Jessa James - Handy

The clash with my neighbor the previous night had left me wanting to have as little to do with her as possible. But I could already see Kadee marching across towards her.

“Kadee, where are you going? Don’t you go troubling her,” I called after her loud enough so as not to alert my neighbor, but Kadee paid no attention and just kept marching.

“Dammit,” I muttered to myself. I slammed the door and walked hastily after her.

I could hear Kadee in full swing as I approached, her voice now confident and cheery.

“Hi. I’m Kadee, welcome to the neighborhood. Would you like some help? My dad can lift boxes. He’s strong, don’t you think he looks strong?”

“Hi there, and thank you,” she replied, obviously taken back a little by the sudden appearance of a five year old by her side.

The neighbor looked a little tired, most likely the result of a rough first night in the new house I imagined. She was wearing casual clothes today, jeans and a long sleeved jersey, ready for a day of action, hauling boxes and doing up the house that should have been mine. I couldn't help but notice the sexy snug fit of the jeans as she bent to dump the large box on the sidewalk, but I tried to avoid catching sight of this, I just wanted to retrieve my daughter and get inside.

“Kadee, you are not to go walking off like that. This may be the end of the road, but it’s still dangerous okay? Surely you mom has told you you’re not supposed to talk to strangers either?” I scolded her in a stern voice as I arrived at the scene. I could already see the pout forming on Kadee’s face.

“I’m Georgie. Pleased to meet you, Kadee. There, I’m not such a stranger now,” she replied and shot me a look. Georgie had barely glanced up at me before taking this initiative and undermining my parenting like this. I ground my teeth behind a forced smile. “You have lovely manners, Kadee… unlike some people I know,” Georgie added quietly.

“Are we going to help her, Daddy?” Kadee asked as she looked up at me her face innocent and pleading.

“As I said, we shouldn't be bothering the nice lady,” I replied with as little sarcasm in the “nice” as I could manage.

“But we can help.” Kadee was starting to sound adamant. “Well, I'm going to help. What can I carry, Georgie?”

I sighed. It looked like there was no way to tactfully extricate myself at this point without upsetting Kadee. She had taken charge of the situation and had said more words to me in the presence of Georgie than she had on the ride home, so that was something at least. I caught my neighbor’s eye with a shared look of resignation and a subtle shrug. Sure those were certainly pretty eyes as they caught the sun here in the daylight, but I wouldn’t let myself get distracted, I was just going to do this for Kadee.

“Okay. Let’s get this done,” I announced. Kadee immediately squealed and dashed off up the neighbors steps.

“Be careful, those steps aren't safe.” I shouted after her. This time she listened to my warning and carefully approached the steps, then bent to perch her new bear in the corner.

“She’s a delight. I do have to wonder where she gets that from?” Georgie fired off as I turned my attention back to her. I did not honor the remark with a response. If we were going to do this I was going to be civil for Kadee’s sake despite the underlying irritation, and irksome attraction.

“Why don’t we get all these boxes in and we’ll be out of your hair soon enough?”

“Fine.”

The box Georgie had been fighting with was indeed heavy, it was labeled books and it appeared to be entirely full. Kadee had already skipped back to the sidewalk and they were both following me toward the house carting suitably sized loads. In Kadee’s case this was a couple of shoeboxes. I arrived at the steps and took stock of last nights damage, peering into the hole to access the state of the wood and the supports.

“This looks in fairly rough shape,” I called back as I continued up.

I carefully tested the step on the far right hand side and by missing the already broken step ascended to the front door. Georgie was a little to lost in Kadee’s questions to respond. Either that or she was ignoring my expert advice. But as I approached the open doorway she called up.

“Every thing’s going in the dining room for now. It’s on the—” I already knew the dining room was on the left and my deliberate movements had interrupted her directions.

For the next half hour or so, back and forth we went, passing awkwardly and silently at the half way point while Kadee mostly skipped around her new found friend conversing with glee. With the final box in hand I headed up once more. Georgie met me at the bottom of the steps to take transfer of the box. Despite my best efforts, our hands brushed against each other accidentally, hers were soft and warm. Our eyes met for a fraction of a second. Had she felt the same heat spark up her arm as I’d felt? Georgie glanced away and I escaped the moment by quickly launching into a new topic of conversation.

“You would be best stripping all this wood out, and setting new supports in. It looks fairly rotten under there.”

Georgie was too busy depositing the final box to reply until she returned to the doorway.

“It’ll be fine, I'm sure. Just needs a quick patch before anyone else falls in.”

Really, A quick patch? That wasn't the attitude this house needed, or deserved.

“Well sure, but you could lose more of the porch at this rate. It would be well worth seeing to it now, or risk having to do the job more than once. Better to do it right the first time, I say.”

“I didn’t ask you though, did I?” she quipped. “But hey, thanks for helping with the boxes, I’m good now. I know what I'm doing here.”

“If you say so, just trying to offer some advice. But clearly you know what your doing, carry on,” I said, my tone dripping with sarcasm. It was obviously not worth persisting at this point or arguing with my stubborn neighbor. I would be wasting my breath getting into what a mistake it would be to patch the porch while the underneath rotted out.

“Come on Kadee, we are done here. Let’s go.”

“But I don’t want to.”

“Kadee,” I warned but soon caught myself and stopped. I would gain nothing by getting angry at my daughter on our very first day together. “Come on, sweetie, you must be hungry?” I crouched beside her and tickled her belly. She giggled and offered me a small, shy smile.

“What do you fancy? Caviar on toast? Lobster linguini? Chicken cordon blue? Nothing’s too good for my little princess,” I said with a broad teasing smile.

Kadee giggled again and I spotted Georgie looking too, the apple’s of her cheeks rounding out.

“Daddy, don’t be silly, I don’t like any of those.”

“Let’s make something you do like then. Anything you want, I’ll make it.” She slipped her hand into mine and nodded, then turned back to wave goodbye.

“See you later, Georgie!”

Georgie

For the past couple of hours I’d kept myself busy unpacking the boxes for the kitchen. Pulling out what little crockery I had. There wasn’t much. A few odds and ends, enough to get by for a little while. I mentally added a trip to the thrift store on my never-ending to-do list for some pots and and pans.

My stomach gave out a grumble and I thought there was no time like the present to christen the haphazard kitchen that certainly would not pass any kind of health inspection. I would make do and prepare some good old homely food while finishing up the last of the unpacking. I hadn't eaten properly since my arrival and my families time honored mac and cheese recipe called to me. I couldn't do too much in the kitchen yet and I only had the few essential ingredients that I had traveled with, my greater culinary adventures would have to wait. Time for a little comfort food.