Getting Soft Washed

This time the look was meaner and came with, "What on earth is wrong with you?"

Dillon laughed again and said, "Is someone playing matchmaker?"

"Oh, my gawd...yes!" Sarah said, the look of embarrassment visible to all.

"I'm...just looking out for my BFF," Tammy said, as she raised her chin and kind of shook her head a bit. "My super hot, very sexy BFF."

"I am SO sorry," Sarah told Dillon. "I'm afraid there was something in the tea she drank this morning."

She glared at her friend then said, "Because nothing else could explain the craziness!"

"I get it," Dillon told her with a little chuckle. "I recently ended a two-year relationship, and my mom and big sister keep trying to set me up with someone every other day. I told them I'm too busy to get involved right now, but they never listen."

"Oh, I know just how you feel!" Sarah told him as she continued glaring at her friend.

"What? I'm just being...helpful."

"Excuse my friend, Dillon. I'll be taking her to see a doctor later today."

Dillon laughed as Tammy shrugged her shoulders. Her body language said, "I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm as innocent as a newborn lamb!"

"I do need to run, but it was a pleasure meeting you both," he said as he held his hand out again.

Both women shook it before thanking him again, and with that, he called out to his team chief who already had his guys ready to go.

"Take good care of these beautiful ladies!" Dillon said.

"You got it, boss!" one of them, a man of about 50, called back.

He got to his truck, set his tablet on the passenger seat then stopped and turned around.

"Sarah?" he called in a tone of voice that said he wanted to tell her something.

"I'll be right there!" the attractive, older woman called back.

"Give him your number!" Tammy said not so quietly as her friend walked toward the vehicle in front of the house.

"Did you forget something?" she asked as she walked up.

"No. Well, yes, kind of," he replied as he looked at her then down at his feet and then back at her.

"I was wondering if, um, would you maybe like...."

He had a strict policy about getting involved with a customer and had never once even considered violating it, but Sarah was not only very physically attractive, she had this 'way' about her that he couldn't ignore.

"Yes?" she asked when he stopped talking in mid-sentence.

His business sense won out, so he didn't say what he'd planned on saying, but he had to say something.

"I uh, I'd be happy to, you know, stop by and help out after I get off work in the evening. If you need any extra help."

He hadn't been nervous around cute girls since he was 16, but he was experiencing those feelings with Sarah.

Her first instinct was to tell them that would be wonderful. Instead she was a little more reserved in her response.

"I'm sure you work a lot of hours, and the last thing you need is to do more work."

That sounded like a brushoff, and while he'd rarely ever been brushed off, it was obvious she didn't see him the way he saw her.

"Right. No, you're uh, you're right. I do put in a lot of hours, and you do, too. Like you said, the last thing I need is more work," he said, making sure to laugh it off.

Sarah laughed, too, but it was weak and short-lived.

"Anyway, I should really get going."

"Right. Yes. Safe travels," she told him as he got in.

It was already warm, and his window was down.

As he started it up, Sarah said something she couldn't believe was coming out of her mouth.

"But if you did want to you maybe have dinner sometime, I could...."

Then her 'business mind' made her shake her head and say, "I'm sorry. The last thing a nice looking guy like you wants to do is have dinner with an elementary school teacher my age."

She couldn't even bring herself to look at him as she said, "I'll just go back over there now and...hang myself."

Sarah started to turn around when Dillon said, "I'd love to."

She froze, standing there with her eyes closed for another second then turned around.

"What? What did you just say?"

He smiled and repeated himself.

"Just tell me when."

Her house was an even bigger disaster inside, and she suddenly panicked.

"I...the house...everything is a total mess, and it's just...."

"I don't mind," he told her, that dimply smile of his making her body react in a very unexpected and surprising way. "I'm not having dinner with your house."

"If you're sure," she said rather sweetly.

"I am. I'm very sure. I have a late night every day this week until Friday, but I'd love to join you then if that's good for you."

"Friday sounds...wonderful," she heard herself saying just as Tammy walked up to find out what was taking her friend so long.

"Okay. I'll see you then," he told her, that amazing smile still there. He nodded to Tammy as he put it in gear then drove off.

"What did that mean?" Sarah's friend asked as she watched the vehicle drive away.

"I...I think we...I believe we have...a date. Maybe?"

