op13

Welcome to the Neighborhood / Meat Loaf











“So, what’s with the name?” Louisa asked as she stepped into the lab looking around.


Lead smiled at seeing her, his heart skipping a beat. Jack entered carrying a bag of dirt and glancing quickly between them, became very focused on putting the bag down and leaving quickly for another.


“It’s from the Gymnobelideus leadbeateri …”


“The possum?” Louisa interrupted, surprising Lead enough that he paused and physically stopped short. “Um..yeah. How…?”


“Zach did a paper on marsupials last term.” Louisa shrugged, seemingly oblivious to Lead’s amazement. “I get it, now.” She added seriously. “I thought you meant lead like in pipes.” She shrugged it off and walked to where the brothers were piling things. Lead’s smiled grew and he followed her.


“Zach’s your son? The one who didn’t really want to go to lunch with Tim?” Lead laughed.


“Yeah.” Louisa laughed. “One of them anyway. Zach’s thirteen. James, my other son, is ten. So what are you going to do here?”


“I’m going to build a wombat home.” Lead answered matter-of-factly, his hands on his hips surveying what he and Jack had just brought in. “My brother’s helping me bring some stuff in.”


“Wow.” Louisa nodded glancing at the wood, Plexiglas and bags of dirt and sand piled in the room.


“I’m sorry, I know this is cliché but you don’t look old enough to have kids 13 and 10.” Lead glanced sideways at Louisa, she looked to be between 28 and 32, which would mean she would have had to have had Zach at 19. Lead doubted she had become a foreign language teacher of two languages being a mother to two children so young.


“Oh, I’m 38.” Louisa shrugged off handedly, again giving Lead pause as she turned to survey the rest of the room. “You need to put some posters or something up in here. It’s kind of dull.”


“Yeah. I think you’re right.” Lead smiled stepping up next to her. She was certainly like no other woman he’d ever met before in his life: confident, direct, beautiful, and very intriguing.


“You know, you should also get one of the kids to help you build that.” Louisa tossed her head at the pile of supplies. “It looks like it could be a lot of work. If you want, I’ll send Andrew you’re way. He helped me build the shelves up in my room. He’s a good kid. He’s been wanting to meet you too.”


“That’d be good.” Lead looked down at Louisa, wondering if he could just ask her out.


“If you want. I don’t mean to be pushy or anything. I just think you’re going to need more help with that.” Louisa looked sincerely concerned, causing Lead’s heart to race even faster. “And I know it’s hard when you’re new to some place.”


“No. You’re right. Help would be great.” Lead nodded feeling inept.


“Well, I should let you find where you’re brother went.” Louisa laughed. “I’ll send Andrew your way.” She smiled and took a few steps toward the door.


“Is there a Mr. Harris?” Lead blurted out, the bluntness of the question even surprising himself.


“There is one…” Louisa turned back to Lead, “but he’s not my husband anymore if that’s what you’re asking.” Louisa smiled at Lead, who blushed and smiled back.


“Will you have dinner with me tonight?” Lead took a step toward Louisa, his heart raced, he’d never been so direct about anything in life and if she said no… Louisa’s pause seemed an eternity.


“Drinks maybe or early dinner? Like four? I’ll have to pick up the boys at 5:30. Is that ok?” She stepped towards Lead, her head tilted to one side. She hadn’t expected such a question. She had presumed that a man like Lead surely had a wife, or at least a girlfriend, back home and that his interest in her was purely lingual. She had spent enough time in foreign locals to know it was always nice to find someone who spoke your language and it was always hard to be in a new place.


“Anything I can get.” He smiled at her with shrug of his shoulder, causing her heart to skip a beat.


“You don’t have a wife do you?” Louisa scowled at him. He had checked her own marital status before asking her out, but still he was a Latin American male, a long way from home.


“Never. No current girlfriend, either. And it’s my brother who’s the family flirt. He’s going to be very shocked and proud of me about this conversation.” Lead laughed.


Louisa nodded, blushing slightly as she laughed and registered the whole conversation, wondering a little about the wisdom of accepting his invitation. It was just dinner, after all, she thought as a bell rang in the distance.


“I need to go.” Louisa glanced at the hallway that was now starting to fill with students. “I’ll meet you at you here when I get done?”


Speechless Lead nodded and watched Louisa exit into the stream of plaid. Jack would be proud. Hell, he was proud. Lead glanced at his watch, and he only had approximately six hours before he saw Louisa again, he smiled to himself.