by Jill Sanders
“You know we broke it off last year. Why would you bring her here?” he paced the small room.
“Aaron, you mind your tone with your mother.” His dad piped in. “You’ve had quite enough fun here. It’s about time you went back to your responsibilities. If LA won’t work for you, I’ve made arrangements for a new position at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. I pulled a few strings to get you an excellent position. Jennifer is excited about the move as well and has arranged for all your things to be shipped.” His father walked over and patted Jennifer’s hand. “She’s been instrumental in the whole process.”
“What? What? I can’t believe what I am hearing.” Aaron rubbed his forehead. “What about ‘Engagement called off’ do you people not understand?” His voice grew louder.
“I agreed for you Mom and Dad to visit, however after listening to this, I want you to leave. I can’t handle you here just now.” He rounded on Jennifer. “And you, you knew what my reaction would be before you stepped foot in Oregon. What did you think would happen?”
Since that minute, Jennifer had been hiding behind his parents. Now, the whole room turned to look at her.
“Aaron, I know we had an argument, it was foolish. I’m sure you didn’t mean the things you said and well, I was upset at you and said some things back. Your parents are right, won’t you listen to them? This position in Philadelphia is just want we need. A new beginning, you should see the facilities there.” She walked over and tried to reach for his hand. “Oh, Aaron you will love it and your parents have found the perfect little house for us.” she ignored his glare and tried to continue.
“Out.” It was no more then a whisper, but cut the silence.
Just then, there was a quick knock and Betty’s head peaked in quickly. “Sorry to interrupt, Melissa and her mother are waiting in room three, Johnny Cavanaugh and his mother are in one, and the whole Miller family is in two.” Then just as quick her head disappeared and the door closed.
“I won’t have you talking to your fiancee and mother this way. You have responsibilities Aaron; it’s time you grew up. We’ll be staying at your Grandfather’s place. I expect you to be there for dinner tonight so we can discuss this further.”
With that, the group walked from his room. Aaron grabbed the first thing handy and threw it at the closed door, then he went over and sat behind his desk. Putting his head on the cool wood and wished more then anything he’d never agreed to their visit.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Lacey heard that the chicken pox had hit town. It was hard to work in one of the major hubs in a small town and not hear everything that was going on in it. She’d hired two of the girls whom she had interviewed that morning and one bus boy.
Currently, the restaurant was full, thanks to the noon rush. She had watched the trio walk in and had almost had to do a double take. At first she’d thought it was Aaron that had walked in with the two blondes on either arm. Noticing the differences, she could only assume it was his father and felt another twinge in her chest. So his parents had been planning a trip and he hadn’t told her. She knew he wasn’t close to them, but in her mind, it just assured her more that it was truly over between them.
Of course they had been seated in her section. She was trying to train one of the new girls, Julie. On approach she heard the young blonde asking Aaron’s parents if they wanted to eat somewhere nicer. Lacey felt an instant dislike for the woman.
Lacey felt intimidated instantly noticing the perfection of the trio, all of them were beyond tall. Aaron could double for his father any day.
His father had a few gray hairs around his forehead, she saw that he had smaller shoulders; and a little leaner.
His mother was tall, thin, and tan. She could easily have been a model. Lacey could see Aaron had inherited his mother’s mouth and chin. But, the other woman who was with them was a complete mystery.
To say the woman was gorgeous was an understatement. Not a single hair was out of place and her simple dress looked exotic. Lacey looked down at her black skirt and her red and white striped shirt with wine stains and felt even planner than before. She was sure her eyes were still puffy from the nights cry.
So, this is what Aaron came from? Well, they could have him back. Raising her chin, she walked over with Julie tagging behind.
“Hello, my name is Lacey. Have you had a chance to look over the menu?” She noted the younger woman hadn’t even looked up at her, was smirking at the front cover of the menu. A menu that her brother Todd had drawn years ago.
Aaron’s father ordered first, ordering the most expensive steak, followed by Aaron’s mother, then the other woman who only ordered a “clean” salad.
When Lacey placed their orders in the computer, she told Julie to take her half hour lunch. She felt a larger headache coming and didn’t want the girl to take any brunt of her anger.
When she’d delivered their food, the woman had looked down her nose at the crisp fresh salad and made a face as if she had smelled something foul. Lacey ignored it and smiled back.
When she’d been leaving the table she overheard some of their conversation. Lacey desperately wanted to ease drop, so she made sure all the customers on either side had their waters full, taking her time as she went.
“Really Jennifer, you know what’s going on here… It’s the last fling before the wedding. Aaron will enjoy the move to Philadelphia and before you know it, the director’s chair will be his. You’ll see, a fall wedding in Philadelphia is just perfect.” Lacey heard Aaron’s mother saying.
