FREE FLYING HEARTS -- A collection of short stories from Tonig73

The Park Bench Chronicles ... 7

The weather hadn't been great, and the shop hadn't been busy.  Good job, because my freezer cabinet gave up the ghost for good this time, it seemed.  

"Can you please come and fix it !"  I begged Dan, the refrigeration engineer man.  I even batted my eyelashes at a man that couldn't even see me batting them.  How desperate was that ?

"Sure" he said back, "I can be there in a  couple of hours."  I could hear his smile down the phone, maybe not sounding quite as desperate as me, but he smiled, I could've sworn it.  And that, in turn, made me smile too. 

***   ***   ***   ***

"It's the condenser, Eve."  Dan the man told me.  Of course it was, what else would it be ? I shrugged at him as if I knew that's what was wrong all along.

"How much is this likely to cost me ?"  I grimaced.

"A years supply of gelato" he joked.  Funny, 'cos he wasn't laughing, and he looked deadly serious.

"No, really ..... "

"Yes, really."

"How much do you eat in a week ... " I smiled.  He was flirting, and much to my amazement, I was doing a pretty good job at flirting back.

Dan and I have known each other, on a 3 to 4 times a yearly basis, for probably the last 3 to 4 years.  He was my go to man.  When my freezers and cabinet went on the fritz, when he was here fixing said freezers, and suddenly my sink got blocked, or the toilet wouldn't flush, he fixed that too.  Always handy to have a handy man around.  

But he was a sweet soul too.  Quietly, but well spoken, obviously well educated, funny and kind.  Tall, chunky, a bit of muscle, but not too much, with tousled sandy hair and hazel eyes.  An altogether very nice package indeed.  But we had never gone there before.  Not even a wink, a look, a glance.  So why now, I wondered .... 

But, if he was serious about his years supply of gelato, in exchange for a new condenser, whatever the hell that was, he had himself a deal.  It meant that I would see him, probably once a week, for a whole year.  And he was the one who suggested it.  I thought of Laurent's gift card that he had given me to my favourite restaurant.  It was my birthday soon, and this was a good excuse not to spend it alone.  What was the worst that could happen, he could say no.  He could say no .... 

As Dan lay on his back on the floor behind the counter, with numerous tools and sharp implements in his hands, I thought, as you do, that now would be a good time to ask him out on a date.  

"Dan, I um .... ahemm ....."  I tried to clear my throat.  I'm a modern, independent, confident woman, why would I have trouble asking any man .... 

"Yes"

"Yes .... what .... "  Shit, he can read my mind now ?

"You said my name, I answered ... "  Oh.  

"I um ... I was wondering.  It's my birthday soon, and I, um .... "  Don't sound so desperate, you're not desperate.  Are you ?  Oh, shit ..... What if he says no ?  What if he's not single now ?  He always was .... doesn't mean he's not now.  A good looking, lovely man like him .... 

"Yes."

"Yes, what  ... "

"Theme here, yes ?"  

"Sorry .... ?"

"Don't be."  He got up from off the floor, now towering over me, and I almost went dizzy as I looked up.