BMB: Version 1-1

"Yeah," Tommy answered and nodded. "I'll see you on Monday," he reiterated and watched me walk away toward my room.

"Dang that appointment I made to go look at houses!" I whispered to myself as I took off my shirt once I'd closed the door and switched to a nicer one. I hurried back into the living room with my purse and keys and leaned down to kiss Gram on the cheek.

"Be safe, dear," Gram reminded me. "Good luck!"

"Thanks, Gram," I answered and turned to face Tommy when I got to where the living room and foyer met up. "Tommy, it was really nice meeting you."

"Same here, Trin," Tommy answered and watched as I walked toward the door.

"Oh my gosh!" I screamed aloud in my hot car as I waited for the A/C to kick on. "What was that?!"

It was then that the words of that sweet lady at my widow group came rushing at me. Was this it? Was Tommy the answer to my own questions about moving on?

I found my perfect house with the realtor only half an hour after I'd met up with her. Melissa and I had spoken on the phone a few times, and that woman proved that she'd been listening and knew what I wanted. At the first house we explored, I was sold on it immediately once I realized that it checked off every item I was hoping for in a house. And it did. I was thrilled. I made an offer, she called the seller's agent, and right then and there, it was accepted. And because the house was already vacated, I could close on the earliest date available once the banks and agents and title company could all agree.

At work on Monday, I was met by Tommy who had been sitting in the parking lot waiting for me to arrive. If I hadn't known any better, I would have thought Gram had clued him in on my arrival time, but as I had no proof, I was going to go ahead and believe that it was all happenstance. Even as I share this, I know Gram was totally behind it. Who am I kidding?

Tommy walked me into the building and pointed out every feature from his workspace to the restrooms to the stairs which would lead up to our boss's office and others, apparently.

"Dad, Trin is here," Tommy told Tom once the older man had acknowledged his son's knock.

"Trinity!" Tom greeted me and stood to wave me in. "Tommy, I'll have you come up to show her around once we are done here."

"Bye, Trin," Tommy told me and touched the small of my back before leaving me alone with his dad.

We did the regular new hire stuff, and then he took out the list he'd made for me to look over. "Here's some stuff I'll be looking for in the weeks to come. I went with some of the ideas you'd given me along with some that I've had for as long as I've had this place. If there's anything you don't know or understand, please know that my door is open. I don't ever want you feeling lost in the job. And some of what you'll be doing is new to everyone here. The boys down there? They're busy building bikes. The things you'll be doing will be related, but expansive. Make sense?"

"Definitely," I assured him. "And I appreciate that you've taken the time to explain this to me. Once I have a good grasp on things, I promise, you won't be disappointed that you've hired me. I can work with this," I told him as I held up the list, "and I'll make sure the communication is ongoing."

"That's what I want to hear," Tom told me encouragingly. "Now, let's get Tommy up here to show you around and get you settled."

Tommy came up to the office to collect me and showed me nearly every part of the building, including the entire exterior. Finally, he brought me into the one room I hadn't seen because the door had been shut.

"And this," Tommy told me as he pushed open the door completely, "is your office. Dougie, meet Trin. She'll be your officemate. "Trin, this is my little brother, the resident artist and manager of the shop downstairs, Dougie."

"Finally," Dougie huffed and stood up to shake my hand. "I can't believe he saved this part of the tour for last. I mean, we never shut this door! Talk about an unnecessary buildup!"

"Dougie, shut up!" Tommy chastised and shook his head at me. "Sorry, Trin, but this is the most logical place for you to be stationed for the moment. Don't let him bother you."

I smiled and shook my head at Dougie. "Dougie? I'm looking forward to working with you," I told him and shook his hand before pointing back at Tommy. "Once this guy leaves me alone, you can tell me all his secrets!"

Dougie burst out laughing and went back to sit at his desk. Meanwhile, Tommy gasped and yelled in shock. "What? Oh! That's how it's gonna be? I guess we'll see about that." And before I knew it, Tommy was gone, and I was left alone with my officemate.

"Well, now that he's gone, I can greet you officially," Dougie shared and tipped his hat. "Trinity, it's nice to finally meet you. I hope the banter between my brother and me won't keep you from wanting to work with us. It's mostly just for show. And the way you played right along with it? It's like you have experience or something. You'll do just fine here at BMB."

