You Leave Me With a Dangerous Taste
Two
My job started at eight in the morning on a Monday. It was a reasonable time for me to start, the drive wasn’t much longer than twenty minutes and I still got to see Jack before I left. Of course, he had a nine to five job, so his schedule was a little different to mine. I started earlier and ended later, but we worked around it. Since we only had one beat up car, I always got to use it for my job since Jack could easily walk on good days or take public transport. We had it all figured out.
I arrived at Mr. Gaskarth’s house at eight on the dot. The gate was already open this time, so I swiftly walked to the front door and rang the doorbell there instead. Apparently, a different sound was heard depending on which one was rung, but I was yet to hear it myself. I waited for a while, wondering if I had rung the right bell or if I had even pressed the right button that wasn’t some light switch. However, before I could try it again, Mr. Gaskarth opened the door.
He looked nowhere as cool and relaxed as when I had first met him. His perfectly tousled hair looked like it had been pulled on out of frustration, his smile was a bit more forced as he let me in, and he in no way looked put together. If he had looked this way when we met, I would have believed he was having the worst midlife crisis a man could have. He was wearing a light blue dress shirt with the collar still up, it not even tucked into his dress pants. He plainly looked like a mess… a hot mess.
I may have stared a little too long at the hair that made me wonder how disheveled he looked after spending a long night making love. I knew that the thoughts were so wrong. I worked for him, I had a boyfriend, I was fully committed to both. But everything in me wanted to let my fingers run through those locks of his to comb it back in place.
“I’m so sorry,” Alex apologized, as he tried his best to straighten out his shirt and stuff it into his waistband, “I just remembered I actually had an important meeting that needed me wearing formal clothes, and I’m a little behind.”
“No problem,” I shrugged it off and followed him down to the kitchen while he was stress speedwalking, “I’m happy to take William off your hands while you finish getting ready.”
“Thank you so much, he’s eating breakfast right now…” he mumbled, referring to the young boy sitting at the bar in the kitchen, trying his best to fix his tie. He stuck his tongue out a little as he tried to create the knot, only to let out a frustrated groan when it turned into a weird ball.
I don’t know what it was, but seeing him so bothered was making me feel things. The throaty growl he let out wasn’t helping the unfaithful thoughts going through my mind either. I had been able to push similar thoughts about Jack away before, of course I could do also do it to the thoughts of a strange man. Yet, I couldn’t help but lick my lips a little.
After his third try, I felt a little sympathy. As much as I enjoyed watching him get all frustrated, I needed to offer some aid. “Would you like some help?” I carefully asked.
His eyes snapped up towards me, giving me a wild look. When he realized how stressed he was, he softened up a little and gave me the eyes I knew from our first meeting. “You know how to tie a tie?”
I nodded and walked up to him, taking the tie from his grip. The first thing I did was to straighten out his shirt completely, which didn’t help my intense thoughts. His chest felt more toned than I had originally expected. I could feel the way his body could make me swoon. If it hadn’t raised any suspicions, I would have kept my hands there for a while longer. But I needed to snap myself out of it.
I proceeded to go through all the steps slowly to do the task thoroughly. “I tied my dad’s tie when my grandma passed, I tied my brother’s tie for his prom, I tied it for his graduation, I tied my boyfriend’s tie for our prom, I tied it for our graduation, occasionally I tie it if he just can’t seem to be able to do it before work. You’re next. I guess you can say I’m an expert.”
He was looking down at me, watching me rather than what I was doing. I could feel his eyes inspecting my face, not trying to see how I was tying the tie differently to him. “Boyfriend, huh?”
I nodded softly and pulled the knot tight so it was in the right position. After double checking that it wasn’t too short or too long, I let my fingers hook onto the collar and delicately flattened it out. Before I overstayed my welcome so close to him, I took a step back. It was only then that I realized that he had been closer than I had originally thought. His breath had been against my left cheek, cooling down the soft blush I had. It was only good that I broke away sooner than later.
Mr. Gaskarth didn’t ask any further questions and instead went up to his son. He picked him up from the chair and put him down on the counter, ruffling his hair. “Well, buddy, it’s time for me to go again.”
“No.” William stubbornly pouted and crossed his arms in rebellion.
“Paisley, here, is going to take good care of you,” Mr. Gaskarth continued to tell his son. “I’m pretty sure she has way more time to play dinosaurs with you than I ever had.”
“No,” William repeated, shaking his head as his bottom lip started trembling. It wasn’t long until a few tears he was trying his best to hold back escaped.
“I’m so sorry, buddy,” Mr. Gaskarth hugged his son closely. “I’ll be back before you even know it.”
