by Brandy Blake
‘Thanks for coming with me. I’m sorry to keep you from her,’ she answered, meaning it.
He replied. ‘It’s fine. I just worry about her while I’m gone. I worry about her constantly, all the time. She’s always on my mind.’
Before she could respond, he sent a second text. ‘I never intended to have children, but now that I do, I feel like it’s changed me a lot. I can understand now why my mother worries so much about me.’ He included a laughing smiley face.
His second text helped her to feel as though he was really acting in a responsible way, and that he had done some good for the girl, by giving her a better home.
‘It’s good of you to take care of Joanna like you do,’ she answered him.
There was a long wait before he texted her back, and she had returned to her work before she heard her phone go off. She smiled to herself and picked it up, looking at the screen.
‘I keep thinking about that dark corner in Vegas. We’re going to have to find a dark corner in Boston,’ he teased, sending a kissing smiley face.
She giggled and felt her cheeks warm. Her mind eased, and she felt as if they were back to normal again; back to the two of them being what they were before he spent the night.
‘I’m sure we’ll find one,’ she answered, sending a kissing smiley face back to him.
They went on that way for the rest of day, and long into the night, and the messages seemed to just get steamier as time progressed. It felt like a huge relief to her to have him back, to pick up where they had left off, and she found herself anticipating the trip to Boston more than ever. She couldn’t wait to be in his arms again.
She met him at the airport, as was becoming their regular habit, and he looked really happy to see her again, as if nothing at all had changed or happened between them. he was wearing his dark brown suede jacket and his Indiana Jones hat, and she grinned when she saw him.
He wrapped his arms around her in a big hug, and kissed her for a long moment. She knew in her heart then, that no matter what had happened to strain their relationship, things were as they ought to be, and she was beyond happy to know it.
She surprised him, when they got to Boston, with tickets to the Boston Pops Symphony, who were putting on a holiday performance. It was an early run, and it was the opening night, so she was surprised to have been able to get tickets, but she got them. She had told Michael to bring a nice dress jacket to wear, because they would be going out, and he didn’t disappoint.
The man looked stunning in his black dress jacket, and she could only imagine how amazing he must look in a tuxedo. She made a mental note to find a way to take him to something where he’d have to go black tie. He could’ve stepped off of the cover of a gentleman’s magazine as it was.
She wore a light lavender evening gown, and pinned her hair up at the back of her head. She looked elegant and sophisticated, and when the two of them walked into the room, all heads and eyes around them turned toward them admiringly. She loved the feel of it, and she loved the way it made her feel to be on his arm.
They sat and enjoyed the festive concert, and when it was done, the two of them left and took a taxi back to the hotel where they were staying. When they got out, she opened her umbrella against the rain that was falling steadily all around them. The night was mild and the rain wasn’t too cool, and she liked the fresh scent and feel of it.
“Do you want to go back in just yet, or would you rather walk around?” she asked him with a smile.
He grinned. “To be honest, I’d rather walk around. I haven’t been here before, and I’d like to see as much of Boston as I can before we go back to San Francisco. I got to see a little today while you were in your meeting, and I love it, but I’d like to see more, if that’s okay with you.”
She nodded and slid her arm into the crook of his arm, and together they walked down the sidewalk, and he held the umbrella over them. They explored some of the downtown area in the old part of Boston, and decided to stop in to the Plaza hotel for tea.
He hadn’t ever had a proper high tea before, and though it was late evening, when she asked their server for it, the hotel obliged, and brought out three different tea pots with three different kinds of tea, and two stacked trays filled with finger sandwiches and delicate chocolates and desserts.
The two of them talked and laughed and enjoyed their tea for a long while. They ended up going through five pots of different teas before they finally left, walking together through Boston Public Gardens in the rain. They stopped at Cheers and she showed him the bar that was once made famous by a television show, and then they went inside just to see it.
After they left, they walked along the dark wet street under tall trees that were losing their autumn leaves, beside brownstone houses that looked down onto the street like sentries. She managed to get them lost, certain that they should be going one way, until they had walked five blocks and she realized that they should have gone only one block the other way.
They laughed about it, and eventually made it back to their hotel. Cold and tired, they took a long hot shower together, and for the first time since he had left her house, they lost themselves in passion in each other’s arms in the steamy water, and shortly after that, they fell asleep together in bed.
She woke up at one point, and looked around in the dark room. There was only a little shaft of orange streetlight coming in through an opening in the curtain, and raindrops glistened on the window pane as she looked out. She turned her gaze to the man sleeping beside her, and she felt her heart flutter.
