He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him.
'Has anyone ever told you, you have a really good heart?'
Harriet leaned her head against him. It felt good. “I just feel so bad for her. When we were in the basement of that workshop, she was telling me how her mother used to lock her in closets to keep the mom's boyfriend from hurting her. And she was just so matter-of-fact about it, like it was the most normal thing in the world. And I could hear in her voice that she really believed her mom was protecting her. It wasn't in her reality that her mom had anything to do with the abuser being there in the first place.'
'Did you bring home birds that fell out of nests when you were a little girl?” he asked.
'Yeah, right,” she said. “I brought home a stray kitten one time, and the head mistress took it from me and made me scrub my hands with a brush.'
'That's terrible.” He gave her a squeeze.
'It is what it is, and compared to Carla, I had no problems at all.'
The waitress brought two mugs of steaming hot cocoa topped with generous dollops of whipped cream and set them on the scarred wooden table in front of the sofa.
'Thanks,” Harriet told her with a smile.
'Can we forget all these other people and talk about us?” Aiden asked.
She picked up her cup and sipped.
'I'll take that as a yes,” he said. “I'd like to propose that we start over when we get back to Foggy Point.'
She started to protest, but he pressed a finger to her lips.
'Let me finish before some other disaster interferes. A couple of weeks ago, I said I wanted to take you out, and then I no-showed. I know that was bad form, but we really were slammed with that contaminated pet food crisis. Then, when we got here, Cammi was fooling with my phone and erased your message. Maybe on purpose, maybe not, but in any case I never got it. Hitting Tom, I still stand by. He's a jerk.'
He paused, and Harriet seized her chance.
'I agreed to go out to dinner. We're both adults, you don't owe me anything. You got busy. It happens.'
Aiden held her gaze. “You don't believe this is just a casual thing any more than I do,” he said.
'I won't deny I find you attractive, but I'm also a lot older than you. A fact I've made very clear was an issue for me.'
'If I were ten years older than you, no one would give it a second thought, especially you.'
'You don't know that,” she objected, but in her heart she knew he was right.
'Let me prove you wrong,” he pleaded.
Harriet sipped her cocoa.
'I gave you a chance a few weeks ago, and no matter how good your excuses, you were a no-show, which proves my point that, at your age, you need to concentrate on your career. I understand that.'
'Are you trying to tell me that if someone brought you a batch of quilting that had to be done in a short time for some reason, that you wouldn't cancel a date?'
'I would, but the difference is I would call and tell you about it up front.'
'Point taken,” he said and hung his head. Strands of black hair fell over his eyes. “I'm sorry.'
He was right, she thought, she did feel the connection. And if she were truthful with herself, she'd acknowledge that he had bruised her fragile ego when he no-showed for their date and then called Jorge instead of her.
She took another sip of her drink. “I suppose we could try again when we get back to Foggy Point. This time you have to pick me up at home.'
'Wild horses won't be able to stop me,” he said with a dazzling smile. He took her cup from her hands and set it on the table and then pulled her onto his lap. He gently took her face in his hands and kissed her. The waitress winked at her, and gave her a thumbs-up.
For once, Harriet didn't care if she was making a spectacle of herself. She ran her fingers through his thick hair, twining them in the long strands.
Aiden broke contact first. “Whew,” he said. “We better quit while we still can. Besides, I have an idea.'
'You mean you were thinking of something else just now? Way to stroke my ego.'
'I didn't say I thought of it just then-believe me, I was only thinking of one thing, and it wasn't Carla's living situation.'
'What's your idea for Carla?” She picked up her cup again.
'I've been living in my apartment over the clinic since I've been back in Foggy Point, but I did inherit my mom's house on the hill. I've been toying with the idea of moving back there, but it's a really big house and I'd have to have help to take care of it. My mom's housekeeper was old, and when Mom died, Rose retired.'
'So, what does that have to do with Carla and her baby?'
'I was thinking maybe Carla could be my housekeeper. She wouldn't have to do all the work herself-Mom had people that did all the windows and she had a gardener. Carla could make sure the jobs got done. She and her baby could have a couple of rooms, and there would still be space to spare.'
'That's a generous idea, but what if she doesn't know how to do the job?'
'How bad could she be? Besides, I'll bet she's pretty resourceful if she's been living on the streets. And she can't be any worse at it than I'd be.'
'You can be a sweet guy when you want to be,” she said and gave him a quick kiss before standing up. “This has been fun, but we need to get back, don't we?'
'Unfortunately, we do.” Aiden drained his cup, picked up hers and carried both to the counter.
'You young men are so evolved,” she said with a laugh when he returned.
'What's that supposed to mean?'
'Never mind,” she said with a smile.
The trip back to the Tree House parking lot was spent planning Carla's move to Aiden's house.
'I'll have to stay in the apartment until the clinic finds another tenant,” Aiden explained. “They like to have someone live on-site, since there are often overnight patients. Usually, it's one of the vet techs, but it was available when I came home so it was convenient for me. It'll probably take a couple of months to find someone, which will give Carla some time to settle in at my mom's house.'
'This is so great,” Harriet said with delight. “Thank you so much for helping her.'
'Anything for you.” He pulled into the parking lot then leaned over and brushed his lips over hers. “There's more where that came from,” he said. “When can I prove it to you?'
'I'm not sure what the dinner plan is tonight, and then there's the whole Lauren thing. Can we talk later?'
'Sure, as long as you promise you're not giving me the brush-off.'
She rested her hand on his thigh. “I promise, I'm not brushing you off.” She opened the door and got out.
Aiden leaned toward the open door. “I'll talk to you later.'
'I'll look forward to it,” she said and turned and headed toward the path.
'Harriet?” someone called from the direction of the path. “Is that you?” Nancy from the office appeared around a curve in the path. “I was just coming to find you,” she said. “I have a message for you.” She held out a pink phone message slip that was folded in half and held shut with a piece of tape. “This note was on my desk when I came in this morning. There was a sticky note attached that asked me to deliver this to you as soon as I got in. So, here.'
She thrust the note at Harriet then spun and walked back down the path, disappearing around the curve.
The note tore slightly as Harriet pulled it open.
She went back to the parking area then down the road until she came to the next car park. If she had guessed correctly, this one would have a path that led to Pavilion A. She took a longer forested path and eventually came to a clearing that revealed the ceramics building. Perfect, she thought.
The door to the pavilion was unlocked, and she pulled it open. The display pedestals that had held the pottery bowls off to the right on her previous visit had been removed, and a series of narrow shelves sat parallel to each other down the middle of the space. She had to stop and reorient herself. She counted the doorways, but still wasn't sure she choosing the one that led to Tom's office.