Looking at the table next to her she saw the woman, Jennifer, twisting a large diamond ring around on her finger and then for the first time in Lacey’s life, everything went white.
She woke in warm arms and felt groggy enough to know that her brother was screaming at her, which in itself was a funny thing because there were other people present. Iian never really spoke in public, let alone screamed.
When she finally opened her eyes, she could see she’d been moved to his office couch. “Damn it Lacey come on…. Go call the doctor.” he yelled at someone.
That got her eyes opened and she pushed Iian away enough to sit up.
“No! Don’t call the doctor! I’m perfectly fine.” she pushed herself into a sitting position.
Frustrated, Iian signed to her. “What the hell are you doing? I’m taking you over there myself. You’re as pale as death. What’s wrong?” he finished
Signing back she started to tell him everything. By the time she’d finished, she could see he was steaming.
Iian asked Katie to finish training the new staff. He demanded that she head home and take the rest of the day off. Someone had called Todd, because when she walked outside fifteen minutes later, he was just pulling up; he rushed forward and encased her in a firm grip.
“What the hell are you doing scaring us like that?” he said pulling back to take a better look at her. Noting her pale face and the dark circles under her eyes, he barked at her. “You aren’t pregnant are you?” She could see the anger growing in his face.
If she hadn’t been so tired she would have laughed.
“No, I’m not pregnant. I just haven’t gotten a lot of sleep with us at the hospital until late, and Aaron and I sort of had a fight.” She pulled away as the front door opened and the trio came gliding out. She’d almost forgotten about them. Her back stiffened as she looked again at Jennifer.
Todd noticed her gaze and reaction, quickly putting a protective arm around his sister. He looked at the three people coming out of the restaurant. Instantly he recognized Bradford Stevens. He’d met him several years back.
Mr. Stevens stopped when he saw Todd. “Oh, Hello Todd.” He walked over and gripped Todd’s hand in a firm hand shake. “It’s good to see you again, I’d forgotten you lived around here.” Mrs. Stevens walked over as well.
“Todd this is my wife, Elizabeth. This is Todd Jordan, owner of Jordan Shipping, we meet a few years back at a conference
in Singapore.”
“Nice to meet you, I didn’t know you were in town.” Todd tightened his hold a little on Lacey when she tried to squirm away.
“Oh, we’re just here for about a week visiting our son, Aaron.” Aaron’s mother chimed in.
Todd’s mind sharpened. He’d pieced it together when he’d met Bradford that he was Dr. Stevens’ son. But, hadn’t put the pieces together that this was Aaron’s father.
Just then another woman walked up to stand next to them.
“Todd, this is Jennifer Andrews, Aaron’s fiancee. Jennifer, Todd runs a very prominent shipping company, one of last year’s fortunes five hundred’s if my memory serves me.” Bradford said.
Lacey felt a shiver down her back; she took a quick peek at Jennifer and could almost see dollar signs in her eyes.
Todd’s arm tightened when he heard “Aaron’s fiancee” If Lacey knew anything about her brother, she knew that right about now, Todd was thinking of a million ways to kill the town’s doctor. Reaching up she put a protective arm around her brother, restraining him.
“Oh.” Todd said under his breath. “I didn’t know Aaron was engaged.” Lacey heard the heat in the statement and nudged her brother. “Pardon my rudeness, Mr. & Mrs. Stevens this is my sister Lacey. She owns and runs the Golden Oar.”
Lacey nodded to the pair. They looked her over from head to toe. It was obvious that the pair had been present during her fainting spell. Embarrassment caused her face to flush. Aaron’s father took her small hand. “Oh, yes, how are you dear? That was a nasty spell you had in there.” Aaron’s mother gave her no more then a quick nod.
“If you will excuse me, I need to get my sister home. It was nice seeing you again.” Todd turned, keeping Lacey close and walked them to his car.
Once inside, she laid her head back on the head rest and silently cried. Todd, being the kind brother he was, let her cry it out.
When he stopped the car a few minutes later, she noticed that it was at his house instead of hers.
“Todd, I just want to go home.” she began.
“No, I’m not letting you deal with alone. He fooled us all Lacey. I’m not going to leave you by yourself during this. Besides, I’m going to go pick up Megan and the baby from the hospital soon, and I know she would really enjoy the help and company.”
Lacey ended up staying the night. Little Matthew and the company of her family were a comfort to her. She cooked them all dinner and fell asleep on their couch. When Todd carried her to their extra bedroom, she woke briefly and ended up crying silently most of the night.
Where the hell was she? Her car was still at the restaurant, someone had said she’d left hours ago. He now sat outside her place in his car, after pounding on her front door for ten minutes, he just sat there waiting. Bernard was curled up on the doormat waiting too. He was sure she was upstairs ignoring him. At one point, he thought about climbing up a wall to peak in the high windows.
