"Lucy, I'm home!" a voice called.

Summer came out of Dana's room now dressed as she did spend most of the day in her pajamas. She was just about to put her hair up when he came in.

"Hey, Ricky," she said with a smile.

"Hey," he said, smiling back. He was covered in sweat and dirt again.

"I'm going to shower and then we can go," he said, walking towards the bathroom.

"Okay," she answered and went back to her room.

"What do you do?" she asked as they drove to his house.

"What do you mean?" Jesse asked puzzled.

"For a living."

"Oh, I thought you knew."

Summer shook her head her ponytail flopping.

"I'm a builder."

"A builder?"

"Well, construction contractor, I guess. My family has a business. We build houses, restore houses, repair houses, and whatever else involves a hammer and saw."

"Ah."

"Why?" he asked curiously.

"Just wondering."

Summer looked out the window as they drove. Jesse pointed out some places of interest, but it was mostly a residential area. 

After arriving at the house, they walked around the back to the gardens. Summer hadn't seen that much of them when she was there with Dana. Summer was interested in the garden but it didn't seem to interest Dana, so she hadn't kept Dana long. 

Under the masses of weeds, she could see color wanting to burst out. Jesse had at least an acre of just flowers that were overwhelmed by tall grass and weeds. Summer couldn't wait to get in there and get the beauty out.

Jesse sighed. "I guess we need a bulldozer or something."

Summer spun around. "Don't you dare!"

"You going to whack your way through that?" Jesse asked, gesturing to it in doubt.

"Yeah!"

Jesse laughed. "Good luck." He positioned his hands mockingly in the form of pen and paper.

"So, item number one on the list, a jungle knife," he pretended to write down on the pad in his hand.

Jesse followed her into the tangled bushes. "You're nuts," He told her as she went further in, pushing the tall weeds away as she moved through them.

Summer gasped in awe as she moved some weeds out of the way. "Look, Jess! You have roses here!"

"And snakes," Jesse grabbed her arms and quickly pulled her back. She screamed when she saw them and dashed behind him. Summer wrapped an arm around his waist and put her head into his back.

Jesse squeezed her arms reassuringly. "It's okay. They're just garden snakes, but we should get them out of here."

"Please do," Summer said, pulling away from him. She looked at the ground and backed up, still holding onto his shirt.

"Jesse!" she heard a voice call. Summer looked up to see an older blond man with the upper half of his body hanging out of a second-floor window. "Everything okay down there?"

"We've got snakes," Jesse called back. He took Summer's hand and lead her out of the garden.

"Not surprised." The man called down his reply, "Why don't you come up? I want to show you something. Bring Summer too."

Jesse nodded and led Summer to the back deck stairs.

"How does he know my name?" Summer asked, disappointed when Jesse let go of her hand.

"Everyone knows your name with Dana around," Jesse said as he opened one of the back French doors. "Hey, we've got air conditioning," he said with a proud smile as he stepped inside.

"Thank God!" The guy she met a few days before, Colt, said to him.

"Quit your complaining and get back to work, slacker," Jesse told him.

"I only work for you because you're family. Otherwise, I would have quit months ago."

"Summer, this is my cousin, Colt. Pay no attention to him."

"We've met."

"Yeah, Summer and I go way back," Colt said, tossing an arm across her shoulders. Jesse narrowed his eyes at his cousin. "A couple days," Colt said with a grin, pleased to see the jealousy cross his cousin's face.

They went upstairs and Summer stepped on natural unpainted sub-flooring.

"Don't worry it's stable, now," Jesse told her, touching her back lightly so she would move forward.

"Jesse?!" she heard a voice call.

Summer followed Jesse to the left and they entered a large room. 

"Hey, dad!"

Summer studied him. The man was as tall as Jesse and had matching eyes and the same color hair, but their facial structure was different. The man was built more like a football player than the more slender built Jesse.

"Well, Summer, it's nice to finally meet you. Dana's told us so much about you over the years," Jesse's father said, wiping his hand on his jeans, and then shook hers.

"Thanks, Mr...uh," she started until she realized she didn't know Jesse's last name.

"James, but you can call me J.R."

"Jesse James?" Summer sputtered, glancing at Jesse.

"Just be quiet. It's all his fault," Jesse grumbled, pointing to his dad.

