Tree Climbing For Beginners

by Joyia Marie

  “I’m taking the kids,” I said before Harold could say anything.

  His mouth snapped closed with this disgruntled look on his face as if he was ready to demand I take the kids for a while. I wondered if that was what the missed phone call was about but didn’t ask. It didn’t matter, I was taking my babies. Temporarily, anyway.

  “They don’t have anything with them,” he said in irritation of having his little alpha moment shattered.

  “Check the trunk of your car. I told Mrs. Gunderson to pack them a bag,” He huffed and walked off toward the parking lot. Jillian was hot on his heels, but the twins stayed with me. We enjoyed our mutual admiration society for a bit while we waited.

  Harold’s parents walked up and spoke to the kids. They hugged their grandparents, who are exempt from the public hugging rule due to age. I pretended not to notice when Harold Sr. slipped them some cash. He always did, but he got embarrassed if anyone mentioned it.

  He stepped away from the kids and gave me a long look. Gwendolyn pursed her lips as if holding words back. Those words I would love to hear. For years, I wasn’t good enough and now they had to contend with the lovely and talented Jillian. I’m sure I was looking a lot better now.

  Finally, Harold Sr. said, “Helen,” in his garrulous old voice. I leaned forward for the rest, but he just shook his head and walked away. Gwendolyn gave me a pleading look before following her husband.

  I turned to look at Raphael wondering if he had gotten any more out of that than I had. Raphael spoke ‘strong and silent’ from his days in the Marines and even he looked puzzled. I started to say something when I saw a mirage over Raphael’s shoulder.

  “Kids, keep Uncle Raffie company. I need to go speak to someone,” I said, moving away and toward Aiden.

  What was he doing here, I wondered as I saw the exact moment he saw me. The pure surprise calmed me down. It was a ‘what on earth are you doing here,’ surprise, not an ‘Oh my God, she spotted me as I am stalking her’ surprise. Funny, how I know both, but that’s another story.

  I stopped a foot from him, slipped off my sunglasses, and we stared at each other, as we tend to do. I could look into his chocolate eyes all day. He seemed to feel the same, so we stared at each other like one of the couples in my books.

  “ Fancy seeing you here,” he said in his deep voice that I already loved.

  Loved? What the hell? There is no loving here, I told myself firmly. I was just getting rid of one man, didn’t need to jump into another. My libido gave a lusty sigh at the thought of jumping Aiden period, but I ignored her as I have learned to do.

  “Yeah,” I breathed with more of the witty repartee he had learned he could expect from me. Then I sobered as I thought about last night. “ I’m glad I ran into you. I was going to call you later if this is your number,” I stammered and held out my cell phone. I bit back a groan when he nodded, then grinned at me.

  “Before you say anything else, can you tell me one thing?” he asked, his hand up to stop any words I might have. I nodded, reluctantly, wondering where this was going. “What does it mean to want to climb someone like a tree? That’s been driving me crazy all night,” he said with a smirk.

  I felt my face burst into flame and I hastily put my sunglasses back on. I couldn’t believe I had told him about that. That’s my inner dialog not for public consumption. That’s it, I thought, no more club crawls for me. My still uneasy stomach gave a hearty amen. As much as I hated to admit it, I really was too old for that shit.

  “Look,” I said, ignoring the question and the big grin on his face. He knew what that meant, he so knew what that meant. “I went out with some friends last night and I guess I had a little too much tequila so please don’t hold anything I said against me,” I said with a rueful grin.

  Aiden opened his mouth to speak when I began to be paged from across the field. I turned around. Harold was standing there holding a small suitcase and shouting my name. Jillian was looking at Aiden like he was the second coming. I turned to get Aiden’s take on Jillian, but his eyes were on me. He won major bonus points for that.

  “Look, I need to go, can we talk Monday, maybe,” I said as I started backing away.

  I didn’t need Harold or the kids coming over. Harold, because it would drive him nuts not to know who Aiden was. The kids because Aiden and I wasn’t there yet. I didn’t know where Aiden and I might end up and I had no intention of men floating in and out of my kids lives.

