“Paul, what are you doing here?” she asked with surprise upon opening the door.
“What do I do here every Saturday?” I replied, giving her a peck on the cheek and breezing into the kitchen to fill the big bottle of ice water that I kept outside with me on hot days.
“I thought that since your uncle left…” she said letting her thought just trail off.
“Okay, hang on,” I interrupted, “First of all, he’s not my uncle – he’s a prick who I happen to be related to. I don’t like him very much, never have – especially after how he treated you and how he treats the whole family. Second, you still need your yard work done and stuff fixed around here. Third, I can always use the extra money, and working in your yard helps me keep my gut off, since I’m not playing football anymore. Now, if you can’t afford to pay me, that’s okay, because I like doing it anyway. And fourth…” I could feel the heat beginning in my face and I knew that I would start to stammer, I always did when I was embarrassed, so I looked down. “Fourth…I…I like you, okay? And doing work for you…kind of gives me an…uh…excuse to see you…once in a while….” I saw her feet move into my field of vision and I looked up. She had tears in her eyes and before I knew it, she had wrapped her arms around me in a hug.
“You are so sweet, Paul,” she said, kissing me on the cheek. “I thought the whole family would hate me. I know your grandmother does.”
“Grandma’s stuck in the Old World,” I said, hugging her back, “She believes in ’till death do you part.’ I believe in it too, but I also believe in ’till he becomes a drunken asshole every night do you part.'” She started laughing and I kissed her on the cheek, breaking our embrace. I turned away, gathering my water bottle and trying to hide my reaction to her embrace, though it was evident in my shorts.
“So…are we cool?” I asked, heading for the garage door.
“We’re cool…and Paul?” she said, stopping me from leaving just yet, “I like you too. And you’re welcome here anytime not just to work but anytime you want to visit. You don’t need an excuse.” I smiled at her and went out to the garage to get started.
And so it went on like that, week after week. I was there when Annie’s divorce was finalized, and she brought out a bottle of champagne to the backyard, and we popped that sucker open and drank toasts to her straight from the bottle. More often than not, she would join me outside when I worked – sometimes helping me weed in the garden, sometimes just to talk a little about just about everything under the sun: what I would be studying in college, dating, how things were at work for her, just everyday stuff. And sometimes, I can’t help but smile when I think of it now, but sometimes she would come outside in a bathing suit and pull up a chaise lounge to sun herself as I worked. More than once I cut a furrow into the lawn with the edger or nearly cut my finger off with the pruning shears while gazing at her tanned, gorgeous body as she spread coconut tanning oil all over herself. To this day, the smell of coconut oil gives me a hard-on.