He was beautiful as he slept; his eyes were closed and his thick black eyelashes brushed against his cheeks, his squared jaw slightly loose, his lips parted slightly as soft breath moved in and out. His solid wall of muscled chest and his thickly muscled arms were softened in his relaxed state.
She watched him sleeping, and wished that she could run her fingers through his dark hair, and kiss his lips and his chest, and wake him slowly with the passion that burned in her for him. She watched him and her heart began to ache, and she knew then that she was beginning to fall for him.
Raina told herself that she had no business doing any such thing. He was in a business arrangement with her, and while they were fine having their torrid affair, she absolutely could not feel anything for him as far as deep emotion. They had an arrangement, and an understanding, and he had a daughter figure he was looking after. She vowed to herself that she could keep being his friend and his lover, and never let it become anything more. She knew that it might be a difficult promise to keep to herself, but she was going to do everything in her to try.
On Saturday, she took him to the Museum of Fine Art, where they spent a great deal of time looking at wonderful works of art, especially the Egyptian collection and the Impressionist paintings, including works by Van Gogh, Manet, Monet, Cezanne, Renoir, and Matisse. He had never seen anything like it, and he was awestruck by what she was able to introduce him to.
When they left the Museum of Fine Art, she took him across the road to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and they discovered many wonderful treasures in there as well. They walked through the glass globe at the Mary Baker Eddy library, whispering and hearing their echoes bounce all over the inside of the world. They walked the Freedom Trail and when it took them through Little Italy, she took him to Mike’s Pastry on Hanover Street, where they indulged in proper Boston Crème Pie. They had no end of authentic Italian restaurants to choose from, but she had a few favorites there, and she took him to one that wasn’t quite as busy as the rest.
They enjoyed a delicious Italian meal for dinner, and finished walking the Freedom Trail past the Old North Church where Paul Revere had left lanterns in the window, telling the militia which way the red coats were coming. They walked past an old graveyard and down to the docks where the oldest ship in the United States Navy was docked, and they watched at sunset as the colors were lowered and a real cannon blasted as taps played for the end of day.
Raina and Michael found a good Irish pub and stopped in to have a drink before they went back to their hotel, talking of all the fun they had shared, and the things they had seen. She told him about some of the things they could see on Sunday before they left, and he thanked her for taking him on the trip.
That night they exhausted themselves in bed, fueling their passion and pleasure, and Sunday they explored a little more before they went to the airport and flew home to San Francisco. He kissed her gently as he said goodbye to her at the airport, and they got into their respective cars, and left one another, both of them happy and contented.
Chapter7
Raina worked on Monday, but on Tuesday morning, she got a call from Aaron and he asked her to take the day off and spend it with him. She was glad to do it, and she was able to shift her schedule so that she could.
She’d been so wrapped up in Michael that little else had gotten through to her, and she wanted to be there for Aaron when he needed her. She told him that there was a farmer’s market in Los Altos that afternoon that she loved to go to when she could, and she thought it would be fun for them to enjoy it that day. He told her he thought it was a brilliant idea, and an hour later, he was at her front door with a fresh hot coffee for each of them, ready to go with her.
They got into her car and he laughed when he heard the radio station that she was listening to.
“This is great! I love this song. We used to sing this together in college, do you remember?” he grinned, looking over at her in delight.
“I do remember. This station plays a lot of songs from that time, so I like to listen to as much as I can. It’s one of my favorites!”
She began to sing along with the song on the radio, and Aaron sang with her, as they cruised down the highway with the windows down, the warm California breeze blowing in around them, and the sun shining down.
They managed to sing every song that came on, and even after they parked the car in the little town center of Los Altos, they finished the song before she turned the car off, and they got out laughing and reminiscing about the music they listened to and the concerts they had gone to together when they were in college.
“Doesn’t it seem like it was just yesterday?” she asked, walking side by side with him past the small shops, under the trees filled with rust and gold colored leaves.
“College? Absolutely it does. I love autumn, but half the time I wake up in a little panic, feeling like I should be checking a schedule and getting to a class or something like that. Doesn’t it feel like that to you once in a while?” he looked at her with a light grin.
“It does. Autumn always makes me think of school. I love it, too.”
She grinned back, sliding her arm into his and walking with him down the little street to the farmers’ market that would go all day. They found everything from freshly harvested fruits and vegetables, to beautiful bouquets of flowers and raw honey straight from the beekeeper.
Aaron stopped in front of one tent where the proprietor was selling stir fried garden vegetables and meat. He took a small sample cup from the vendor and took a few bites, smiling to himself. He turned and looked at Raina and laughed a little.
“You know what I really miss?” he asked thoughtfully.
She took a bite and savored the deliciousness of it. “What?” she asked when she had swallowed it.
