Read Over the Fence for Free Online Page B

moved, and there was no sound for what seemed an eternity. I cursed myself for once more speaking aloud, except this time I had wanted her to know what I was thinking.
    Then Kourtney giggled.
    “That was, without a doubt, the cheesiest thing you have ever said to me, Nat. Did you hear it in some bad chick flick you were forced to watch?”
    I chuckled with her in relief. “I was hoping for another meal later,” I teased half-heartedly, glad she wasn’t upset. It was obvious she didn’t like personal remarks, unless it was to compliment her cooking.
    I wondered why that was. I thought women liked compliments—at least the ones I knew did.
    “No worries, Tomcat. Dinner’s on me. But stay away from the Romance channel, okay?”
    “No problem. Your mess of a laptop should keep me away at least until the end of the day,” I stated dryly.
    “It’s that bad?”
    “I’ve seen worse. Not many, but a few. Not to worry. It’ll be as good as new soon enough. Better even, when I’m done.”
    “I appreciate it.”
    I finished the burger and leaned back. “I know, Kourtney. I’m happy to help.” I wanted her to know I truly meant it.
    “I’m gonna go and make something right now. The door is open. If you need anything; you can holler, okay?”
    “Yep.”
    I sat motionless after she went inside. I could hear her moving around and the sound of Celtic music filled the air—the lilting notes tranquil. I was perplexed thinking about her reaction to my statement. I did like her laugh, and her giggles, which I often found irritating in most women. However, hers, for some reason, made me smile. In fact, I liked everything about her.
    I had never listened to voices before now—heard the nuances or inflections that set them apart from one another, but with Kourtney I did. I could tell so much about her mood from the tone of her voice. I looked forward to talking with her, sharing my day. Listening to her soothed me and made me feel as though I was no longer alone. It was a new feeling for me; but one I was strangely okay with. Somehow, though, I knew I needed to keep those thoughts to myself.
    Sighing, I went back to work, my lips quirking up as I caught sight of the bag of unopened chips beside me. My side dish.
    Maybe I was rubbing off on her.

    “Okay, listen up, Kourtney with a K.”
    I pushed the laptop across the top of the fence. “I defragged it. I got rid of the multitude of viruses and spyware you had. I added a good antivirus software. I cleaned up your hard drive. I backed it up and saved your data. You do know what a backup is, right?”
    “Yes.”
    “You need to do that on a regular basis.”
    “Um, my computer at work is automatically backed up nightly. I guess I never think about it.”
    I pushed another small device her way. “Here’s an external hard drive. Plug it in every Sunday. It’ll automatically back up everything you’ve done in the past week.”
    “Oh. Really? Just plug it in?”
    I rolled my eyes at the worry I could hear. “Yes, all you have to do is connect it. It’s programmed to do everything automatically. I also added some more memory to the laptop so it should be faster. Plus, I upgraded your operating system. And lastly, here is a USB key. It’s a portable memory drive. You can take files back and forth to work.” I paused and cleared my throat. “Do you have something against your screen, by the way? Do you poke it on a regular basis? It was covered in fingerprints. Dusty ones.”
    She giggled. “It’s habit. The computers at the lab are all touch screen and sometimes I forget mine isn’t. I try and scroll up when looking at a recipe and it doesn’t work.”
    “Well, that explains the unusual amount of flour I found on the keyboard. I sucked it all out with my vacuum tool, but you should wipe your fingers.”
    “Okay.”
    Her chair moved as she sat down and I heard the slight squeak of the laptop lid being opened. “Wow. I didn’t expect all this. Thank you. Please