The Beast, the Boy, and the Rose

"Got a screwdriver?" he asked.

"Sorry, I don't have any tools" she said.

Eric had already decided that he'd find a reason to need to go get his own tools, so he was glad to hear that she had none.  Saved him time.  When he returned he had taken off his shirt and wore his tool belt.  As he leaned inside the workspace Abby crouched down beside him to see for herself, needlessly steadying herself by placing her hand on his bare back.  When the metal lid over the relay was removed, there was nothing visibly wrong inside.  Eric wouldn't have known that such a device usually wouldn't appear damaged even if it had failed completely.  But he pulled out his electrical tester and poked the leads on some of the connections until he found a combination that lit it up.  After a few seconds of what appeared to be intense concentration, he sighed and said:  "I'm not so sure that's the problem."

But he didn't mention that he would never have had any idea what the problem was, or wasn't, anyhow.

"Eric, I'm really glad you're here!" she said.  "I don't know anything about this stuff!  Do you know what's wrong with it?  Can you fix it?"

"Don't know yet, but hold on, I wanna' check out a couple more things" he said as he reattached the relay cover.

He then went upstairs and turned the thermostat up to maximum and returned.  After a few minutes when the furnace failed to ignite, he finally thought to flip the power switch.  The lever felt loose and a spark was visible beneath the cover plate.

"Uh-oh," he said.  "Think I found your problem!"

"Oh?  What is it?"

"Bad switch;  Right here" he said.  See that?"

He flicked the switch back and forth several times, throwing small sparks and occasionally sending power to the fan motor.

"Can it be fixed?" she asked,  eyes imploring like a helpless child.

"Easy enough" he said.  "Cheap too!"

"Eric, would you talk to the repairman for me when he comes?  I don't understand all this stuff and I'm also afraid he might try to con me cause I'm a woman."

"Don't worry," he said.  "I can do it for ya' myself.  Won't take but a few minutes.  Hafta' go get a new switch, though."

"I won't know what to buy!" she said.

"Come on, I'll go with you."

They drove to the local hardware and purchased the simple single pole electrical on-off switch.  Eric joked with the neighborhood merchant and acted as though it was perfectly normal for him to be seen in the company of beautiful admiring women.  When they returned, he once again removed his shirt and put on his tool belt.  Then he turned off the electricity at the house's main service panel.  Ten minutes later, the new switch was installed and the furnace was working.

"Oh, thank you so much!" said Abby, and she gave him a warm slightly-too-long and slightly-too-close hug, with a gentle slightly-too-open-mouthed kiss on the cheek.  Pulling away, she left one hand on his chest and her hip touching his, while her left breast rubbed against his arm.

"You're a genius!" she squealed with a friendly elated smile.

When he turned his head to face her, they were only inches apart.  She hesitated a second, let her demeanor change, then turned away as if she had caught herself before she would otherwise have felt a greater temptation.  Acting nervous and flustered, she blubbered something about 'more coffee' and Eric agreed to another cup.  At the moment, he didn't want the morning to ever be over.

Eric left his shirt off as they sat at the table, and waited for an opportunity to enhance the closeness he could feel developing.  She wasted no time in providing one, by avoiding eye contact and trying to be nervously distracted while she poured the coffee.

"What's wrong?" said Eric.  "You were happy just a few minutes ago, now ya' seem down in the dumps again."

(Here we go again!)

"Oh, -I'm sorry, -Nothings wrong, I'm fine" she answered.  "Guess I'm just tired cause of missing so much sleep last night."

"Why couldn't you sleep?" he asked.

She took a long slow breath, and told him again that it was "just a personal problem" and it would work itself out.

"Come on now, I can see it's not that simple" he said.

(Guys were so easy.)

"It's nothing really," she said.  "I just get a little depressed sometimes is all, ya know?"

"What could someone like you have to be depressed a