How We Met: Home Improvement

After the death of his wife, he finds solace in her best friend, who also helps him with some minor home repairs. Can she help him in other ways too, and finally help him to move on?

(A.I. Image Dreamerland)

"Thanks, again Shannon," I half grinned.

"No problem, Tyler," Shannon stared back at me.

"How much do I owe you?" I asked, reaching for my wallet.

"It was a minor repair," Shannon shook her head. "Buy me a few beers at the bar next time and we will call it even."

"Deal," I nodded as I walked Shannon to the front door.

Shannon was a friend that I knew from the bar. She was good with tools and offered to help with repairs to my house.

I felt awkward going to a woman to fix things around my house, but I was never good with tools, and Shannon offered to do it so I wouldn't have to hire someone who would charge me an arm and a leg for minor things.

I waved at her as she got in her bright cherry red pickup truck. Shannon waved back at me, and then I closed my front door.

"Idiot!" I cursed myself as I went back to the kitchen.

I had been doing the dishes the other day and heard water leaking from under the sink. I managed to shut off the water to the house, and I thought I could fix it myself; it seemed like an easy fix, something I could do on my own.

I watched the video on how to do it, and when I tried to fix it, I only made matters worse. Luckily for me, the water was turned off, so there was only minor damage, but I had broken the pipe further and needed help.

I called Shannon, and she told me she could come by the next day.

I kept cursing myself as Shannon had it repaired and working in less than an hour. She was amazing at fixing things.

I knew I shouldn't curse myself for not being handy at fixing things. Some people were good at one thing and horrible at other things. My things were computers, computer programming, networking, fixing, rebuilding, or building one from scratch. I was good at it all.

The guys down at the bar called me names for it, geek, nerd, bookworm, as well as many other names. I wasn't good at the labor things like fixing cars or mowing the lawn, stuff guys were supposed to know.

Shannon was the only one who stuck up for me; she said she had been raised in a military home with all brothers and a stern father.

I was the opposite; my aunt raised me after my parents passed away. My aunt was a great woman, but she wasn't a good caregiver; most days and nights, I spent alone in her house watching television or playing video games. If anything broke in the house, she would call someone, but whenever anything of mine broke or stopped working, she did nothing about it, so I taught myself how to fix all my electronics, including the television.

I didn't even see a car engine until I was in my twenties. I caught the bus everywhere.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

'Don't feel bad,' Shannon texted me later that afternoon.

I laughed a little as I read it.

'How did you know?'

'You’re a guy, and a woman came to your house and fixed something, it’s a natural response.'

'Maybe next time I will pay more attention to the video, that way I can fix it myself if it happens again.'

I lay down on my couch and held my phone.

'Next time you will call me when it happens!'

I knew Shannon was more telling me to call her than advising me.

Shannon was more like one of the guys than some of the guys.

Fiery red hair, a hard body; she worked out a lot and worked construction. Most guys were intimidated by her, but not me.

We met at my wife's funeral. Betty, my Elizabeth, passed away two years ago from cancer. It took her quickly, from the time she noticed the lump in her breast to the time I said goodbye to her, felt like a week, but it was five months.

The doctors tried their best, but it spread rapidly with no signs of slowing, no matter what they did. It was the hardest thing in my life to watch her waste away.

Shannon was there through it all. She was Elizabeth's friend; they had never met in person, but they talked all the time online. They met on a romance book social media website and hit it off.

Elizabeth loved to read romance stories; dark romance was her favorite, but anything romantic was her choice. I even made her a reading nook in the basement where she could read in silence. She had shelves of books and hung-up posters of her favorite characters or authors.

Even after two years, I still couldn't go down into the basement. That was her place; I had planned to sell the house as it held too many memories.

Elizabeth and I had been together since we were Sophomores in high school; we both loved reading and nerdy things. She loved that I knew about computers and video games. I loved that she could read anything and even spoke some of the languages from the television shows that I watched.

Shortly after graduating, we moved in together and stayed together until the day she passed away. Elizabeth was my one and only, and I was hers. We did everything together, and we bought this house together.

I couldn't bring myself to sell it, but living here alone was also hard. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

'She wouldn’t mind you know,' Shannon texted me after I went silent.

'What?' I responded.

'If you started dating, she would want you to.'

That was the topic of conversation last time we were all at the bar. Mark, Elizabeth's older brother, had asked if I would be interested in his wife, Meg, setting me up on a blind date. I told her no, that I wasn't ready yet.

