CHAPTER TWO
THE, uh, strainer is in the sink.” Victoria turned the handle of the pot so it was facing him.
As Trent reached for it, she climbed off the stool and moved it back to the counter. Once he’d taken the pot from the stove and stepped in front of the sink to empty it into the strainer, she opened the oven. The delicious aromas he’d smelled when he walked in the door earlier intensified.
Trent was concerned about her burning herself, but she proved to be quite adept as she removed a casserole dish from the oven and climbed the stool to put it on the potholders on the counter. He could only imagine how inconvenient it must be for her to have to constantly climb up and down that stool in order to function in her own kitchen. And yet she made it look easy, and she did it without complaint.
She held out a bowl to him. “You can put the vegetables in that.”
He did as she requested and then put the bowl on the table. “Want me to put that on the table, too?”
“Sure.” She pushed the rectangular dish across the counter to him. “I’ll just get the potatoes, and we can eat.”
Swallowing past the tightness in his throat, Trent wished he could rewind time. He’d tell her to take her computer to another person. Anyone but him. This was just too much. It was giving him a taste of something he’d only dreamed of up to that point. Even before he’d met Victoria, he’d eaten many lonely meals wishing—hoping—for something just like this.
“Have a seat,” Victoria said. After she had slid the bowl with the potatoes onto the table, she stood staring for a moment. “I guess that’s all.”
Trent would have liked to be the gentleman and help Victoria with her seat, but since she’d already directed him to sit down, he settled into the chair she’d indicated.
When she sat down across from him, she said, “Would you like to pray?”
He nodded and bowed his head to say grace, certain that any moment he’d wake up to find this was all just another one of the dreams he’d had over the years. He knew it was one of the reasons he enjoyed being with the McKinleys so much. They had welcomed him without reserve and given him a taste of a dream they’d never known he’d had. To be part of a family who loved and cared about each other.
“So, how did you end up being such a whiz at computers?” Victoria asked after he’d finished praying.
As he took the bowl of salad she handed him, Trent said, “Well, it all started with a nerdy teenager whose parents gave him pretty much anything he asked for.”
Victoria slid a piece of chicken onto her plate then looked up at him. “Your parents spoiled you?”
“Not so much spoiled. I was their third child. An oopsie baby, apparently. My brother was ten and my sister seven when I was born. My parents didn’t really have room for a baby in their lives by that point, but they had plenty of money so they hired a nanny to take care of me. By the time I was a teenager, as long as I didn’t cause trouble, they would give me whatever I asked for.” He smiled at the memory. “I asked for lots of very expensive computers and accessories.”
“That’s kind of like me with Eric and Brooke. Except for the nanny part.” She grinned “And the lots of money.”
“Yes, you were fortunate.” Trent cut his chicken, not sure he should have revealed all of that to Victoria, but it had seemed right to tell her.
She nodded. “So you spent most your time on your computers?”
“Yes. I got bullied in school, so my computers were a safe place for me.”
“Bullied? For what?”
Trent debated telling her about his experiences. They wouldn’t come close to what she’d likely suffered over the years, but she had asked. “I was a scrawny teenager. I never really hit the growth spurt that all my peers did in high school. I’ve always been smaller than most guys.”
Victoria tilted her head. “You’re not small.”
He smiled at her. “I realize that from your perspective that’s probably how it appears, but from mine, it’s a bit different. I’m usually a good four to six inches shorter than most the guys I hang out with. Take Eric, for example. Dude is over six feet while I’m closer to five-nine.”
“Well, you definitely don’t seem to be scrawny anymore, even if you are a bit shorter than other guys.”
It pleased him that she’d noticed he worked out. He didn’t really have a choice at BlackThorpe. Not that he wouldn’t have done it on his own anyway, but working for that company had made it necessary. “I can hold my own now but I couldn’t back then. And though I wasn’t into sports or anything, I had my own way of leveling the playing field.”
Victoria’s brows drew together. “What did you do?”
“Nothing I’m proud of, to be honest, but those years in high school laid the groundwork for my job at BlackThorpe, so I don’t completely regret them.”
She stared at him for a moment then her eyes widened. “You were a hacker.”
The only people who knew the extent of his background worked at BlackThorpe. “Eric tell you that?”
“No. It makes sense though.” She took a sip of water, curiosity in her eyes.
“Yeah, it does. But like I said, I’m not proud of some of the stuff I did. I was lucky that I didn’t get caught before I got my act together and realized that what I was doing was wrong.”
“God had a plan for you.”
Trent nodded, grateful for the housekeeper and her husband who had taken an interest in his spiritual life during his teens. They had also given him a glimpse of what a loving family looked like. It had been enough to stir the desire for one deep within him. “Yes, He did. He does still.”
They continued to talk about his computer experiences as they ate. Right then, there was no other way that Trent would have wanted to spend his Friday evening. A delicious meal. Victoria actually talking with him. It was as close to perfect as possible.
