A Trade For Good (18 page)

Jeff told Sera that when Deb and Chad
found a new home, he would gladly do the work for them, and only
charge them for materials, as a gift for all they’d done for Sera.
He knew what they meant to Sera, and he wanted to help her thank
them for all they did. That was a wonderful gesture, and she didn’t
even know where to go with that.

Sera appreciated the thought
immensely, but was a little confused as well. She was still paying
off her debt, although she had received a raise and the debt was
almost paid in full, but she didn’t even know if she’d have a job
for much longer. The six months were up in six days, and she was
afraid to bring it up to her bosses. Neither Jeff nor Mitch had
brought it up, but they were so busy, they probably didn’t even
know what day it was, or forgot about the whole contract thing.
Sera on the other hand very much remembered the contract and
worried that she would find herself jobless soon.

Sera told Deb about her concern, but
Deb told her not to worry.

“How can I not worry? I mean, this
debt will be paid in full, but I need to keep feeding the kids.
I’ve managed to scrounge enough to stay afloat, but this job is
what allows us to eat.”

“First off, you’re the one who brought
in more business, so they know they need you.” Deb reasoned. “Not
only did you bring in new clients, but you made the deadbeats who
didn’t pay, pay.”

“Deadbeats like me?” Sera
smirked.

“Exactly,” Deb rolled her eyes. “Not
only that, but the guy depends on you and, he is c-r-a-z-y about
you.”

Sera’s head snapped up, “What do you
mean he’s crazy about me?”

Deb smiled, “Oh that got your
attention. Let me spell this out to you, I think he l-i-k-e-s
you!”

“Oh please! Why? Because I’m such a
great catch? Besides, you were at my wedding thirteen years ago…
There’s that little detail about the fact that I’m still married,
remember?”

“Speaking of deadbeats… Yes, I do
recall a younger brother of my husband’s marrying way above his
decency and kindness station.”

“Cute. Joking aside, there’s no room
for that in my life now and you know it.”

”If it worked out, there would be
plenty of room, if it didn’t… Well, I don’t want you to get hurt
again, but I want you to have something really good,” just then,
the door opened and in came Chad, “speaking of which…” Deb became
all smiles.

“Who’s a witch?” Chad smiled at Sera
and bent down to kiss his wife’s lips and then her stomach, “how
are my girls doing?”

Sera looked at them with pure envy and
a lot of love, “You guys are gross. Isn’t it a little early to say
the baby’s a girl?”

“He only says that because he chose a
girl’s name, if he likes a boy’s name instead, that may change. You
know my Chad, he’s very scientific.” Deb explained.

“I see,” Sera replied, “and what would
that name be?”

Deb laughed, “There’s more to his
science, of course. You see, if he tells someone the name he’s
thinking, he’ll jinx it, so for nine months, I have to live in fear
of what name he came up with.”

“Oh, I get it. I see I married the
dumb brother, this one must’a got all the brains…” Sera
smiled.

Chad sat down. “That’s right little
lady. Hey, where are all of the little beasts? Wait, don’t tell me,
Are they outside hunting dinosaurs, or are they making mud pies
again?”

“Oh god, I hope it’s the dinosaurs. If
not, either we bring out the hose when they’re done, or they sleep
outside. I’m not in the mood to clean up a muddy bathroom
tonight.”

Chad turned away from his wife and
asked Sera, “So how’s Jeff? Was he here to…”

Deb elbowed her husband leaving no
doubt he was about to say something she didn’t want him to
say.

“Ouch, woman!” And Chad left no doubt
that Deb’s elbowing was painful and obvious. “What?!”

“Oh, umm. Was Jeff at work today?” He
recovered.

Sera looked from one to the other and
shook her head. ”You guys really have to work on being subtle. No,
he was not at work. Work is good, but very busy. I’ve been alone
most of the week except for the guys coming in and out and
contractors stopping by all the time.”

Chad nodded, “Yes, I heard things got
really busy,” and got another elbow from Deb.

Chad looked at his wife and shrugged,
“I think I’ll go hunt dinosaurs, they’re a lot safer than my wife,”
and off he went.

It was Friday, and things did not seem
any calmer, instead it looked like the following week would be
busier. It was amazing how word got out and business had picked up.
She’d have to talk to Mitch and Jeff about increasing some costs as
well, it seemed business was great, but they were charging a lot
less than the competition, and it was now obvious the competition,
as far as amount of business and quality of work, was falling
behind, but according to some information Sera found from calling
around, Mason landscaping was charging way below what it
should.

All of this business coming in should
be charged at the going rate. She texted Mitch and Jeff and gave
them the highlights of her findings, but said she would explain
more if they ever decided to come back in to work.

Sera liked being busy, she loved it in
fact. What she did not like was not seeing the guys; she missed the
guys. In addition, as much as she tried to deny it, she knew there
was one guy in particular she missed even more.

She felt like a young teenager again.
Unless she was letting her imagination go, Jeff had been throwing
little comments her way and there had been some flirting. She had
been away from the dating scene long enough so that she might not
recognize some things, but in her gut, she knew the attraction was
mutual. The problem was, Jeff had a lot more to lose from a
relationship with Sera, than Sera had to gain from being with
Jeff.

So Sera was busy, but lonely, and had
too much alone time to think of things she probably should not
think of.

Although she didn’t get to see her
guys, she still had a lot of other male attention at work, however
some of the attention she received she really didn’t
like.

There was one contractor in particular
who had started referring to her as ‘my girl’. Sera was nobody’s
girl, and especially not this guy’s. She knew if ‘her’ guys were in
the office, they would have put a stop to that. She made it clear
to him that she was busy, not interested, and working, so she
should not be bothered, but the guy was obviously dense.