"Well, thank you very much, and yes, I have six brothers, so I'd say I've got a little experience in dealing with boys. Anyway, it's nice to meet you too. I guess this is where I'll be working?"

From that point on, Dougie and I took to each other like brother and sister. Playfully, we'd act all annoyed or get into spats to get a reaction out of his dad or the guys if they were coming up and passed our office to head for the breakroom. Generally, we just carried on like two people who were cool to sit near each other for up to 35 hours a week. On occasion, I'd ask for his advice. Once in a while, he'd show me a sketch of his latest work.

I arrived a few minutes past the noted start time of the Fourth of July party to find that the driveway and whole street were filled with cars already. Was I late? It turns out that no, I was not. Everyone just took the start time as a suggestion, and on that day, because it was set to begin at 1:00pm, many of the boys came early because they were hungry. I brought the dessert I'd offered to make for the event and headed for the back of the house. Michelle greeted me and took the dessert off my hands before setting it down and quickly bringing me into a huge hug.

"Hi, Trinity! Welcome!" she nearly exclaimed with a laugh. "Tom is so thrilled that you've joined them at work. And thank you for this!" she added as she took the cover off the homemade pudding dessert I'd made. "Oh, well, that looks delicious! I can't wait to see what other treats you've brought with you from the Midwest!"

"Oh! I only brought the one," I answered quickly. "Gosh, had I known..."

With a confused look, Michelle stood back and looked down at the dessert. When it finally occurred to her why I'd answered that way, she burst out laughing. "Oh! Oh, sweetheart! No!" When she finally got her laughter under control, she shook her head and wiped her eyes. "Oh, I just meant that different foods tend to be popular in different parts of the country. Since this is the first of many parties to which you'll be invited, I was saying that it'll be fun to try out all the recipes you've brought with you!"

I nearly cried in relief but held my composure and laughed at my misunderstanding. "Oh, thank goodness!" I told her and let her take my hand.

Out of nowhere, I felt a bigger hand take my other hand while his other hand slid around my waist. "Hey, Michelle," Tommy greeted his stepmom while I was busy realizing who was touching me and where. "Mind if I borrow my partner for a while? We have strategy to discuss before we take the other teams down!"

"Oh, for sure!" Michelle agreed and winked at me. "Go do whatever you have to do to take those losers down!"

"Hey!" Tom yelled from the grill at which he was standing. "Don't be calling the guys losers!"

"I guess we'll see!" Michelle teased in a singsong voice as she made her way down the line of dishes making sure each had an appropriate utensil in it for serving.

"Oh, here," Tommy told me and took my purse off my shoulder. "Come on. I want to show you where the bathroom is and where you can put this this." I followed him into the house and smiled as I'd realized that he hadn't let go of my hand. "Right in here," he told me as he turned on the light to point out the bathroom, "and you can put your things in here," he added as he turned around and faced the door of the room directly across from it.

He opened it and guided me into what appeared to be his room. When he shut the door, I got a little excited. Not scared. Not nervous. Just... excited. Here was this unbelievably hot guy making sure that I was comfortable in his house, placing my things in his room, and now giving us some privacy.

"You feel it too, right?" Tommy asked and ran his thumb over my knuckles.

"Yep," I answered and smiled down at the floor.

"Cool with it?"

"Yeah, I really am," I answered and sighed before taking in a breath and looking up into his eyes.

"Good," Tommy answered and cupped my face with the hand which wasn't holding mine. "May I kiss you?" he whispered and moved closer so that a mere step forward by either of us would have resulted in pressing our bodies together.

"I wish you would," I whispered back and slid my other hand up his arm.

When I felt his kiss, well, let's just say it was a good one. A great one. Oh, alright... it was an earth-shatteringly amazing one! I thought the fireworks were set to go off that night, but I got a preview, and I had a feeling what I got was better than anything those folks out there would get.

He pulled back and sighed as he rested his lips against my forehead. "I had a feeling it would be awesome," he breathed and smiled against my skin.

"Whoa," I answered and nodded in agreement.

