HOA

"Um, okay. Hold on," she replied trying not to let him get under her skin.

"Jayden? Your father's on the phone," she called out.

Jayden normally came running. Well, such as 'normal' was for someone who rarely called. This time he walked out and when his mom held out the phone, he took it but didn't seem interested in talking.

"Hey, Dad," he finally said before heading back to his room.

Less than two minutes later, Jayden came back and handed his mom the phone.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

"When is Ken coming over?" was his reply.

"He's working late, but he said he'll be here."

"Okay. Is dinner almost ready? I'm starving," her son said.

Valerie smiled then let him know it wouldn't be much longer.

Just as they set down to eat, they both heard the truck pull into the driveway, and before Valerie could stand up, Jayden shot out of his seat and ran to the door.

"Ken! What took you so long?" he asked as he hugged the sweaty contractor.

"I was working, buddy. And now you probably smell like me," he said as he looked over the boy's head at his mother who was smiling happily at him.

She'd followed her son over, and once Jayden moved away, she moved closer.

"Be careful," he warned her.

Valerie noticed but not only didn't care, she found the 'scent of a man', on him, anyway, very alluring, and it reminded her of how that was something she never smelled on her ex unless it was from going three days without taking a shower.

"I don't mind," she said sweetly as she moved closer. "At all."

"I want to kiss you so bad," he told her as Jayden stood close by watching.

"Then...kiss me," she said quietly, not caring her son was looking.

She stood on her tippy toes as he leaned down to kiss her, and when he did, she slid her arms around his sweaty neck then put one hand behind his head and pulled him close as she kissed him back.

His hair was still damp from perspiration, but when the kiss ended, Valerie said, "That was so worth it!"

She was holding her arms out to her side to let them air dry even as she stared at Ken's rock-hard body though the white tee-shirt he was wearing.

"I'm a mess so I think I'll just go take the backboard down, and call it a day," he told her.

"You...you don't have to do that," Valerie told him, the disappointment heavy in her voice.

"I can't come in...like this," he said as he held his arms out to the side.

"It's just sweat," Jayden chimed in saying. "And sweat is just a thing."

Ken tried not to laugh, but when Valerie saw him smile it made her so happy she laughed and that allowed Ken to laugh, too.

"Mom! It is," Jayden told her as though that's why she was laughing.

"You're right, honey. Sweat is just a thing," she said without taking her eyes off of Ken, whose thick hair was matted down with, well...sweat...and looked incredibly sexy to her.

"Why don't you have something to eat with us first?" she suggested.

"Well, if I can at least go wash off, I can throw my shirt on and leave this nasty tee-shirt in the truck," he readily agreed.

"Or you could leave it here and I could wash it for you," Valerie offered, a smile still glued to her face.

"Will you help me bring Hank in?" Ken asked, understanding the hidden meaning behind washing his clothes.

"Like you have to ask," she told him.

As they went outside, she asked Jayden to put out a fresh washcloth and a towel for Ken to use.

A few minutes later, Ken came out of the bathroom looking and smelling a little less...nasty.

"My hands are at least clean," he announced when he walked into the kitchen.

"You look fine! Come sit down and join us," Valerie said.

They talked about his job and why it was taking so long, and Valerie was completely aware of how she was taking in every word as though he was discussing some kind of national security issue that would affect them all. Then again, in a way, it was possible he might well be affecting her life in other ways.

"Anyway, I'm sorry we can't play any B-ball this evening," Ken told Jayden as they got close to finishing dinner.

"That's okay. I'm just really glad you came over," the young boy told him.

He really didn't understand anything Ken said about work, but he did understand his being there, and to Jayden, that was all that mattered.

As they drained their glasses of ice water together, Ken said, "You ready to help me get this home into HOA compliance mode?"

"Huh?" Jayden asked, causing his mother to have to stifle a laugh.

"We need to take that backboard down," Ken said in plain English.

"Oh. Yeah! Let's go! Come on, Mom!"

There was no way 'Mom' wasn't going outside, and she was all too happy to help this handsome younger man she realized she was falling in love with take down the 'offensive item'.

She felt 16 again standing next to the ladder while he removed bolts and first handed down the hoop before tackling the backboard. His shirt rode up every time he raised his arms, exposing what looked like an incredibly well-defined waist and abdomen. Well, from what she could see from the back and one side.

"Can I do anything?" Valerie asked.

"Just standing there looking beautiful is plenty," he said with a smile as he looked down at her.

"K," she said back with an equally-happy smile.

She did hold onto the end of the board a little bit as he came down the ladder with it before he muscled it out of her hands making sure to ask if she was okay. She hadn't done anything but kind of steady one side while he came down, but she loved that he cared enough to ask.

"I'm fine," she told him.

As he carried the backboard to the truck he said, "You got that right."

"What did I get right?" Valerie asked having no idea what he meant.

He set the backboard in the bed of the truck then turned around and said, "You are definitely...fine."

"Come here you big...goof!" she said as she held her arms out for a hug.

As she held him, Ken said, "I missed you today. Like crazy."

Valerie's heart soared as she told him, "I missed you, too."

She smiled happily then said, "Like crazy."

He put a slightly-dirty hand on her face then said, "As much as the HOA drives me crazy, if it wasn't for them, I'd have never met you."

"Yes. It is...crazy, huh?" she said, so happy she thought her heart might burst.

And then she heard a familiar voice.

"Oh, okay. So this must be...Ken."

Her ex-husband's car was in the street by the curb with the window rolled down.

"Dad," Jayden said without excitement.

"Hey, buddy! Come here and give your old man a hug. You know, like your mom was doing with the Boy Wonder over there."

