Hole in the Wall

"Oh. Sorry. I don't believe I even introduced myself."

He smiled again then stuck his hand out.

"I'm Jon. Dyer."

"Yes. I...I remember being told that Jon was available by the nice lady that answered the phone."

He chuckled then told Alicia that was his mom.

"Oh, duh! Dyer Plumbing. Gee, Alicia, way to keep up," she said in a self-deprecating way that made Jon laugh.

"It, uh, it is a family business."

Now it was Jon who was thinking he should stop there, but he found himself wanting to talk to this very attractive, older woman. He thought that was odd because he'd never once looked at a woman her age even as a potential hook-up let alone something more. But this woman, Alicia according to the work order, was somehow different.

"I never thought I'd come back to the plumbing business, but after my father died...."

He looked at Alicia then quietly said, "So unexpectedly...I dropped out of college and went back to fixing leaky pipes."

"You were in college?" she asked, immediately regretting it, knowing it played into the stereotype of plumbers knowing only plumbing.

"I got my certification when I was 18. I'd been working with my dad for four years after school and on weekends. I took the certification test, passed it, then joined the Army. I got out after four years and enrolled in a community college within two weeks of being discharged, and had just finished my second year when Dad unexpectedly passed away."

"I'm very sorry, Jon. I'm...a nurse, and while I don't work in an ER, I...."

She waved her hand and apologized for keeping him.

"No. Not at all. Please go on," Jon told her. "I like talking to you."

Alicia felt her cheeks turn warm but knew this blush was mild enough that he might not have noticed.

"I...I like talking with you, too," she replied, looking down after the briefest glance at his handsome face.

"You were saying you don't work in an ER."

"It's not really that interesting," she said, as she again looked away following a quick look into his incredible eyes.

"Okay. No problem. I uh, I should probably get going anyway. I do indeed have a full day's worth of plumbing problems to deal with, so...."

Alicia walked him to the door, thanked him again, then closed it behind him. She watched him walk out to the blue and white van with 'Dyer Plumbing' on the side and wondered why she was feeling so out of sorts. Even after he drove away she was still thinking about him, and it wasn't until she remembered the check that she broke out of her mild case of self-hypnosis and grabbed her phone.

"Mom? The plumber just left."

"Oh, good. Is everything done?"

"Yes. He was very good. At plumbing," Alicia said, wincing as she again felt a tad embarrassed.

"What was the damage?" her mom said, missing the way her daughter felt as she tried to sound pleasant.

Alicia told her and her mom said she'd already transferred the money before saying, "Mom? Thank you. Again."

"Anytime, honey."

There was a lengthy pause before her mom asked if everything was okay.

"Oh. Um...sure. I...I guess maybe I'm still a little...flustered."

"Flustered? About?"

There was a two-second pause before her daughter replied.

"The plumber. His name is Jon."

"And?" her mother asked, hoping there wasn't an 'incident' of some kind.

"He...he was...very attractive. I mean really, really good looking."

She paused again the said, "Maybe even gorgeous."

"Oh. Does that mean he may have flirted with you a little?" her mom playfully asked.

"What? No. Well, he did say I was, you know, kind of...attractive."

"You're beautiful, honey! And don't let your SOB of an ex-husband and what he did make you feel differently."

"Thanks, Mom. I guess I have a little trouble believing that. I know my looks had nothing to do with Jerry leaving, but still, it makes me wonder if anyone will ever, you know...."

"Want to marry you and have children?" her mom gently asked. "I can assure you there are a lot of men who would be happy to have you as their wife and the mother of their children."

All the years of wanting and yearning hit Alicia at once and she felt herself tearing up.

"I hope that's true, Mom," she said as she willed herself not to cry even as her lips trembled.

"You know, plumber's make very good money."

"What?"

"I'm just saying that men who work with their hands can be just as wonderful as men who make a living with their brains. Don't miss the chance to find...Mister Wonderful...because he isn't a doctor or a lawyer. Or...an officer in the military."

The way her mom said the last option made Alicia laugh.

She let out a long, loud sigh then said, "It doesn't matter anyway. He was too young."

"Who? The plumber?"

"Yes. The plumber."

"How young is too young?" her mom asked that made Alicia shake her head as she tried to understand what the question meant.