"A DATE? OH...MY...GAWD!" Tammy bubbled as she turned her friend her way. "You and Dillon? You have a date?"

"I...I think so," a rather confused Sarah said just as Tammy grabbed her hands and began squealing with joy as she pulled them and down.

"Yes?" Sarah then said, modifying her previous answer. She more asked than said it now wondering if perhaps this was just foolish rather than totally stark raving insane.

"YES!!! This is fantastic!" her friend gushed. "Oh my goodness! We have to get you something to wear. And we need to get so much stuff done in the kitchen. I'll give my husband a call and...."

"Tammy? Take it down a notch, okay? It's just dinner. Besides, once he finds out how old I am, that'll be that."

"Um...Sarah? I'm the same age as you, and I look my age. You do not!"

"Thank you, but whether or not that's true, it doesn't change the fact that I'm 39."

"So?" Tammy immediately replied. "Hot guys like older women who are hot. Trust me."

"Trust you? You're the one who got me into this mess!" her friend said, forgetting that she, and she alone had just asked him to join her for dinner.

"You can thank me later, Sarah. For now, let's get back inside and get to work on the kitchen. And the dining room. Everything else can wait!"

"I still don't know how this happened," Sarah said as they walked inside just as the crew began spraying the roof.

"I do," Tammy told her friend. "You're freakin' hot, and you have a date with a guy who's even hotter!"

"Yeah. Lucky me," Sarah said, managing to eke out a little smile when she realized just how handsome--and how young--Dillon was. She was seriously thinking about canceling their 'date' but raw curiosity, if nothing else, wouldn't allow it.

She knew that he could still cancel and very well might. But were he to show up, the worst case scenario would be a "one and done" event, and that was a whole that better than the "none and none" events she'd had since the divorce.

As the next two days flew by as she and Tammy worked like wild women, she told herself she'd get through this and move on.

She said then said to herself, "Hopefully with at least a tiny shred of dignity still intact and not totally reeking of desperation."

Sarah followed that with someone just as pitiful: "Who knows? Maybe there'll be a new teacher who's at least 35 or even 30 and reasonably attractive come September."

Even so, she allowed herself to reserve a very small part of her 'hard drive' to hold onto the possibility that maybe it would be more than a one-time thing. She refused to let it have even one more byte of disk space than that, but even that tiny little area not only made her smile when she thought about it, it made her feel warm and, at night as she lay in bed thinking about him, maybe just a little bit wet.

She only had one night to think about it. The next morning Dillon completely surprised her when stopped back by. Sarah hadn't done her makeup and was in a ratty sweatshirt, baggy sweatpants, and had a bandana in her hair.

"No, no, no!" she said when a company vehicle pulled up.

But when Dillon got out, her brain said, "Yes, yes, yes. It's him!"

"Um...hi!" she said as he walked toward her. "You aren't supposed to drop by unannounced and see me like...."

She looked down at herself then said, "This."

He laughed and told her she looked great.

"Yeah, right," she replied with a nervous laugh. "If you like Rosie the Riveter in sweats!"

"Rosie helped win the war," Dillon pointed out. "And I like women who aren't afraid to work hard and get dirty."

"Then I guess I'm your girl," she said with a little shrug.

He smiled at her, but before he could say anything, Sarah asked if something was wrong.

"No. Not at all. In fact, I have a clear schedule this morning, and I was wondering if you might want a spare set of hands."

Dillon held his up and turned them left and right as he, too, shrugged his shoulders.

"You're serious?" Sarah asked, now unsure whether or not she heard him correctly.

"Very," he told her as he moved a little closer.

She saw him looking directly at him, and when he got to about three feet away, she had to look away.

"I have a confession to make," he told her, causing her to look at him again.

"Oh?" was all she could come up with.

"Yes. I have to tell you that I really enjoyed meeting you yesterday."

"Oh," she said again, feeling ridiculous for feeling so out of sorts.

"After we talked. More specifically, after you invited me to have dinner with you, I had a really hard time focusing on anything else."

Sarah's mouth was suddenly dry; to dry to speak.

"You're not like any woman I've ever met, Sarah," he said, his smile changing to a look of sincerity that she not only noticed, but to which her body reacted.

"Is that because you rarely meet women as old as me?" she heard herself say as though someone else was in charge of her brain.

"I'd use the word 'amazing'," Dillon said, that same look of genuineness on his handsome face.

