Southern Hospitality

“I feel like I should have painted before moving everything in here.” Sydney says to Jared a few hours later. The movers and their giant truck have long since gone, leaving the two sitting on the couch, staring into the blank wall in front of them.

“No way! Jensen and I are pros when it comes to painting with furniture in the room.” Jared says, tipping the beer bottle to his lips and taking a swig. “Have you decided on colors or anything?”

“Well, first thing's first, before it rains later this week, I am power washing this house and repainting it.” Sydney takes a drink from her own beer bottle. “The inside of the house can come when it rains.”

“Look at you being a smart do it yourselfer.”

“I have done my research on this, so I think I have it under control.” Sydney smiles over at Jared, seeing Harper stretched out at his feet, Jet over her own feet. Chase is curled up on his lap. “Thank you. For all this help.”

“Oh, it's not a problem. You and the movers seemed to have it under control when I got here.”

“If that is what you want to call it, we'll run with it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Half of the stuff I ordered, I am going to have to send back because it's not matching the vision I had in my head when I ordered it.”

“Well, work your vision around those items.”

“It's not that simple.”

“Why not?”

“I can't decorate this house... I’ve never had to do something like this alone.”

“I can help you the best I can.” Jared offers and finishes off his beer.

“Well, when my mom gets into a town in a couple days, you are more than welcome to help us out.” Sydney smiles and hands Jared her half empty bottle. “Here, I'm not much of a beer drinker.”

“Oh, had I known, I would have brought something else!” Jared says, taking the bottle.

“No, no. Please don't worry about it. I'm an occasional drinker.” Sydney pauses before giggling. “Well, besides the glass of wine before bed, I only drink on the occasion.”

“A glass of wine a night keeps the doctor away.” Jared jokes and sips the beer.

“Well, it's true. My mom swears by it.” Sydney says then laughs with Jared's booming laughter. “I'm serious.”

“I bet you are.” Jared smiles down at Sydney as his hand runs over's Chase's soft fur. “So, plans for tomorrow?”

“I am thinking about running to the hardware store and looking into some pain that will hide the dandelion yellow that is covering my house.”

“Well, that sounds like a plan.”

“Wanna join me?”

“I would, but I work tomorrow.” Jared pouts before running his fingers through his hair. “Jensen's at the hardware store tomorrow, so I'll tell him to be on the look out for the chick wanting to cover the yellow.”

“Really? That would be awesome! Thanks.”

“It's not a problem.”

“Speaking of work, where do you work?” Sydney asks, watching Jared set Chase on her lap before reaching down to pet her larger dogs.

“I run the general store my mom opened in town. She has one in Texas but felt the need to open on here so she knows I am keeping myself busy.”

“Oh wow, that's awesome. So you're like, big boss man?”

“Pretty much. Manager. Boss man... It's all the same.” Jared says as he stands up, grabbing his empty beer bottle. “So, that means I should get going. Up and early to take Ma to the airport then head over to the store.”

Sydney nods and stands, setting Chase down on the ground. “Okay. Tell your momma I said thank you for the dinner and being such a huge help these past couple of days.”

“She lives by southern hospitality, so it's no big deal to her. But I will be sure to tell her you said so.” Jared walks with Sydney to her front door and opening it. “Have a good night, Sydney.”

“Careful getting home, Jared.”

“I will.” He smiles and steps out onto the front porch.

Sydney nods and smiles back at Jared. “I'll talk to you tomorrow?”

“Sure! Maybe I can take you out to dinner. Just to show you around. It's not a date or anything, I swear.” Jared hurries, trying to get his intentions out.

Sydney shrugs and runs her fingers through her hair. “Sure, why not? I've only seen the town while passing through.”

“Great! So, I'll call you when I get home tomorrow and we can go from there.”

“Sounds good. Have a good night, Jared.”

“You two, Sydney.” He smiles and waves before turning and heading down the stairs.

Watching as the black pickup truck drives down the dirt road, meeting Jared as he gets to the side of the road. Peaking around Jared, trying to get a glance of the guy behind the wheel, Sydney sighs when she realizes her new friend is the size of tree. Smiling to herself, she shakes her head and steps back, shutting and locking the door.

“Time to get ready for bed, my babies!” Sydney exclaims, shutting the overhead light off and turning the porch light on before turning to look down at her dogs. “Brand new bed! Come on!” She takes off running through the house and up the stairs, the sound of the dogs following close behind. Harper beats her up the stairs, followed by Jet while Chase is half way up the stairs. Sitting on the stop stair, Sydney smiles and opens her arms. “C'mere baby.” Chase barks and quickly climbs the remaining stairs, wanting to get into his owner's arms. When Sydney secures Chase into her arms, she stands and walks into the bedroom where Harper and Jet are already sitting on the bed.

