“Okay, I see what you have. Yeah, this is an older system. Probably put here when the place was first built.” He opened the little door and looked inside as he wrote something down on his clipboard. He then strode down the hall to the coat closet where the main access box was. After shoving aside the items I had hanging on the bar, he examined the wires. Occasionally, he made noises such as “ah-ha” or “oh, that needs to be replaced.”
After Aidan was done with his initial assessment, I asked him to follow me into the kitchen where he accepted a cup of coffee with a friendly smile. He pulled out several brochures and talked to me about the benefits of each of them. The entire thing was extremely overwhelming and expensive once he got down to the details of installation and monthly charges.
“I’m not sure what to choose. Which do you think is best?” I asked him. Aidan studied me for a second and then looked back at the brochures. He shoved one forward confidently.
“If I were looking to keep my girl safe, this is the one I would pick. It’s the easiest to use and very secure.” My stomach dipped just a bit as I thought about how lucky any girl would be to have this hunky man call her his.
“That one sounds perfect,” I confirmed not even sparing a glance at the brochure. “When can you get started?”
Aidan grinned and made an appointment to come back on Wednesday to do the install. That was two whole days from now, and it was all I thought about. Well, that and whether Derek missed me at all.
Ugh.
****
“Nat! I just?.?.?.?I can’t even,” I whined into the phone. “You know how much I detest writing romance pieces. I mean, I actually feel sick to my stomach right now.”
“Give me a break, Josette. I told you that I needed something for the ‘Saison de L’Amour’ promos we’ve been doing. Plus people love that shit. And we’ve committed. No, you’ve committed to doing it.”
I stayed silent for a while as I stared up at the ceiling, and then let out a long sigh.
“Nat, I only remember agreeing to this after several glasses of wine, which I don’t think should be held against me. Plus it was before things ended with Derek. The last thing I want to do is write a sappy article about tips for five fantasy rendezvous when my love life has been completely shot to hell.”
“Josette, remember when you said that you wanted me to be honest with you?”
“Yeah.”
“I think this will be good for you. Lose yourself in the idea of romance and allow yourself to believe that there are good men out there just waiting to be yours.”
“Just so you know, that doesn’t make me feel better at all, Nat.”
“Just so you know, grumpy britches, I do need that article done by the deadline.”
“Fine. Your optimism is very annoying, you know that?”
“Love you, too, brat.”
I was about a quarter of the way into the first date, and I must have rolled my eyes more than I ever had in my life. I was totally making up a rendezvous assignment for a first date, a suggestion that I had never experienced. I imagined myself meeting up with a cute guy and what we would do on our first date. Would we lock eyes from across the room, and would there be sparks? I thought what I’d written sounded completely pathetic and so much like what I would never admit that my heart really wanted.
At 11 a.m., I pulled open the door to see Aidan’s gorgeous and smiling face.
“Mornin’, Ms. Lewis. I hope you don’t mind that I’m a little early. I finished up another job ahead of schedule and figured I’d head over here.”
“Oh, not at all. Come in.” I smiled at him as he walked by me, and I caught a whiff of his scent. He smelled like sunshine and fabric softener. He walked to the box in the closet and set down all of his tools. There was confidence in the way he carried himself and how he approached his task with complete focus. He made a few trips back and forth to his truck and got to work. I observed his movements for a moment before I decided to leave him to it and went to my office to work on the article.
I was marking corrections and making notes when I heard Aidan call from somewhere in the house.
“Ms. Lewis?”
“Yeah?” I yelled back as I got up from my seat and went to find him. He was still in front of the main control box, which was completely disassembled with wires everywhere.
“I just put the new box in and I ran all the wires, but I can’t test it yet because the system at the main office is down.” I raised an eyebrow in surprise, but he quickly continued. “Just the test mode, not the live mode. That will run perfectly fine to the police and fire department.”
“Oh,” I said with relief. “I was going to ask how people in real emergencies would get help.”
“No, just test mode. We can activate live mode if you don’t mind a few fire trucks and cops in your driveway.” He chuckled.
“It’s okay, I believe you.” I looked down at all his stuff and wondered what to say next. “How long will it be down?”