BurningMonkey
TheMan In TheMirror
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2014
- Posts
- 4,861
"Hurry up, Tom; Jake and his girlfriend will be here soon," Gloria called from the back door. "You need to clean up--you can't impress her looking like that!"
"What's wrong with the way I look?" he called back. He was busy cutting up a dead limb that had fallen from one of the trees in the backyard during last night's storm. "If she can't handle a guy in work clothes, she's not fit for my son!" he joked, but she was already gone. Probably fussing over the table arrangement, Tom thought amusedly. He knew his wife--she would want everything to be just perfect for their first meeting with Jake's new girlfriend.
He stood and stretched his back; nothing like a little outdoor work to make a man feel alive. The flannel shirt was sticking to his chest and back from his exertions, and the saw in his hand (a handsaw, thank you--he'd never felt comfortable around chainsaws) felt good, real good. It reminded him of his days on the farm, clearing brush in the chill Autumn air and going back to the house after a good day's work to have a hot meal and a cold beer with his father...
Well, there was still some work to be done, here, and it wouldn't do itself. If Jake's girlfriend was put off by it, that fell under the heading of Too Bad. It's not like I'm dating her, after all... That was Jake's department to worry about. But if he knew Jake, the boy would be oblivious to the finer points of etiquette...
"What's wrong with the way I look?" he called back. He was busy cutting up a dead limb that had fallen from one of the trees in the backyard during last night's storm. "If she can't handle a guy in work clothes, she's not fit for my son!" he joked, but she was already gone. Probably fussing over the table arrangement, Tom thought amusedly. He knew his wife--she would want everything to be just perfect for their first meeting with Jake's new girlfriend.
He stood and stretched his back; nothing like a little outdoor work to make a man feel alive. The flannel shirt was sticking to his chest and back from his exertions, and the saw in his hand (a handsaw, thank you--he'd never felt comfortable around chainsaws) felt good, real good. It reminded him of his days on the farm, clearing brush in the chill Autumn air and going back to the house after a good day's work to have a hot meal and a cold beer with his father...
Well, there was still some work to be done, here, and it wouldn't do itself. If Jake's girlfriend was put off by it, that fell under the heading of Too Bad. It's not like I'm dating her, after all... That was Jake's department to worry about. But if he knew Jake, the boy would be oblivious to the finer points of etiquette...