Gestures that made Lexi go wild and hard – part 1

I went back to the cards and frowned as I looked them over. I didn’t want one that was actually romantic or leading so to speak, just something thoughtful. I picked one up that had a picture of a red heart shaped box with a ribbon on it. Underneath the box it said ‘You are a gift to my heart’. Opening the card I read the short paragraph inside. It spoke of how true gifts were not the ones we received in boxes, but those we received in our hearts, our blessings.

Well I didn’t feel like I had too many blessings right now, but if I had one it was surely Lana. I flipped the card over and saw it was three dollars so within the budget. On the way to the counter I found myself in a better mood and smiled at the guy who had been staring at me the entire time. He gave me an odd look, and I gave him a wink and pursed my lips at him.

“Like what you see?” I asked.

He turned redder than the card in my hand and quickly went back to stocking the cat food. I was still grinning when I got to the counter. That was more like the old me, always looking for a chance to bust someone’s balls.

While I waited for the guy in front of me to check out, my eyes fell on a small plastic bucket on the counter that contained artificial roses. I saw a purple one, which was Lana’s favorite color. The sign said they were a dollar, and doing some quick math, I put the donuts on the rack next to me and picked up the rose. The Danish would be enough, and I figured the rose would be a nice touch.

Once I paid, I stepped to the side and using the pen next to the credit card machine went to sign the card. I was just going to put my name, but after thinking for a moment wrote; For a woman who is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. Thank you for everything you’ve done, you’ve truly been a gift to me. Happy Valentine’s Day, Lexi

As soon as I finished, I frowned. That was a little strong, but it was how I felt, and from what I had seen of her she was pretty, maybe not lights out, but I always had the feeling she held herself back. Lana’s hair was always up, and she wore very little makeup.

The couple of times I had seen her out of her car she was dressed not only properly, but almost unflattering. Besides, standing here in my stained clothes and second time around boots, who was I to judge? Main thing was I meant what I said and hopefully could get her to smile. She had done that for me plenty of times and as Aunty said I should treat people the way they treated me.

I slipped the rose inside of my sweatshirt so I wouldn’t look like an idiot standing there with it, hurried down the street. Choosing the card had me running a little behind and hopefully that weird old bastard that always wore the army jacket hadn’t gotten there first.

Usually I beat him to it, but occasionally he would arrive first, and I had learned the hard way, by taking a beating one time, that street etiquette dictated it was only your spot if you claimed it first that day. The wind kicked up and pulling up the hood, I put my head down and made my way towards the industrial park exit. In order to keep my mind off the cold and to try to hold onto the first good mood I’d been in all week, I thought about Lana.

Over the months I’d been doing this, I had found some regulars I guess you could call them. It made sense, seeing that I worked the corner of an industrial complex and people went to work that way every day.

Although random people would give me a buck here and there it seemed like mostly the same people would give me something, and sometimes more than money. Last month a guy named Rob gave me two sweatshirts his son was going to throw out, and there was a woman who had brought me a bagel a couple of times.

Lana was my first regular, or at least the first I recognized. She had given me a dollar a couple of days in a row, then the next time I saw her, she had given me a five.

I didn’t make that corner for a few days, due to getting a chance to work a little at the restaurant in the morning, and when next I saw her she asked my name and said she had been worried when she hadn’t seen me. I was surprised and asked why, and she said I seemed so young and she had been afraid something happened to me. I was touched, no one had worried about me in a long time and I think I had a lump in my throat when I thanked her.

The next day, Lana pulled her black SUV partway up onto the island and after handing me a coffee spent a few minutes talking to me. She told me her name and that she worked as an office manager at one of the companies on the far side of the park. She then gave me five dollars and after an awkward pause, asked me why I was out there. I gave her my standard answer of I was living with a family member who had gotten sick and I had no one else. She had tried to ask more, but after being vague with my answers, she took the hint.

From that point on any morning I saw her she would pull over and talk to me for a couple of minutes. Asking if I had any luck finding a job, and how I was doing in general. More often than not, she would give me at least five dollars and brought me coffee quite a few times. She was so nice to me I started feeling bad taking that much every day from her. One day when I was upset because I had run out of time on my phone she showed back up a half hour later with a ten dollar phone card.

A couple of weeks ago Lana and I had gotten to know quite a bit about each other. It was a Friday, and the night before it had snowed like an absolute bitch, over twelve inches of heavy wet shit covering the ground. I had trudged out to my spot, hoping the weather would get me some sympathy and a few extra dollars. Lana had pulled up and asked if I wanted to make some money.

I said I would be thrilled to, I would much rather earn something then just take handouts. Lana told me she had a huge driveway and walkway, and certainly wasn’t going to shovel it. She normally paid a couple of neighborhood kids twenty bucks apiece to shovel it, but figured why not ask me this time?

I initially felt a little weird and asked if she cared if I knew where she lived. Lana had smiled and said she could tell I was a good guy who was just having it rough, not a criminal. I still felt weird, but she was offering forty dollars, which meant I could get some more time on my phone and maybe buy a couple of small things I needed.

I agreed and she asked where I lived so she could pick me up. I didn’t want her to do that, I hated where I lived and although I’m sure she knew I lived in a pit I did not want her to see it. I told her that it was a rough neighborhood and I didn’t want her driving through it.

