“The what?”
Rebecca laughed. “About ten years ago, the city of Chicago commissioned a bunch of fiberglass cow statues and displayed them along Michigan Avenue. They called it the ‘Cows on Parade’.”
Aaron gave her a blank stare.
“Oh, come on. ‘It might be, it could be, it is! Holy cow!’ Didn’t you watch baseball when you were a kid?”
Aaron shook his head. “Not really, unless I wanted to catch a White Sox game.”
Rebecca clapped her hand over his mouth. “You can’t say things like that in here!” she hissed. She pulled him toward the grand staircase and stopped him right in front of the cow. “See? It’s a holy cow.”
Aaron stared at the statue in front of him and started to laugh. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“No, you’ve got to be kidding. Why didn’t you tell me you were a Sox fan?”
Aaron looked at her strangely. “I didn’t really think it would be a problem. Don’t tell me you won’t go out with me again just because of some silly baseball rivalry.”
“It’s not silly.” Rebecca smiled at him, wondering if he was for real. Maybe there was more to Aaron than she had originally thought. “Are you asking me out again?”
“I might be, if you promise not to bite my head off anymore.”
She considered him for a moment. He really was very handsome, and he could be quite charming when he wanted to. “I could try,” she said. “But keep the Cubs out of it.”
They caught a cab back to Aaron’s car. “Do you mind?” he asked when he caught her puzzled expression. “This way we can see the Navy Pier fireworks together.”
She settled back into the soft leather of the car. “This is classy,” she said as he started the engine. “What kind of car is it?”
“An Audi,” he said. “Do you like it?”
Why does that ring a bell? she wondered, and then shrugged off the thought. She’d probably seen a commercial that morning for the automaker. “I suppose. I’ve never been all that concerned about cars, unless they stop working. I’m parked two blocks south of here.”
Aaron parked up and they sat on the trunk to watch the fireworks in the Sky above. It felt great to sit by him like this, Rebecca decided. As long as he kept his inane comments to himself, that is.
“Did you ever get a hold of your friend?” Aaron’s voice broke into her thoughts.
“What friend?”
“The guy you were talking to when I was fixing your tire the first time.”
Rebecca thought back. “Oh, you mean on Mackinac Island? Yeah, I flew back to see him and his wife last weekend. He’s in the hospital.”
Aaron looked up at the Sky. “Is he okay?”
Rebecca shrugged. “He’s coming home tomorrow, so he must be. He lost a lot of blood but the doctors say his shoulder should heal well.”
There was a long silence, broken only by the booming of the fireworks above them. “What happened to his shoulder?” Aaron finally asked, his tone casual.
Rebecca looked at him in surprise. He was awfully concerned about a man he’d never met before. “He was shot at work last Saturday.”
“That’s awful. Do they have any leads?”
She cocked her head, trying to see him better in the darkness. “No,” she said slowly. “At least, I don’t think so. I haven’t talked to the police.”
“Of course not.” She could see the flash of his teeth when he smiled at her. “I know all these questions must sound crazy. You just seemed concerned when you were talking to him before, and he must be a good friend if he’s helping you with something at work.”
“Oh, right. It’s very kind of you to ask about him.” Rebecca looked up and was caught by the expression in his eyes when the lights shooting across the Sky illuminated them. She didn’t look away.
“I try to be kind once in a while,” Aaron murmured. He put his hand on the back of her head and slowly drew her toward him.
Rebecca didn’t know why she’d moved her head so that his lips fell on her cheek instead of her lips. She just knew that kissing Aaron Sharpe–at least, at that moment–was not something she wanted to do.
Aaron just chuckled softly. “Maybe I’ll be luckier next time,” he said.
“I should probably be going.”
“At least let me walk you to your car. It’s not like it’s very far away.” He offered her his arm and escorted her around the Audi to her door. “I had a wonderful time,” he said, his free hand covering hers. “If I called you later on this week would you be willing to see me again?”