But William wouldn’t stop crying. Mr. Gaskarth wasn’t sure what to do, I could tell from his posture. On one hand, he had to go to that meeting and couldn’t afford to be late, but on the other he couldn’t leave his son like this. However, that was what I was there for. This was the perfect cue for me to start my job.
“Hey, William, I brought something you might like,” I subtly interrupted and put my handbag on one of the barstools. I pulled out a large children’s book all about dinosaurs and handed it to him so he could hold it in his small hands. “Maybe we could read it together?”
His tears turned into a sniffle and slowly dried away when he saw the large figures on the front cover. I knew he couldn’t read yet, but the visuals were what it was all about. With how obsessed he was with the pre-historic animals, he couldn’t just let something like this not intrigue and distract him.
Mr. Gaskarth seemed to realize that this was something he wasn’t supposed to try and get into. So, he let me put William back on the floor and direct him to go sit in his playroom, that I would be there in a matter of time. It was so much simpler than most parents believed. All you needed was the key to a child's heart. In this case, it was dinosaurs.
“I’m impressed.” Mr. Gaskarth nodded with approval. “But I really should be going now.”
“Ok,” I smiled and closed my bag again, “I’ll clean up the kitchen for you.”
“Oh no, you don’t have to do that.”
“Yes, yes I do. There’s no way I’m going to be working in a house with a messy kitchen.”
He accepted it and lingered for a little longer. Despite him standing a few feet away, I could feel the heat radiating from him and his breath gracing the air with its warmth. He was standing there, just looking at me while I started cleaning the plastic cup and plate William had used. I briefly looked in his direction to see what exactly he was doing to see him just plainly staring at me.
My eyes being on him snapped him out of trance, causing him to shake his head in shock. He cleared his throat loudly and apologized. “Sorry, old habit… I used to kiss my wife goodbye in the kitchen before I left for work.”
I frowned a little, not understanding why he would be staring at me for that reason. With the picture I had seen on the cabinet before, I didn’t look anything like her. She was older, which made sense since Mr. Gaskarth himself was 30, had shorter brown hair, green eyes, and a rounder face. I was just a twenty-year-old blonde girl with generic gray eyes. I couldn’t remind him of his wife other than just plainly standing in the kitchen.
But I acted like I didn’t affect me, and instead behaved like it was the most normal excuse somebody could come up with. “Don’t worry, Mr. Gaskarth, William’s in good hands. If anything happens, I’ll contact you immediately.”
“I know, thank you.” He put on his jacket hanging from a table at the kitchen table and stopped before walking to the front door. “And please, it’s Alex.”
“Ok… Alex…” I nodded as he left the house.
I stayed with William until Mr. Gaskarth came home at six in the evening. The tie was long pulled off, the top button of his shirt was unbuttoned, and his jacket was slung over his shoulder. He obviously had had a long day at work. I offered to help him out with dinner, but he told me that he had it under control and let me go home. So, I did.
Jack was already at home and had cooked us dinner. Whenever I worked, it was his job since he came home earlier. However, if I was home during the weekends, it was mine, as were the days when I didn’t work or was in between jobs. Just like I had said before, we had managed to figure out how to make it all work for us.
We cuddled up on the couch after we had done the dishes together, Jack this time getting the job to wash them while I got the easy job of drying them off. It was part of our whole system. If one of us had a reason to celebrate a little, they got to dry off the dishes instead of doing the dirty work.
“So, how was your first day?” Jack asked, his arm wrapped around me as he pulled me tightly to his chest while the TV was playing softly in the background.
“Pretty good,” I responded, resting my head on his shoulder, my legs already up on his lap. “William’s such a sweet boy. He was so upset when his father had to leave in the morning, though. It was heartbreaking, but the dinosaur book did work.”
“You always know exactly what to do.” He gave me a loving smile and kissed the top of my head. “What does he actually do-- Wait, shouldn’t you have brought two books for when he had to say goodbye to his mother as well?”
“It’s just Mr. Gaskarth,” I shrugged, “although he insists I call him Alex.”
Jack’s voice lowered as he repeated what I said, “just Mr. Gaskarth…?”
“Don’t worry,” I rolled my eyes. Sometimes Jack was very overprotective, which I usually didn’t mind one bit. This time, however, it made me feel like he was accusing me of something. He most likely wasn’t, but the idea of those thoughts immediately came back to my mind. “His wife recently passed away, hence why I’m working there now.”
“Ok…”
“Oh, and I have no idea what he actually does. He never directly told me.”
“What, didn’t you go snooping around?” Jack teased, poking my side a little.
“No, Jack,” I laughed, trying to get away from his tickling touch, “I don’t snoop around. You would go snooping around.”