"I...I don't exactly know. But based on what he said, he's got to be around...."

She added four years for the Army to 18 and two more years to that then said, "Like...25? Ish?"

"Oh. Well, that is quite a difference."

Alicia sighed again then said, "At least 13 years. If it was say...three or even five...."

"You know your father was seven years older than me," her mother reminded her.

"I know, but that's different."

"Why? Because he's a man?"

Her comment was stereotypical and maybe even sexist, but Alicia couldn't help but feeling that way. But as she got ready to justify the way she felt, she realized she couldn't. What was wrong with the woman being older? Even seven years older?

Having no answer for that, she briefly asked herself what was wrong about an even wider gap in age like...13 years? But that sounded so absurd to her that she dismissed her thought with a 'pfft' sound that her mom ask what that meant.

"I don't know. I...I was just thinking."

"About the very handsome plumber?" her mom asked, teasing her daughter for the first time in years.

"Mom! He's...a kid. Please!"

"Okay, honey. If you say so."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Alicia asked, her tone of voice getting a little defensive or maybe even snooty.

"Just that I love you and want you to be happy. And I've never heard of a kid who has a job working as a plumber. So...with that, I'll let you go and enjoy your newly-repaired sink."

Alicia paused yet again, felt guilty yet again then told her mother, "Mom? I really do appreciate this. Very much."

"As I said. Anytime, sweetie."

Ten minutes later Alicia checked her account just to be 100% sure, and when she saw the amount, she teared up again. But this time she couldn't keep herself from crying. There was five hundred additional dollars in her account, and she was overcome with gratitude, shame, and feelings of how maybe it was finally time to throw in the towel and move back home.

By 7pm, Alicia had mostly stopped thinking about the extremely handsome younger man who'd been in her home earlier, and as she put her dinner dishes in the sink she sighed again. But his kind words and amazing smile gave her hope that she might just get lucky and meet someone; someone like the 'many men' her mom assured were out there and ready to marry a woman like her and have children with her.

"Why is it so hard to meet the right person?" she asked out loud with a sigh as she allowed herself a few moments to hold a short pity party.

She was on her way to the living room when the doorbell rang. It was so unexpected it startled her. She walked to the door then peeked through the tiny hole and gasped.

"Jon?" she said as she opened the door.

"Hi. I uh, I wanted to fix that hole in the wall for you. If this is a good time."

He held something up that looked like a mesh bandage for a serious burn, shook it a little, then said, "Drywall patch kit."

Alicia took it and looked at it for a second or two then told him she had no idea what it was.

"No offense, but I think that's pretty obvious," Jon replied, a big smile on his face indicating he was teasing.

"Hey! If you needed your body patched up, I can do that."

Jon laughed and told her she was right, and because he did, she didn't feel embarrassed again for sounding like she'd never talked to an attractive man before.

Alicia saw something else in the bag and asked what it was.

"That's drywall repair compound."

"Looks a lot like spackling to me," she said as though she were being serious.

"I'm sure it does," Jon told her just as seriously.

But when she saw him trying not to laugh, she realized he wasn't being mean.

"Hey! Did you just call me dumb?"

"Dumb? No. I'd never call anyone dumb. Uninformed maybe but never dumb."

"I think I was just insulted. Again."

He actually did get serious as he turned to look at her.

"You know I'm only kidding, right?"

Alicia tingled from head to toe as she said, "Yes," so quietly Jon barely heard her.

"Come on. I'll show you how to do this. In case the same thing ever attacks one of your walls again."

Jon laughed, and while Alicia smiled, he could tell something was bothering her.

"Did I say something wrong?" he asked.

"No. Not at all."

"The look on your face tells me otherwise."

Once again Alicia sighed loudly.

"If it makes it any easier, I'll work on patching the hole while you talk."

Jon opened the patch kit and hoped that by not looking at her Alicia would open up.

"It wasn't a monster."

As he laid everything out before starting, he said, "Good to know."

"Not a fairytale monster anyway."

Jon looked over his shoulder but only for a second before she said, "The hole is courtesy of my ex-husband."

"I take it this wasn't just an accident."

