She followed him out to his garage and slipped into the car beside him. He seemed no more chipper this morning than he had at any point since she had met him. How could anyone go through life always seeming so morose? Did he ever smile? Did he ever laugh? There was so much she didn’t know about him and most of it was something that she’d most likely never find out.
“You’ll have the day to yourself. I have work this morning and I have to fly out this afternoon, but I’ll just be gone one day. When I return tomorrow afternoon, I have a dinner meeting. I’d like for you to come with me.”
“What time?”
“Seven. I’ll pick you up at your place at six thirty. Dress casual. A pair of nice jeans and a button down shirt should be fine. Decent shoes, but not too fancy. These are construction people. I don’t want to overdo things.”
“I’ll be ready.”
“Good. Here we are. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow,” she replied.
Inside the house, Aileen contemplated just what she was doing with all this. What had she gotten herself into? He wasn’t horrible, that much was true, but he certainly wasn’t warm and cozy. She might as well be pretending she was in love with a rock for all his personality. Still, it was too late now. She had accepted and she had shown up to get the ball rolling.
More importantly, she had a half a million reasons to see it through. That money was going to go a very long way with getting her into a much better place in life than she could ever be working a menial job.CHAPTER SEVENAileen made good use of her time, driving into the city to do some more shopping. She needed a table and chairs for the dining room and she wanted to get a desk for the study she intended to create in the spare room. Other than that, she just needed to grab a few things to hang photos and such. The apartment she had been in before was much smaller and all the furniture had come with it, so she had pretty much all the decor she needed and the earthy tones, all greens, deep reds and browns would work nicely there. She’d need some groceries too if she was going to be there for almost two full days. Wine was definitely in order.
With her furniture slated for delivery a little later in the afternoon, she ran the other errands and returned to the house to get to work. There wasn’t a lot she could do yet in the study, but she finished the last of the unpacking in her bedroom and the kitchen, after putting away the small amount of food she’d purchased for her stay.
Eventually, she intended to stockpile some staples in the cabinets, but for now, she was good with some chicken, fresh vegetables and a handful of fruit. She placed the small wine rack that had belonged to her father, once upon a time, on the countertop and filled it with the bottles of wine she’d purchased.
Picking up an apple, Aileen bit into it, savoring the tart flavor as she put the rest of the fruit in a heavy white bowl. Already, this place was becoming home. She had a moment where she found herself wishing that she didn’t have to go back to Yakov’s. She wanted to work on getting her place together and get started on some classes. She had to remind herself that her agreement with Yakov was the very thing which was allowing her to have this house and plan a future. Sometimes, you just had to go through things to get out on higher ground on the other side.
The doorbell caused her to jump. She walked over and opened it to find herself looking at a rather attractive guy in jeans and a t-shirt that struggled against his substantial biceps. His closely cropped blonde hair and shimmering blue eyes gave him a bit of a GI look. Aileen immediately pegged him as newly separated military.
“I’ve got a desk, a table and some chairs for you, ma’am.”
“Yes, of course. Bring them on in.”
She waited while he turned and motioned for someone to bring them on in, running around him to grab more. Another younger guy, a teenager by her guess, brought in two chairs and hesitated, looking around.
“Oh, sorry. You can put those over there in the dining area,” she said, motioning toward the empty space in the open front area of the house.
The first guy brought two more chairs in while the teen returned to retrieve a large box. He sat it in the dining room and trotted back out, helping the hottie bring in the table and then the writing desk.
“Did you want us to put the computer chair together or can you manage it?” the hottie asked.