How can one man be so charming, and I don’t want to kiss him? Rebecca wondered distractedly. “Of course. I had a wonderful night. Thank you so much for asking me.”
He leaned in again, this time kissing her cheek on purpose. “I’ll see you soon, Rebecca Done. You can count on it.”
***
Rebecca and Cassie had a wonderful weekend with, to Rebecca’s great relief, very little shopping. She saw her out the front door Monday morning with promises to meet again the next day for dinner before Cassie headed back to Michael and Michigan.
When she arrived at the library that morning, she picked up the newspaper that was lying on the front desk. She sat at the table in the back room, surrounded by books that needed to be repaired, and steeled herself to read Elliot’s column. She had avoided it for an entire week, but for some reason, after her date with Aaron, she couldn’t hold out any longer.
Her eyes fell on his byline, but there was very little following it:
‘Elliot Winters is away on personal business. His column will resume in two weeks’ time. Please check back then’.
Chapter Twelve
After two days of chasing children and re-shelving the books they had thrown on the ground, Rebecca was not in the mood to go out to dinner. Still, she had promised Cassie she would. So after work on Tuesday, she ran into the apartment long enough to retouch her makeup and change clothes, and then headed off to meet her sister.
Cassie was waiting for her in the restaurant’s entrance. She pulled her sister aside when Rebecca opened the door. “I hope you don’t mind,” she whispered, “but Elisa’s coming.”
Rebecca raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Elisa? Whatever for?”
Obviously uncomfortable, Cassie’s eyes slid away. “Well, I ran over to Dad’s this afternoon to see how everyone was doing. When I mentioned that we were having dinner together, Adrianna convinced Elisa that this would be a good sisterly sort of thing to do.”
Rebecca looked at her blankly. “Since when has Elisa been interested in being a good sister?”
Shrugging, Cassie tugged her toward the bar. They sat at a table with a decent view of the front door. “I guess Elisa picked up a self-help book by mistake…” She laughed at the incredulous expression on Rebecca’s face and continued, “…and it said that the best way to get a family of your own is to be a good member of the one you already have. So she’s trying out her new strategy on us.”
Rebecca blinked. “I didn’t know Elisa wanted a family.”
“Well, she doesn’t, exactly. She wants a husband. I guess the men she meets in the shops downtown during the day are either married or gay, and even Elisa knows that won’t work.”
Rebecca smiled at the waiter who brought her a glass of water and drank half of it at once. Summers in Chicago could be brutal, and it was hot outside. “Why is Adrianna helping her?”
“You can ask her yourself. Here they are.” Rebecca looked up to see Elisa flounce into the restaurant, followed by Adrianna. They seemed uncomfortable, as though they didn’t know how to behave among ordinary people.
“What’s she doing here?” Rebecca asked quietly, jerking her head in Adrianna’s direction. “I would have thought she’d stay behind so she could seduce William in peace.”
“Shh.” They watched as Elisa and Adrianna flinched when the hostess asked for their names. Hiding a smirk, Cassie stood up and walked towards them. “I’m glad
you’re here,” she said. Rebecca was amazed at how sincere her sister’s voice sounded.
Once they were seated, Elisa opened her purse and pulled out a book. “Look what it says here,” she said to Adrianna, flipping it to a well-worn page. “It says you have to look for men outside your comfort zone if you want to meet someone new. Do you think this place counts?” From the tone of her voice, Rebecca knew Elisa would rather fall into the Chicago River on St. Patrick’s Day than find a potential boyfriend at Chili’s.
Adrianna glanced around the room, her nose wrinkled in distaste. “I’d say so,” she agreed. “Maybe we should go to the mall after dinner. That would be the real test.”
“The mall!” Elisa shrieked. “I can’t go to the mall. What if someone saw me? They might think I was shopping at…” Her voice lowered to a whisper, “…the Gap.”
Adrianna looked at her pityingly. “You won’t know anyone at the mall, Elisa. None of your friends would dare set foot in one.”
“You’re right.” Elisa sagged back in her seat. “I guess it’s worth a try.”
