd been in, since Michelle's wedding.
"Just you watch, honey..." she said.
Mercedes held on to her mother, as she practiced walking...albeit extremely slowly, around the living room.
"...with this new walking cast, I'll be out and about in no time."
Mrs. Jones lifted up her arm.
"Plus, a shorter arm cast, without all the bells and whistles...I feel so much freer now."
"I know mom. This is great progress. But you're going to have to be a little more patient, and wait for your physical therapy appointment tomorrow, so they can work with you and show you how to manage these new casts."
Her mom waved her off, then, lost her balance a little and grabbed her arm for support.
"Careful, mom."
After about five minutes of very slow ambling, her mother took her spot on the sofa.
"That was shockingly exhausting," Mrs. Jones said.
"You've been on your butt for six weeks, mom. It's no surprise you're so weak."
Her mother huffed out a sigh.
"I thought I'd be dancing by the end of the day."
Mercedes grasped her hand, looking right at her.
"Knowing you, it won't take much time at all. As long as you don't try to push harder, than your body allows."
"I suppose. But I'm so tired of being stuck in the house. This has been frustrating."
"I know it has, mom. But look at you. Six weeks out from a major injury, and you're already in a walking cast for your leg, and a regular cast for your arm. That's progress, and you have to look at it, as being halfway to being completely out of those casts."
"You're right. Of course, you're right. I just want life to get back to the way it was before."
"It will. I'll bet your therapist will be so excited to work with you tomorrow."
"She'll torture me. She loves torturing me."
Mercedes laughed.
"You love every minute of it, too. You enjoy the challenge."
"What I'm going to enjoy, is getting out of this house."
A week later, Mrs. Jones was beside herself with excitement. She'd had daily therapy visits, and was now getting around on her own, with her walking cast.
The therapist had been working on her core balance lately, plus they were doing work with her arm as well.
Mercedes had gone with her to her appointments and it had been grueling.
But her mom was a fighter.
And she also knew, it was going to get worse before it got better, especially, after the casts came off.
But she had every confidence her mother would completely recover from her injuries, because, Marlene Jones would accept no less.
Her dad was almost as excited as her mom, when he came home that day and saw her moving around the house on her own, noting her progress after a week, under her new physical therapy regimen.
They were going to celebrate with a pot roast, Mercedes had prepared for dinner.
Mrs. Jones had even helped, insisting on slicing carrots at the counter.
She'd called it part of her therapy, and though she'd been a little slow at it, she'd done a great job.
But then, Sam texted Mercedes, saying, the new cabinets had come in for the bathroom, as well as the wall tiles. He was going to do some installation after work, so he asked, if she wanted to come over to see it.
"Of course you should go," her mother said. "You've already taken me to the therapist today and cooked dinner. You've spent every day with me for the past week. Go enjoy time with your boyfriend."
Mercedes was about to object, that Sam was definitely not her boyfriend, but her mother waved her hand in dismissal.
"Go. Spend some time with Sam."
Anxious to get out of the house and not wanting to argue relationship status with her mom, she texted him, that she'd be over shortly.
After a change of clothes, Mercedes left home and drove over to Sam's house.
His garage door was open, so she went through that way and knocked on the door.
No answer.
She knocked again, but still no answer, so she tried the knob.
The inside door was unlocked and since he was expecting her, she stepped inside.
The sound of hard rock music smacked her ears.
'No wonder he couldn't hear me.'
She saw that the light in the bathroom was on, so she headed in that direction and found Sam, surveying his handiwork.
Noticing the shell of the vanity was already in, she said,
"That dark wood is going to look so good with the tiles we laid on the floor the other day."
With the pale beige tiles and the dark brown cabinets, plus the cream color on the walls, the room was starting to take shape.
He looked up and smiled at her.
"Thanks again for helping out with that. And for coming with me to pick out all this stuff."
"Are you kidding? I had fun spending your money."
"Now you sound like a girlfriend...or a wife."
"Bite your tongue. Would you like something to drink?" she asked.
"How about iced tea? I made a fresh pitcher after work."
"Okay."