“I have some dessert, but I thought maybe we could have it a little later if you needed to do something on the computer.”
Trent nodded. “I’ll go check on it. I’m doing a backup of your hard drive so if it fails, you won’t lose everything.”
“Thank you.” She gave him a sheepish smile. “I guess I should have called you sooner.”
“Or even just mentioned it to me when you saw me any number of times over the past few weeks,” he said with a wink. “It’s not like we haven’t been in the same place multiple times.”
Victoria sat back in her chair and sighed. “Okay, I think it’s been well-established that I was a fool for not asking for help sooner.”
“I’ll let it slide this time since you fed me such a wonderful dinner, but next time as soon as something strange pops up or sounds funny, you let me know.” He gave her a firm look. “Promise?”
Victoria raised a hand. “I promise.”
“Good.” Trent pushed back from the table. “Now, let me help you clear this up.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Victoria said as she slid off her chair. “I’ve got it under control.”
Ignoring her dismissal of his offer to help, Trent picked up the heavier of the dishes and set them on the counter and then stacked their plates beside them. “I’ll let you handle them from here.”
“Thank you.” She didn’t sound particularly grateful, no doubt put out because he’d overridden her assurance that she had it under control.
Trent didn’t care. She probably assumed it had to do with her size and the added challenge of moving around and climbing up and down the stool. But honestly, he would have done it for any woman who’d gone to the trouble of cooking him dinner. Knowing that his actions would make things easier for her, just made it that much sweeter.
She remained stubbornly silent as she worked on cleaning up the kitchen as Trent returned to the computer to check on its status. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it backed everything up successfully. At least now her business records were no longer at risk.
Too bad he was still going to have to
give her some bad news.
Victoria took her time putting away the food and loading the dishwasher. She knew she should have been more accepting of Trent’s help, but it was so engrained in her to do it herself when she could. It was enough that she had to rely on his help with her computer. Clearing the table was something she could handle, and he was already doing so much for her.
But if she was honest with herself, she was actually grateful for his help. In spite of her claims to the contrary, Victoria knew she couldn’t handle it all anymore. The reality—which she was still loathe to accept—was that over the course of the past several months, her left hip had begun to give her more trouble. In fact, there was rarely a day without pain anymore. Climbing up and down the stool so often like she had done today was something she would likely pay for before the night was over. But she was glad to have done it for Trent. It was the least she could do since he was helping her out.
She glanced to where Trent sat with his back to her at the computer, his broad shoulders hunched forward as he stared at the monitor. During their dinner, she’d learned more about him than she’d known over the almost three years since they’d first met. He’d always been Eric’s best friend, so they hadn’t really spent any time together by themselves and certainly hadn’t held any in-depth conversations with each other.
Oh, they’d joked and talked some over the years when he’d tagged along with Eric to family or church functions. She had counted him a friend—not a close one—but a friend nonetheless. Until things had started to change back in January. Suddenly, he was showing up at her doorstep to shovel her snow. And his lighthearted conversations with her started to have a more flirtatious undertone to them. She’d tried to just brush it aside, but there had been a small part of her that had liked it. A little too much. That had been enough to get her to back right off from everything with him.
Slowly, Victoria climbed the stool again and reached for the covered pan on the counter. She pulled the lid off the pan to reveal the chocolate cake she’d made earlier. From previous experience, she was fairly certain it was a dessert he’d like. She just hoped he realized she’d done all this as a way of thanking him for his help…nothing more.
She was cutting the cake when he got up from the desk and came to the counter. Using a spatula, she lifted a piece of cake from the pan onto the plate she’d set out.
“That looks delicious,” Trent said as he leaned against the counter. “Did you make it from scratch?”
“Of course.” She set a fork on the plate and slid it across to him. “According to my mother, that’s the only way to do it.”
“Well, your mother has certainly taught you well.”
Victoria gave him a quick smile. Caroline McKinley prided herself on having made sure that her daughters were both well-versed in cooking, baking and running a home. And Victoria hadn’t been given any special dispensation because of her dwarfism. Her mother had just worked harder to find ways for her to do anything that presented a challenge.
“There’s ice cream in the freezer if you’d like some.” Victoria put another piece on the remaining plate. “Do you want coffee?”
Trent shook his head. “This is just fine.”
Victoria stepped down off the stool and reached for her plate only to find that Trent had already picked it up and was carrying both his and hers to the table. With a sigh, she rounded the counter and sat back down across from him. “So what’s the verdict on my machine?”
Trent swallowed the bite he’d just taken. “Good news is that I managed to get all your files backed up online, so there're no worries about you losing data at this point.”
“Thank you. That’s a relief. I’ve lost a bit of work over the past month when it’s had that error occur.”
Trent gave her an exasperated look as he took another bite of the cake. “Well, that’s where the bad news comes in.”
“Bad news?” Victoria sat back in her chair. “What’s the bad news?”