He saw her look away again, and when she did, he gently reached out and touched her lower arm and waited for her to look at him again.

"It's true. I have no idea what's going on, but I just don't do that with women. Ever."

His words conveyed some sense of need. Perhaps a need for her to truly understand how or what he was feeling.

"What do you usually do?" she asked, finally able to speak.

Now Dillon looked down for a moment.

"I'm not proud of it, but I mostly just...hook up. Then...bail out. I use being busy as my excuse, but it's more that I've never met anyone I really wanted to spend time with other than the girl I just called it off with. In my defense she cheated on me, so...."

"I know all about that. Trust me," Sarah replied, the old feelings of her ex's infidelity hitting her hard and fast.

"I'm sorry," Dillon told her.

"Me, too."

"So...at least we have that in common," Dillon said with a little laugh.

"Right. Yes, thank goodness for cheaters, right?"

He laughed politely and moved even closer then said very quietly, "I...I don't want that this time."

He eyes were moving back and forth so fast between his that Sarah thought she might get dizzy as he spoke.

"So...I'm here because I...I really want...I really needed to see you again. And if that means cleaning out the garage or moving stuff or...anything, I'm happy to do it."

"Um, well, there is a ton of stuff to do," she told him, finding her confidence returning along with a whole lot of other feelings she couldn't sort out then and there.

"Just point me in the right direction, and tell me what you need," he said, that amazing smile back on his face.

She almost told him what she really needed, but something stopped her, and she was grateful that it did, because she hadn't made love with a man in many months, and Dillon had somehow gotten inside of her. No, not inside of her, per se, but inside her head, and she felt more vulnerable than she could ever remember feeling.

It was noon before Sarah knew what had happened, and as she looked at the huge pile of old carpeting, and wood paneling in the driveway, she was truly amazed. Dillon had gotten more done in four hours than she and Tammy did in an entire day. To top it all off they talked the entire time and she laughed more in those four hours than she had in months.

"You're a machine!" she told him as they looked at the heap in the driveway.

"I've been told I only have one speed," he replied with a little laugh. "Hyper speed."

"I have to say that whoever said that is right."

She looked at Dillon and thanked him.

"I can't believe how much you got done, and I don't know how to repay you."

"We," he reminded her as he nodded at the pile. "We did that."

He then looked at Sarah, and when he did, she realized she was making way too much of this.

"And I'll have my guys come by and remove all of this junk."

"What? No! That's too much," Sarah insisted.

"I have a friend who owns a dumpster business. He owes me one, and I'm calling in my chit."

"Wow. Thank you, Dillon. This means a lot to me, and I really am grateful for the help."

She looked around then said, "And I'm sure you need to be going anyway."

Sarah didn't want him to leave, but he'd offered half a day, and she needed to give him an out.

"Hey, you tryin' to get rid of me?" he asked as though he were offended.

"What? No. Not at all. I just didn't want to monopolize your time. You have a business, and you're...."

"I don't mind...if you monopolize my time."

He turned to face her and was only a foot or so away. Sarah was captivated by his eyes, but it was more than that. He was tall, handsome, muscular, and he had amazing hair, something she loved, and yet it was more than that.

"How about lunch? On me, of course," he offered.

"Dillon, no. You've spent your whole morning here. I don't want you losing business or...."

He pulled out his phone and hit 1 and put it on speaker.

"Javi? You got everything under control?"

Sarah heard Javier say, "Everything's good, boss. I even closed two more jobs this morning, so take your time."

"Looks like things are running well without me, so...lunch?"

"Um...okay," she told him, wondering why someone so young and so handsome was seemingly so interested in her.

She thought about Tammy's explanation and shook her head. Sure, she looked good for someone who was almost 40, but Dillon could have a woman who looked better than her who was 30 or even 20. As she had that thought, she wondered just how many women a guy that attractive had been with but wouldn't let herself think about it. Including her former husband, Sarah had been with exactly four different men.

"So how about we clean up a little and go find something to eat?" Dillon asked, breaking her out of her mental madness.

"Yes. Good idea. We don't want to, you know, offend anyone."

When Sarah raised an arm and kind of sniffed, Dillon laughed and said, "Oh, you got nothin' on me," as he raised both arms.

"Okay, okay! You win," Sarah told him as she laughed at his silliness and turned her nose up at the smell.