It wasn't that I wasn't ready; I knew Elizabeth well enough to know she would want me to be happy, even if that happiness came from another woman. I knew that in my heart, but I wasn't ready for someone to come into my life, not yet.

Plus, the dating world had changed since the last time I was single. Everything was about Me. Everyone only thought about themselves, and what they felt, what they wanted, what another person could do for them; no one thought about a relationship as a fifty-fifty deal; no, they wanted it to be all about them.

I had talked to enough men and women to know that the dating pool sucked. Even going to the bar, I had seen many people break up right there, with first dates going very badly because someone couldn't stop looking at their phone or texting someone else.

That was the biggest thing about dating in today's world. Everyone felt like they had options; the moment anything got too hard or uncomfortable, they immediately left, ghosted, or went silent to protect their peace or deny accountability.

Elizabeth and I had many arguments, many hard times, and many discussions that were uncomfortable to talk about. Still, we worked it out, we stayed and talked about it, and met in the middle, compromised, but no, not today. Everyone had options, so they didn't try to work things out; the first sign of trouble, and they were gone.

That was why I wanted to stay single; I believed in working through things, not having options or a roster of other candidates.

Many of my guy friends had numerous women they talked to at the same time, and chose the best ones, and kept the others on standby.

'I know, I just don’t think I am suited for this day and age,' I replied to Shannon's text.

'You're forty, not eighty!'

I had to laugh at that because I knew she was making fun of me.

'Coming from the one that keeps telling everyone they are twenty-eight!'

'I am twenty-eight!'

'Yeah, like ten years ago!'

'Ouch! That hurt!'

I didn't know how I would have made it through these past two years without Shannon. She was always there for me, when I needed to smile, cry, or laugh, she was there.

I felt guilty because she had packed up her things and moved from Texas to Florida. She kept saying she did it because she wanted a change of scenery, but I knew it was because she was worried about me, plus the last words Elizabeth said before she passed were to Shannon.

She told her friend to take care of me. That was my Elizabeth; she was always worried about me, the geek, the guy who always got picked on in school or at work. Elizabeth was short and skinny, but she was a fireball and would stand up for me even if the other person was twice her size.

'Think about it, there is a woman out there for you,' Shannon said.

'I know,' I replied.

I usually slept on the couch; there were times I made it up to the guest room, and only a few times I managed to stay in the bed where we slept.

Even though I had washed the covers and the pillowcases many times, the bed always smelled like her. I knew that my memory was just playing tricks on me.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"The Mayhem master strikes again!" Timothy high-fived me.

I worked at a gaming company; we made video games for all platforms. I had recently been tasked with cleaning up the code in one of our latest releases. It had made the game unplayable after a certain time and had many glitches.

I had warned the higher-ups that the game wasn't ready for release, but they didn't listen. When things went wrong, our company took a hit due to the negative publicity. The many people upstairs were still trying to think like the old days, that social media wasn't a problem or that people didn't listen to things online.

They were wrong; the glitches and problems in the video game had hit every social network. Thousands of videos of our game messing up and glitching were everywhere, especially from gaming creators who totally bashed the game and the company for releasing such a bad product.

Finally, after months of working on the base code and many other things, we got everything under control. It cost us many hours of work to get it done, but we did.

I had played the revamped game nearly all the way through, and there were no glitches or problems.

"We should be able to release it as soon as next week," I told my direct boss. "Everyone should be able to download the patch and the game should work normally."

"We were thinking we could make a few changes, or some of the story and…"

"Release it as a new expansion or new game?" I asked, knowing they wanted to profit from their loss.

"Is it something we can do?"

I stayed quiet. I hated that they wanted to scam people out of their money.

"We can do all new skins and a few different weapons as well as many other things," he said, smiling.

I blanked him out. If I didn't need the money, I would tell him and the others to go to hell. I knew they would just have someone else make all the changes if I didn't. The mighty dollar ruled everything, and I knew they would flood the new game with in-game purchases and micropayments for other things to get back the money they had lost.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"What is she doing here?" I asked as I pulled into my driveway and saw Shannon's red truck.

I got out of my vehicle and headed inside.

I could hear the sound of her drill; it seemed to be coming from outside. I walked through the kitchen and opened the door that led to the deck.

"Don’t!" Shannon yelled as I opened the door.

"What’s going on?" I asked when I saw part of my deck missing.

"Figured I would repair it," Shannon shrugged. "It was beginning to fall apart, probably water damage from the snow."

It had been making noises whenever I stood on it, and I had been thinking about hiring someone to tear it down and rebuild it.