She slipped off her jacket, then went into the kitchen and fixed them each a glass of tea.
When she handed Sam his drink, he took a couple of deep swallows and said,
"Thanks."
"What do you need me to do?" she asked.
And he handed her a drill.
"Will you screw in these brackets, so we can start putting the drawers in?"
Mercedes loved that he didn't question her ability to use power tools, though she was glad no saws were involved.
In short order, they had the drawers placed.
"We need to finish up the tile work on this wall," he said, pointing to the area above where the tub would go. "The painting is already done, and they're going to deliver the counter-top tomorrow and put the sinks in."
"It's almost finished. I'm so surprised, at how quickly it's all come together," Mercedes said.
"Bathrooms don't generally take too long, once you have the demo portion complete. You and Mark really helped a lot."
"I can't wait to see it all."
They worked for a few hours on the tiles, and took a break, while Sam ordered pizza, since he hadn't eaten yet.
And Mercedes took that opportunity, to fill him in, on her mother's therapy visit earlier in the day and her revised cast situation.
"Your mom's a superstar. I'm not at all surprised she's doing so well. Knowing her, she'll break records in her recovery."
"I figure, she'll cut the estimated twelve weeks down to eight."
He laughed, and bit into a slice of pizza.
"You're probably right. Speaking of, when do you think you'll be ready to start work?" he asked.
She thought about it for a few seconds, then said,
"I don't know. My mom is doing very well, but I'd like to hover over her a few more days, to make sure she feels confident enough to hang out by herself. Maybe next week?"
"I don't want to push you. You're here to be with your mom, so you just let me know when you're ready. And when she's ready."
"Okay." She studied him as he ate. "And why? Are you having a paperwork emergency?"
"Not any more than usual."
"I'm looking forward to digging in and seeing what you've got," she said.
Sam leaned back in his chair and slanted a sexy look her way.
"I'm pretty sure you've already seen what I've got."
"Indeed I have."
And it has been a while since she'd seen it. Touched him, felt him, been with him.
She has been so wrapped up with her mom, and him with housework, that although she's been able to dash over to help him with the bathroom project, during those occasions, Mark and Michelle has been over as well, which meant no alone time, and mostly, they would worked late into the night.
It has been exhausting work, but she'd wanted to be there for her mom, so she hasn't stayed over in a long while.
Tonight, though, she had an action plan, and that meant time for her and him.
Sam finished his pizza, so Mercedes pushed back from the chair in the dining area and came over to him, straddling his lap.
He grasped her hips.
"Is this dessert?" he asked and she smiled.
"This is definitely dessert."
She slid her fingers into his hair, loving the thick softness of it, so different from everywhere else on him, which was so incredibly hard.
She spread her thumb over his bottom lip, then bent and kissed him, taking in his rush of breath, as an exhilarating aphrodisiac...an instant turn-on, that sent a thrill of expectation through her.
Her entire body tingled with awareness, when he swept his hands under her shirt to explore the skin of her back.
Suddenly, her bra was undone, and her nipples tightened in anticipation.
She straightened and pulled off her shirt, along with her bra, needing Sam's hands on her.
A desperate need coursed through her, a frantic desire, that had to be satisfied, not later, but right now.
She felt his erection pressing insistently against her sex, and she surged against him.
His gaze lifted to hers, his eyes half lidded, a storm raging in them. And then, he cupped her butt and stood, lifting her, as if she weighed nothing.
Her first thought, was that, he was going to carry her down the hall to the bedroom, but he surprised her.
He pushed the plates and pizza box to the far end of the table and set her on it.
She smiled at him, as he popped open the button of her jeans and lowered the zipper.
At that, she kicked off her tennis shoes and helped him, as he pulled her jeans down her legs, while he unzipped his.
Seconds later, he pulled a condom out of his pocket and she asked,
"You're always ready, aren't you?"
"Around you? Hell yes."
She liked knowing he was as anxious as she was.
It reminded her so much of those frantic, teenage years, when they couldn't wait to get at each other.
