“By the way, I’m Xander. Apologies for not introducing myself sooner.” 

He paused at the front door and extended a hand. Taking a deep breath, I reached forward and grabbed his hand, shaking it quickly. 

“I’m Kyle. Nice to meet you, Xander.” 

I managed a smile in return and hoped he hadn’t noticed how shaken I was earlier. We started back down the path towards the driveway. 

“So when did you start working for WC Construction?” 

He glanced over at me with that same small smile as he asked this, and I had to center my nerves with another steady breath before I smiled in return and answered. 

“Ah, about 20 minutes ago?” I laughed. “I actually work for Glenn Construction Supply down the road, but that’s just a side job too. My main job is at the vet clinic in town... I work there three days a week, but it has such short hours that I had to pick up another job to keep the bills paid. Guess that’s the one problem with small towns, keeping a business like that alive…” 

I realized I was rambling and my face began to heat once more. “Oh, I better get back to Jim, he said he needed my help unloading. See you around!” I managed a smile as I fled towards Jim, my new savior, heart pounding in my chest.

A glance over my shoulder revealed Xander heading towards a group of workers, seemingly oblivious to my plight. I paused next to a pine for a moment and took a final deep breath. 

What the hell was that? I dated a few girls through high school and college. I thought they were all cute in their own ways, so when they confessed it just seemed natural to start going out. I never felt anything like this… this raw attraction. Leaning my head against the tree, my brain swirled in confusion. 

I pushed away from the tree and shook myself a bit. Putting aside my scrambled emotions, I resolved myself to start on work, and deal with my thoughts later.

***

“All right boys, we need to wrap it up for the afternoon, good job today.” Jim’s booming voice rang out over the chaos of noise from the construction.

 Startled, I looked up from my task to see that the sun was already past its peak and heading back towards the horizon. The sounds around the clearing began to change from the clattering noise of hammers and high-pitched whines of drills to the dissonance of idle chatter. Jim’s large, firm hand clamped down on my shoulder. “Hey kid, can we count on you to help out tomorrow too?” 

I smiled and replied, “I can help out in the morning but I’ll have to leave a bit earlier to head to my other job in the afternoon, is that ok?”. 

A smile split Jim’s large face as he chuckled out, “Of course that’s ok, thanks so much for the help today. Here’s your pay.” 

He pulled out a white envelope and handed it to me. “Go ahead and head around to the truck, I’ll meet you there in a minute after I make sure my idiots don’t leave their tools out before they go.” 

I watched him walk towards the large group of workers packing their things into their trucks, then started my walk to the side of the building.