"I guess we should get outside," Tommy noted and pointed at his door. Once it was opened and we were walking back through the house, he squeezed my hand and winked down at me when I turned to look at him. "I think we've definitely got the winning strategy," he said loudly as we walked up to the food table. Four of the guys ahead of us who worked with us at the shop turned abruptly and then laughed when they saw we were partners.

"Yeah, right," one guy said.

"Nice try," another chimed up.

"I don't know, guys," the oldest of the men spoke up. I thought his name was Bill. "Never underestimate a lady and her abilities." He turned and bowed at Tommy and me. "May the best team win," he shared and then went back to the food.

Well, the best team did win. Tommy and I had the trophy to prove it! We rocked those team games and dominated everything which was thrown at us! At first, Tom was shocked, but by the fourth first place finish, he was busy laughing at the other teams and their lack of grace with every loss they took. I'm not sure why or how we won, but we were sure a great team.

At the end of the night, but before fireworks, I was given my clean dish and told to maybe bring a second one next time if my treats were going to be as good as this one had been. I hugged a very energetic Michelle and thanked her for the compliment before promising to bring a second dish to the next event.

Tommy offered to walk me to his room to set it down with my purse, but I had a feeling I wasn't coming back to the yard to watch the fireworks. I quickly thanked Tom for the invitation, told him I'd see him in the morning, and made my way into the house. I'm not sure if we were excited about our win, grateful for the opportunity for the chance to celebrate the Fourth of July alone, or full of pent-up hormones, but our make-out session lasted from before the fireworks until after they were done and we heard people coming back inside to collect their things. Tommy snuck me out the front door and walked me to my car where we had a quick kiss goodbye and a promise to see one another the next day.

I knew it was too good. I knew it was too good! We arrived at work with big smiles which faded throughout the morning and were gone by lunchtime. One by one, Tom invited me first and then every man who worked there into his office to drop a bombshell.

"This is a workplace, and I need to do what's best for my business," he began. I believe he was reading off a script, though it seemed like he was really trying to pass it off as spontaneous. "Now that we have a woman working here, I need to get ahead of any problems which might arise. For the next year, we will implement the following rule: There is to be no dating or romantic relationships of any kind. I can't have the drama. There's enough of that within my own family. It's not going to be a part of this workplace."

"Tom," I bravely inquired, "what about friendly outings? What about group stuff?"

"Just be smart about it," he answered as if that was the easiest way to handle it. "There will be group things done, of course, but outside of work, I just need to make sure there isn't anything going on which will affect things here."

"Got it," I answered and nodded as I stood up. "Thanks."

When I got back to my desk, I was about ready to cry. I watched as man after man walked passed my office and waved as they headed toward Tom's room, but none of them seemed to want to wave or even interact with me afterwards. Awkward.

Dougie got up and made his way down to talk to his dad for his turn, but when he got back, he just gave me a fist bump and told me it was a good thing we'd already decided to be siblings. He made me laugh which is exactly what I needed.

When Tommy, who was the last to go speak with his dad, walked away from his meeting, he stepped into my office, knelt down to speak to me quietly, and whispered that we'd talk the following day about it. Thursdays were our evening shifts which would allow us to speak freely without anyone hearing anything we'd be saying. I nodded and watched him walking down the step towards his workbench. Oof, I couldn't wait for that discussion.

Thursday's dinner was noticeably somber. We'd waited until everyone had gone home and then slowly made our way into the breakroom to eat as Tommy had explained it would happen when he'd given me the full tour.

"This sucks, Trin," Tommy finally blurted out after many failed attempts to begin speaking. Once he got started though, he couldn't quite stop. "I mean, first off, I'm so sorry. I had no idea Dad was gonna pull this rule on us."

"Tommy, I..."

"I mean, there was no discussion or anything to let us even think there could be a problem with a girl working here, ya know?"

"Tommy, I don't..."

"I would never have let it be like that on Tuesday if I'd have realized we couldn't continue to do that," Tommy added.

When he finally took a break from speaking, I spoke up. "Tommy, I don't regret Tuesday. At all. I don't particularly like this rule, but I understand his purpose for it. It's a little extreme, but as I'm the first female to work here, and with the history of drama in your family, well, I don't exactly blame him either. We have three options."

"I'm listening," Tommy informed me.