“Remember when we used to have our themed dinners, and everyone would show up once a week, ready for whatever theme it was that we were doing? We had Japanese dinners and we’d play Japanese music, eat Japanese food, drink green tea, everyone came in kimonos, we had Japanese flowers… and then s’mores afterward. Those weren’t really Japanese….” He trailed off and raised his brows as he laughed.
“Mexican night… Thai night… Caribbean night…” she mused happily.
“Oh… the plantains were so good! And the margaritas!” Aaron laughed as they began to stroll again. “I think everyone showing up on Greek night in togas with anything Greek they could find was pretty funny.”
“The baklava!” She laughed, sliding her arm back into Aaron’s as they walked. “How many hours did you and I slave over that baklava in my tiny kitchen, and it was a disaster in the end, and then Katie showed up with a big container of it anyway and saved us?”
Tears formed in her eyes as she thought back to it, laughing even more as Aaron laughed, until they were leaning on each other, crying through their tears. When they could finally catch a breath, and they both had wiped away the few tears on their cheeks, they began to walk again and Raina steered them toward an ice cream stand.
She reached into her pocket for some cash and Aaron waved his hand at her. “No, I’ve got it.” He treated them and the merchant handed their cones to them.
“What did you get?” he asked, looking at hers curiously.
“Pralines, caramel, and chocolate,” she answered, peering at his. “What did you get?”
“Strawberries and cream,” he answered with a smile. The ice cream almost matched the pink in his cheeks from their fits of laughter. His light eyes were shining.
“I haven’t seen you this happy in a really long time, Aaron,” Raina said pleasantly. “I’m so glad that we took this time here today.”
He was quiet a moment and watched her. “I haven’t been this happy in a long time. I’m really glad that we did this, too. No one makes me smile like you do. It’s always been that way.”
“That’s because I’m your best friend and that’s what best friends do. May I please have a bite of your ice cream?” she asked as her smile turned into a grin.
He held the cone out to her. “I’ll trade you bites,” he answered.
She held her cone out to him and they each took a bite of the other’s, but when Raina had her bite in her mouth, Aaron dabbed his ice cream on the tip of her nose and she looked up at him in surprise.
“Gotcha.” He teased her and began to eat his own ice cream.
She blinked at him and began to laugh. “This is a fight you don’t want to start!” she warned him in a teasing tone.
He shrugged. “I already started it. Besides, that little dab of pink ice cream on your nose looks cute.”
She just looked at him and shook her head, and he came close to her, laughing softly. He reached up with his free hand and held her cheek gently, and balancing his ice cream cone carefully in his other hand, he pinched a napkin in his fingers and wiped away the ice cream from her nose.
As he stood there so close to her, his hand on her face, his body so near hers, she felt butterflies begin to dance in her, and without thinking about it or wondering why, she looked from his green eyes to his lips; red and curved and an urge rose up in her to lean forward and kiss him. She had never felt that urge with him before, and it surprised her, drawing everything in her like a magnet toward him.
He lowered his hand from her nose and looked into her eyes then, and a breathless moment passed between them. He seemed as if he wanted to say something, gazing into her eyes as silence surrounded them, but then he pulled his hand from her cheek and the corners of his mouth turned up a little.
“I got it all.”
He looked away and took a deep breath. She watched him, stunned by what had just happened between them, wondering incredulously at it. She stared at him and he turned and gave her a nod.
“You’d better eat all of that before it melts.”
Aaron wrapped his arm around her shoulders and began to walk with her, and she focused on her ice cream, trying to think through what she had felt and wanted.
“Do you remember how we met?” he asked, looking over at her and breaking the quietness between them.
“Yeah, I do. You were in theater, directing a play and I was auditioning for one of the roles. You passed me by for someone else for the role, and you felt so guilty about it, that you came and found me and told me why you did it. You wanted to be sure that I was okay.” She smiled as she remembered it.
“You weren’t the right person f
or that role, but you’re right, I did want to make sure that you were okay.” He smiled as he thought back to it, and took another bite of his ice cream.
“Did you go and tell all of your other failed auditioners that they didn’t get their roles either?” she teased, eyeing him with a sidelong glance.
He shook his head. “Nope.”
“Why did you come and tell me?” she asked curiously, watching him as they walked slowly past more booths.
He was quiet and thoughtful for a moment. “I could see that you were different… special. I wanted to make sure that you were okay, and I wanted to know if we could be friends. I liked you.”
She grinned. “I liked you, too. Right away. You made me laugh, and from that moment forward, I wanted to be friends with you, too. We have been, haven’t we? Through all of it? All that life can throw at you, it seems like.”
He nodded. “Yes indeed, especially this whole thing with Cathy.”