Furnished

With the furniture all set, Rachelle could see where to lay the rugs and place the lamps.

"Okay. I'd put the long rug here, and I think the smaller lamp would look great on this end table. And...we could stand the taller one up here on the left end of the sofa."

She looked at Brad then asked, "What do you think?"

"I think you're...amazing."

She understood the compliment had two meanings, and the underlying meaning made her entire body tingle.

"What he said!" the other younger man told her as he pointed to his roommate.

"All right. If you two will take care of that, I'll go get my tools, and we'll get your pictures up!"

Rachelle headed for the door when Tom nodded her way.

"Go with her!" he mouthed.

Brad had wanted to, so when Tom encouraged him, he moved.

Within a few seconds he caught up and said, "Mind if I walk with you?"

"It's just a hammer and some nails," Rachelle replied with a laugh.

"But what about the level? Isn't that heavy?"

She laughed again, and as they got to her car she said, "You mentioned being honest. At the store?"

"I remember. Is that a hint about me being dishonest because of my comment about the level?"

Rachelle laughed and told him that had nothing to do with it.

"I brought that up because, well...I...I kind of invited myself over here today because..."

"Because you took pity on me?" Brad said as they stopped near the trunk of her car and looked at one another.

"Yes. But...full disclosure. I...I think maybe I just wanted to...I might have kind of..."

Brad didn't finish her sentence this time. He only looked at her with one eyebrow raised up a little in expectation.

"Now that I'm here and about to say it, I feel a little...foolish."

"Does it help at all if I tell you that I haven't been able to stop thinking about you all week?"

"Are you being serious?" she asked in a hopeful kind of way.

"We are being honest with each other, right?"

"Yes. Yes, we are."

"Then yes, I am being serious."

"Then that does help. A lot," Rachelle told him as she smiled back at him. "Because I've...I've thought about you, too. A lot."

"Yeah?"

"I told my daughter I'd...kind of met someone...and while we mostly talked about her and her boyfriend—her...ex..boyfriend...who just broke her heart because he went out with her best friend..."

"That's...that's low. That's just...wrong."

"It is. It breaks my heart, too, but I'm just glad I can be there for her, you know?"

"Of course. She's lucky to have you."

"Thank you. And I feel the same way about having her to talk to."

Their eyes locked, and for a second or two, Rachelle's bounced back and forth between his before saying, "Anyway, I...I wasn't totally honest with her. About you."

"Ah. The age difference, right?"

"That's why I felt so foolish. I mean, I saw your driver's license when you filled out the paperwork at the store, so I know I'm...a lot older than you, and I...I really don't know what I was thinking. I guess maybe your...flirting...made me feel good and I was hoping that maybe..."

"I meant what I said, Rachelle. And I'm very happy you...invited yourself over here, because I really wanted to see you again."

"Really?" she asked, a happy smile on her pretty face.

"Yes. And before I forget, is there any chance you might be willing to help me find some curtains tomorrow?"

"I think I could squeeze you in. Between being bored and doing nothing," she told him as her pretty face lit up in another huge smile.

"Great. I'm already looking forward to that."

"I should definitely bring my tape measure in, too, then, huh?" she said, the smile still there. "So we can make sure to get the right length curtain rods."

Brad felt pretty sure he could kiss her, but it wasn't a risk he was willing to take no matter how badly his body ached to do that. And he had no way of knowing that Rachelle was hoping he would, but she'd only kissed two other men since losing her husband, and she hadn't initiated either of them. She'd already been braver with Brad than she thought she could be, but she wasn't quite that brave.

So both of them stood there wanting the same thing with neither of them doing anything about it.

She turned away, got her key fob out then said, "Here. Let me open the trunk, and we can grab what we need."

When the trunk popped up, both of them leaned in at the same time, and both of them tried to pick up the hammer. Brad's hand got there first just as Rachelle's landed on top of it.

"Sorry!" she said as she pulled away, both of them remaining bent over.

"No. That was...fine," he said, just inches away from her as they both still had their upper bodies in the trunk.

Rachelle was staring at him but looked away as the desire to kiss him welled up in her again.

"Is something wrong?" Brad asked when he saw that happen.

"No. It's just that...you're...you're very...attractive."

Rachelle picked up everything but the hammer, and without looking at Brad again, stood up and suggested they go hang the pictures.