"One, we try to stick to the platonic friendship and build on that until the rule is over. Two, we ignore the rule and do everything behind his back, as well as keep the secret from basically everyone, the entire time. Three, I quit and work somewhere else so we can go on being together."

"Quit? Oh, hell no," Tommy answered and tossed his fork onto his plate as he shook his head. "Three is out. Let's talk about the other two."

"We don't have to discuss it, Tommy," I told him quietly. "Two isn't an option either. Secrets. Lies. While the excitement was there on Tuesday from hormones and this whole new thing and all, it was also exciting that it was unknown to everyone. Some may have noted our chemistry, but no one knew for sure that we were making out."

"But couldn't we..."

"No, Tommy, we couldn't because that's not a real great way to start anything. I won't let you put your job in jeopardy. You wouldn't let me put my own in jeopardy if you won't even consider letting me quit. Having to hide our relationship from everyone, all the time? No one should have to deal with that.

"Now, let's talk about the benefits of option one, truly, our only option. We are new to this friendship. There's a whole lot to talk about, to share, to discuss, to grow in and on, however you want to say it. Let's make the best of getting to know each other."

Once Tommy was finished eating, he nodded and collected our empty plates to toss in the trash while I wiped down the table. We seemed to be continuing the great partnership even at mealtimes. I was enjoying the partnership quite a lot, even putting aside the trophy we'd decided to place in the window of my office so that everyone could see it whenever they looked up at that part of the building.

At the end of the night, Tommy walked me to my car and nodded. "I still think this sucks, but I'm willing to try if you are. Let's high five at the end of each shift and try to find the fun in that. What do you think?"

I laughed and gave him what he asked for before turning and getting into my car. I could make it a year. At least I was pretty sure I could.

Gram hadn't known about the Fourth of July make out session since she was already in bed when I'd gotten home that night. By the next morning, it had to remain a beautiful memory, so I chose to keep that from her as much as I hated to do such a thing with her, what with all the hints of love being in the air which she'd been dropping since I'd met Tommy.

"Gram. I'm home," I called out when I entered the house. I wouldn't have done so if the lights had been out, but it was obvious that she was watching TV and most likely waiting for me to return from work.

"Trin! Oh, how was work, dear?"

"Good. I got to learn a lot about the actual build of a bike this evening," I shared and sat on the couch next to her chair. "I'm not sure if Tommy will be in Tom's office first thing in the morning to request a different, less annoying partner with way less questions, but it was good for me anyway. All that I learned will help me to do my job better."

"Oh, Tommy would do no such thing," Gram argued playfully and waved away my statement. "Even if he did act annoyed by your questions, he was thrilled to share about the things he loves."

"He did light up a bit when I asked about certain parts and what their functions are," I noted and smiled. I had learned so much about many things that evening. The more he shared, the more I learned about bikes and about Tommy.

"So, did you get a closing date yet?" Gram asked as she turned off the TV. Her show must have ended.

"Yes, I close on July 14 and will move everything on Saturday," I answered as I stood up to help her out of her chair. She was capable, but she sure loved the bonus attention. It was adorable. "Oh, thanks for asking. I need to call the moving company..."

"No, ma'am, you will not do that," Gram argued and stopped walking. "You might need to get some stuff out of storage, but anything that doesn't require actual licensed movers can and will be done by the people who work at BMB. You just tell Tom when and where, and they will handle the work."

"Oh, Gram, I couldn't..."

"Shush, child," Gram ordered and shook her head. "You're not. I am. I'll be on the phone with my son early tomorrow morning. Besides, Miss Powers, in case you haven't realized it yet, you are family. Once you get in with the likes of BMB, especially as a beloved employee, you're one of them."

"Oh, Gram. I've only been there for..."

"Trinity Powers," Gram argued and swatted at my arm, "you are part of that family. Our family. Never forget that."

I gave in and hugged her from the side. "Alright, Gram. It's an honor to be part of your family."

On July 15, BMB shut down, and every employee came over to help get me moved in. Tommy was the first one there and the last to leave. I provided a hearty breakfast to begin the day as promised, ordered sandwiches for lunch, and had pizzas delivered for dinner. Since we were nearly done by dinnertime, most just took a pizza as a parting gift.