The Thunder Rolls

Chapter 4

I pulled up the driveway and Dean was sitting on the porch. He stood up when I opened my door.

"How was the rest of your day?"

"It was good. I had a lot of fun. I really learned a lot about crawfish" I laughed

I opened Stella's door and unbuckled her straps, she jumped out of the door.

" I learned too"

He looked at me with surprise, it was the first time she had said a word to him. He bent down to her level

" I bet you did, what did you learn today Stella? "

" a and b"

" woah. Those are very important letters! Did you learn anything else? "

" 1! An winkle tar"

"Stella, twinkle star is my favorite song!"

She jumped up and down laughing and I had to look away. I was NOT going to cry a fourth time in less than a day I needed to at least make it 25 hours before I cried again. But dang it if Dean wasn't making it hard. He was so good with her. She ran off to pick some wild flowers and he stood up walking over to the truck.

"You want some help with those groceries In a minute ? I have a surprise for you. You gotta close your eyes"

"Ima fall up the stairs"

"Nah I got ya"

He put his hands over my eyes and coaxed me forward. Yea, he was going to make this hard for me.

He kicked the door open and I could smell the strong odor of stain but faintly, over top of it I could smell candles.

" are you ready?"

Part of me wasn't, I enjoyed his rough hands on my face more than I should. But he slowly pulled his fingers away as I shook my head yes And I opened my eyes. I looked around and was completely amazed. The floors were absolutely different. They were a deep brown barn wood color And a smooth as could be. They were perfect, and dry. I reached down to touch them and looked back up at him.

" yea Logan and I got the sanding done like super quick so that the stain would have a long time to dry and would be done by the time you got here. Do you like it?"

He was searching my face for anything to give him a clue as to what I was feeling to tell him I liked it. But I didn't.

" Dean. I love it. It's amazing. I can't believe it's this amazing. I wasn't expecting this at all. Thank you. Thank you so much."

And then I hugged him. I didn't mean to. I don't know why I did. But I did and he hugged me back and it felt so good to be touched by someone. And that was it, I cried for the 4th time in a day. And then something amazing happened, he just stayed there and held me while I cried. It felt so good to release some of what had been built up. I knew that after this I'd owe him another explanation but oddly that didn't bother me. For some reason sharing parts of myself, pulling down some of my wall with Dean wasn't so bad. As he rubbed his rough hand over my back I calmed down. And he grabbed my shoulders and leaned me back.

" are you good?"

Ughh that smile again, It's astounding. I wiped my face and managed a smile.

" yea I'm good. I promise I never cry this much usually"

He looked out the door off into space. Stella was singing twinkle star on the porch

" it's alright I get it, really."

" I bought stuff to make dinner. Would you like to stay?"

" I'd love to. I'll help you get the groceries out of the truck."