Brad closed the trunk then nodded for her to go ahead, and neither of them spoke again until they got back inside where she busied herself with deciding where to hang them and asked Tom for his input.

"Don't ask me. The best I could come up with is 'on the wall'."

"I'm thinking over here," she said pointing to a space behind the sofa and centered on it.

Tom and Brad looked at each other then both said, "Sure."

"Can you maybe come hold it for me so I can see it from a distance?" Rachelle asked Tom.

"Um...how about Brad?" he suggested.

"Or Brad," she replied, trying to sound nonchalant without looking at Brad.

He walked over and held the picture where she wanted it, and once she was satisfied, she came back over and said it looked perfect.

She measured the distance from the ceiling to the height she wanted, tapped in the nail for the hook, then asked Brad to hang it up. He came over before she could move away and stood behind her, holding it in front of them both before letting the wire on the back of the picture rest on the hook.

"What do you think?" she asked as he stood maybe an inch behind her, his arms still touching the picture.

"Everything looks...beautiful...from here," he said quietly and in a way that made it clear he meant her, as he lowered her arms and then put his hands on her upper arms.

Rachelle felt a shock of electricity shoot through her and instinctively moved to the side.

Brad moved his hands just as she said, "We uh, we should hang the other one, too, don't you think?"

He moved back and watched her start looking around for the ideal place to hang the second picture, but she never once looked at him.

Tom sensed something had changed and said in a very upbeat tone, "Rachelle? We didn't get a chance to eat lunch yet. Would you maybe like to, you know, stay and join us?"

"Oh. No, I don't want to be a bother. You guys go ahead. I'll just hang this last picture and get out of your hair."

"You're not being a bother. In fact, I was just gonna run out and grab something. Why don't you guys finish up here, and I'll be back in a few minutes?" Tom suggested.

She finally looked at Brad who said, "Please stay?"

Rachelle, who hadn't eaten more than a slice of toast and coffee all day, turned away again then said, "I guess I could eat something."

"Great! I'll be back in a few," Tom announced as he asked Brad if he could borrow his keys. "Is chicken okay?"

"Sure. Chicken is fine," Rachelle replied, not sure if she was the one being asked.

"Chicken it is then!"

Brad handed his keys to his roommate who had an embarrassed look on his face.

"Oh, right. Your car is..."

"Yeah. Exactly," Tom told his roommate as he winked at him then told Rachelle he'd be right back.

Once the second picture was up, Rachelle said, "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Bad? I don't think I've ever enjoyed anything more," Brad told her as he moved closer.

"Oh," Rachelle replied as she looked down again. "You're not talking about the pictures. Or the furniture, are you?"

Brad stopped a few inches away and waited for her to look up again.

"May I be honest with you?" he asked quietly once they made eye contact.

"O...okay."

"The truth is, I've never wanted to kiss someone as badly as I want to kiss you right now, Rachelle."

This time she didn't look away. She only smiled and said, "To be totally honest, I...I almost kissed you when we were bent down in the..."

Brad ran his hands up her bare arms then leaned down and kissed her softly before she finished saying 'in the trunk'.

"If this is too fast, tell me, okay?" he said when the kiss ended.

Rachelle slid her arms around his neck, smiled, then said, "It's not too fast. I promise," before kissing him for several seconds.

"You are so beautiful," Brad told her as he touched her cheek and ran the back of his fingers along it.

"While we're being honest with each other, that's the first time I've ever kissed any man since I met my husband."

Before Brad could comment she told him she'd been kissed a couple of times but never wanted to kiss them or kiss them back. Or anyone else for that matter.

"In the spirit of...honesty, I wanted to kiss you then, too," he began, causing Rachelle to laugh nervously and happily. "And while it wasn't a long wait from the trunk until now, all I can is that it was so worth waiting for."

She laughed without the nervousness before kissing him again then asking what was next.

"Lunch?" he replied, his head slightly tilted to the side.

"Yes. Lunch. And curtains. This place really needs curtains."

"It does, doesn't it?" Brad asked rhetorically before kissing her again.

"Still not too fast?"

"Uh-uh. Not at all," Rachelle told him. "Neither too fast nor too slow. In fact, I'd say it was a Goldilocks kind of moment."

"So...just right?"

"Maybe even...perfect," she said before kissing him one more time.

After the kiss she slowly slid her arms down then asked, "So what do you fly, Brad?"