Didn’t she know what she was doing to him? It had been murder not having her there last night, he was unsure whether he could go without her another night. He sat there in his truck watching the rain pour off his windshield until he saw headlights in his rear-view mirror. It was a quarter to one. But instead of Lacey, Iian got out of the sedan.
Iian rushed to Aaron’s door, pulling it open and had Aaron out of the truck by his jacket, so fast, he didn’t have time to respond.
“What the..” Aaron didn’t get a chance to finish before Iian’s fist plowed into his face, snapping his head back against the door.
Aaron had taken several beatings in school, boarding schools were full of bullies, but this one had more power and feeling behind it than any he’d ever felt before. Putting up his hands, he stopped the next blow, then pushed Iian back a few feet, he quickly signed.
“What was that for?”
Iian signed back. “You know what that was for, that’s for Lacey and the next one is from me.” He began to swing again, but Aaron was ready and dodged the blow.
He signed again. “Hang on a minute.” Then he yelled, “Hold on!” when Iian swung again.
“What’s going on? Where’s Lacey?” he signed quickly when Iian stopped swinging.
“She’s somewhere you can’t get to her again.” Iian signed back. “You need to just leave her alone. If you ever come near her again…”
“What do you mean?” Aaron interrupted. “I haven’t done anything to her.”
“You’re engaged or did you forget?” Iian signed.
Aaron took a step back and leaned against his car door, his face turned white. Iian could see the shocked look, his left eye was starting to swell and he felt a little pride knowing the doctor would soon have a black eye.
“No.” Aaron said out loud.
“No, what?” Iian signed. “No, you didn’t forget? Or No, you’re sorry Lacey found out about it? You used my sister.” It made him so mad he started to take a step towards Aaron again, maybe to blacken the other eye, when Aaron said.
“No, I’m not engaged.” He had said it rather then signing it, and because it was fairly dark out, with the only light coming from the front porch, Iian had to sign and ask him to repeat his last statement.
“I was engaged last year, to Jennifer, I broke it off shortly after. I’m not engaged to her and would never marry her. I’m in love with your sister.” Aaron signed.
Iian took a step back. Looked deep into the doctor’s eyes and saw the truth. Then he let out a bark of laughter and punched the man’s arm brotherly.
He signed, “Well, I guess you better come in and explain it all and maybe put something on that eye.” he smiled.
Lacey woke in the spare bedroom at Todd and Megan’s. Taking a deep cleansing breath she opened her eyes and screamed. Aaron sat over her looking down into her face.
“Sorry.” he mumbled and started to move back.
She swung out and caught him on the chin, which caused him to fall backwards off the side of the bed, hitting his head on the dresser. He let out of string of low curses while rubbing the side of his head.
“Out! Get out!” Lacey gathered the pillows and standing on the bed began throwing them in his direction. “Now! Get out now!” She threw the next thing that was free; a small alarm clock hit the dresser just above where his head was.
“Damn it Lacey, would you stop for just a minute?” he said rushing over and grabbing her. Flipping her over so that she lay underneath him, her chest rising and falling with quick breaths.
“Get off me.” she said under her breath trying to push him away with her legs. She tried to twist and get her hands free from his iron hold.
He could see the tears building up in her eyes, eye’s that had dark circles under them, and were puffy.
“I am not engaged to Jennifer anymore! I broke it off before I moved here.” he blurted out.
She stopped fighting and looked at him for the first time. His left eye was swollen and purple, she could see his eye was a bright red under all the swelling. He had a fat lip as well.
“What?” she asked taking it all in.
“I’m not engaged, period!” he said holding her down and enjoying the feel of her under him. She was wearing a large white T-shirt and large gray sweat pants.
“Oh, then why…?” she trailed off.
“I don’t know why my parents and Jennifer won’t accept that I called it off. They won’t leave me alone about it. She still has the stupid ring I bought her. I think they’re all delusional. The only one I want to be with now is you. Just you.” he said smiling down at her.
She took a few deep breaths to steady herself.
“Did I do that to you?” she nodded towards his eye and lip.
He released her with one hand and touched his eye lightly.
“No, the eye is from Iian, the lip is from Todd. But, from what I hear, I guess I deserved it. Listen, I should have told you earlier, I guess I just…”
She reached around with her free hand and pulled him down in
to a kiss. She’d meant to show him everything that she’d been feeling the last day, the hunger, the loneliness, and the want.
She was soft and warm; and smelled like home and tasted the same. He couldn’t get enough. He reached under the light shirt and touched her soft skin. He heard a moan and realized it was his own, then he pulled her hand that had been desperately trying to untuck his shirt from his pants, above her head to join her other one.
“Lacey.” he said, breathing hard. “Your family is down stairs.” She ran kisses up and down his neck causing small bumps to rise on his arms. He was shaking so bad, he thought everyone in the house would feel it.