“Exactly. That’s why I get to help out with selling houses. Snooping around is my job!”
“Oh my god,” I shook my head with a bright smile on my face and sat up a little straighter so I could kiss him.
I arrived at Mr. Gaskarth’s house at eight on the dot. The gate was already open this time, so I swiftly walked to the front door and rang the doorbell there instead. Apparently, a different sound was heard depending on which one was rung, but I was yet to hear it myself. I waited for a while, wondering if I had rung the right bell or if I had even pressed the right button that wasn’t some light switch. However, before I could try it again, Mr. Gaskarth opened the door.
He looked nowhere as cool and relaxed as when I had first met him. His perfectly tousled hair looked like it had been pulled on out of frustration, his smile was a bit more forced as he let me in, and he in no way looked put together. If he had looked this way when we met, I would have believed he was having the worst midlife crisis a man could have. He was wearing a light blue dress shirt with the collar still up, it not even tucked into his dress pants. He plainly looked like a mess… a hot mess.
I may have stared a little too long at the hair that made me wonder how disheveled he looked after spending a long night making love. I knew that the thoughts were so wrong. I worked for him, I had a boyfriend, I was fully committed to both. But everything in me wanted to let my fingers run through those locks of his to comb it back in place.
“I’m so sorry,” Alex apologized, as he tried his best to straighten out his shirt and stuff it into his waistband, “I just remembered I actually had an important meeting that needed me wearing formal clothes, and I’m a little behind.”
“No problem,” I shrugged it off and followed him down to the kitchen while he was stress speedwalking, “I’m happy to take William off your hands while you finish getting ready.”
“Thank you so much, he’s eating breakfast right now…” he mumbled, referring to the young boy sitting at the bar in the kitchen, trying his best to fix his tie. He stuck his tongue out a little as he tried to create the knot, only to let out a frustrated groan when it turned into a weird ball.
I don’t know what it was, but seeing him so bothered was making me feel things. The throaty growl he let out wasn’t helping the unfaithful thoughts going through my mind either. I had been able to push similar thoughts about Jack away before, of course I could do also do it to the thoughts of a strange man. Yet, I couldn’t help but lick my lips a little.
After his third try, I felt a little sympathy. As much as I enjoyed watching him get all frustrated, I needed to offer some aid. “Would you like some help?” I carefully asked.
His eyes snapped up towards me, giving me a wild look. When he realized how stressed he was, he softened up a little and gave me the eyes I knew from our first meeting. “You know how to tie a tie?”
I nodded and walked up to him, taking the tie from his grip. The first thing I did was to straighten out his shirt completely, which didn’t help my intense thoughts. His chest felt more toned than I had originally expected. I could feel the way his body could make me swoon. If it hadn’t raised any suspicions, I would have kept my hands there for a while longer. But I needed to snap myself out of it.
I proceeded to go through all the steps slowly to do the task thoroughly. “I tied my dad’s tie when my grandma passed, I tied my brother’s tie for his prom, I tied it for his graduation, I tied my boyfriend’s tie for our prom, I tied it for our graduation, occasionally I tie it if he just can’t seem to be able to do it before work. You’re next. I guess you can say I’m an expert.”
He was looking down at me, watching me rather than what I was doing. I could feel his eyes inspecting my face, not trying to see how I was tying the tie differently to him. “Boyfriend, huh?”
I nodded softly and pulled the knot tight so it was in the right position. After double checking that it wasn’t too short or too long, I let my fingers hook onto the collar and delicately flattened it out. Before I overstayed my welcome so close to him, I took a step back. It was only then that I realized that he had been closer than I had originally thought. His breath had been against my left cheek, cooling down the soft blush I had. It was only good that I broke away sooner than later.
Mr. Gaskarth didn’t ask any further questions and instead went up to his son. He picked him up from the chair and put him down on the counter, ruffling his hair. “Well, buddy, it’s time for me to go again.”
“No.” William stubbornly pouted and crossed his arms in rebellion.
“Paisley, here, is going to take good care of you,” Mr. Gaskarth continued to tell his son. “I’m pretty sure she has way more time to play dinosaurs with you than I ever had.”
“No,” William repeated, shaking his head as his bottom lip started trembling. It wasn’t long until a few tears he was trying his best to hold back escaped.
“I’m so sorry, buddy,” Mr. Gaskarth hugged his son closely. “I’ll be back before you even know it.”
But William wouldn’t stop crying. Mr. Gaskarth wasn’t sure what to do, I could tell from his posture. On one hand, he had to go to that meeting and couldn’t afford to be late, but on the other he couldn’t leave his son like this. However, that was what I was there for. This was the perfect cue for me to start my job.