"I want to warn you. If you get me talking about flying, I may bore you to death."

"I'm willing to risk it," Rachelle told him with an amazing smile and a twinkle in her eye that caused quite a 'stir'.

"How about I show you?" Brad said. "After lunch."

"Show me?"

"Tom's car is at the base, and we need to go get it. You could ride over with us and I'll show you where I work and what I...we both...fly."

Rachelle gave him a coy little look then said, "I suppose I could cancel a few appointments to make that happen."

"In between boredom and doing nothing?" Brad teased.

Rachelle laughed again then put her arms back around him.

"Is this crazy or what?" she asked. "This is SO unlike me. I can't believe I'm doing this."

Brad gave her a very serious look then said, "Or what."

"Huh?"

"It's...or what."

Rachelle still wasn't getting it, so he walked her through it by repeating her question.

"Oh, my gosh! Duh, right? Or maybe 'dumb blonde alert!'."

"Uh-uh. You are not dumb. You're..."

Just as Brad kissed her, the front door opened.

Rachelle jumped back and nearly fell over an end table, but it was all in vain as Tom had already seen them. But being on his best behavior he only said, "I see you two are getting long okay."

Brad smiled at Rachelle who smiled back then said, "I believe we are."

He took a small risk and reached for her hand. She looked at it then took and also said to Tom while looking up at Brad, "Yes. I agree."

"Awesome! So...how about we chow down?" Tom suggested as he dropped two large, white bags of fast food on the new coffee table.

"I bought chicken sandwiches for you guys," Tom said. "I know my roommate is a fanatic, and it's obvious you take excellent care of yourself, too."

"Chicken is perfect. Thank you, Tom," Rachelle said as she pulled one out of the bag while Tom unwrapped a double cheeseburger.

"This is my last heart attack meal. After this, I'm gonna eat better, and if Brad'll let me, I plan to start running with him every morning."

Brad knew that Rachelle barely knew him and didn't know Tom at all, so he told her that his roommate was turning over a new leaf of sorts without mentioning why.

"And that means no more drinking," Tom added without prompting. "I always thought beer was my friend, but for the last year or so, it's become my worst enemy. It's started to...own me. So...enough of that."

"That's amazing, Tom. It takes a lot of courage to make hard decisions like that," Rachelle said supportively.

"Thanks, but in my case, it's kind of a necessity. My dad and his dad both died of heart disease in their fifties, so I know better. It's too late to undo anything I've already done to myself, but it's never too late to change, right?"

"No. And I agree wholeheartedly," Rachelle said.

"I'm proud of you, bro," Brad told his roomie.

"I appreciate that. From both of you," Tom said. "Maybe if I clean up my act I'll be able to find someone as amazing as Rachelle."

"Tom. That is the sweetest thing ever!" Rachelle said. "And I can assure you there are plenty of women who'd love to date a good looking pilot."

"Oh wow. Sorry, Tom. If they need to be good looking, I'm afraid that leaves you out, buddy," Brad said very seriously.

"Yeah, okay. Not everyone can date a hottie...sorry, Rachelle. A woman as attractive as you are."

"Tom's also on his best behavior, and that's because of you, so this is just one more reason I like having you here so much, Rachelle."

"Hey! I like Tom! He's a very nice guy," she said to Brad while smiling at Tom.

"Yeah. See? I'm a nice guy."

"She didn't say nice...looking, though."

Everyone laughed then took a first bite before they made small talk for a couple of minutes.

During a quiet moment Tom said, "I'm probably gonna be in serious trouble for asking this, but is it really true you have a daughter in college?"

Rachelle laughed just before she took a small bite and set the sandwich down.

"See. He is nice," Rachelle told Brad who said, "I'm still not buyin' it."

"But yes, that is true. Megan is a junior at San Diego State."

"I uh, I...wow," Tom said as he looked at her. "Just...wow."

"What?" Rachelle asked, not sure what he meant.

"He means you look closer to our age than the age of a woman with a junior in college," Brad explained.

"Oh. In that case, thank you very much."

"I really am trying to turn over a new leaf, so please don't take this the wrong way, but you uh, you really are beautiful, Rachelle," Tom told her as he took yet one more look, unable to accept she could possibly be that old, before saying, "ah, the hell with it. You're hot, Rachelle. That's all there is to it."

