Haunted in the Night

Chapter Thirteen- Part Two

It was a little awkward for her to lift up the clip on the gate but once she got it she pushed the gate open with her hip and went inside, placing the bags down near the dug up soil.
"Can you get in the roses while I go and get the tools?" he asked her once they had brought in all the bags, that had placed them one by one down the yard right by the dug up area so they could cut them open and just tip them straight into the parts the soil is needed.
"Sure" she replied as he then headed towards the backyard where she guessing the shed was, and she made her way back to the truck and grabbed one of the rose bushes, noticing the tag on them.
They were called Legend, the lower middle part of the petals were like a cream colour while the tips came out a beautiful pink, she could see why these had been his mother's favourite, they were lovely.
Evenly she placed them out, right next to the bags of soil, just as they had laid them out evenly as well, she was just bringing in the last one when he came back, he had a rake, and a bag of small garden shovels, as well as a watering can.
"There is ten bushes?" he asked her once he got to her and put the items down on the ground, expect the rake, that he leaned against the fence.
"Sure is" she told him, there was five for each side of the gate entrance, and he smiled at her excitedly.
"Thanks for helping me with this, it's much more fun when you have someone else to do it with, I remember I used to love helping mum in her rose garden" he told her, a distant look in his face but a happy smile tugged at his lips at the memory before he came back to earth and the smile died down a little bit to sadness.
"You said you were hoping to take some of these flowers to your dad?" Claire asked, remembering that was what he said the other day.
"Yeah, he really let mother's garden go to waste, he just couldn't handle going out there, so I'm hoping they might bring some life back into him" he said as he looked down at the roses that had already bloomed on them.
"They really are lovely" Claire commented and he nodded.
"Lets get to work shall we?" he asked her as he reached into the gardening bag and pulled out some yard work gloves and handed her a pair.
"Thanks" she replied as they both put them on.
"I think we should start at the top and work our way down" she suggested and he nodded enthusiastically before they headed up to where the first patch of soil and rose bush was.
"Here we go" he said as he grabbed out some scissors and cut open the first bag, pulled it up and tipped in half of the soil.
Claire pulled the rose bush out of it's old pot and put it into the new soil, making sure to place it right where he wanted it, then she held onto it while he tipped in the rest of the soil and she patted it down around the roots and trunk of the bush, making sure to pack it in tight so it wouldn't fall over in a big wind.
"I was right you are good at this" he complimented her and she blushed, looking up at him to see him admiring her.
"Thank you, so are you" she replied and he winked at her which felt like it made her heart flutter in her chest.
"This feels nice doesn't it?" he asked her and she just nodded nervously while they moved onto the next rose bush and packet of soil.
It took then longer than they had thought it would and it was just after lunch time by the time they had finished.
"Why don't you go take a shower while I quickly go and pick us up some take away for lunch?" he asked her as they sat down on his porch on the swing chair with a nice cool cup of iced tea each.
"What would I wear?" she asked and he thought for a moment.
"We can wash your clothes and you can wear some of mine until they are dry, I have a dryer" he suggested and she smiled at him gratefully.
"It would be really nice to feel clean, and to have something to eat" she said and he nodded.
"Just help yourself" he said pointing to the house before grabbing his keys.
"Wait aren't you going to shower?" she asked him as he started walking down the cobble path.
"I'll have one when I get back, after you" he said before he hopped into his truck, started it and drove off.
Claire smiled happily before taking her last sip of her iced tea before heading inside, making sure to lock the front door behind her.
She made her way down the hallway into the kitchen, it was nice, marble benches with wooden stools, lovely light brown wooden cupboards, and a big sink, which she put her empty glass into.
Then she made her way to the next hallway, which led to a series of doors, slowly she opened the first one which she noted was just a single toilet, then to the one on the opposite side which she found was Chad's bedroom.
It was nice, cream coloured walls, big double bed with a grey doona cover and pillows, to the left of the room was a set of draws which she guessed held his clothing and to the right was a desk, it had some paperwork from it from the shop, looks like he had been bringing some of it home to finish it up, she remembered her parents having to do that every now and again and with Chad being the only one running the store now she imagined paperwork would be piling up, she reminded herself that he would have to talk to him and thank him about that.
To the wall on the opposite side of the bed was a stand which held a big flat screen television, she guessed he liked to watch movies in bed to have that in here.
Then she spotted the open door, over by the cupboard, and she walked over to find the bathroom, it had a nice beautiful bath, almost like a spa bath, and a big spacious shower which looked incredibly inviting right now with how sweaty she had gotten doing all the gardening, plus all the soil that had stuck to her.
She closed and locked the bathroom door behind herself, turned on the tap for the shower and watched as the water flowed down in a sort of spray, it was one of those nice big showers that make sure to reach bigger spaces, like a two person shower.