Other than with her mom, it wasn't like Alicia to start spilling her guts. She wasn't a typical woman in that she didn't need to tell someone every little thing in her life. She never liked gossip and never got involved with it. But for some reason she started talking, and as Jon was finishing up, she was still talking.

She'd finished telling him about her former husband several minutes earlier, and she'd gone off into several other areas as he worked. He'd only replied with one or two words here and there and had asked just two short questions which were for clarification. Otherwise he let her talk. And talk. And keep talking.

She was now well into how she'd gotten a nursing degree she hadn't used in so long she couldn't find a job as an RN. That led to the repeated requests for dates from her cad of a former boss and her current situation of being unemployed.

"You don't know of anyone who needs a full-time nurse, do you?" she asked before apologizing for going on and on so long.

"No, sorry. But have you ever run an office before?"

Jon had finished with everything except letting it dry so he could sand it down smoothly and turned around and smiled at her.

"No. Why do you ask?"

"My mom's been running the business--and the office--since my dad died, and she's mentioned several times that she'd like to find someone to take over the office side of things."

The look on Alicia's face seemed to say she wasn't interested. Jon knew it was a long shot, but there was something about her that wouldn't leave him alone which was the main reason he'd returned. He might have helped a less attractive woman, but because he found Alicia so...alluring...he'd looked forward to going back to her house all day. So he smiled again then told her something he hoped might help.

"We do pretty okay financially, and we pay our employees well. You'd start at $20 an hour plus full benefits. Except optical."

"You offer benefits to an office manager?" a very surprised Alicia asked.

"We do."

He stood up, smiled again then asked her if she was interested.

"I...are you sure?"

"Tell you what. While that's drying, let me give my mom a quick call. I'd hate to find out that she was only griping but not really serious about not wanting to continue running the office."

Before Alicia could tell him he didn't need to do that, he had her on the phone. He put it on speaker but didn't tell his mom.

"Yes. The woman I told you about. Uh-huh. The leak under the sink."

Alicia heard his mom say, "Oh, okay. The very pretty woman you couldn't stop talking about. The one who's jerk of a husband left her."

Jon glanced at Alicia who immediately looked away as though she hadn't heard and felt a new twinge of red in her cheeks.

"Um, yes. That would be the one," Jon said, a smile on his very handsome face which Alicia noticed during a quick glance his way.

He mouthed the word 'sorry' to Alicia when she looked at him again then asked his mom if he could set up an interview.

"If she's interested, just ask her if she'll FaceTime with me right now."

Jon looked her way then asked Alicia if she'd like to interview for the job.

"Now?" she asked, her eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Yes. Now."

"Now? How would I interview...now?"

"Video chat."

"But I...I look...."

"Beautiful," Jon told her as he hit FaceTime.

Without asking he turned the phone toward Alicia then said, "Mom? This is Alicia. Alicia, this is my mother, Nancy Dyer."

He held out the phone, and too shocked to do anything but look at the phone, Alicia nervously said, "Hello."

"Alicia, hi. It's so good to 'meet you'."

Nancy laughed as she used air quotes when she said 'meet', and after that, Alicia relaxed, took the phone, and told her it was nice to meet her, too.

"So tell me about yourself," Nancy said, a warm smile on her face.

She was probably 50 or so but still very attractive, and Alicia wasn't surprised because she and her late husband would have to be good looking people to have a son as handsome as Jon.

After a roughly ten-minute interview in which her level of education and a number of character issues were discussed, Nancy asked when she could start.

"Oh, my gosh? Really?"

"Yes. Really. You made quite an impression on my son, and after talking with you, it's obvious you have the kind of personality and intelligence needed to pick things up quickly, and I'll be with you all day for several days until you get the routine down. After that I'll be in the office right next to you where I can focus on managerial issues."

"I...I can't thank you enough, Mrs. Dyer. This is truly...wonderful."

"You're very welcome, and please call me Nancy. I'm really looking forward to meeting you, Alicia. Just tell Jon when you'd like to start, okay?"

"Yes. Yes, of course. And thank you so much...Nancy."

"Oh. Did Jon get that hole in the wall fixed?"

Alicia looked over at it, and Jon was gently sanding away.

"Yes. It looks great. I just need to get some matching paint, and it'll be good as new."