Sera was in the back of the building,
in Jeff’s office, putting away some papers from recent estimates
when she heard some noise coming from the front office.

“Yoo-hoo!” Sera heard the contractor’s
grating voice. Yuck, Gary was in the building.

Shit, shit, shit!
Sera was about to grab her purse to leave. She had
decided to put a couple more papers away and then head out early,
when he called out. It was not quite 4 P.M., but she had texted
Jeff to let him know she was leaving.

She was almost done with
basics anyway, and this had been a l-o-n-g and trying week. Jeff
did not mind. All that mattered was that she did her work. When she
did it, was irrelevant. They trusted her implicitly.
‘
Shit, shit, shit,’
she thought, the guys would be really mad if they knew she
forgot to lock the office door again, good thing they weren’t here
to find out.

“Hold on a sec, I’ll be right there!”
Sera yelled out and made sure she grabbed her purse to show she was
just leaving and bumped into the contractor. Apparently, her ‘Hold
on a sec’ had not been acknowledged.

“Oh, hi Gary, I was on my way out. Do
you need something, or can we just walk out and I’ll make sure I
get it for you on Monday?”

“Aren’t you leaving earlier than
usual?” Gary asked her.

Really?
Like it was any of his frickin business. “A little, but Jeff
doesn’t mind. My work here is done, so if you don’t
mind?”

“I’m sure you keep Jeff happy enough
so he doesn’t mind…” Gary told her.

Sera didn’t like his tone. The guy was
gross, and she was sure he wasn’t referring to Sera’s work ethic as
what kept Jeff ‘happy’.

“Yes well, we have an
understanding. I get my work done, and if I need to leave early, he
is happy knowing I will not screw him.” Ugh, really bad
choice of words.

“Well that wouldn’t make me happy,”
Gary smirked, “I guess Jeff’s not the kind of guy I thought he
was.”

“Yes, well you and Jeff are very
different people, that’s for sure. If you don’t mind, my shift is
now over. Maybe you can stop by Monday morning during regular
office hours. I stay until 4:30 usually, but the sign outside says
the office closes at 4 P.M.” Sera didn’t mind being rude. The guy
gave her the creeps.

Sera moved towards the door for him to
follow, but instead, he got in front of her and stopped, not
letting her go by.

“Gary, I don’t kid around. When I am
done at work, I am done. I don’t get paid overtime. So…”

Gary did not move. “Sera, Sera, Sera.
I love that name. I’ve been thinking for a long time that we should
get to know each other a little better.”

“I know you well enough Gary. I know
all of our clients and contractors well enough to make sure the
work gets done, but now,” she stopped and looked straight at him,
“my shift is over and I’m tired of working today.”

Gary did not move. “I don’t really
understand why you are in such a hurry. I won’t make you work hard
at all,” he laughed, “I don’t mind doing all the work. Even when I
do all the work, I still have fun…”

“Gary, you’re not listening. I don’t
have time for this. My husband is waiting for me and I don’t
thin…”

”Your husband left you,” he smiled as
if that truly amused him. “I’m curious why, but I’m thinking there
must be something very wrong with the guy. I don’t think it’s you,
but I am curious.”

Warning bells started ringing louder.
“Okay, you’re right. My husband isn’t around right now, but I need
to go pick up my kids from the sitter and…”

Gary got closer to her and made it
hard for her to back away. He was just a few inches away and
looking at her in a way that made her skin crawl.

“Very funny Gary. Now get out of my
way so I can get going.” Sera pretended to laugh, but the break in
her voice made it obvious she was not in control.

”You know, you are really pretty Sera.
More than pretty, you’re really h-o-t if I’m to be completely
honest.” He laughed, “I don’t know how anyone gets any work done
here with you around,” Gary looked down from her face and took in
the rest of her. He came up again, but steadied on her chest that
was heaving in deep breaths of air. “Ever since the first time I
saw you… I’ve had a hard time keeping myself away from this office.
What do you say we get to know each other a little bit better and
find out where it goes?”

“Let me be clearer, although I thought
I was. No. I am not interested, nor do I have the time. The guys
will be back any minute now, so please get out of the
way.”

When he didn’t move, she said, “Gary,
this isn’t funny.” Sera pushed him away this time, but Gary stood
his ground.

“Why don’t you make it easier on both
of us, and stop playing hard to get.” His face was only inches away
from her. Unfortunately, the rest of him was just as
close.

If Sera had any time to think, she
would ask herself, When is it a good time to panic? When is it
justified to scream? When do you stop being polite and pretending
the scum in front of you is just yanking your chain?

Her answer came suddenly when he
reached over and put his hand on her breast. Sera jerked back. Now
she was terrified.

“Gary, get your hands off me!” Sera
pushed as hard as she could and reached for the door. She turned
the knob, but Gary had locked it with the deadbolt. She went to
turn the deadbolt and he quickly turned her around and pushed
himself, full body, against her.

“Not so fast. You’ve been teasing me
all week lady, you’re not getting away this easily.”

Sera pushed him, but he stayed put; he
had an advantage of about eighty pounds on her.

“Leave me alone Gary! I’ll call the
police!”

He laughed, “You are feisty aren’t
you?” Gary put his hands behind her and pulled her closer. His
mouth was on hers and he was trying to kiss her. His mouth was wet
and disgusting. His hands were working his way over her body and
she was trying to scream, but no sound came out. “Stop playing hard
to get, you’re not the innocent virgin you play at, Sera. So cut it
out. This is how you play the game.”

Gary shoved her against the desk and
started pulling at her blouse. The blouse she wore that day was a
soft pink peasant blouse, and the fabric was flimsy. She heard the
fragile fabric tear immediately, just as she heard herself
cry.

“Please don’t. Leave me alone. I have
kids, Gary. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression. Please
don’t do this. Not like this. Stop…” she cried.