Jayden walked as far as his mom and Ken then looked at her.

"It's okay. You can go say 'hello' to your father," she told him.

"I don't want to," he said quietly. "He doesn't even care about me."

Valerie put her arm around her son assuming he was about to cry, but he wasn't. And he didn't.

"Great. So now you're turning my son against me, too. Nice. Real nice, Val. Or should I call you—Barbie. No wait, Barbie's young and hot. You're just..."

Ken held up a hand and said, "I don't want any trouble, okay? I'm just helping take down the backboard."

"Yeah, right. Like you're not bonin' my wife."

Fortunately, Jayden didn't understand what that meant, but he did understand his father was being a jerk.

Everyone saw the man raise up a bottle of booze and take a long pull.

"Fuckin' skank!" he said to his ex-wife as Ken started moving his way.

"No. Don't. He's not worth it," she said quietly knowing her ex-husband could hear.

"Listen to Barbie, Ken. You don't want to come over her and get that pretty face of yours all messed up now, do you?"

There was silence until Jayden hollered out, "You're drunk! You're always drunk!"

"Hey! So I've had a couple of snorts. That's no big deal! Now come here and give your old man a hug," his father said again.

Jayden stepped in front of his mom and Ken then told his father, "No. I don't want to hug you. I don't even want to see you anymore. You don't love us. You don't even care about us."

He put his arms around Ken and his mom and said, "This is our family now. So just...leave us alone!"

Valerie put an arm around the front of her son and waited.

Her ex-husband took another drink then said, "You all deserve each other."

He sat there and stared for another second or two then hit the gas and sped off for the last time.

"Wow. That was...intense," Ken said.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," Valerie told him.

"It's all my fault," Jayden said as he fought back tears.

"Wait. What do you mean it's your fault?" his mother asked.

"I told Dad about Ken. You know. When he called. I told him about how happy he makes you, and how he spends time with me and how he..."

The young boy finally broke down and as he began to cry said, "How he...loves me."

Ken knelt down and grabbed the boy and pulled him close and held him tight as he said, "I do love you, buddy. I really do."

Valerie eyes welled up with tears. Ken reached up and took her hand as she knelt down with them just as the first tears began to fall.

"I...want this...to be...our...family," Jayden said one or two words at a time.

Ken put his hand behind the boy's head then looked at his mother.

"That's up to your mom, buddy. But I...I'd like that, too."

Valerie was so emotional she couldn't speak, but she was nodding as she put her arms around Ken and her son the best she could then kissed the man she loved as the three of them bonded for life right there in the driveway.

When they all stood up together, Ken said he thought he should go home and take a shower.

"No. Stay here...and take a shower. At home. With your family," Valerie said, as Jayden's face lit up.

"If you're sure," he replied.

"I'm sure," she told him. "I'm very sure."

"All right. In that case—lead the way," Ken told her before kissing her one more time.

"I'll go get another clean towel!" Jayden said as he called for Hank. "Come on, boy!"

As Ken walked in with Valerie, his arm around her shoulders, he said, "I am going to need some clean clothes."

"Or not," she said playfully.

"No?"

"Jayden's in bed by nine, and sound asleep in fifteen minutes. So...I don't think you'll need any clothes, clean or otherwise, until at least tomorrow morning."

"Ohhh," Ken said with a smile as he pulled her tiny body a little closer.

Before they went inside he stopped her on the porch and waited for her to look at him.

"I want that, too, but even more than that, I...I just want to be with you, Valerie."

She put her arms back around him then said, "Well, I want you to know that in this case, you can have your cake and eat it, too."

Realizing what she'd just said, she pulled back, smiled, then laughed when she saw the way Ken was looking at her.

"I...I didn't mean to say that quite like that," she told him.

Before he could answer she pulled his head close then whispered, "But I would love for you to...let me be your cake so you could..."

Fully expecting to say 'eat me', Ken roared with laughter causing Valerie to laugh, too.

He brushed her hair back and said, "You know I'm falling in love with you, right?"

"You better, because I've already fallen in love with you," she told him as her eyes welled up with tears again.

"Even though I'm only twenty..."

She put a finger over his lips then said very seriously, "We shall never again speak of this matter. Understood?"

Ken did an 'I'm zipping my lips' thing causing Valerie to laugh which caused Ken to pick her up and swing her around.

He set her down, kissed her softly then said, "Thank God for the HOA, right?"

"Yes. God bless the HOA," she said happily before taking his hand and leading him inside.

Ken did stay that night but left before Jayden got up the next morning. The following night, Valerie and her son went to Ken's house for the first time where she spent the night, and since it was the weekend, let her son wake up there.

In fact, it was Hank's cold nose in his face that woke him up, and when Jayden realized where he was he sat up in bed and said, "Yes!"

His mother had not only fallen in love, she ended up marrying the handsome young contractor who'd replied to her the first time she posted to complain about the HOA. He'd not only removed the backboard, he got enough people together to completely resod Herb and Martha's yard at no cost to them.

Ken had a slightly larger home so they sold Valerie's and used her share of the profits to pay for a honeymoon and to allow Ken to slowly transition into doing nothing but making beautiful, custom furniture, the thing he still loved, but now loved a lot less than his beautiful wife, newly-adopted son, and his faithful dog, Hank, who held on for nearly two years.

Doctor Valerie Cushman continued to build her practice as their son made the junior high and then the high school varsity basketball team, his parents in the bleachers holding hands for every one of his games as they cheered him on.

The HOA continued to roll along doing its thing, but neither Ken nor his wife cared because they knew it was the HOA that had brought them together, bringing them more happiness than they'd ever imagined possible.