"He's an excellent plumber, and he's also handy with a lot of things around the house," Nancy told her.

Alicia looked over at the younger man finishing up the patch then said, "He's also very kind. But I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't already know."

Nancy laughed and told her he'd always been like that.

"I heard that, Mom!" Jon playfully called out.

Nancy laughed and Alicia joined in before thanking her future boss again and handing the phone back to her son. He took it off speaker and FaceTime and held it to his ear.

The only thing Alicia heard was Jon saying, "I told you she was," before he said 'goodbye' and ended the call.

"Do I dare ask what it was you told your mom I was?" she asked, as Jon looked at her.

"I said you were beautiful."

"Oh."

The butterflies in Alicia's stomach fluttered around wildly as he told her that and smiled at her again.

"So. When would you like to start?" he asked as he slid the phone into his back pocket.

"I uh, I have maybe $300 or so to my name after I pay a couple of bills online, so is tomorrow too early?"

"No. Not at all. Tomorrow will be just fine."

There was an awkwardly long pause before Jon asked if she had any paint the color of the wall.

"No. I...I'll have to buy some. But in addition to being broke, I'm not sure how to explain the color to someone."

"That's easy."

Jon took his phone back out, took a picture of the wall, then explained how a paint store could use the photo to determine an exact match or at least get very close to it.

"I really need to repaint the entire room, but...."

"Well, whenever you get ready to just let me know. I'll be more than happy to come back and give you a hand."

"You...you don't need to do that, Jon. It's very nice of you to offer, but you've already done more than you ever needed to do."

He moved closer then smiled at her again.

"I kind of have an ulterior motive."

Alicia's heart was pounding as her eyes darted back and forth between his.

"I uh, I...."

He paused as if to collect his thoughts then continued.

"I wasn't joking about having a hard time meeting the right kind of women. And lately it's been eating at me. I lot."

She didn't say a word as she wondered what was coming next.

"The truth is...I uh, I...I like you, Alicia. A lot."

He moved even closer then gently touched her hands with his. She felt a jolt of 'lightning' shoot through her when he did, and in spite of herself, she let him him take them.

"I do want to help you out, but more than that I want a chance to get to know you better."

"I'm...I'm flattered. I really am."

"But?"

"But you know I'm...well, it's obvious that I'm, you know....older...."

She wanted to say 'than you' but her mouth was so dry she could barely speak.

"That's true. I do know that. But that's not important to me."

He moved closer still then quietly asked, "Does that bother you?"

"I...I don't know. No. Maybe."

She stopped for a moment and took a deep breath before looking right at Jon and continuing.

Well, I...I don't think so, but I...I need some time to, you know, think things through and...."

He was only inches away and when Alicia felt him leaning in to kiss her she froze. When his lips met hers she stood there like a statue, her eyes wide open and Jon's kiss went unreturned.

He moved back a few inches then quietly said, "Oh, boy. I believe I may have misread things. Badly."

When he moved a little further away, Alicia found her voice. It was shaky, but she was able to speak.

"No. The kiss was...nice. Very...nice. I just...I wasn't expecting you to...."

"I won't apologize for kissing you. But if that causes you to want to reconsider working for us...."

"No. Not at all. I...I'm just so...confused."

"My dad used to say 'good things come to those who wait'. He said it often, and while I believe that, I felt like I couldn't leave here without letting you know how I feel about you, Alicia. But I think I came on a little too strong, and If I offended you...."

"No. You didn't offend me. At all. You just...surprised me," she said, her eyes still rapidly moving back and forth to see if she could detect any hint of deceit in his.

"Even if you don't ever feel the same way about me, I'm glad you've decided to come to work for us," Jon said as he let go of her hands and took a small step back. "But I really would like to go out with you some time."

"Go out with you?"

He lowered his head then looked back at her.

"Sorry. I'm going too fast. Way too fast. But I am being honest, and I would very much would like to take you out to dinner sometime soon."

"Could I maybe have some time to think about it?" she asked, her heart still beating fast and her head swirling even faster, her voice rising at the end of the sentence.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said with a warm, friendly smile.

"Thank you. And thank you very much for fixing the hole in the wall."

He smiled yet again then said in a voice she hadn't yet heard. It was a voice of caring and concern which touched her deeply.