Once the temperature reached her liking she stripped off her clothing and climbed in, the warm water soothing her tight muscles, she hadn't realised how tense and tight they had been until she'd gotten into the shower.
She scrubbed herself clean, even used his shampoo and conditioner to wash her hair which had became oily and stringy.
When she was finished she grabbed a towel off the rack and wrapped it around herself, it was huge on her but so soft and fluffy, she wanted to stay in the comfort of the white towel forever, it was like a cloud was wrapped around her.
She made her way out to the draws and opened up the top one to find his briefs and socks which caused a blush to creep up her cheeks and she pulled out some black briefs and pulled them on, they were very big but would have to do for now.
Slowly she made her way down the draws, pulling on some of his pyjama pants, they were light grey but had draw strings so she could tighten them, they were very baggy on her and went down past her feet so she had to roll them up a bit.
Next was the top, she found a white t-shirt but it was more like a nightie on her, but at least it kept her warm in this chilly autumn weather.
"Claire I'm back, are you here?" she heard Chad's voice from the front door and she quickly made her way to the kitchen where he must have walked too while he waited for her.
"Hey" she said nervously as the blush began to work its way to her cheeks again, she felt very shy standing in front of him wearing his clothes, it felt very personal.
"You look nice" he smiled flirtatiously at her which only caused the blush to worsen.
"Can you set out dinner while I grab a quick shower? Plates are over in that cupboard and the table in the lounge room will be fine" he told her as he placed the bag of takeaway on the bench.
"Yeah of course" she replied as she rushed over to the cupboard which he had pointed to and grabbed out two plates.
"Thanks, I'll be right back" he said as he headed down the hallway to his bedroom.
Claire busied herself putting the plates down on the bench and pulling out the wrapped takeaway, one paper held the chips, another some potato scallops and one with two fish pieces again, then she spotted another little bag in there and she looked in it but had no idea what they were.
She set everything out evenly, for the most part, she did give him more chips then her because there was no way she could eat all that and she took the plates into the lounge room and placed them down on the little brown coffee table that was in front of the big grey couch.
He had a massive television in here, she could swear it nearly took up the size of the wall but she knew she was exaggerating, there was also a fireplace to the right of the room which had some wood in there already and he had a basket over in the corner with some more wood in there, obviously enough to get him through the night.
She kept herself busy while she waited for him by starting a fire, and he walked in just as she got it to a nice size, perfect for warming up this side of the house.
"Thanks, I could have done that" he said as he sat down on the couch and she joined him, nearly sinking in it was so soft.
"It's alright" she replied as they both grabbed their plates to start eating.
"I put your clothes in the washer" he told her and she blushed as she remembered she had left them in the bathroom.
"Thank you" she said nervously, gauging his reaction.
"If you want though you can just stay in those, I really don't mind" he told her to which she smiled at him thankfully, they really were very warm.
"What are these?" she asked to the food that had been in a little bag that she wasn't quite so sure about trying until she knew what they were.
"Oh those are chicken chippies, really yummy" he smiled at her before popping one in his mouth.
Slowly she put one in her mouth and chewed, it was delicious, it had the taste of potato but also chicken at the same time, it mixed in really well and tasted great.
"Mmm I like these" she smiled at him and he winked at her again.
"Told you so" he replied as they continued eating.
"I've got this, you stay here" he said once they had finished and he grabbed the two plates and took them out into the kitchen, Claire stayed cuddled up on the couch.
"So what would you like to do? I can take you home or you could stay and watch a movie with me if you'd like to" he said as he came back in and sat down next to her, facing her.
"What movie?" she asked curiously, she wasn't really one to watch many movies, she preferred books but she was thinking it would be nice to spend some more time with Chad, some quality time.
"Have you ever seen the Jurassic Park movies?" he asked her and she shook her head.
"I've heard of them but never actually seen them myself, I prefer to read" she explained to him.
"Well I have the whole collection and we are about to change you never seeing them" he said as he got up and walked over to a cabinet that held all of his movie collection.
When he had put it into the DVD player he grabbed the remote and came sat down once more and opened his arm up.
For a moment Claire looked at him confused, she didn't understand why he was holding his arm up so awkwardly and then he looked at her expectantly and she realised what he was doing.
So quickly she shuffled over and cuddled up to his chest while he put his arm down around her shoulders.
This was a new feeling for her, she'd never been held by any of the guys that she had went on dates with but she knew she liked it, it made her feel close to him, she felt like she belonged in his arms, it made her feel safe.
"I told you I can make you happy again" he whispered to her softly, it wasn't a declaration, it was more of a way to comfort her how he said it and then he placed a soft kiss on the top of her head, and she closed her eyes, relishing in the warm feeling it filled her with.
And then he pressed play.