Page 35 of The Rules of Dating a Younger Man

“My wife had cancer. Bone,” he said. “She passed a year ago. While she was sick, we spent a lot of time in Texas, at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, so Arlene could get some experimental treatments. Traveling, living expenses, and the cost of the uncovered medical bills wiped us out. I had to sell our little house in Jersey to keep up. Lost my job as an accountant after my family leave time was over. Not long after my Arlene died, I read an article about Ryan’s House. I don’t have a single regret about going through our savings and losing our house and my job. I’d do it all over again to have that time with her. But…if someone else doesn’t have to go through what I did? That’s a cause I can get behind.”

“Wow. I’m very sorry for your loss. It sounds like you’ve been through a lot.”

Charlie nodded. “It was a rough few years, but things are starting to look up. And I owe a lot of that to Ryan’s House. For a while after my wife died, I’d sort of given up. No wife, no home, no job…it’s easier to succumb to self-pity than to fight your way through the losses. Building the last project made me feel useful again. Made me remember, I might be sixty-one, but I’ve got a lot to offer still. Even have a job interview lined up for next week.”

“Good for you.”

Our conversation was interrupted when Alex and Chad came back in. I introduced everyone and told Charlie to stick with Alex. Something told me she’d be good for him. Then the appliance delivery came, and before I knew it, most of the morning was gone. I wasn’t sure if it was Charlie’s positive attitude that had brightened my day or the coffee, but I felt like less of a curmudgeon by the time I found Alex alone in the hall bathroom taking measurements.

She scribbled a number on her notepad and stuck the pencil behind her ear with a smile. “Hey. Feeling better than this morning?”

“I am now.” I closed the bathroom door behind me. The room grew smaller.

“You look tired.” She tilted her head. “Did you really not sleep well?”

“Nope. Slept like shit. You said you slept like a baby though, huh?”

Alex’s cheeks heated. “I did.”

I took a step closer. “Oh yeah? Anything you did before you fell asleep that helped?”

“Nope,” she answered, waay too quickly.

I leaned so we were nose to nose. “Liar.”

Her pink cheeks bloomed into a full face of crimson.

“Tell me what you did, Alexandria.”

She bit her lip. “You know what I did.”

“Maybe. But I want to hear you say it anyway.”

“Because you’re an egomaniac?”

“Because I had to go to bed alone after you got me all worked up. Give me at least this little satisfaction.”

“Fine. I touched myself. Are you happy?”

I smiled from ear to ear. “Ecstatic.”

A knock at the door behind me interrupted our conversation. I opened it to find Chad. He tried to look around me to talk to Alex, but I wouldn’t move. Except to broaden my shoulders. Too bad I wasn’t a peacock, because I could’ve blocked his view entirely with my feathers.

“I finished up in the living room,” he said. “Figured I’d see if Alex needed any help.”

“She doesn’t.”

“Oh… Okay.”

“But I could use someone to clean out the gutters, if you’re free.” Nothing like cleaning muck and bird shit with your hands instead of hanging out in a tight little bathroom with Alex.

Chad’s face fell. “Sure.”

“Thanks.”

Alex scolded me once I shut the door again. “You aren’t very nice to him.”

“Maybe he should spend more time focused on what he came here to do instead of the woman he wants to do…”

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