what I’m afraid of. Take care, Danny. I’ll call again tomorrow.”
“Bye, Pop.” And Danny hung up the phone.
Two seconds later the doorbell rang.
Danny clomped his way across the hardwood floor to the front door. On the off chance it was Luke, he looked down and checked himself out to make sure his fly wasn’t open and he didn’t have any food on his shirt or anything else of a humiliating nature stuck to his person before he opened the door.
When he finally did open the door, after taking a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down, he was happy to see it really was Luke. And here he thought prayers were never answered. Just goes to show how wrong you can be. Thank you, God.
Luke stood on Danny’s front porch soaked in sweat. He was still wearing the shorts and muscle shirt he had been wearing that morning, but now his clothes looked like they had been dragged through a coal mine behind a runaway tram. Apparently, emptying out a bigass truck full of furniture is dirty work. There was even a good-size tear in the shirt just above Luke’s belly button, and through the tear, Danny caught a glimpse of a beautiful flat tummy with a sprinkling of red hair scattered across it. It was the most intriguing thing Danny had seen all day. It took a burst of fortitude to prevent him from actually licking his lips at the sight.
Luke’s cheeks were flushed from being out in the sun all day. There was a smudge of dirt on his cheek, his ginger-colored hair was sticking straight up off the top of his head like he had walked into an electric fence, he had a scrape on one knee, and he was still gorgeous. There was a clean change of clothes and a neatly folded towel tucked under his arm like a football.
Granger was sitting at Luke’s feet, sweeping the porch with his tail, looking hopeful.
“Well, hello,” Danny said, after checking Luke over from head to toe, and probably lingering in the equatorial regions a little longer than necessary. “You look like crap. Just fall out of a plane?”
Luke laughed. “Worse than that. I’ve been working. Working sucks. I came to that conclusion about two o’clock. Oddly enough I was carrying a Panasonic TV at the time, one of the old fat ones, that must have weighed four hundred pounds. Before I could set it down, my life flashed before my eyes, and I knew then and there that me and work do not get along, and likely never will get along. It was an epiphany of sorts.”
“Gee.” Danny smiled. “I wish I had epiphanies.”
“No, you don’t.” Luke tugged the clean clothes and fresh towel out from under his armpit. Laying them in his arms like an offering, he thrust them in Danny’s face. “I need help. Whichever moron from the water company was supposed to turn on our water, didn’t. I’ve been waiting for it to come on all day. Not only am I begging you to let me use your shower, but I also need to borrow a few buckets of water to throw in my downstairs toilet where me and the two Neanderthals my dad hired to help unload the truck have been peeing and pooping all day. It needs to be flushed before the paint starts peeling off the walls and the EPA gets wind of it. Literally gets wind of it. I know it’s asking a lot, but I’m desperate. What do you say? Neighbor.”
If Danny thought not having any water in the new house would get Luke over here to shower in his house, Danny would have turned the guy’s water off himself. He would have chopped into Luke’s water main with an axe if he thought it would accomplish the feat. As if he wasn’t already under house arrest for vandalism and destruction of property. It was nice to know sometimes fate takes care of things you don’t think of taking care of for yourself. Who knew the world could be so prescient?
“No problem,” Danny heard himself say. He wasn’t sure, but he thought those two little words might be the understatement of the century. “Come on in.”
After Luke stepped inside, with Granger padding along
“Bye, Pop.” And Danny hung up the phone.
Two seconds later the doorbell rang.
Danny clomped his way across the hardwood floor to the front door. On the off chance it was Luke, he looked down and checked himself out to make sure his fly wasn’t open and he didn’t have any food on his shirt or anything else of a humiliating nature stuck to his person before he opened the door.
When he finally did open the door, after taking a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down, he was happy to see it really was Luke. And here he thought prayers were never answered. Just goes to show how wrong you can be. Thank you, God.
Luke stood on Danny’s front porch soaked in sweat. He was still wearing the shorts and muscle shirt he had been wearing that morning, but now his clothes looked like they had been dragged through a coal mine behind a runaway tram. Apparently, emptying out a bigass truck full of furniture is dirty work. There was even a good-size tear in the shirt just above Luke’s belly button, and through the tear, Danny caught a glimpse of a beautiful flat tummy with a sprinkling of red hair scattered across it. It was the most intriguing thing Danny had seen all day. It took a burst of fortitude to prevent him from actually licking his lips at the sight.
Luke’s cheeks were flushed from being out in the sun all day. There was a smudge of dirt on his cheek, his ginger-colored hair was sticking straight up off the top of his head like he had walked into an electric fence, he had a scrape on one knee, and he was still gorgeous. There was a clean change of clothes and a neatly folded towel tucked under his arm like a football.
Granger was sitting at Luke’s feet, sweeping the porch with his tail, looking hopeful.
“Well, hello,” Danny said, after checking Luke over from head to toe, and probably lingering in the equatorial regions a little longer than necessary. “You look like crap. Just fall out of a plane?”
Luke laughed. “Worse than that. I’ve been working. Working sucks. I came to that conclusion about two o’clock. Oddly enough I was carrying a Panasonic TV at the time, one of the old fat ones, that must have weighed four hundred pounds. Before I could set it down, my life flashed before my eyes, and I knew then and there that me and work do not get along, and likely never will get along. It was an epiphany of sorts.”
“Gee.” Danny smiled. “I wish I had epiphanies.”
“No, you don’t.” Luke tugged the clean clothes and fresh towel out from under his armpit. Laying them in his arms like an offering, he thrust them in Danny’s face. “I need help. Whichever moron from the water company was supposed to turn on our water, didn’t. I’ve been waiting for it to come on all day. Not only am I begging you to let me use your shower, but I also need to borrow a few buckets of water to throw in my downstairs toilet where me and the two Neanderthals my dad hired to help unload the truck have been peeing and pooping all day. It needs to be flushed before the paint starts peeling off the walls and the EPA gets wind of it. Literally gets wind of it. I know it’s asking a lot, but I’m desperate. What do you say? Neighbor.”
If Danny thought not having any water in the new house would get Luke over here to shower in his house, Danny would have turned the guy’s water off himself. He would have chopped into Luke’s water main with an axe if he thought it would accomplish the feat. As if he wasn’t already under house arrest for vandalism and destruction of property. It was nice to know sometimes fate takes care of things you don’t think of taking care of for yourself. Who knew the world could be so prescient?
“No problem,” Danny heard himself say. He wasn’t sure, but he thought those two little words might be the understatement of the century. “Come on in.”
After Luke stepped inside, with Granger padding along
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