Tom got another thank you before she said, "My mom just turned 65, and I think she looks 50, so all I can do is thank her and my father for whatever genes I got."

Tom was chewing a huge bite but shoved it to the side of his mouth and said, "You see, this is where the old me would say something about how great you'd look in jeans with a 'j', but the new me is going to mind his manners."

Rachelle laughed and told him that was also very nice of him to say.

She glanced at Brad then said to Tom, "The truth is, I'm as surprised as anyone that I'm, you know...here. With Brad."

"Yeah, you look like a very intelligent woman, and yet you are here with this guy. I'm havin' some trouble reconciling that," Tom said in an overly serious way.

"I think you have fabulous taste," Brad told her as Rachelle found herself feeling comfortable with the two younger men and also enjoying herself.

She laughed happily then said, "I've never dated anyone younger than me before, so I don't consider myself a...a cougar? I think that's the right word. Anyway, since losing my husband I haven't really even dated anyone. So when Brad came to the store, I..."

"Yes?" Brad asked wanting to know more.

"It's hard to explain. I haven't 'dated', but I have gone out on several dates, all with men my age or older, but I haven't been interested in anyone until...Brad."

She laughed a little then said, "Which makes no sense because I'm 42, and he's twenty..."

"Whoa! You're...42?" Tom said, his eyes bulging as he chewed another large bite.

"Well, yes. I do have a 21-year old daughter, so...yes."

"Unbelievable!" Tom said, his head shaking in disbelief.

"Again, just...wow. I'm...we...we're both...27, so..."

"Twenty-seven. That should bother me," Rachelle said with a happy smile. "It should but it doesn't."

"It makes no difference to me," Brad assured her. "At all."

Rachelle watched him say that and could tell me meant it.

She got more serious then said, "I couldn't even think about dating the first year or so after my husband died. The thought of it made me sick to my stomach. It wasn't as bad the second year, but I still had no interest in men at all. But this last year I've felt so...alone even though I've mostly lived by myself for most of that time. Megan left for college two months after her father passed, and I was totally alone but didn't feel...lonely. I was sad and despondent but not lonely. At some point it just kind of hit me that I didn't want to live by myself the rest of my life, but I had no idea where to start, you know? Dating sites seemed so cold and impersonal, and friends who wanted to fix me up were well meaning, but the fix-ups were disasters. I think I held out hope that love would eventually find me again, but I certainly wasn't looking when someone as young as...Brad...walked into the store. Not that this is love, of course."

"Of course," Brad said, grateful for the information without having to ask for it. "But whatever this is, it's pretty great."

She smiled at him then told him she agreed.

They talked about her job for a while then about Megan then got on flying. Rachelle had no real idea at all how anyone became a pilot in the military let alone how they ended up flying a certain airplane—or helicopter. But by the time Brad and Tom finished answering her questions and volunteering information, she had a solid handle on the basics.

"Speaking of jets...we need to go get yours," Brad told his buddy.

Rachelle gave him a puzzled look so Brad explained that Tom drove a Corvette.

"Ah. Okay. Fast car. Jet. I'm slow but I'm steady," she replied, getting a laugh from the guys.

"I uh, I got a little...drunked up at the club during happy hour last night. Again. So I left my car at the air station, and now I need a lift."

"I'm gonna take Rachelle to the squadron and let her get a look at a Lighting up close after I drop you off."

"You're gonna love the F-35!" Tom promised her. "It really is the coolest thing since sliced bread."

Rachelle laughed at the comparison and told Tom she was looking forward to it.

Tom grabbed one of the bags that was now empty and crushed it as he stood up.

He leaned toward Rachelle then said quietly, but loudly enough for Brad to hear, "Don't tell hot rod here I said this, but he's probably the best F-35 driver I've ever flown with."

"Really?" Rachelle said as she looked at Brad.

"No. He's exaggerating. A lot," Brad insisted.

"No. He's that good, Rachelle. Trust me."

"Okay. I will," she replied with a smile that was directed at Brad.

"Speaking of the base, we should probably finish up and get going."

Tom sat in the rear cab, and as they got close to the main gate said, "You'll need your driver's license to get on the base."

"Oh. I better grab that then!" she said as she reached for her purse on the floor between her feet.

As they got to the gate she watched the military police officers waving people up, stopping them, checking ID cards, handing them back, and in one case saluting.

"Why did he only salute one time?" she asked.