"It is, I admit. It was cute when he was a baby though."

"It still is," Summer said, patting Jesse's back.

Jesse smiled embarrassedly. "So, what you want to show me, old timer?"

"Look what we found when we were replacing the drywall," J.R walked his son to the left corner of the room. There was an open doorway and a flight of stairs.

"A walkup attic?" Jesse asked in surprise, sticking his head in.

"Go on up. Floors are pretty good, but I'd still be careful," J.R said.

Jesse went up the stairs cautiously with his dad and Summer following behind.

He reached the top. The room was packed with things. Old furniture, a crib, an old-fashioned rocking horse, and many packed boxes.

"Wow," Jesse touched the wooden head of the horse.

"I'd say you've got at least fifteen hundred square feet up here. We won't know for sure until we get all the stuff out of here."

"Who would leave all this stuff up here?" Summer asked, lovingly touching an antique baby's crib.

"And seal the wall up?" Jesse asked, his eyes skimming around the room.

"Bad memories." J.R suggested. "Probably lost the baby, would be my guess. But you're going to have a hell of a yard sale on your hands, son." Jesse shook his head at the mountains of antiques piled in the room.

"If you want, I can call Frankie's Moving and I'll get them to move all the stuff out," J.R said as they climbed down the stairs.

Jesse thought a moment. "Yeah, have them put it all in the dining room though; I want to go through it first."

J.R looked over his shoulder at his son in surprise. "You want to go through all that old junk? Why?"

"Some of those are priceless antiques, dad. Clean them up and they'll be good to keep," Jesse answered as they reached the bottom and entered the bedroom again. "Like mom did for you." Jesse slapped his dad's back.

"You're lucky I love you, son," His dad said sarcastically. "Nice meeting you again, Summer," J.R said coming over to her. "We'll be seeing you Saturday, right?" he asked, putting an arm around her.

Summer's brows squished together in confusion."Saturday?"

J.R looked at his son.

"Hadn't gotten around to asking her yet, Dad," Jesse answered, giving his dad a dirty look.

"Then I'll invite you," J.R turned to Summer. "Pay no attention to my son. We tried to give him manners, but well...what you see is what you get," J.R said.

Jesse gave him an innocent look.

"Saturday, we are having a barbeque of sorts at our house. Family, friends, crew. There'll be lots of food, lots of fun, and we'd love to have you join us."

"Sure, I'd love to come!"

"See, son, that's how it's done."

Jesse looked up from his wrapping up of a cable. "Thanks for the lesson, pops. Truly inspiring stuff there."

"Uh, is there a working restroom here?" Summer asked them.

"Downstairs in the front hallway is the best we've got right now. Excuse the mess, you're dealing with construction men," J.R told her.

Summer nodded. "I'll be right back."

Jesse watched her leave and his father watched him. "You've got it bad, don't you, son?"

"What are you on about?" Jesse asked, picking up a saw and unplugging it.

"Summer."

"What about her?" Jesse asked, wrapping the saw cable. His dad laughed. "Come on, dad. It's not like that."

"Then what's it like? Enlighten me."

"She's my roommate. That's all," Jesse firmly set the saw down.

"And that's how it's going to stay?"

"That's how it has to stay."

"Why?" his dad challenged him.

"Because I have to live with her, dad!" Jesse snapped, "I can't start something with her. What if it doesn't work out? Then what do we do? And Dana? How would she feel if she had to take sides between her two best friends?"

He turned back to his tools, tossing the smaller ones into a nearby toolbox.

"What if it were to work out?"

Jesse stopped. He had thought of the possibility. Of Summer actually liking him back, of even loving him, and becoming his wife.

But all the other possibilities of him starting something with her ended up with Summer and Dana both hating him. And that he couldn't stand for. He'd take cold showers the rest of his life if he had to. He wouldn't ruin his friendship with Dana and he wouldn't ruin having Summer around just because he wanted her. He could learn to handle having her just live with him. Just so she would be with him. But what if...

Jesse paced the floor and then stopped to look out the window "I can't...I can't talk about this now."

"Alright. But you know I'm always here if you want to talk." 

Author Note:

Did you get the Ricky and Lucy reference? Or am I just old? I am not THAT old but I know about them because (I can't say, let's see if the younger folk know)  ...