Her heart pounded against her chest, as he pulled her panties aside and entered her, his body looming over hers as he thrust, his hand sweeping under her, to cushion her butt.
A while into their intimate activities, Mercedes felt that Sam was holding back, that he wasn't giving her all the pent-up passion he felt for her.
And she wanted all of it.
"I'm not fragile, Sam," she said, holding on to his arms. "I won't break."
Hearing those words did something to him and he took her mouth in a kiss, filled with naked desire and fury.
Next, he pushed her back against the table, and she wrapped her legs around his hips, arching against him, then, stretched fully out on her back.
And when he unleashed that pent-up passion, driving rapidly into her...she took it all in, and gave it back in equal measure.
She lifted his shirt, raking her nails across his back, as the two of them melded together, until she couldn't tell where she ended and he began.
This was what she'd craved, this lightning storm of pleasure and pain and need.
She cried out his name as she came, and he too let go, both of them shuddering, holding on to each other, as the storm held them in its fury.
When it passed, Mercedes still trembled and Sam stroked her face, his body wet with perspiration.
They were stuck to each other, stem to stern.
"I need a shower," she said.
He lifted, smiling down at her.
"I think you're just using me, so you can spend time in my shower."
She laughed, as he pulled her up and she hopped off the table.
"Maybe," she said and helped him to pick up her clothes.
After a quick shower, Mercedes cleaned the remnants of dinner and sex from the table, and threw away the trash.
And when Sam emerged from the shower, they took a final look at the bathroom remodel.
"I can't wait to see the counter and sinks in there," she said.
"It'll be even better when there's a toilet, but that'll go in last."
"Then you'll have another room finished. Before long, you won't have any rooms to work on."
"There are still three more bedrooms to knock out. But that's just floors and paint, maybe expanding closet space, and choosing furniture. Nothing too major."
She patted his arm.
"It's good to have a project."
He nodded, walked down the hall with her and into the kitchen, where they refilled their glasses.
"I'm also thinking of building a second garage so I can have a project area."
"A project area for what?" she asked.
"Rebuilding old cars. There's a '68 Camaro I'm eyeing, that I might want to refurbish. But since I house Rhonda in my current garage, I need some additional space."
"I see. You have plenty of room on the side of the garage to build it."
"That's what I was thinking."
"In your spare time, of course," she said.
He took a sip of his tea, then smiled at her over the rim of his glass.
"Of course."
They ended up snuggled together on the sofa, under a fleece blanket, watching an action movie.
It was an okay movie, but her mind drifted, thinking about his house, the way he had bought it...bare bones, and completely overhauled it.
And even though he was almost finished, he was still coming up with new ideas.
It was a lot like the jobs she did.
She'd come into a place, look at the bare bones, and find ways to improve things.
She liked that Sam was always thinking ahead, of the next step, the next project.
He kept busy, he didn't just sit around doing nothing but drinking beer and being lazy. Sam definitely wasn't a lazy guy. And she admired that about him.
Of course, even back when they were teenagers, he'd had a lot of dreams and plans for the future.
They'd been different plans back then, and his present hadn't quite matched up, with what they'd talked about in the past.
But whose life ever did?
Hers sure hadn't.
Then again, look at them now, cuddling together on the sofa, much like what they used to do, when they were younger.
She never thought this would happen again, that she'd feel so comfortable with him, or that she and him would ever...
So, maybe things hadn't changed as much as she thought.
Mercedes pushed the blanket off.
"I should go."
Sam gave her a confused look.
"You don't want to stay tonight?" he asked.
She grabbed her tennis shoes.
"I don't think so. I have to be there for my mom in the morning. You know, just in case she's unsteady."
Sam ran his hands through his hair.
"Oh, right. Sure."
She grabbed her purse and keys and headed for the door.
"I'll talk to you later."
"Mercedes..."
She turned, and he pulled her into his arms, giving her a deep, lasting kiss, that only added to her confusion.
"I'll talk to you later, okay?" he said.
She nodded.
"Okay. Good night."
She was out the door in a hurry, without once looking behind her.
And her heart pounded the entire way home.
Stay safe and stay blessed.