“You need a new system.”
“A new system? Is this one really that far gone?”
“Yes and honestly, it’s just simply out of date. Computer technology changes quickly, and you’ve had this system for almost three years now, right?”
Victoria nodded. He had set it up for her not long after they had first met.
“You won’t have to spend a lot of money to get a system much superior to the one you have. This time I’m going to set it up a bit better than I did before. And train you more on it.”
Victoria looked over to where her computer sat. “How much will a new system cost me?”
“I don’t know exactly because I’m going to build it myself. That way I can customize it for you.”
“You don’t have to do that. I’m sure you’ve got better things to do.”
Trent shrugged. “Not really. Like I said…best friend gets married and social life takes a nose dive.”
“If you’re sure…”
“I am. Maybe as payment for my services you could make me another meal sometime.”
Victoria chuckled. “I guess we each have things we do well.”
“And you do yours exceptionally well,” Trent said then put the last bite of cake into his mouth.
His praise brought warmth to her cheeks. Before she could say anything, Trent’s phone rang. He pulled it from the holder on his belt and looked at the display before putting it to his ear.
“What’s up?”
Victoria concentrated on the last few bites of her cake while he listened to whoever was on the other end of the call.
“Actually, I’m at your sister’s at the moment.”
She jerked her head up and gave it a shake.
“Uh, no. I’m not at Brooke’s. Victoria was having some computer problems and contacted me to see if I could help her out.”
Victoria groaned. There was a reason she’d gone directly to Trent instead of contacting Eric first. She’d known that in the end, Eric would have sent Trent her way, so she’d decided to just skip that step in hopes of avoiding any rumors. But now…
“Yeah. Her system is kinda toast, so I’m going to build her a new one.”
After she had finished her cake, Victoria took both plates into the kitchen. She had thought about offering him a second piece but after he’d told Eric he was with her, he’d forfeited that privilege.
“I’ll ask her and let you know,” Trent said before ending the call.
“What’s up with Eric?”
“He said he tried to call you. Is something wrong with your phone?”
Victoria reached for the cell phone where it sat on the counter and checked the screen. “Nope. Just dead.” With a sigh, she plugged it in and set it down on the counter to charge.
“Well, apparently your mom agreed to take Sarah for an overnight, so Eric wondered if we wanted to go to a movie with them. Alicia is going as well as Brooke and Lucas.”
Truthfully, she was tired and sore and didn’t really want to go out, but she also didn’t want to have to explain why she was declining the invitation.
Trent must have seen from her expression that she was toying with the idea of not going because he said, “What if I promise no flirting tonight? Just friends hanging out together. It won’t be anything like a date.”
“Really?” Victoria laced the word heavily with doubt even though that hadn’t been the primary reason for her hesitancy.
“Really,” Trent said with a nod, his expression serious. “I won’t even offer you a ride.”
Well, that was unfortunate because she probably would have taken him up on that offer.
“However, if you’d like a ride, I would gladly give you one.”
Victoria looked at him again, trying to gauge his seriousness. His blue eyes didn’t move as he held her gaze, but she couldn’t read anything else in his expression. She couldn’t help but wonder what was behind the sudden shift in his attitude toward her. As recent as the previous weekend, he’d still been giving outla
ndish suggestions for where they could go for their first date. Had seeing her in her own environment dealing with all the things she dealt with as a little person changed how he viewed her? She wouldn’t have been surprised. Only another person with dwarfism could truly understand the challenges she faced on a daily basis.
Other than her family, most people—while admiring how she got along—weren’t really interested in the reality of how she managed to do it. Though Trent had been a part of her world these past three years, it had really been on the periphery. His coming to her home had drawn him from the edges of her life into more of her day to day reality. Even so, he still didn’t know it all. And if what he’d seen that evening had been enough to make him back off, a full dose of her life would have sent him running.
“Okay. I’ll go. And I will take you up on that ride if you don’t mind. I can probably get a ride home with Alicia afterward.”
“Whatever works for you.” He turned toward the computer. “Although, if it would be okay with you, I’d rather leave my laptop bag here. I’ll pick it up when I drop you off. I don’t really want to leave it in the Jeep since it’s a work laptop.”
“That’s fine.” She glanced down at herself. “Let me just freshen up. I’ll be right back.”
CHAPTER THREE
IN the bathroom off her bedroom, Victoria pulled the elastic from her ponytail so that her hair hung down past her shoulders. She gave it a quick brush through before adding a sweep of gloss to her lips. Staring into the mirror, she caught glimpses of both Brooke and her half-sister, Alicia, in her reflection. She didn’t have the facial features associated with the most common type of dwarfism since hers was caused by a different gene mutation. Anyone seeing her from the shoulders up wouldn’t know that she was a little person, but since she was more than just her face, their attention usually focused on the parts that did reveal her dwarfism.
When There is Love: A Christian Romance (The McKinleys Book 3) Page 2