“I’ll take a look.” Aaron went over to the old computer.
Renee went back to work on the coding of yet another Web page. John should be in later in the afternoon to add the color to the logo she’d drawn.
“I agree, it works,” Aaron said decisively. “It’s almost at that I’m-not-going-to-wait-another-second point when the ball starts spinning at them. Put a message to click the window and move to the next page for those impatient browsers.
“I’m picking Adam up from my mother’s after my appointment,” he continued, “so I won’t be back in today. Would you mind locking up again?”
“Of course not.” She should probably protest a little, but what would be the point? She truly didn’t mind.
“Thanks, I appreciate it. Have John finish what he started yesterday and whatever you need him to do for you. I’ll have a list for him tomorrow.”
“Gotcha.” Father, bless Aaron with a sale today, she silently prayed.
❧
Arriving at his parents’ home, Aaron stretched his arms out toward his son, who came running toward him. “Daddy!”
“Hi, Buddy. How was your day?” Aaron held his son chest-high.
“Me and Grandma made play-dough.”
“Really?”
Adam shook his little head up and down, then squirmed to get down. “Wanna see?”
“Sure.”
The boy tore back through the front door and into his grandparents’ house.
All that energy! Aaron kissed his mother on the cheek. “Buenos dias, Madre.” His mother sat with her Bible on her lap in the living room.
“Buenos.”
“Was he good?”
“Si, lots of questions about Hannah and death.”
Aaron winced. “Gracias.”
Adam came running in, a mound of blue dough draped over and around his fingers. “See, Daddy?”
“Wow, looks great, Buddy. Are you bringing it home?”
“Grandma says to keep it here for tomorrow.”
“Sounds like a plan. We’d better get going. Put the play-dough away and give Grandma and Grandpa a kiss good-bye.”
Adam scurried away.
“Anything I should be aware of, Mom?”
“No. He’s just old enough to ask questions now.”
“I know.” Aaron had hoped this day would never come. How could he explain death to a four year old? He thought back over the years when Adam had asked so few questions about his mother. Taking in a deep breath, he braced himself.
Adam placed his hand into his father’s. “Daddy, are we going to Mommy’s grave?”
“Yes, Son.”
Adam tightened his grip. Once they reached the van, Aaron hoisted the boy up into his booster seat and waved back to his mother. Seat belts in place, he turned the key in the ignition and began the journey of no return.
“Daddy?”
“Yes, Son?”
“Did Mommy’s boo-boos hurt?”
Aaron gulped. “Yeah, they hurt, but not for very long.”
“’Cause she went to heaven?”
“Yes, ’cause she went to heaven.”
“Daddy?”
“Yes, Adam?”
Aaron’s jaw clenched at the memory of the car battered and ripped open, Hannah’s blood splattered on bits of broken glass and over the distorted driver’s seat. Yes, Hannah did have pain, more than he wanted to tell his son. She had lived for a little more than three hours and died shortly after he arrived at the hospital. His grasp tightened on the steering wheel. His forearm muscles tensed, bracing himself for Adam’s next question.
“Did you bring the flowers?”
His pent-up breath escaped with such force, his nostrils flared. “They’re up here beside me, Buddy.”
“Daddy, why do you bring flowers?”
Easy question. I can handle easy questions. “Because your mommy liked white roses. So I bring three. One from you, one from me, and one for her.”
Adam wiggled in his seat.
“Son, do you need to go to the bathroom?”
“No.” He continued to squirm.
“Why are you squirming?”
“Something’s hurting me.”
“What?”
Adam reached his little hand under his bottom and lifted himself slightly off the seat. “I can’t find it.”
“Check your pocket, Son.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small ball. “I got it.” He held it proudly in the air like a prize trophy.
Aaron smiled. “A ball, huh?”
“I was hiding it in the play-dough at Grandma’s.”
“Oh.”
Aaron parked the van in a shaded parking spot. A few cars dotted the lot. “Here we are, Son.”