"Wait. Are you saying...I stink?"

Suddenly she didn't feel 39. She felt...happy. And when he raised his arms his tee shirt lifted up about 4-5 inches, and when it did, she saw a set of rock hard abs that sent a warm shiver through her body.

"Can I grab a couple of those fries?" Dillon asked when her order came first.

She gave him the stink eye as he was reaching over.

"Sorry. I didn't know you took fries so seriously."

Sarah laughed then pushed them to the middle of the table.

"Be careful with those," she warned. "Wouldn't want to see you do any harm to that six pack of yours."

"Six pack?" he asked as though he had no idea what she was even talking about.

"Oh, please. When you raised your arms up...."

She glanced down at his navel but stopped talking.

"Oh. That. Um, for your information, I want to set the record straight."

He sat up tall then said, "I actually have an eight pack."

Sarah's eyes opened wide as her head pulled back slightly.

"Hey, I take great pride in that. It was tough getting the six. But getting those other two took about as much work as it did getting the first six. So...be nice," he faux warned.

"I don't think I've ever heard of an eight pack," Sarah told him while wondering what the difference was.

"Seriously, I don't want you to think I'm shallow," Dillon replied. "I do work hard on staying fit, but there's a reason for that."

"What? To impress the girls?" Sarah teased as she bit off the end of a fry.

"No. My um...my dad passed away three years ago. Heart disease. He was just 48."

Feeling horrible, Sarah apologized profusely.

"It's okay. You didn't know. It's just that he ate the worst possible food and never did a lick of exercise. They did an autopsy because he was so young, and the doctor said all of his arteries were severely blocked."

"Dillon. That's so awful. How is your mom doing?"

"She's better. She and my dad were best friends, you know? Always holding hands or laughing. They really loved each other."

He paused then looked at Sarah.

"That's the kind of marriage I want. One time and for life."

Sarah's facial expression changed, and Dillon sensed trouble.

"Sarah, I'm sorry. I'm such an idiot. I know you were married, and...."

"Dillon. It's okay. I know exactly what you meant, and that's what I've always dreamed of, so...no worries. Really."

"You said he cheated," Dillon threw out in a polite way.

Sarah spoke quietly, and only glanced up at Dillon twice while she said, "In a big way. He cheated on me repeatedly. I don't know how I didn't know, but I had no idea until I saw him with another woman at a restaurant I just happened to stop by because I knew he was working late. Again. He told me everything that night and moved out the next day. I was beyond stunned. I was...flabbergasted."

"Sarah. I really am so sorry," Dillon said just as sincerely. "I don't know your ex, but if he didn't realize what he had he's not only an ass he's a fool."

His words made her feel better and the last part made her smile.

"Okay. Enough of that. It's all in my past, and that's where I want to leave it, but I'm sorry you had to experience that yourself," she said now that that was over.

She smiled at Dillon then asked him what kind of fitness he was into.

"Pretty much everything," he said as he reached for his phone. "I want to show you something first."

He handed it to her, and when she looked he saw her look up at him and back at the phone twice.

"That's...you?"

"It was. I was a good 60 pounds overweight, and back then, I was on my dad's fitness program."

He smiled but Sarah didn't, because losing his father wasn't funny.

"I was on the 'bending arm program'."

"The what?" she asked, having no idea what that meant.

Dillon moved him arm as though he were eating something several times and said it again.

"That's the bending arm work out. You bend your arm to feed your face. Over and over and over again."

She looked at the old photo again and shook her head.

"This is just downright dramatic."

"When Dad died, I went, well...hog wild...on food, my only source of comfort."

"Dillon," Sarah said in that 'I feel so sorry for you' tone of voice.

"At his funeral, my Uncle Mitch flew in from Colorado. He'd been heavy, too. Really heavy."

Sarah wanted to ask some questions but waited.

"I hadn't seen him for about four years, so when he showed up at the house, I didn't recognize him. We really didn't say much, but after Dad's burial, he and I went for a drive and we talked. Well, he did nearly all of the talking, but...it changed my life."

"May I ask how?"

"He told me I could do what he did, but I didn't believe him. He took photos of himself every 30 days after he got into a serious fitness and nutrition regimen. It was amazing, Sarah. I kept going through them--about three years worth--and it literally blew my mind."