Rebecca grabbed the book and turned it over, wondering how her own, nearly illiterate sister had come to possess a book. It seemed to have been heavily read. Flipping it open, she saw a familiar stamp on the back cover. “Elisa, have you been to the library?”
Elisa shuddered. “I certainly hope not.”
“But this book…” Cassie took it out of her hands and turned it over, putting a price tag from a used-book store in plain view. “Oh, I see. Never mind.”
“For your information, little sister, I can read. I was going through some things in one of the spare rooms in the new house and found it in a closet.”
“Was there a single woman living there before you and William moved in?”
Elisa nodded. “There was,” she said cheerfully. “She was killed by some weirdo she met in a used-book store.”
Rebecca cleared her throat, trying not to point out the irony of the situation. “What’s this about finding a man?” she asked, handing the book back. “I thought you’d decided you didn’t want the bother of dating.”
Elisa flicked an invisible piece of lint off her skirt and fixed her sister with a disdainful look. “I changed my mind,” she said as if daring Rebecca to find fault with that. “Adrianna thinks having a boyfriend will help my self-esteem issues.”
Cassie snorted indelicately next to Rebecca, who kicked her under the table. “How is a boyfriend supposed to help you with your self-esteem?” she asked, trying to divert Elisa’s attention from the noises Cassie was making.
“When I move in with him, I’ll redecorate his apartment and he’ll realize how empty his life was before he met me.”
Rebecca didn’t dare look at Cassie. “I see,” she said slowly, trying to keep the grin from her face. “I guess I’ve been dating the wrong men then.”
Adrianna patted her hand. “You probably have,” she said sweetly. “Are you still seeing that newspaper man? I’m sure he’s all wrong for you.”
Rebecca looked at her in shock. “How do you know–”
Adrianna waved her arm dismissively. “I know all about him,” she said. “Aaron told me he saw the two of you together on vacation.”
It was the way she said it–as though Aaron was the fount of all information–that made Rebecca’s eyes narrow. “I didn’t know you were acquainted with Aaron,” she said.
Adrianna‘s eyes grew wide. “I don’t,” she said hastily. “That guy that Faye knows talked about you when he came over to see us last week. Wasn’t his name Aaron?” she asked, turning to Elisa. “I could have sworn that was what he said.”
Elisa‘s eyes grew distant. “Now that’s the kind of man I wouldn’t mind meeting,” she said dreamily. “All that hard muscle and fancy clothing. I wonder what kind of women he dates.”
“Ones that have a brain,” Cassie muttered under her breath. Rebecca elbowed her in the side, but Cassie would not be deterred. “You can ask Rebecca,” she went on. “She went out with him this weekend.”
Rebecca glared at her. “I think I’m ready to order,” she said. “Have you decided what you want to eat, Elisa?”
“Yes, how was your date?” Adrianna gaze was fixed on the menu in front of her, but Rebecca could sense an undercurrent of irritation in her tone. “Did the famous Aaron Sharpe show you a good time?”
Rebecca stared at her, her mouth hanging open. “How do you know Aaron’s last name?”
Adrianna didn’t move for a second. Leaning over, Rebecca placed her hand on the menu and held it firmly to the table. “Adrianna, do you and Aaron know each other?”
Adrianna wrenched the menu from under Rebecca’s fingers and laid it on the end of the table. “I’m sure Faye said his name once or twice. She talks about you all the time, and it only makes sense that his name would occasionally come into the conversation. So how was your date? Did you have fun?”
Rebecca looked at her for a long time before replying. There had to be more to the story than that; she’d just have to figure it out. “I had a lovely time,” she said finally, deciding the woman wasn’t worth the effort it would take to be offended by her earlier insinuation. “Aaron was fun to hang out with.” For the first time since high school she wished she drank. She was pretty sure she could use some hard liquor–even though she’d never touched the stuff before.
