“Here you go, buddy. You’ve been working hard out here, haven’t you?” I say, scratching him behind the ears while he laps up his water.
“Oh, yeah. He’s been workin’ real hard at chasin critters,sniffing the fence line, and peeing everywhere. I swear he never runs out.”
Standing to acknowledge Miles, I make the mistake of turning around just as he lifts his T-shirt again. This time, I’m wise enough to look away the second I get my first glimpse of that V.
I certainly don’t want to be caught drooling again. Man, that was embarrassing. I’m waiting for him to bring it up because I know he will. It’s what he does. He’s just waiting for the right moment to mortify me.
“Thanks for the water.”
“Thanks for all the manual labor. Does Katie know what you’ve been up to?”
“I mentioned some stuff I thought needed to be done after I fixed the board on the porch, and she said she was cool with me working on things.”
“Well, aren’t you a Boy Scout?”
“Truth?” He whispers as though he has a secret the dog can’t hear.
“Uh, okay?”
“Lou wanted a reason to come see you. He thought if we hung around long enough, you’d finally come out and talk to us. Looks like it worked. Smart dog, eh?”
Oh, what this man does to me. I really wish he’d turn his baseball cap around because when he says things like that, and I have full view of his eyes, I don’t stand a chance.
“Lou came up with that all on his own?”
“He’s advanced. What can I say?”
Lou’s up and dripping water all over my feet, so I give him a scratch. “Are you advanced, sweetheart?” I swear the dog smiles back at me. “Of course you are.”
“So, what have you been up to since I saw you last?” he asks.
Surprising myself, I kinda want to show him my pictures from yesterday.
“Wanna see?”
“Of course!”
His enthusiasm is infectious and has me skipping inside, but then I remember I haven’t invited him in, and when I reach the back door, I see him still standing in the yard with Lou.
“Well, you coming in or what?”
“Honey, you don’t have to ask me twice.”
I beat him in and pop open my laptop at the kitchen table, and before I’m logged in, they’ve joined me inside.
“So, yesterday I spent the first part of my day wandering around town and taking pictures. Pictures inspire me. I usually make a vision board and put it up in my office back home, so I have my inspiration in front of me while I work.”
“Very cool, let’s see what you got here.”
He scoots his chair closer, and I can smell the outdoors, a little bit of sweat, and something else that makes the combination of it all a bit heady.
As we scroll through the pictures, he gives me a brief history of each location and shares some personal stories from his childhood. Not surprisingly, he’s a great storyteller and has me in stitches in one moment and teary-eyed the next.
“I see you have lots of pictures of the Eastlyn Beer Company sign. Any special reason?”
“Well, you already know it’s my favorite beer and can be hard to come by at most places on the East Coast. So, it’s sort of like when you go to New York, you take a picture of the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building. In Philadelphia, you take a picture of the Liberty Bell so…”
“You’re saying Eastlyn Beer is your Liberty Bell?”