Sydney walks to the bed and sets Chase down in the middle. “Mommy's going to take a shower before bed, so the three of you get comfortable and I'll be back soon.” Her voice quiet to her three dogs as she pets them. “Behave.” She says firmly before turning to walk to her dresser, getting out clean sleep clothes on her way to the master bathroom.

After a warm shower, Sydney is dried off and pulling her clothes on. She returns to her bedroom, toothbrush in her mouth to shut the windows and to pull the covers down. Walking back into the bathroom, she finishes her nightly routine before shutting the light off and walking over to the bed. Climbing in around Jet, Sydney snuggles under the warm down comforter and cotton sheets.

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As she walks across the parking lot and into the hardware store, Sydney moves her sunglasses from her face to the top of her head. Looking around, she turns to her right and heads down the nearest aisle, hoping to start finding some of the things on her list. Grabbing an abandoned cart, Sydney walks to the back of the store where she sees bright colors of paint. Opening the list, she rests it on top of her purse, parking the cart in front of the paint.

“Hey there, how can I help you?” A velvet soft voice asks after Sydney has been standing in front of the color selection for a few seconds. Turning to look at where the voice came from, Sydney's breath stops in her throat. The man standing to her left has short, dark, dirty blonde hair. His eyes are a bright green. Sydney's eyes move lower to his plump, pale pink lips before they move over his broad shoulders. Another thing she notices that he stands a few inches shorter than Jared.

Remembering how to breathe, Sydney shifts on her feet, and shuffles the paper in front of her. “I, um – I'm looking for white paint strong enough to cover yellow siding.”

The answer to his question causes the man in front of her to fall silent, and Sydney can see the recognition float over this face. “Oh, you're-”

“Sydney.”

“Yeah. Jared told me to look after you whenever you came in.” He says before stepping forward and extending a hand. “I'm Jensen Ackles.”

Sydney takes his hand, loving the roughness of the callouses on his tanned skin rubbing against the smooth, pale, texture of her own hand. “Sydney Ellis.” She offers him a soft smile, meeting his green eyes with her own. “Nice to finally put a face with the man Jared talks about.”

“I could say the same for you.” Jensen says, smiling back at Sydney before taking his hand from hers. “Minus the fact that you aren't a man.”

“I knew what you meant.” Sydney shifts and rubs her hands over the denim of her shorts. “So, do you think you have anything strong enough to cover the dandelion yellow covering the siding of my house and the red of my deck?”

Jensen nods, stepping forward and flipping the paint display to show siding coverings. “The dove white is the brightest and strongest paint we have. Plus, Jared and I tried it out on the house one night.” He offers, pulling the sheet from the display and holding it out to Sydney.

“That's what the spot besides the backdoor came from!” Sydney giggles and takes the sheet and pretending to examine it. If Jensen says it will work, then she is going to trust him. “How much do you think I'll need to cover the house?”

“Well, we have five gallon buckets full of this stuff, if you go with those instead of the single gallons, maybe three or four of them. To cover it completely and correctly.”

“I'll need five of the five gallon buckets then.” Sydney says, handing him the sheet and crossing the words siding/deck paint of off the list.

Jensen takes the sheet and puts it back before reaching down to grab a notepad out from under the paint display, writing down Sydney's name on the top of the paper, then writing down the paint order. “Anything else?”

Looking down at the list Sydney nods before turning the display as Jensen had done before. She points out the colors she is going to need for the inside of her house. “I guess just a five gallon bucket of each.”

“The shudders on the house, were you wanting to repaint them as well?” Jensen asks after jotting down the numbers for the colors Sydney pointed out, the the amount she needed.

“I kinda wanted to keep them the sky blue color, but Jared talked me into painting them black.”

Jensen chuckles and jots down something on his notepad. “Alright, and you'll probably just need a couple gallons of that.”

Sydney looks down at her paper, smiling as most of the items are now crossed off. “Most of everything on here was paint related and it's all crossed off.”

“What else did you need?” Jensen asks, holding his hand out for the paper.

Placing the list in his hand, Sydney shifts on her feet once more, watching his eyes as they scan the yellow piece of paper in his strong hands. “Follow me.” He says before turning and walking down an aisle. She smiles slightly, watching him write down what she needed and how much before walking a little further down the aisle to where the brackets and curtain rods are located. “Do you know the style you want?”

Walking to stand besides Jensen, Sydney almost forgets what she is supposed to be doing. Being that close to the man, Sydney can feel the heat come off his sun darkened skin, smell the spice of his cologne and the mint from his gum. Making a point to crack the piece of gum in her mouth to make herself focus, Sydney pictures the rooms and points out what she wants for each. After writing everything down, Jensen crosses them off her list and handing the paper back to her.

“You now have a completed list.” He smiles and steps back some.

Sydney smiles back and folds the yellow paper up into fourths and slides into one of her back pockets. “Thanks for all your help.”