Adrianna dropped the subject, and after an hour of listening to her advise Elisa about catching the right sort of man necessarily rich, and definitely handsome, Rebecca had had enough. Without a glance at Cassie, she declined their invitation to go to the mall, claiming she needed to get ready for work the next day.
When she was finally alone in her car, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Maybe Elisa is adopted. There’s really no other way to explain how we can be sisters. There was William, though. Maybe Anne had adopted them both at the same time.
When she arrived home, she headed straight upstairs, throwing her bag and keys on the desk next to the computer. Once she was in her pajamas, she wandered back into the library and sank onto the couch. Her phone beeped at her feet where it had fallen, and she stared at it for a moment, hoping it wasn’t Cassie calling to chew her out for leaving her alone with Elisa and Adrianna. She finally picked it up and listened to the message, flipping through channels on her very economical Cassie-style television.
“Hi, Rebecca. This is Aaron. I hope I’m not calling at a bad time. I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner with me on Friday night. Let me know.”
Surprised, Rebecca listened to the message twice. She hadn’t thought Aaron would actually call her back, especially after she’d avoided his kiss. She called him back, wondering if she should ask him about Adrianna.
He answered on the first ring. “Hello, Rebecca Done.”
Rebecca leaned back and relaxed into the cushions. “Hello yourself. I’m sorry I missed your call earlier.”
“You weren’t out with another man, were you?”
A jealous Aaron was cute, even if he was pretending. “No, I was with the girls. It was quite the occasion.”
Aaron chuckled. “I bet it was. Listen, are you available Friday night? I thought we could go to Gino’s East, out by where you live.”
Rebecca hesitated long enough for Aaron to clear his throat. “You aren’t still mad about the White Sox thing, are you?” He sounded irritated.
“No, no. Sure, I’ll go. I won’t be home until six or so; would you like me to meet you there?”
“Can I come pick you up instead? That way I won’t have to worry about saving any more of your tires.”
He had a point. “Sure. I can be ready by seven.”
“I’ll be there. And, Rebecca?”
“Yes?”
“I’m really looking forward to seeing you again.”
***
Early the next morning, Rebecca took Cassie to the airport. When she popped open the trunk and hauled Cassie’s suitcase over to the sidewalk, Cassie opened
it up and took out a package.
“I got this for you yesterday,” she said when Rebecca gave her a confused look.
“It’s not going to bite me, is it?” She held the edges with her fingertips, worried that her sister might want revenge for abandoning her the night before.
“I thought about it,” Cassie admitted, “but then I saw this in the window. It had your name written all over it.”
“Elisa let you buy something at the mall?”
“Once I told her it was for you, she didn’t mind.”
That figures, Rebecca thought, rolling her eyes. She ripped the paper and caught something silky and blue before it fell onto the ground. “It’s beautiful,” she said, holding the dress up. It shimmered in the early morning sunlight. She tore her gaze from the smooth material in her hand and looked Cassie straight in the eye. “You have to stop buying me clothes,” she said with finality. “I appreciate it. You have quite a talent for making me look better than I actually do. But this has got to be the last of it. Promise me?”
Cassie pulled a face. “But I like buying you clothes. It makes me feel like I’m filling the void in your closet.”
“Cassie...”
She sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat. “Fine,” she agreed. “No more clothes.”
Rebecca looked at the dress again. It really was beautiful. “I don’t know when I’ll have a chance to wear this.”
“You can when you go out with Aaron again.”
Rebecca looked at her sister. “Either you’re a mind reader or you know more about my life than I do. How did you know I was going to dinner with him this Friday?”
Cassie grinned. “I didn’t,” she said. “But I figured he’d call you again. I’d watch out, though; he doesn’t seem the type to take no for an answer twice. You might have to kiss him this time.” She hugged Rebecca quickly and then pulled her suitcase through the airport doors. “Think of me when you wear that!” she called before the doors slid shut behind her.
Shaking her head, Rebecca smiled as she merged into the traffic circling O’Hare. Cassie really needs a lesson on saving money, she thought to herself ruefully. Maybe she should follow Scott’s example and major in finance.
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