  Been there, done that, got the T-shirt with Vivian. Not that any of her ‘friends’ were bad or creepy, it’s just kids need stability and having Steve replaced by David to be replaced by Kevin doesn’t really work for a kid.

  “Yeah,” he said confusion clear on his face. “Come by the loft Monday evening and I can show you what we’ve gotten done so far. Oh, and I have a couple ideas for your loft you might want to think about. Oh, and I can fix you dinner to repay your sharing ‘your’ pizza the other night.” We shared a smile about the joke and I appreciated him even more.

  I nodded happily, gave him a wave, and turned to meet my family. Raphael looked at me and mouthed ‘Aiden’ in question. When I nodded, he gave me a big grin and a subtle thumb up. Harold looked angry and asked, “Who was that?” I smiled blandly and said, “Just a friend.”

  Jillian looked like she wanted to say something but she kept her lips closed. I wondered what was up with that and wondered if Jillian and Aiden knew each other. Jillian is an attractive woman and Aiden certainly wasn’t hard on the eyes. I felt a little of my happiness die away at the thought of Jillian and Aiden.

  Harold opened his mouth to pursue the subject, but I shut him down by sending the kids toward the car. Raphael took the suitcase and followed them. I looked at Harold and said, “Okay Harold, I’ll be bringing the kids back tomorrow night after dinner. All you’ll have to do is oversee showers and bedtime.”

  He nodded wearily, not nearly as happy about having a night off as I thought he would be. But then again, I’m sure he and Jillian were long overdue for a heart to heart. She couldn’t be happy about this, despite the happy homemaker outfit she had worn for the game. Even her normal windblown, fresh from sex hair was tamed.

  “Oh, and Harold,” I said when he turned away holding Jillian’s hand. “You really need to be there when I come to drop the kids off,” I said warningly.

  Harold snapped. He marched over to me and shoved his pasty face into mine. “Or what? Let me guess, I really won’t like what happens next? You know, Helen, you keep on throwing out these vague threats as if you hold all the cards. One day I’m going to call your bluff and see if I don’t like what happens next. I haven’t liked what has happened so far.”

  I reached up slowly and pulled off my sunglasses. I stared deep into Harold’s eyes so long, he got even pastier and backed off slightly. “You do what you need to do, Harold and I guess we’ll see. Anyway, you two crazy kids have fun, and Harold, I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

  I turned to walk away, but I couldn’t resist one small jab. I turned back to Jillian, gave her a big smile, and said, “Jillian? Love the hair.” I chuckled as she straightened up and almost hissed at me. I gave my own well-coifed curls a shake, then walked after my children.

  Raphael had told me about Jillian being banned from his salon over dinner last night. I tried to talk him out of it, as I didn’t want to see him lose money on my behalf. However, he was adamant. Jillian was officially persona non grata at Raphael’s and I couldn’t resist rubbing it in.

  Everyone was in Raphael’s SUV waiting for me. Raphael needed to get back to his salon so he dropped us off at my motel. I gave him a big thank you hug for last night and today. The kids looked around in puzzlement at the strange location.

  “Mom, I thought we were going to your loft?” Tonya asked and Tony looked at me in askance, after we exchanged our long overdue hugs. It felt so good to have my babies in my arms again, I’m sure our hug went on long past what the kids were comfortable with. Ah well, if they
get to dictate locations, then I get to dictate length. It’s only fair.

  “ Sweetie, I’m having some work done there so I’m bunking here for a while. I didn’t have any furniture there anyway, so there wouldn’t be anywhere to sleep,” I explained.

  “But Mom, what happened to all your furniture? I know it’s been a while since we went there, but I remember your loft being full of furniture,” Tonya protested. Can’t pull any wool over my baby’s eyes I thought as I prepared to recount the tale of two lofts yet again.

  The twins went shower and change after I got done explaining my change in loft location. Tonya was satisfied and couldn’t wait to see the new loft once it was finished, especially when I told her, she and her brother would have their own rooms just like at Casa Asshole. She really got happy when I said she could pick her new furniture. My baby got the shopping gene from her grandmother and constantly despaired of me.