Adam pushed the button to his seat belt and wiggled out of his restraints. As they walked toward the grave, Adam asked, “Daddy, are all these stones dead people?”
“Yes, Son.”
“Why do they use stones?”
“Well, ’cause a stone won’t fade away like paint on a sign does.”
Adam nodded. “Wow, Daddy, there’s zillions of them!”
The boy looked up. “Are you going to die, Daddy?”
Aaron stroked his thumb across Adam’s hand. “Someday. But I believe God will have me around for awhile.”
They walked hand in hand. Aaron gained strength holding his son’s warm, small hand. At Hannah’s grave, he went down on one knee. “Adam, this is your mommy’s grave.”
“What’s it say?”
“Hannah Marie Chapin, born January 5, 1974. Died October 4. . .” Aaron cleared his throat. “Beloved wife and friend.” His mind ran over the entire Scripture passage the phrase was drawn from. “This is my beloved and this is my friend.” A lump stuck in his throat, remembering their wedding day when he had recited that verse to her.
Adam traced his finger in the letters.
Aaron’s hand trembled as he placed two of the white roses on the marbled stone.
Mimicking his father’s actions, Adam placed his rose. “Daddy, is Mommy happy?”
“Yes, Son. She’s in heaven, and it’s a wonderful, happy place.”
“Does she miss us?”
“I guess so. But it’s different ’cause she’s with God and feels things differently than we do.”
“Daddy, does Jesus give Mommy a hug when she misses us?”
“I’m sure He does.” Aaron reached over and gave Adam a big hug. “Hugs are good, aren’t they?”
Adam nodded his head. He bent down and patted the stone. “Bye, Mommy.”
Aaron’s tears burned. “Bye, Hannah,” he whispered. “We’ve got a great son.”
❧
Renee looked at the clock. Half past six and she still hadn’t left the office. The purple line had appeared on several of her saved files on the network. She’d painstakingly gone through every file looking for any more. She’d never heard of a glitch in software that would cause such a thing. It was peculiar, to say the least.
A bang on the door caused her to jump. She turned to see Aaron putting his keys into the lock. “Is there a problem, Ms. Austin?”
“Hey, Renee,” Adam called as he came bouncing in.
“Hi, Adam. No, Aaron, well, yes, actually, but I’ve been working on it.”
“What’s the trouble?” He strolled over to her desk.
Adam went over to the old computer and clicked on one of his favorite games.
“Trained him young, huh?”
Aaron’s smile lit up his face. “Cheap labor. So, what’s the trouble?” He leaned over, looking at her computer screen.
“It’s that purple line you found yesterday. It’s appearing in several pages of the uploaded files. It isn’t on my desktop original, just the uploaded files.”
“A virus?”
“Not likely; it’s too random. There isn’t a logical pattern.”
“Let’s contact the domain server and change our passwords. Maybe someone got in
and has been playing with our files.”
“But who? Why?” she asked.
“Probably some kid.” Aaron reached for the phone and called the domain server. Within minutes the passwords were changed. Aaron scribbled them down on a piece of paper. “Thanks,” he said and hung up the phone.
“Daddy, I’m hungry.” Adam rubbed his belly.
“In a minute, Son. Just let me give Renee some information.”
“Okay.” Adam came up to them and hugged his father’s left leg.
Renee smiled. Aaron handed her the small yellow note.
“Daddy, can we go to Chucky Cheese, please?”
Renee chuckled under her breath. Adam always wanted to go to Chucky Cheese.
“What about the peanut place?”
“Peanut place?” Renee wondered where that could be. All the fast-food places she knew didn’t sell peanuts.
Aaron spun around. “Road House Grill.”
“Oh.” She hadn’t meant to speak her thoughts.
“I get a better meal if we go there.” Aaron winked. “Not to mention, it’s quieter. Although some nights that isn’t always the case.”
Renee shook her head from side to side.
“Renee, you wanna come?”
“No, I—”
“Dad, can Renee come?” Adam tugged on his father’s pant leg.