"I was going to hire someone," I mentioned.

"Tada!" Shannon said as she lifted her safety glasses.

She was by a mechanical saw-and-table combination. "Want to help?" she offered.

"Sure," I shrugged.

I went upstairs to change, then came back down.

Shannon was easy on me, as she knew I wasn't good with tools or anything, so she showed me how to measure the wood parts I needed, then delicately showed me how to use the saw.

The rest of the day flew by, and we only noticed that the day had gotten away from us because it started getting dark.

"Want a drink?" I asked as we had moved inside after putting all of her tools away in my garage.

We weren't finished with the deck, and there was no point in her hauling things out of her truck if she was just going to use them here.

"Sure," Shannon smiled at me.

We stood in the kitchen, just a few feet apart.

I opened the fridge and grabbed us drinks.

"So," Shannon leaned back against the counter and stared at me.

"So?" I asked.

"You were hitting the hammer down on those nails with a little more anger than needed," Shannon mentioned as she popped the top of her soda can.

"Ah," I sat down at the kitchen table. "You noticed that."

"Yup," Shannon replied.

I told her about what happened, and she took a seat across from me at the round table. She listened to everything I had to say.

"Seems like a business thing to do," Shannon said at the end. "They had losses due to the bad press, and they lost money due to the hours they had to pay employees, like you to fix the problem so they are trying to recoup their losses."

"At other people’s expenses," I shook my head.

"Yes, but these people, don’t have to buy it," Shannon sat back and shrugged. "If they don’t want the skins for the items they get freely in the game, then they don’t have to buy it, does it change anything about the game?"

"No, not really," I responded.

"If I get the skin for one of those swords, do I do more damage than someone who didn’t get the skin?" Shannon asked.

"No, it’s the same," I told her.

"What about any of the other transactions do they help someone do better or fight better?"

"Not really the only difference would be the early release would have some people further ahead," I thought about it.

"So, what’s the harm?"

"Since you put it that way, there really isn’t any harm in it," Now that Shannon had put it in a different light, I saw that I was just overthinking things.

"Betty always said you looked out for other people," Shannon smiled. "It's what she liked about you."

I just thought my company was trying to get one over on the gamers, but now I realize they were just trying to recoup what they had lost. It was up to the gamers if they wanted to pay the extra money; the patch was free for everyone.

"I better go," Shannon stood up. "It’s getting late."

"You could stay, if you want," I quickly said.

"I could," Shannon was close to me as we were both standing only a few inches away from each other.

There was that feeling again; it happened a few times before: the line in the sand, between friends, the one where many didn't cross.

"I really should go," Shannon shook her head.

"You're right," I stepped out of the way.

She was Elizabeth's best friend, and I was her husband; that line shouldn't be crossed, no matter how much the two of us wanted to.

I knew that if Elizabeth was looking at us from the other side, she was probably screaming her head off that it was okay for the two of us to be together, but it felt like we just weren't ready. For me, it felt like I was taking advantage of her, and Shannon probably thought the same of me.

I waved goodbye as her truck pulled away.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~

"You’re an idiot," Mark said bluntly.

"Thanks," I faked a smile.

I had told him about Shannon and me, how we always felt a connection, as well as other things. I knew it was mutual, and I wanted his take on it all.

"I know my sister better than anyone, and she is yelling at you, both of you," Mark stared at me from across the table.

Mark was Elizabeth's older brother. He had come to visit me, to see how I was doing.

Mark was a preacher at a church. Elizabeth's family, including her, was very religious. Elizabeth liked going to church as much as possible, even though I hardly went with her.

"So, you think she is watching, then?"

"Absolutely," Mark grinned. "I don’t think she will cross over until you are happy."

"Don't say something like that," I shook my head.

I didn't want to think that my Elizabeth was stuck here, waiting for me to move on.

"Not in that sense," Mark shook his head. "I mean, spiritually, there is part of her that is still with you, waiting for you to find happiness."

I sensed that, at times, there were moments in my house when I felt Elizabeth was still there.

"Trust me on this," Mark said, looking at me. "She is happy where she is, and she wants you to move on so that you can be happy."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

What Mark said stuck with me, even weeks after he had left.

One day after working on some of the wooden cabinets in the house, I felt that presence again. Shannon stared at me.

"You felt that too, right?" I asked her.

"Definitely," Shannon admitted.

It felt like the room had dropped a few degrees in temperature, then shot back up again.

"You think Mark was right?" I asked.

"We can test it," Shannon smiled with her usual mischievous grin.

