Scattered Seeds

Chapter Twenty-Four

The next morning Doctor Sallows was nowhere to be found.

Nadifa administered headache medicine to a very hung over Louise, and instructed the woman to drink plenty of water.

Jess headed out early after breakfast to begin installing the first pump down by the river. Unsure of what to say or how to act around Tom after their tasty interactions the night before, Jess managed to evade him to her great relief.

Tom and Luke met up with Rick at the school.

“Somebody’s got a phone call to make today,” Luke spoke in a teasing tone.

Rick shot him an irritated glare.

“Already tried,” he grumbled. “Ended up leaving a message. She’ll probably never answer me.”

The blonde Aussie, already shirtless in the rising African temperature, began to secure guttering to the eaves of the school.

Tom and Luke exchanged questionable glances before entering the glass double doors of Kulmis Primary and Secondary School.

Disappointed that he’d missed his chance to see Jess that morning but very anxious to catch up with her later in the day, Tom whistled while he worked.

“Would you please knock that off?!” Luke squawked at his client.

He too had a headache, and Tom’s annoying mouth music was frazzling Luke’s already stretched last nerve.

“Sorry,” Tom gently apologized.

Luke suddenly felt very small.

Tom told him all about his romantic rendezvous with Jess, and Luke knew his friend was still riding high from his small victory. He made it a point to be more civil and supportive of Tom throughout the rest of their day painting the walls of the school.

“Damnit!!” Tom heard Jess’s drawl blare as he approached the pump work site around lunchtime. “Grab the plumber’s tape!”

Erasto quickly moved to retrieve the tape and hand it to Jess. That he knew what the white Teflon stuff was amazed Tom. Jess and Erasto had their own form of communication. The young man was practically her shadow these days.

The Englishman did not bother the American woman as she unscrewed a leaking fitting, wrapped it several times with the tape, and then re-secured it. The water previously gushing from around the fitting ceased to vex her. A soaking Jess sat back to plant her bottom on the soggy earth beneath her.

Jess’s wet white t-shirt was covered with mud. The outline of her bra was obvious, and Tom recalled just how close his hand had gotten to Jess’s breasts in the darkness of last night.

Something stirred inside his jeans, and Tom tried to bridle his wandering thoughts.

Jess dragged a dirty hand through her hair, effectively smattering mud through it without a care.

“Everything alright here, Darling?”

The sound of Tom’s voice made Jess’s stomach fly to her throat. She looked up and over to find him gazing at her with a broad smile on his striking, but paint-spattered face. Jess immediately felt very ugly and unkempt, and she quickly averted Tom’s eyes.

“Is now,” she told him, and then rose to pick up some wrenches she’d thrown earlier in frustration.

Tom followed and bent down beside Jess to help her fetch her tools.

“Hungry?” he asked, hoping that Jess would agree to having lunch with him.

Tom noticed that Jess continued to avoid looking at him, and he began to worry that he was making her uncomfortable.