“Oh, it's no problem. I'm going to get suckered into helping install these items, so I might as well know what I am dealing with.”

“Yeah, Jared mentioned reeling you in to help. But if you don't want to-”

“Sydney, I don't mind. It's what I do.” He says with a wink that makes Sydney's heart nearly jump out of her chest. But all she can do is nod and look down at her painted toes to hide her blush. “Do you need any of this today?”

Sydney shakes her head and looks up at Jensen. “No, but if it's not too much to ask, or too short of notice, I kinda wanna get the house and deck painted before it rains this weekend.”

Jensen chuckles. “No worries. Jared and I already have plans to power wash it tonight and then start painting in the morning tomorrow.”

“I'll be sure to start dinner when I get back and have breakfast waiting when the two of you get to the house.”

“There is no need, really.”

“I insist.”

“Plus, I thought you and Jared were going out to dinner tonight.”

Sydney nods and runs her fingers through her hair. “Yeah. And he mentioned inviting you and one more of his friends.”

Jensen rips the top paper out of the notebook before stuffing it into his jean pocket. “Yep. So after dinner, we're swinging back by here to grab the power washer and then going to your place.”

“Okay, that sounds good.”

“I'll ring all of this up tonight then bring you a total to dinner so you can pay when we stop by here after.”

Sydney nods and turns to the cart when her phone starts to ring. “That's my mom.” She says, grabbing the phone. “It was nice to finally meet you, Jensen.”

“You as well, Sydney. See you tonight.” He smiles and offers her a small wave before turning and walking away from her.

“Mom, you are not going to believe what just happened.” Sydney gushes as she watches Jensen walk away, loving the way his legs bow at the knees.

“What?” Her mom's voice going a higher pitch with curiosity.

“I just met the real life Adonis. This man is the definition of beautiful.”

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“No, there is no freaking way you are getting me up there!” Sydney laughs, leaning back in her chair where she is seated between Jared and Jensen.

“Go ride the bull!” Jared urges before standing up and picking Sydney up playfully.

“No!” She reaches for Jensen, whom she has been shamelessly flirting with all night. “Help me!”

“Jared, dude, we'll work her into it another night. For now, we just enjoy.” Jensen takes her arms in his hands and helps her back into her seat.

“I owe you my life.”

“No, you owe me coffee in the morning.” Jensen chuckles before resting his right arm across the back of Sydney's chair, beer in his left hand. It ended up being just Jared, Jensen, and Sydney at the bar that night. Jared's other friend had to work.

“Deal. Maybe, I'll make you pancakes and eggs.”

“Don't forget the bacon!” Jared says excitedly.

“I won't forget the bacon. Aw, damn! No breakfast... I still don't have a stove.” Sydney pouts which causes the guys to laugh. Sydney rolls her eyes and nudges Jared's side gently. “So, besides this amazing bar, what else is there in this town?”

“Let's show her town square.” Jared offers, shooting up and out of his chair.

Jensen chuckles and stands up as Sydney does. “Sounds good to me.” He shrugs his leather jacket back on before putting a couple bills on the table to pay for the beers. Sydney goes to dig through her purse for her wallet, but Jensen gently circles her wrist with his fingers. “Nope. I got it covered.”

Sydney smiles and squeezes Jensen's hand before turning and following Jared out of the bar, Jensen's hand on the small of her back reminds her that he's still there. As if her hair standing on end didn't do that enough already. Ever since standing besides him in the hardware store, Sydney has been feeling this electricity passing between her and Jensen whenever they were close enough to one another.

“So, city girl, how are you liking the country?” Jared asks as the three walk down the sidewalk, the click of Sydney's heels reverberating off the brick building they pass by.

“I am really starting to like it. The babies just love it and of course the freedom, as you called it, could be the best part.”

“Not having to worry about anyone but yourself and the pups.”

“Yeah, it's really, really nice not having to worry for a change.”

“Poor Jensen, he's standing there trying to piece together what's going on.” Jared jokes, nodding to his left where Jensen is walking on the other side of Sydney.

“Hey, I am just listening to the two of you talk.” Jensen replies, pulling his hands from his pockets to hold up in front of him.

“And having no idea what it's about.” Jared chuckles, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

Sydney smiles, feeling like the safest girl in town with the two men on either side of her. Sliding her hands into the pockets of her own jacket, Sydney turns to look at Jensen. “Since you don't know my story, I'm going to tell you.”

“Sydney, ignore him. You don't have to tell me anything until you're ready.” Jensen says with a smile that reassures that he is speaking the truth.

Sydney just shrugs. “I'm sure you've heard the town people talking about me.” Jensen nods his head but stays silent. “I'm twenty-four, from Southern Indiana, moved out here with my three dogs after I caught my ex-husband in bed with my ex-best friend. I'm here to start a new life for myself.”

