Chapter Thirty Nine

He reached for another onion from the tray on the table, but his head was full of her. Thoughts tumbled around, endless questions. Unable to tear his eyes away from her, he watched as she looked around the kitchen.

Chloe —with great masses of black hair that escaped in tendrils from her ponytail and fell in wisps around her face. A long curl hung down the back of her neck. Her shorts clung to her hips and he could see a hint of her cleavage as she leaned over the table. Timothy stared at the onion in his hand and tried to remember what he was supposed to be doing with it. Their eyes met and held. He heard the drip of water from the tap. A moment passed, and then with a self conscious little shrug, she came to stand beside him and began to work on some green beans.

“I really thought you were leaving after the meeting," she said. "So why did you stay?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I just want to. I'm curious, but you don't have to tell me if you feel like it's none of my business"

Daniel laughed. “I don't mean that, Chloe. I guess I just want to know why you care.. Or if you do” he said. “But if you really want to know. I didn't leave yet because I didn't want to go without seeing you”.

She stopped slicing up the beans, as if his words halted her but she didn't say anything and didn't look at him either. When she didn't speak, Timothy shrugged, then returned his attention to the carrots in front of him. A moment later, unable to resist, he looked up to find her watching him.

"What?" he asked.

Chloe shook her head. "Ermm.. Nothing" she replied hastily. "I guess I'm just a little surprised, that's all. I thought after that time at Susan's place, you seemed to want to keep everything …professional between us. You seemed to think that getting involved was a mistake you didn't want to repeat again."

Timothy brought the knife down on a strip of carrot he had already chopped. Too vigorously. The carrot skidded off the table. He bent to pick it up, tossed it into the bin by the sink, and looked over at her. Her gaze was once again on the beans in front of her. She looked kinda worried and she had sounded kind of hurt when she spoke of their time together. He couldn't blame her and he knew it. He had been a jerk and pushed her away because he couldn't handle his attraction to her. He didn't know how to begin to explain and apologize so he remained silent and focused on dicing. Chloe seemed to understand and he was grateful that she didn't push him to give her a reply.

Soon everything was chopped. He looked down at the shapes and colors of the vegetables they had chopped. Squares of green. Slivers of white. A tomato, vivid red quarters reflected in the knife’s steel blade.

He watched Chloe pour some vegetable oil into the pot, and began to add the diced vegetables one by one into the heated oil. He drifted over to stand beside her and they stood shoulder to shoulder, the smell of the ingredients filling the air. A wisp of smoke curled slowly upward and then she added the remnants of the chopped onions. She grabbed a spatula and began to stir.

“God, we have chopped enough vegetables for an army” She said. “At this rate it will be midnight before we even see dinner”.

Timothy laughed as he stood aside to watch her. She stirred with a look of grim determination. After a minute or two, apparently satisfied things were under control, she shot him a look.

"What?" she asked.

He stayed there, close enough to feel the warmth of her back against his chest. He shook his head to clear the fog of sexual desire.

“I would like us to talk about something after we eat. Is that alright?” he asked.

"I guess that's fine.” She replied. Her hands on the spatula had gone very still. “Is everything okay? You sound serious”

“Well.. It’s kinda serious”

“Owkay… Should I be worried?” Chloe asked.

He shook his head. "No… No. If anyone should be worried it’s me. Look, forget about it for now. One thing at a time. Let's focus on dinner. It smells so good and my stomach is beginning to make noises.”

Chloe nodded and returned her attention to the food, but she couldn't help but wonder what it was that he had to say. For an hour and Thirty minutes they worked together, telling stories about their lives since high school, job experiences and their families... Well mostly Timothy's family as Chloe wasn't quite ready to talk about hers. She turned to Timothy as she turned off the stove.

"Oh well" she said as she looked around the kitchen. "We have made quite a mess in here" she said, walking to the sink that had some dirty dishes in it. "You know you must be hungry after all that work. Why don't you go sit in the dining room? I can bring you the food and you can eat while I tidy up in here"

Timothy hissed as if she had said something crazy. "Nonsense" he said. "You don't have to be like that. I can help you tidy up. Besides, it doesn't sound like fun to just sit there while you clean up here. I would be bored out of my mind. Let me help you. We can eat together when we are done. Doesn't that sound better?"

Chloe simply nodded, unable to say anything in response to his question. She was confused about so many things. A few weeks ago, he wanted nothing to do with her except it concerned business, and now that any kind of relationship between them was almost impossible, here he was... In her house.. Helping her make dinner. "Fine. Then help me do the dishes." she said finally.

"Happy to" he replied as he approached the sink. "I noticed that we are perfect when it comes to working together. Don't you think so too?"

Chloe looked away from him. "Oh I'm thinking many things" she replied.

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They sat on the couch in her living room after eating. Watching TV, they looked like an old couple, Chloe thought. And she had to remind herself that they weren’t a couple, even if she would totally love it if they were. They could never be one and it wasn’t his fault that she was so smitten by him.