Lana had given me one of her huge smiles that always got me to smile back and said things like that were why she knew she could trust me. She then added that someone had raised me right.

My smile faltered as I thought of Aunt Carmen and where she was now. Lana seemed to sense she had hit a nerve and backing off the subject, offered to pick me up where she always saw me. I told her to get me further down the road at a seven eleven instead. When she asked why I shrugged and told her that she worked here and it would look bad for her if someone saw me get in her truck.

Lana gave me another smile, but this one was different, not quite as big and almost a little sad. She told me how thoughtful I was and made a comment that she wished the other men in her life were that way. Feeling as if it were now me who had unwittingly hit a sore spot, I said thank you and told her I would see her the next day.

When I went to bed that night, I felt oddly excited. If I had been thinking about the money I wouldn’t have found it odd, but the fact I was excited about going to her house was what got me. I didn’t think for a minute anything funny was going on, hell she was twice my age with a great job, and I highly doubted she was the type to go slumming.

I think what I was happy about was that I was going to get a chance to spend time with someone who genuinely seemed interested in talking to me; I would get to feel human for a while. Lana picked me up right on time, with a coffee for me of course, and we drove to her house. She lived in Warwick in a fairly well to do neighborhood and she had not been kidding, her driveway was massive. In fact her house itself was pretty damn big, especially for someone who lived alone.

She invited me in to sit for a while, but I told her I wanted to get started right away. Lana shrugged and pointed at a shovel propped up against the garage, told me to feel free to come in and warm up if I needed to.

While she was talking I tried to nonchalantly check her out. Up to that point, I had only seen her sitting in her truck. She was normally wearing a leather jacket, and scarf, and her brown hair was always up. I was disappointed to notice that I couldn’t really notice anything.

Lana was wearing a pair of jeans that were pretty loose fitting and a heavy shapeless gray coat. Although her hair wasn’t up, it was pulled back in a ponytail, which at least gave me an idea of the length, but that was it. She wasn’t wearing any makeup, and I had to say, she looked pretty good for her age, which I was guessing was early forties.

All in all she looked like the everyday woman next door. Well not completely, Lana did have two exceptional features, the first that amazing smile, and then the biggest brown eyes with the longest lashes I’d ever seen. I’d always had a thing for doe eyed brunettes, and caught myself staring as she spoke to me.

Either she didn’t notice, or was nice enough not to mention it; as she simply smiled and headed into the house. I shoveled my ass off and spent over three hours clearing the driveway as well as the front walk and a path to her garage. She hadn’t asked for me to do the last part, but I wanted to do a good job, and it felt good to work hard.

By the time I was finished, I was tired and numb from the cold, but felt satisfied that I had done something worthwhile for someone who seemed like they would appreciate it. I went to the door and rang the bell, when Lana answered I told her I was all set and was going to go up the road and catch the bus home.

Actually, where I was going to go was to see Aunt Carmen. The home she was in was located in North Kingstown, three buses from Providence, but only one from here. Lana shook her head and said that she would take me home. Before I could start to argue, she added that she would only do that after I came in and had lunch.

I tried to hedge, but with a sly smile she reminded me that she hadn’t paid me yet, and she forgot to mention lunch was part of the deal. I stood there uncertain, and tried to look upset, but her smile kept growing wider and eventually I gave a mock sigh and agreed. Lana hadn’t made anything fancy, grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, but it was the best meal I’d had in a long time because it didn’t come in a wrapper. Lana sat across from me at the kitchen table and had a bowl of soup while making small talk about the weather and how bad the Sox looked and it wasn’t even spring training yet.

Lana was doing most of the talking as I was concentrating on scoffing down the food. She asked if I wanted another sandwich and as I hesitated, she laughed and got up to make me one. While Lana stood over the stove I looked around the house. The kitchen was good sized, but the living room that was visible through the archway was enormous. I didn’t know much about wood and furniture in general, but nothing in the house looked cheap. I could see a hallway across the living room and several closed doors that I assumed were bedrooms.

As my eyes wandered across the furnishings I saw a mantle that had several pictures over it. They were all of two boys, one was blond, but the other had dark hair and was the spitting image of Lana. They looked around my age and were obviously her sons. I heard a phone ring, and turned to see Paul take her cell from her pocket. She turned away from me as she spoke and continued to cook.

Taking advantage of her being distracted, I turned in my chair so I could see more of the living room. There were several framed photos on the wall of her boys; High school graduations, proms and a couple of nice ones with Lana posing with them.

My eyes lingered on one of them in which she was wearing a black dress that was just a touch on the short side. I leaned forward, to get a better look and from what I could see, she had some nice legs. Her brown hair was down and I was surprised at how curly it was.

“You can go in there if you want.” Lana had said behind me, scaring the shit out of me.

I turned around quickly and muttered something along the lines of I was just looking. I felt stupid; although I’m sure she didn’t think I was checking her out in a picture. Lana put a plate with two more sandwiches down for me and again sat across from me.

She looked into the room and told me that the pictures were indeed of her sons Josh, and William. They were a little older than me, and both were attending the University of Florida. As she spoke she sounded proud, but there seemed to be a hint of sadness there. In fact she looked the exact way I felt when I spoke of my mom or my aunt.

Gestures that made Lexi go wild and hard – part 1 will continue in the next page.