Jensen nods his head, chewing on a piece of mint gum he put in his mouth before Sydney started talking. The three stay silent for a few moments as they enter the town center. “I'm sorry to hear about what happened between your ex and your friend.” Jensen offers, rubbing his hand over Sydney's back.

Sydney had been looking up at the cherry blossom trees but the second Jensen touched her back, she turns to look at him and smile warmly. “Don't worry about it, really. It's his loss as much as it's hers.”

Jensen smiles and takes his hand from her back. Sydney follows Jared around the circle path they have surrounding a brass bust of the town's founder. He wraps an arm around her shoulder and pulls her close. Sydney leaves her arms crossed over her chest before giggling as Jared trips over his own feet.

“Shush! It's not fun being this tall.”

“Now I feel like a midget. Thanks!”

“Perfect size! Not midget.”

“Perfect for what? Another midget?”

Jared stays silent but nods towards where Jensen is standing talking to a guy Sydney saw in the hardware store. “For Jensen. After meeting you, he called me and just gushed about how gorgeous you are.” Sydney's face instantly flushes causing her to look down at the pavement. “You're going to be good for him, I know it.”

“What's wrong with him?”

“Well, nothing is wrong, but he'll have to explain. None of it is my place to explain.” Jared says with a shrug before guiding Sydney to stand with Jensen as the man walks away.

“So, who's ready to start power washing a house?” Jensen asks before covering his mouth to hide a yawn.

Sydney turns her head and covers her own mouth as she yawns making the guys laugh. “What? They're contagious.”

“That they are.”

Jared rolls his eyes. “I say we just power wash in the morning. We're all beat and we'll need light in order to properly clean the house.”

Jensen nods in agreement. “Alright. Sydney, think you can drop by the store in the morning to pay?”

“Yeah, I'll pick up breakfast.”

“You and trying to feed us.” Jensen says with a smile.

“Hey, I love food so she can feed me as much as she wishes.” Jared says with a smile. “Plus, she knows we won't take her money.”

“Oh yes you will. If I paid you in food for all of the work the two of you are about to do for me, I would be feeding you for the rest of my life.”

“How about, because you are helping us out, we let you off the hook.” Jensen offers as they start walking to the Walmart parking lot where they all parked their cars.

“How so?” Sydney and Jared both ask in unison.

“You cook for us every Thursday night. Jared and I are both off work, and that will give you peace of mind for helping.”

Sydney acts as if she needs to think it over before shrugging. “Sounds like a plan.”

Silence fills the air around the three, and Sydney feels the hairs on her right arm standing up when Jensen shifts a little closer to her. “So, you want to meet me here in the morning?”

“Sure. We can ride back in your truck and when we come to bring the washer back-”
“I'll drop you off at your car. Genius plan.” Jensen finishes with a smile.

“Look at the two of you finishing each other's sentences already! Who smells young love? I do!”

Sydney blushes, looking back down at the pavement and she hears Jensen chuckle before the two guys open the doors of their truck. “So I'll see the two of you chuckle-heads tomorrow?” Sydney asks, unlocking her SUV.

“Bright and early. With coffee.”

“Store opens at 6, so we can meet here around then, okay?”

“So early!”

“People want to get their work done before it gets hot.”

“Not us though. We get to play in water!” Jared laughs, hugging Sydney with one arm before climbing into his truck. “I have to get home to let the kids out. So I'll see the two of you in the morning.”

“I'll probably be gone by the time you get to the house so the door will be unlocked and the coffee will be ready. You helped me put my groceries away so you know where everything is.” Sydney says, opening the door of her SUV.

“Good plan, Sydney!” Jared smiles and starts his truck. “See y'all.”

“Bye, Jared!” Sydney waves.

“Catch ya later, dude.” Jensen reaches in to start his own truck.

Jared waves and with that he is pulling out of the parking lot and heading towards his house. Sydney starts her SUV and looks over at Jensen. “Tonight was fun.”

Jensen nods. “Yeah it was. We'll have to make it a regular thing.”

“I agree.” Sydney says, looking around as the lights in the store windows go out. “Meet you at the store around 6?”

Jensen nods and walks over to hold the driver's side door open for Sydney. “Yes, ma'am.” He smiles and shuts it once Sydney is safe behind the wheel. “Bring me coffee?”

“Of course.” She smiles and puts her purse in the passenger seat.

“Okay. Drive safe. And I'll know if you don't because I'll be right behind you.”

Sydney nods and puts the car into gear, keeping her foot on the break. “You too, Jensen.” She smiles and watches as he waves slightly before stepping back and walking to his own truck. Once the door is shut, Sydney takes her foot off the break and starts towards her home for the evening. Looking into her rear view mirror, a soft smile comes to her lips when she sees that Jensen isn't far behind her.