I considered hiring someone to help with the upkeep around the one hundred plus year old house, but my funds were limited. The attorneys gave me a monthly allowance of five thousand dollars. Half of the amount went into a savings account for taxes, the rest was mine to spend for living day to day. If there were major repairs around the place, I could get help with them.

The weather for October was unseasonably hot so I wore a pair of workout shorts and a tank. I started raking and making piles in the front yard. I wanted the yard looking good for the trick-or-treaters descending in two days. The last thing I needed were the neighbors complaining that I let my aunt’s house run into the ground.

After an hour of raking, bending, and bagging, a car honked close by and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I put the rake down and saw a group of young guys getting out of a car. They were waving as they walked toward me. They looked to be high school age and perhaps the offensive line of the football team.

“Hey,” a tall blond called to me.

I scanned the area unsure if I was safe. Luckily I saw the neighbor two doors down on his front porch watching the unfolding scenario.

“Hi,” I responded with a bit of hesitancy.

“We were just driving by and saw you raking. Thought we might help you out. Pretty lady like you shouldn’t be doing a man’s job.” The blond puffed out his expansive chest. It was a very nice chest.

“Oh, I don’t mind.”

“Well we do.” All three of the hotties stood in front me in a line. One of them picked up my discarded rake.

“Really, you all don’t have to do this.” I tried to protest.

“We want to. Guess we should introduce ourselves. I’m Ben,” said the blond.

“I’m Marcus,” said another.

“I’m Sly,” said the last one. From the looks of him, all side swept bangs and dazzling smile, it appeared he was named appropriately.

“I’m Trish. Trish Hopkins.” I held my hand to my throat realizing I was one sweaty mess at the touch.

“We’ve not seen you around here before,” said Ben. “Believe me we would’ve remembered.”

I blushed at the inference and tried to hide a smile. Do I thank him for that compliment? I had no clue and didn’t want to ratchet up the flirting with high school boys.

“Well, I am new to town. Not really new. More like newly returned. I was raised here.” I took a breath and watched them smiling and checking me out. I suddenly felt underdressed.

“Glad you’re back.” Sly said in a sweet slur. Good God he was smooth.

“Do you have any more racks, I mean rakes?” Ben asked and I giggled. It appeared he was the official spokesman of the group.

“I saw a couple more in the shed out back. Rakes that is.” Now Ben blushed.

“Got it. Marcus and Sly you all get started out here.” Ben took off toward the back and grinned mischievously as he passed by me. I sure as hell don’t remember boys looking like this in high school. Well, there was Thomas. He’s the exception to everything here in Marietta.

The boys had raked and bagged every single leaf in my yard. I tried to offer them some money, but they refused. All they would take were water bottles and a promise from me that I would come to their football game on Saturday. Ben said his first touchdown pass would be for me.

I hated to admit it but I enjoyed the attention. Maybe it made up for all the times Fatty Patty was ignored when I lived here. The game wasn’t until two in the afternoon. So if the Peckers thing left me hung-over, I had time to recover Saturday morning.

I was digging through my closet in search of the perfect “Gretchen” dress. It needed to be bright and bold. Something flashy but still classy. I decided on one of my favorite dresses and best of all it was new to all the eyes here.

The dress was a bright turquoise with red accents along the neckline and it hit me mid-thigh. Maybe it was a bit too summery, but the color was perfect. It showcased my blonde hair and blue eyes. I’d made an appointment tomorrow at an upscale salon in town too. Now I just needed to pick the right shoes. I wanted to aim for the “fuck me” kind as I pulled out a couple pairs.

As I was deciding between a pair of peep toe pumps versus spiky stilettos, I heard shouting outside. I hobbled on different shoes to the window and saw the taillights of a car pulling away from the curb.

The car’s tires squealed and I saw the reason why as the streetlights illuminated my aunt’s yard. There were small white objects all over my front yard. Thousands of them and dammit those boys had just finished getting the yard cleaned up.

I threw off my heels in a huff and ran down the stairs to see what the hell was scattered all over the lawn. I stood at the top of the porch stairs and stared at forks… Hundreds upon hundreds of forks.

I sat down on the steps and started to cry. I don’t know what tipped the emo scale, but I think the whole moving thing caught up with me. Plus, I was starting to feel like I was connecting to my hometown again. This trickery took that wind out of my sails.

I heard a car pull up, then a door opened and shut. I looked up to see a sight for my teary eyes. Thomas. All decked out in his navy blue police uniform as he strode up the concrete path to the house.

I quickly wiped away my tears. The last time I saw him I was crying. I worried he might label me a hormone head case if I didn’t watch out.

“Good evening, Trish,” Thomas said like a knife through hot butter. I melted into the step even with the chilly night’s air.

“Hi Thomas,” I stood up to meet him and realized I was clothed in an almost see-through camisole and barely covering my ass boy shorts. I thought I was in for the night, so I had on my pajamas.

Thomas’ eyes landed on my nipples, as they seemed intent on saying hello to him. Part of me wanted to cross my arms over them, the other side said stick out your chest. It’s not too easy to hide D-cup boobs, so my inner hussy won and I made my way down the stairs to meet him on the lawn. I’m pretty sure things bounced as I did too.

“We got a call that you were forked,” he said while sticking his hands in his pockets and shifting on his feet. Or was he shifting himself down there? I’ll go for Pecker land.

“Forked?” I looked closer at the white pieces of plastic sticking out of the ground. Sure enough, plastic forks were shoved into the dirt every few inches. I couldn’t even imagine how many of them there were.

“Yep. It looks like you’ve been thoroughly forked.” he chuckled and added a smirk that hit me between by legs.

“Ha, ha,” I said back to him. “You wish.” Thomas raised his brows as to confirm that he did indeed wish. Good God. I was a goner for this guy.

“You're the fourth fork I've had tonight.” He moved a little closer to me and I caught a whiff of his cologne. Yes. Completely gone.

“Don’t you get around? I thought that was wasn’t allowed on duty?” I teased him back and moved even closer still.

“Just drinking,” he answered. “Though I’ve never been told not to have sex while on duty, but I guess that’s implied.”

“You think?”

“I do.” He removed his hands from his pockets and rubbed them over my bare arms. I might’ve heard my camisole tearing as my nipples broke through when I felt his soft touch. “As much as I love seeing you out here in next to nothing. You need to change into something warmer. I’ll start cleaning this shit up.”

I nodded as he removed his hands from me. “I’ll be right back.” I turned and hurried inside. My mission. Find the sexiest hoodie known to man.

An hour later, most of the forks resided in trash bags. Thomas refused to let me pick up anything. So I used the hour to stare at his arms as they reached for each fork and pulled. Then there was that perfect ass of his on display as he bent over. I’m now a big fan of forking.