“Have you eaten?” Aaron asked.
“No, but—”
“Please, Renee,” Adam begged. “You put peanut shells on the floor. It’s really fun.”
How could she turn down the four year old? Her gaze locked with Aaron’s. “Are you sure?”
He hesitated for a fraction of a second. “Absolutely.”
“All right, Adam, I’ll come.”
“Yipee. Daddy, can I go in Renee’s car?”
Aaron chuckled. “You like that car, huh?”
Adam beamed and bounced his head up and down.
Renee suppressed a giggle. Her Mustang convertible had been a necessity years ago. Now it was a classic in the truest sense of the word. She’d spent a small fortune restoring that car. “It’s fine with me.”
“I’ll put his booster seat in your car, then.”
“Sure.” She reached through her bag and handed him her keys. Their fingers brushed. Her cheeks flamed. Maybe she should reconsider her position on staying on at Sunny Flo Designs.
Four
The awkwardness of the evening quickly dissipated for Aaron. Renee was a beautiful woman, inside and out. She kept an attentive ear to Adam, yet she didn’t let him control the entire evening. Aaron shifted Adam in his arms. The child had fallen asleep on the way home from the restaurant. It had been a very full day, making play-dough, visiting his mother’s grave, and having dinner with Renee.
He removed Adam’s shoes and clothing, laid him on the bed, and covered him with the sheet and blanket. Kissing the top of Adam’s head, he whispered, “I love you, Buddy.”
Adam mumbled something unintelligible.
He worked his way back to the living area, pulled out a bottle of water from the refrigerator, and sat down on the sofa, plopping his feet up on the coffee table. Leaning his head back, he closed his eyes. Father, for the first time I feel I’ve finally let go of Hannah. It was important to bring Adam to the cemetery. Thank You for—
The phone rang, interrupting his prayer.
“Aaron?”
“Hi, Mom, what’s up?”
“Your sister. I can’t get that girl to see reason.”
“I can’t either, Mima. I’ve tried, but she’s just not ready to listen.”
“I know but—”
“You needed to blow off steam.”
“Si. I called earlier. You weren’t home. How are you? How did it go at the cemetery?”
Aaron sat back down on the couch. “It went very well. Something happened today, Mom. I finally released her. The burden, not really a burden exactly. . .” He continued to explain about his day and how it had gone.
“I’m happy for you, Son. I know it was difficult. Time does wonders, but you will always miss her. It won’t always ache like it has.”
At times his mother seemed so wise. He’d never known her to lose someone close to her, not a spouse or a sibling or a parent, for that matter. So how she understood this. . .
He shook his head. It didn’t matter. “Yes, that’s how it is.”
After they finished their conversation, he let out a slow breath and finished his time of prayer with the Lord. “And Father, I don’t know what to say about that kiss the other day. She’s a beautiful woman, but am I that weak of a man?
“Forgive me, Lord. And help Renee feel safe around me. I don’t want to lose her as an employee. She’s helped the business in so many ways. I honestly don’t know what to do or say.”
Aaron clicked on the evening news. The current events rambled on, but his mind kept going back to his inappropriate actions with Renee and how much he wanted to touch her hand during dinner. He’d fought the desire to reach across the table and place his hand on hers. Why?
The blast of the station switching from news to commercials had him reaching for the remote. Lowering the volume, his hand paused. That’s my design! Someone had stolen his design and sold it to the company he’d been bidding to. “How’d that happen?”
His phone rang again.
“Hello.” He watched the screen in disbelief.
“Aaron, it’s Renee. Turn on your TV.” He heard the excitement in her voice.
“I’m already looking at it. How’d that happen?”
“I don’t know. Aaron, I think we have a security leak. We need to get someone to come and check out the system.”
“I agree. But who can we trust?”
“I don’t know, but don’t you have a nine o’clock tomorrow?”
