Chapter 4 Luke Mendez
June 2015
The house was perfect, even if it had been a bit too big for him alone. He’d lived there for several months when the U-Haul trailer appeared in the house’s driveway two doors down. He was idly curious, but paid it no mind. It wasn’t his business what his neighbors did.
He was more intent on getting dressed, starting his day, and completing his retreat plans. Luke yanked a loose thread from the cuff of his shirt as he rolled up the sleeves the way he liked them. He needed to seal the deal with an architectural designer. He’d met with the realtor and made his offer on the land with the lake.
Once he was sure he had the deed in his hand and he had an excellent design, he’d find a contractor and order the log house from the Mennonites in Missouri. It had to be quality. It was going to be home for a very long time. The search for a talented designer was the order of the day!
He was waiting for the mail carrier just after lunch a week later to be sure that his letter would arrive on time. He’d found the perfect design. If Luke could get Ursala Knowles to design the house, he felt he’d be winning.
She was young. Being deaf had made her determined, and her designs had been the best he’d seen. She’d bid an excellent price as well.
Luke wasn’t dumb enough to believe that there wouldn’t be overages, or that she wouldn’t charge him every time she changed the design because he thought of things he hadn’t thought of at first. He paid for the charges upfront, so she’d be happy to make them for him.
He’d sent a deposit check along with his request that she take on the job just to stitch the deal closed. He’d already changed the doorknobs to handles, and the kitchen was going to need to be much bigger.
Luke wasn’t worried about the size of the structure. He had enough land that it wouldn’t matter, so long as the damage to the environment was kept to a minimum.
He might even oversee the construction himself. He talked to Jimmy when the postal jeep stopped before his box a couple of weeks after he’d seen the U-Haul.
The man wasn’t bad as far as mail carriers went. Maybe it was the direwolf in him, but most mail carriers rubbed his fur wrong. Jimmy was relaxed and country. He was nice.
“How’s it going, Jimmy?” Luke asked as the jeep pulled over to the curb in front of his mailbox.
“It’s good, Mr. Mendez. I got me a three-day weekend coming. No mail delivery for me on Monday. I’m going out of town for a wedding. There’ll be a substitute carrier.” The mailman grinned as he handed Luke his mail.
“Weddings are always fun. I’ll be sure to wait for you to return before I mail out anything important in that case.” Luke smiled back at the man.
He was distracted from the conversation when the white truck belonging to his neighbor two doors down the street passed his house. The blonde driver was singing a bit off-key with the radio and never looked his way.
Luke tracked her progress to her house. He watched her get down from the truck, carrying a few grocery bags. She entered her house.
She was fine. Like too gorgeous to be real.
He shouldn’t have been looking at her. For all he knew, she was married, but damn, what living man didn’t look at a woman like that?
Blonde, green-eyed grace walking. That was what that was. How the hell he’d missed that before. He was positive he didn’t know.
Luke hadn’t been with a woman in nearly two years. His neighbor suddenly reminded him he wouldn’t mind being with one again, especially if she wanted to apply for the position.
“Mr. Mendez, you might want to rethink all that ogling. She has grown children. Likely, be a serious age difference between you, no matter how good she looks,” Jimmy observed.
Jimmy did not know how old Luke was. Luke still looked like he had in his middle thirties.
Canine shifters stopped aging after they shifted around the age of thirty-five. Being in his early fifties, he should have gone grey, had some facial wrinkles, or put on the middle-aged paunch, but it had never happened to him.
“What, no. I mean, she is pretty. Grown children, hunh?“
Luke turned back to face the postal worker.
“Yeah, I’m surprised she’s still here. She must like the position she got in the schools here. She’s been living here year round for going on a year. Elizabeth Miller teaches. She bought that big old house two or three years ago. She used to only live in it during the summer.”
“You don’t say?” Luke waited for the mail carrier to fill him in on the gossip. Jimmy was full of information.
“Yeah, I think I heard she was a high school teacher. Tough lady to do that kind of work. I wouldn’t think about it even if they educated me enough. Kids these days are packing knives and guns in their backpacks instead of lunch boxes and books.”
Jimmy shook his head, denying the idea that teaching high school might not be scary.
“Tough lady indeed. I don’t think I’m cut out for that job myself.” Luke nodded his agreement.
“I gotta run, Mr. Mendez. If you need more information on Elizabeth Miller, then you best ask Ms. Ellington. She keeps up with everything and everybody during daylight hours.”
Jimmy pointed at the house diagonally across the street from Elizabeth Miller’s house and then drove away as Luke waved his thanks. He took his mail inside his house.
He was still thinking about his neighbor, Elizabeth Miller. Jimmy had read his interest for sure, but she had to wait. He had some work he had to do, so he put the beautiful blonde out of his mind.
He had to speak with his lawyer about finally taking some serious money out of the trust fund. It was when he fell asleep that night that he knew he needed to know more about the pretty blonde woman.
The blonde teacher invaded his dreams rather scandalously. He might be a gentleman, but he damn sure wasn’t an innocent man.
For the first time since he was a kid, he woke up needing to relieve himself with his hand to get back to sleep. He was going to have to pay closer attention to Elizabeth Miller.
The song Hot For Teacher by Van Halen ran through his mind as he showered off in the middle of the night, making him laugh. He felt alive. It was good.
Thank you for your support! Welcome to the dream… Sincerely, -OK
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