“Hey, William, I brought something you might like,” I subtly interrupted and put my handbag on one of the barstools. I pulled out a large children’s book all about dinosaurs and handed it to him so he could hold it in his small hands. “Maybe we could read it together?”
His tears turned into a sniffle and slowly dried away when he saw the large figures on the front cover. I knew he couldn’t read yet, but the visuals were what it was all about. With how obsessed he was with the pre-historic animals, he couldn’t just let something like this not intrigue and distract him.
Mr. Gaskarth seemed to realize that this was something he wasn’t supposed to try and get into. So, he let me put William back on the floor and direct him to go sit in his playroom, that I would be there in a matter of time. It was so much simpler than most parents believed. All you needed was the key to a child's heart. In this case, it was dinosaurs.
“I’m impressed.” Mr. Gaskarth nodded with approval. “But I really should be going now.”
“Ok,” I smiled and closed my bag again, “I’ll clean up the kitchen for you.”
“Oh no, you don’t have to do that.”
“Yes, yes I do. There’s no way I’m going to be working in a house with a messy kitchen.”
He accepted it and lingered for a little longer. Despite him standing a few feet away, I could feel the heat radiating from him and his breath gracing the air with its warmth. He was standing there, just looking at me while I started cleaning the plastic cup and plate William had used. I briefly looked in his direction to see what exactly he was doing to see him just plainly staring at me.
My eyes being on him snapped him out of trance, causing him to shake his head in shock. He cleared his throat loudly and apologized. “Sorry, old habit… I used to kiss my wife goodbye in the kitchen before I left for work.”
I frowned a little, not understanding why he would be staring at me for that reason. With the picture I had seen on the cabinet before, I didn’t look anything like her. She was older, which made sense since Mr. Gaskarth himself was 30, had shorter brown hair, green eyes, and a rounder face. I was just a twenty-year-old blonde girl with generic gray eyes. I couldn’t remind him of his wife other than just plainly standing in the kitchen.
But I acted like I didn’t affect me, and instead behaved like it was the most normal excuse somebody could come up with. “Don’t worry, Mr. Gaskarth, William’s in good hands. If anything happens, I’ll contact you immediately.”
“I know, thank you.” He put on his jacket hanging from a table at the kitchen table and stopped before walking to the front door. “And please, it’s Alex.”
“Ok… Alex…” I nodded as he left the house.
I stayed with William until Mr. Gaskarth came home at six in the evening. The tie was long pulled off, the top button of his shirt was unbuttoned, and his jacket was slung over his shoulder. He obviously had had a long day at work. I offered to help him out with dinner, but he told me that he had it under control and let me go home. So, I did.
Jack was already at home and had cooked us dinner. Whenever I worked, it was his job since he came home earlier. However, if I was home during the weekends, it was mine, as were the days when I didn’t work or was in between jobs. Just like I had said before, we had managed to figure out how to make it all work for us.
We cuddled up on the couch after we had done the dishes together, Jack this time getting the job to wash them while I got the easy job of drying them off. It was part of our whole system. If one of us had a reason to celebrate a little, they got to dry off the dishes instead of doing the dirty work.
“So, how was your first day?” Jack asked, his arm wrapped around me as he pulled me tightly to his chest while the TV was playing softly in the background.
“Pretty good,” I responded, resting my head on his shoulder, my legs already up on his lap. “William’s such a sweet boy. He was so upset when his father had to leave in the morning, though. It was heartbreaking, but the dinosaur book did work.”
“You always know exactly what to do.” He gave me a loving smile and kissed the top of my head. “What does he actually do-- Wait, shouldn’t you have brought two books for when he had to say goodbye to his mother as well?”
“It’s just Mr. Gaskarth,” I shrugged, “although he insists I call him Alex.”
Jack’s voice lowered as he repeated what I said, “just Mr. Gaskarth…?”
“Don’t worry,” I rolled my eyes. Sometimes Jack was very overprotective, which I usually didn’t mind one bit. This time, however, it made me feel like he was accusing me of something. He most likely wasn’t, but the idea of those thoughts immediately came back to my mind. “His wife recently passed away, hence why I’m working there now.”
“Ok…”
“Oh, and I have no idea what he actually does. He never directly told me.”
“What, didn’t you go snooping around?” Jack teased, poking my side a little.
“No, Jack,” I laughed, trying to get away from his tickling touch, “I don’t snoop around. You would go snooping around.”
“Exactly. That’s why I get to help out with selling houses. Snooping around is my job!”
“Oh my god,” I shook my head with a bright smile on my face and sat up a little straighter so I could kiss him.