“Yes, but. . .are you suggesting—”
She cut him off. “I’m suggesting that you and I work all night and rethink that proposal. There’s no telling how much information has been compromised.”
Aaron rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re right. I’ll have to call my mother to see if she can come here and watch Adam. Then I’ll meet you at the office.”
“I think we have to work off-line on this, Aaron. I have the entire file, specs, et cetera, on my laptop. We can work from that.”
“Would you mind terribly coming here, then? It’s already past ten and—”
“No problem. Give me directions.”
Aaron quickly ran over the directions and clicked the phone off. He went to his home office and downloaded the working files they had on their site, then promptly disconnected the computer from its on-line service and modem. “Who’s doing this, Lord?”
❧
Renee easily wove her way through the city streets. It was quarter to eleven by the time she arrived at Aaron’s home. For better or worse, she had to admit the attraction to Aaron. I’m an adult; this is business. I can control my emotions. She hoped. She swung her laptop carrying case over her shoulder and marched up to the front door. Her finger poised to ring the doorbell, she paused, wondering if the noise might wake up little Adam. Tentatively, she reached up to knock.
The door opened. “Hi, I heard you pull up.”
Aaron’s handsome smile totally disarmed her. Perhaps she wasn’t as adult as she’d hoped. “Hi, did you put on a pot of coffee?”
He stepped back, opening the door for her to enter. “Better, I put on Cuban coffee.”
“I’ll be up all night.” She grinned.
“That is the idea.” He chuckled. “I have a home office. It’s small but workable. Or we can work at the dining-room table.”
“We’ll probably need both.”
“True, you can work on layout while I brainstorm over new concepts.”
“Sounds good.”
He poured her a small cup of Cuban espresso. “Here’s mud in your eye.” She gulped it down and placed her espresso glass on the counter for a refill.
He k
nitted his eyebrows. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I don’t feel a thing yet.”
“You will.” He poured her the second cup.
As she started to sip, the caffeine from the first took its effect. A sudden jolt coursed through her veins, and she felt like she could ricochet off the walls and ceiling. “Wow.”
“I warned ya.” He grinned. She noticed he’d only taken a couple sips from his first glass.
“What do they put in this stuff?”
“One of these little shot glasses is like four cups of coffee.”
“Oh my.”
He chuckled. “Come on, we’ve got work to do.”
For the next few hours they reworked their proposal. By 4:00 a.m. they were printing it out.
“Renee, take a seat and rest for a bit,” he offered.
“Thanks. You’ve got a nice home.”
“Thank you. We bought it fairly cheap. It needed a lot of work.”
“It’s an interesting shape.”
“The previous owners made several additions. This section we’re in right now is part of the original house. Plus the rooms in the front. The pool and back bedrooms came later.”
“You have a pool?”
“Yes, and a Jacuzzi. You’re welcome to use it. After a long day at work, I find myself in the Jacuzzi to unwind. Then I cool off with a gentle swim of a couple of laps.”
“I’d love to, but I didn’t come prepared. You should tell a girl to bring her bathing suit.” She winked. Oh no, why’d I do that? I’m flirting. She wanted to flee.
“I’ll remember that. Renee, we need to talk.”
She shook her head. “I. . .”
He came up beside her on the couch, then eased back a few inches. “Look, I don’t know why I kissed you the other day. I’m sorry. But I don’t think it was strictly as you said, that I was missing my wife. I’d been thinking a lot about her that day, no question. But you’re a beautiful woman, Renee. Very beautiful. And I’m not saying that just about your physical beauty, although there is that. You’re genuine and sweet. And I love the way you handle Adam. You wouldn’t believe how many women have tried to use him to get to me.”
What could she say? What did she want to say? “Aaron, I forgave you for the kiss. It’s a dead issue.”
“Is it?” He reached out, open palmed. She eased hers toward his and pulled it back. He let his hand fall to his side. “Renee, I’ve been out of circulation for many years, but tell me if I’m wrong here. You are attracted to me, aren’t you?”
Cords Of Love Page 3