After all this time...A FLAC story

Chapter 9

Saturday morning was a slow one in Jac's house. After the three bottles of wine last night neither Jac or Fletch felt like an early morning. At 10am they had both surfaced and were drinking coffee in the living room. The sun was shining and it was a surprisingly warm day for the time of the year. All of a sudden the door bell went. Both Jac and Fletch jumped up and headed for the door. After Jac managed to push Fletch out the way she was surprised by what was waiting for them both on the front doorstep. Two huge boxes and one rather confused delivery man, standing well back. After being told one of the parcels was for Naylor and the other for Fletcher, the delivery man left quickly, which pleased Jac.

Using all their strength to drag both the boxes inside Jac knew she had to ask.

'Expecting a delivery?' she questioned Fletch with a raised eyebrow. Fletch just did his usual boyish grin and set about opening the box.

After a few awkward moments of each of them struggling with the sheer size of the box. Jac and Fletch were helplessly chuckling away at what each other had done. Jac had ordered a rather fancy outdoor dining/seating set. Her thoughts were, it would occupy Fletch for a while 'helping' her construct it. (She hoped helping meant completely talking over and doing it himself.) Also, it would give them more space to be away from each other if they were getting on top of each other. Fletch had thought along similar lines. He had ordered a rather nice looking wooden play frame for Emma to go in the garden for Emma. He thought it would be a nice way of saying thank you to Jac for letting him live with her and also would keep him occupied and out of her way during their days off.

Jac couldn't help but be touched that Fletch had been so thoughtful and thought of Emma. She had always wanted an outdoor play area for Emma, but never got round to finding someone to build or install one for her. After a few minutes of laughing at how they now had enough projects to last them much longer than the three days off, Jac spontaneously hugged Fletch. She didn't know why she had hugged him. A Ms. Naylor thank you would have been all that was needed, but Jac couldn't help herself. After their contact last night, she wanted to be closer to him again.

Fletch returned the hug. Embracing Jac, he spoke softly against the side of her neck.

'Thank you so much for letting me stay here Jac. I know it can't be easy for you.'

Feeling his warm breath against her skin sent shivers down her spine. In times gone by Jac would have found any reason to get out of one of Fletch's hugs, but after this last week she needed it more than ever.

Fletch notice she didn't say anything in return but she also hadn't pushed him away. He enjoyed feeling her in his arms again. Almost a year ago she had pushed him away, yet here they were again getting closer Fletch thought. He didn't want to say anything to ruin this moment.

Eventually Jac backed away from Fletch and gave him a smile.

'Right then, which are we tackling first?'

Together they decided it made sense to get the furniture done first, that way they had it to make good use of during this nice weather they were having.

The next few hours were full of laughter, some choice swear words and some heated discussions about following instructions. Sometime in the late afternoon Jac and Fletch stood back and admired their handy work. They had managed to build a three seater bench and a table so far. 'Lunch break!' Fletch exclaimed. It was Jac's day to prepare food so she went inside to get something together quickly. A few minutes later the pair were sat on the bench enjoying some sandwiches Jac had made. Fletch noticed she had included some of his favourite fillings from in her words 'his disgusting' sandwich from pulses that he often had when they sat on the bench in the peace garden, Fletch thought back on how they used to do that often but how in recent months, they had hardly shared a coffee let alone a lunch break.

After finishing their food, they sat in comfortable silence. Letting out a stifled yawn, Jac gentle rested her head against Fletch's shoulder. After their hug that morning, Fletch was taken aback by this second gesture of closeness from Jac. He wondered if she still had feelings for him as he did for her. Or was it just this week, the pandemic and this awful situation they found themselves in taking its toll on her. What ever her reason Fletch was happy to just enjoy these moments he had with her.

Jac felt her eyes getting heavy as she rested her head on his shoulder. After the slight hangover from last night and the physical work she had put in to 'helping' Fletch with the furniture, she was exhausted. She couldn't remember a time in her adult life she had felt this comfortable around someone. She allowed herself to just rest her eyes a second. It was in that moment she acknowledged what she had been trying to dent and forget for so long. Her heart still wanted him. Is it time to let her heart rule her head she thought?