  Vivian took her shopping when she was in town and Raphael and Mrs. Gunderson picked up my slack when she wasn’t. Vivian left a credit card for the twins and Raphael and Mrs. Gunderson passed it back and forth as needed.

  Tony wasn’t quite the shopping aficionado that Tonya was but he didn’t seem to mind tagging along. I hope he kept that attitude because that would go far for making him a wonderful husband if his wife was a normal shopaholic and not a non-shopping freak like me.

  The only shop I didn’t mind spending time in was a bookshop. Bet you never could have guessed that. My kids inherited my love of reading and my love of words so we have spent many a happy hour cruising the bookstores both new and used.

  Once the twins were showered and changed, we headed out for a late lunch then an early movie. Thank goodness, it was an action flick, that the twins seemed to love or I would have been fast asleep in the dark theatre.

  We returned to the motel and ordered Chinese for dinner. By ten o’clock, we were snuggled in our beds. It was the best sleep I had gotten in a week, just having my children under the same roof. My doubts about my chosen path tried to intrude yet again, but I pushed them away and fell asleep in a sated motherly bliss.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven: Aiden

  Aiden paced his loft like a lion in a cage. He had tried to sit down, but every time he did, he twitched and squirmed like a kid at the dentist. Finally, he gave in and began to pace. He looked around his loft for something to do but everything was done.

  The loft was clean and tidy from its recent visit from the cleaning service. The cleaning service was a luxury he permitted himself about once a month. He knew how to clean and kept his place up, but it was nice having someone come in and give a place a thorough once over from time to time.

  He ignored the fact he had just had them in a couple of weeks ago and that they had charged extra for this emergency visit. He refused to assign any significance to the fact Helen was coming over tonight for dinner. It was business, he told himself as he paced the freshly waxed floors.

  The smell of the cleaning agents was covered by the fragrant odor of dinner coming from the kitchen. He had gotten off early to come home and fix paella. He had also stocked the refrigerator with wine, soda, and bottled water. He wasn’t sure what Helen would want and he wanted to be prepared.

  Smooth jazz floated from the surround sound, but he always played music while he cooked so that wasn’t significant either or so he told himself. Just two friends meeting over dinner, then a tour of her loft and some discussion of his ideas. No biggie, he told himself as he tried to stop pacing.

  His jeans hissed as he moved. He had tried to stick with casual but he couldn’t resist throwing on a pair of jeans from the cleaners. The jeans he wore to work he just washed and wore but he had some he wore to the clubs back when he used to go out and those he sent to the cleaners. He wore a pair as well as a silk T-shirt. A T-shirt, he reminded himself, nothing says causal like a T-shirt.

  He looked at the clock for the third time in an hour, but the time had not changed significantly. Helen wasn’t due until 7:30 and it was only 7:15. He cursed himself for getting everything done so early and he cursed himself for setting this so late.

  At the time, it seemed like the right thing to do, but now he wished he had just admitted he was eager to see his neighbor. Not currently his neighbor as she wasn’t living there, but he didn’t harp on those kinds of distinctions.

  Right now, she couldn’t be his neighbor if she wanted to. The exterior walls of the loft were filled with huge holes currently covered in plastic awaiting the installation of the glass block. Already the space was lighter,and airier.

  Aiden tried to put his sister’s teasing out of his head. She had grinned like the Cheshire cat when he had finally given in and left the office at four. His excuse of checking job sites went right over her head. ‘Sure,’ her grin said, but she kept her comments to herself.

  Unlike Saturday at his niece’s soccer game. She had walked up to him as he stood there watching Helen leave. “Who’s that?” she asked with a shoulder bump. Aiden braced himself, his sister Charlise wasn’t a petite woman, and she could knock him over if she put her mind to it.

  Which she had done in the past. Aiden and Charlise were closest in age, with Aiden older by a mere year. They were rivals all through growing up, but now they were staunch allies.

