[chapter two]
Disclaimer: If you've heard of
them, I don't own them. Everything else is mine, so no stealing, pretty please.
;-)
**
"Where's Jimmie?" Chad asked a couple of hours later as Faye typed furiously on her keyboard. "Did he leave? Can I have the hot, nasty sex with you instead?" He teased with an affectionate grin for his favorite friend-who's-a-girl.
"Nice try." Faye threw over her shoulder. "He went out for a quick jog so I could try and get some work done. Unfortunately, I keep getting frickin' 'illegal operation' error messages, so I don't think I'm going to be getting much work done."
"What did you do?" Chad asked curiously.
"Chad, if I knew that, I would have fixed it." Faye rolled her eyes playfully. "I'm gonna have to call Mia. Again."
"Who's Mia?" Chad questioned.
"My personal computer guru. A girl I know from my last job. Total genius when it comes to computers. And unless I throw it out the window, she can fix it. I'm gonna go call her before I lose complete computing patience. You need anything?" Faye asked, standing to cross the room towards the kitchen phone.
"Nah. I'm good. Thanks."
Chad focused on the made for TV movie playing on the television in front of him as Faye called her technical advisor, marveling at the changes she had undergone in the last few months. Gone was the shy, timid girl with the overbearing, abusive boyfriend. Instead Jimmie and Chad had inherited a warm, affectionate den mother who took care of them, made sure they got enough sleep, and kept them smiling even on bad days. Chad had only known Jimmie for a few years, but he'd never seen the man happier than when Faye walked into a room. And when she was gone, it was as though he were watching the door like an obedient retriever, just waiting for his master to come home and fuss him.
Chad didn't know where his sanity level would be without Jimmie. And he didn't know where Jimmie's would be without Faye.
It was really hard not to really like Faye. Every guy in the shop did.
Especially when she made her super-secret-recipe brownies.
"Crisis averted?" Chad asked, unable to draw his eyes away from the car wreck of a movie he was watching on the Lifetime Channel.
"She's on her way, thank god. Jeez, Chad, what are you watching?" Faye asked, flopping down beside him.
"I couldn't even tell you, and yet, I'm powerless to change the channel."
"We gotta find you a life." Faye teased, kissing his cheek softly. "I'm gonna go look through my notes. If the doorbell rings, can you summon the strength to answer it for me?"
"I'll work through the pain." Chad said with a solemn nod.
"My hero." Faye answered before bouncing up as she heard the garage door slam. "Honey!" She called as Jimmie walked into the room, breathing heavily and red-faced, making her squirm as he pulled her into a sweaty bear hug.
"I need a shower." Jimmie murmured in her ear, too low for Chad to hear. "Wash my back?"
Faye pushed him away theatrically,
but following him up the stairs nonetheless, leaving Chad to shake his head
at the two crazy kids as he sat back to watch Delta Burke battle with her
cheating husband on Lifetime.