She walked into the living room and turned on the television. "There was a show that the two of us watched; we always said it was a great romance story."

I watched as Shannon went to the show's screen. "Now, she always said that she loved it because the two friends were always trying to get together but were scared of crossing the friend zone," Shannon put down the remote, "and her favorite part was where they finally crossed the line and kissed."

"You think that she would fast forward to that part?" I asked.

"I think if she can, she will, or she will hit play." Shannon put the remote down, and we walked back into the kitchen.

For a while, we waited in complete silence, then it happened the movie started playing. It made both of us jump.

Then the volume went up.

My eyes teared up.

We walked back into the living room, and the remote was exactly where we'd left it. The show had just started.

We didn't say anything; we just sat down and watched the movie from beginning to end.

I knew it was my Elizabeth giving me the go-ahead.

At the end of the movie, Shannon and I just sat there, our hands touching, and for the first time, there was no awkwardness between us.

When the movie ended, there was silence, and for the first time since her passing. I truly felt that Elizabeth had left the house.

"Do you want to stay?" I asked.

"I would like that very much," Shannon answered.

Our lips touched, and we kissed; the time we had put this off melted away as we melted into each other and our hands roamed over each other's bodies.

I was lying on my back on the couch with Shannon on top of me. My hands went straight to her ass and squeezed as tight as I could.

"You’ve been dying to do that, haven’t you?" Shannon smirked as she looked at me.

"You have no idea!" I grinned.

"Oh, I have an idea, why do you think I went from panties to thongs!" Shannon grinned.

"I knew it!" I smiled.

"Got your attention, didn't it?"

We kissed again, and this time it felt better than the last time.

"Fuck!" I barked out loud as Shannon gripped my crotch.

"I've been wanting to do that for a long time," Shannon winked.

We made out for a while on the couch before heading upstairs to the bedroom.

Once we got naked, there was no turning back.

"Yes," I groaned as my cock pushed deep into her.

Shannon's legs wrapped around me as she pulled me down onto her.

There were no more words said as we made love for the first time. The bed rocked back and forth and groaned under the passion we made.

~ ~ ~ ~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~

"I think the tiles should be green," Shannon said.

"Blue!" I shook my head.

"Green would bring out the color more," Shannon argued.

"But blue will make it…"

"Make it what?" Shannon asked.

"I just like blue!" I laughed.

We had been together for seven months, and we bought a new house. Even though I wanted to stay at the other house, it wasn't ours.

We were starting new, and the house we lived in needed to reflect that.

We were standing in the kitchen, deciding which tiles to put down on the floor.

"Well, I am the one that will be looking down at them often," Shannon shrugged. "So, it should be my decision."

"Green?" I asked.

"A light green, like floral," Shannon smiled. "We can do the backsplash in blue."

"I can agree to that," I nodded.

"Good," Shannon shook my hand.

We placed an order for white marble tiles with a green floral pattern.

"Now what did you mean by you’re the one that will be looking down at it?" I asked as we started picking out the cabinets.

"You know exactly what I mean," Shannon shook her head.

"No, I don’t."

"Okay," Shannon stood up from the table and walked over to the stove. "I will be here one day cooking, right?"

"Yeah," I stood a few feet away from her.

"You will come in and…" She smacked her ass. "Do that."

I smacked it just because she did it.

"Of course I will," I responded.

"I will laugh and playfully smile, and I might even jiggle my tits like this," Shannon grabbed her large tits and jiggled them.

"Then I would do this," I kissed her neck and then her ears.

"Which would make me do this?" Shannon turned her back on me.

I instantly grabbed her large tits from behind. I loved feeling how big they were, even when she wore her work clothes.

Slowly she bent over, and I pulled down her jeans.

"Yes!" I growled as I pushed my cock into her from behind and grabbed her waist and started fucking her.

"And now I am looking down at the tile!" Shannon playfully argued.

"You're right," I smacked her ass. "You are so right!"

I loved fucking her from behind. I loved the sound of her ass smacking against me as we fucked.

But most of all, I was glad that we had crossed the friendzone line and were now both happy together.

"If you get to pick the tiles, that means I can pick the ceiling fan in the bedroom," I joked as I fucked my soon-to-be wife.

"Why is that?" Shannon asked.

I reached around and squeezed her tits.

"Oh! That's right!" Shannon laughed.

In the bedroom, Shannon loved to be on top so that I could squeeze her tits as she rode me.

We were the perfect couple, and I knew we had many years of making new memories ahead of us.

The End

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