  Charlise followed Aiden and their father around the job site whenever she could get away from their mother’s lessons. His other two sisters were content to cook and clean with their mother, but Charlise wanted to do everything her brother and father did. Their father tried to gently urge her back toward her mother’s sphere, but her mother stuck up for her.

  “If that girl wants to be a contractor like her daddy, who are you to deny her?” Aiden’s mother had said firmly and pushed the three of them out the door.

  His mother might be a homemaker, but she made sure everyone understood it was a choice. His mother had a bachelor’s in business just like his dad. She chose to run the business of the home not the contracting firm.

  “Um, that’s just a client. I’m doing her loft. I know you saw the new contract,” Aiden said with a flush.

  Nothing got past his sister’s eagle eyes. Aiden didn’t envy her husband or her children. Charlise could spot a lie or prevarication from a hundred yards while wearing a blindfold. Aiden didn’t stand a chance.

  “Sure it is, big bro,” Charlise teased him gently. “You stare at all the clients like they are the last piece of cake at a birthday party. Mr. Henderson was just complaining about it the other day.”

  Aiden grinned as he thought about the older strip mall magnate complaining about feeling sexually harassed by the younger contractor.

  “Don’t fash yourself, Aiden,” Charlise teased in a fake Irish brogue.

  Aiden just shook his head. Ever since his mom did a family tree and Charlise found out there might be some Irish in their background, she trotted out this Irish accent from time to time. He thought she sounded like the leprechaun from the Lucky Charms cereal commercials, but Charlise thought she was dead on.

  “I’m glad to see it. You’ve been a little hang dog ever since that business with that ‘ho, Alicia,” Charlise said briskly in her normal accent. Aiden thanked God for the small favor. Once she got started, Charlise could talk like that for hours.

  Aiden winced at the memory. Charlise had witnessed Bruce, Alicia’s husband and his tirade. She had stood at his side, ready to jump in if her brother needed her. Aiden had never felt so low in his life.

  He allowed a small smile at the thought of his sister beating the crap out of Alicia as she swore to do. He had talked her out of it. Her children needed her at home and not cooling her heels in the Tarrant County Jail.

  Aiden was tempted though, to allow Charlise to express the displeasure of the whole Smyth clan since he couldn’t. He was raised not to hit women but that didn’t extend to his sisters and they had all wanted to have a ‘meeting in the ladies’ room’ with Alicia.

  “I told you she’s just a client,”
Aiden protested again. “Anyway, speaking of Alicia, Helen is married too.”

  Charlise looked at the tall, slender woman as she slipped into the SUV with the man and the kids. “To which one? The man she’s leaving with or the man she was talking to? Whose kids are those?”

  “Um…” Aiden said intelligently, realizing he hadn’t found out the answers to any of those questions. He didn’t even know why she was here. Were those her kids, he wondered then pushed the thought away. He hadn’t seen any sign of children in her loft nor had she mentioned any. Neither did Alicia, his conscious reminded him and the thought chilled him.

  “Look, big bro,” Charlise said firmly, “it’s nice seeing you look at a woman like that again. I was getting worried. I thought that bitch Alicia had broken you for good and she doesn’t deserve that kind of power. However, I think you need to get a lot more information about ‘Helen’ before you get too excited.”

  She nodded when Aiden nodded in agreement, then walked off toward her car. Aiden followed her, but went back to the loft. His crew was there and working and he joined them. He swung a hammer and cleaned up rubble all weekend, but his questions about Helen still danced through his mind.

  What did he know about her other than the fact he was wildly attracted to her? He thought she might be older than him, which would be new. He usually dated women his age or younger. He knew she was a writer, again new as the women he dated before were blue collar like him. He might own his own company, but bottom line he was a construction worker.

  By Monday, he was anxious for some answers. He called her earlier to confirm their tentative date and was pleasantly surprised at how happy she sounded. At least he knew one thing; she was as attracted as he was.

  After the call, he tried to put her out of his mind and get back to work. He had a crew at her loft roughing in the plumbing for the kitchen so he wasn’t needed there. He could do almost anything in construction, but plumbing he preferred to leave to the professionals. A mistake in plumbing could ruin a job quicker than anything else would.