A Child's Heart (Trent & Cassie's Story) A River City Novel (14 page)

“I had to grow up quickly. I didn’t have a
choice.”

She leaned into him. “Promise you won’t let the
difference in our ages ruin what we have?”

“Please don’t tell me you’re old enough to be my
mother, because I might have to rethink the relationship.”

She saw the smirk on his face and giggled. “I’m not
that old! How old do you think I am?”

“I figured four years of college, two for a masters
and then another two or three for a doctorate. You worked for a few
years as a professor, and now you’re a curator. Based on that,
you’ve got to be at least thirty. But when you are in jeans and not
wearing makeup, you still look like a teenager.”

“Thanks. I think there’s a compliment in there.
You’re close. I skipped fourth and seventh grades. So I graduated
from high school at sixteen. It took me three years to do college
because I took classes in the summer. I did my masters in three
semesters. It took me almost three years to get my doctorate
because I was teaching at the college. I’ll be twenty-eight next
month.”

“Four years isn’t that much of a difference. It’s not
as much as I thought.”

“Why don’t you go to college? You could do it
part-time and so many classes are now available online.”

“It’s expensive. I’ve thought that maybe…someday when
Shawn is healthy…I’d try to take some classes.”

“What’s your dream job?”

“Architect. I design kitchen and bathroom counters.
Certainly I could design the entire house. We get house design
magazines at work, so we can keep up on the latest trends. I read
every page.”

“Nice to know you read something, other than dirty
magazines.”

“That’s not funny.”

“Yes, it is.” She gave him a little squeeze.

“Shawn, we need to turn around and walk back,” he
called to his son, who was filling a pail with seashells.

“Aw, Daddy, I don’t want to go home. Can’t we stay a
little longer?”

“We need to go home.”

Cassie dropped her hold on Trent and offered the boy
her hand. “We’ll come back when it’s warmer, after your
surgery.”

“Promise?”

“I certainly do. I’ll teach you to surf.”

His eyes got wide. “You know how to surf?”

She nodded. “We’ll have so much fun. But you need to
know how to swim before I can take you out into the deep water.
When we get home, I’ll see if I can sign you up for swimming
lessons.”

Hearing the little hiss in Trent’s breath, she looked
up at him. “You’re hurting. Did you take your pain pill this
morning?”

“I don’t like feeling groggy.”

“I’ll call the pharmacy. Maybe there is something
over the counter that you could take instead.”

Shawn had wandered ahead and then came back. “Do you
kiss and things like that?”

It was apparent that Trent was a little shocked by
his son’s question. Cassie smiled at Shawn and then at Trent.

“Do you mean like this?” She leaned up and kissed
Trent on the mouth.

“Uck! You catch germs that way.”

Trent chuckled.

***

At quarter to eight in the morning, Cassie sat at her
desk and filled out the City’s online form citing Hugh Fitzgerald
for sexual harassment. At eight oh two, she pushed the send button
and prepared to start her normal day. She didn’t get very far.

Her phone rang and she picked up the receiver. “Dr.
Jones. How may I help you?”

“Cassie, it’s Jeanie in Human Resources. Ohmigod,
it’s you!”

“What do you mean it’s me?”

“It’s been all over the news. Hughie’s been suspended
as city manager, pending investigation. The police won’t release
the name of his victim. The mayor’s been on the phone with me a
half dozen times this weekend, and P.R. is going nuts with the
press. Are you okay?”

“I’m a little bruised, but Trent got hurt trying to
rescue me.”

“Trent?”

She picked up a pile of mail and began to sort it.
“Trent Callahan. I was getting ready to go with him and his son to
the beach.”

“Little Shawn Callahan?”

“Yes.”

“You’re dating Trent? Sorry, I can’t ask you
that.”

“It’s not a secret, although it’s not anyone’s
business as to whom I date.”

“You didn’t mention Trent on your form. Was he
seriously hurt?”

“Enough to need surgery.”

“Submit an addendum. That way, he can come back to
the city for compensation.”

Cassie put down the stack of mail and scrolled
through the forms on her computer screen. “I don’t see a form to
use for Trent.”

“Use the 1226A.”

“Oh, okay.” She clicked on the form.

“Fill it out immediately and send it to me. I’ll call
the mayor and let him know that you’re the victim.”

“Thanks.” She frowned.
Just what I need.
She
hung up the phone, filled out the form, and sent it. Then she
picked up her phone and called Trent.

“Hi. I’ve got good news and bad news. Seems the
incident with Hughie has hit the fan within the city, and the media
has picked up on it. The good news is that the city might be
picking up the medical expenses on your shoulder.”

“Why don’t you meet me here for lunch? We can talk
about it then.”

“I’ll call you." Sadness washed over her.
"Trent?”

“Yes?”

“I love you, and I’m so sorry to have tangled you in
my web.”

“I’ll get through it. See you at lunch.”

The line went dead, and she hung up the phone only to
have it ring before she could remove her hand.

“Dr. Jones speaking. How may I help you?” Her heart
sank as the mayor identified himself. “Yes, sir. No problem, I’ve
no intention of going anywhere this morning.”

She hung up the phone and laid her
head on her desk.
I don’t need
this!

A knock on the door was followed by Mrs. Winston
entering the room. “What is going on?”

“It’s not good.” She pulled out her little recorder
and allowed Mrs. Winston to listen to the conversation.

“You’re his victim? But I thought he went to some
woman’s house?”

“He did. Mine.”

“Are you okay?”

“Bruised.” She pushed up the sleeve of her shirt.
“Trent’s the one who got hurt.”

“Oh, dear. I’m sorry. I know you were looking forward
to going to the beach.”

“We went anyway.” She smiled at the older woman.
“Shawn had a blast.”

“When is his surgery?”

“Next week. Trent is taking him out of playschool
this week to cut down on the possibility of him picking up a cold.
And he’s going to start on a round of antibiotics, which always
gives him diarrhea. They don’t want anything that might delay the
surgery.”

“So sad.”

“I’m taking a few days away from the office. I want
to be there during his surgery and afterwards. I need to work on
the proposal for the classroom expansion. I’ll take my laptop with
me. I’ll only be a phone call away, and I’ll probably be bopping in
and out of the office.”

“Do you really think the city is going to allow you
to do it?”

"Take the days or give me the classrooms?"

"The classrooms."

“Why not? When I’m done, they are going to see the
educational, as well as the monetary advantage for such
programs.”

“Don’t forget that we are a not-for-profit
institution.”

“But if we don’t make money, we can’t afford to bring
in the big stuff. We have to keep paying for what we do.”

Mrs. Winston left and, before Cassie could finish
tallying the figures for the weekend, the mayor knocked on her
door.

Mayor Bruno Giovanni was an older man who had been
with the City for over thirty years. Balding and rotund with a
welcoming smile, he had the appearance of a good ol’ boy, but he
wasn’t. His first concern was doing what was best for the city, and
he knew every aspect of it.

“Cassie, start at the beginning, and don’t leave any
details out.”

She sighed and told him the whole story. “And I do
have a portion of the conversation in my office on Friday.”

“What made you tape the conversation?” He crossed his
arms over his big chest.

“He’s done this too many times. I figured it was my
word against his. He was livid that I had gone to you over the
museum’s budget.”

“The proper chain of command would have been to go to
him first.”

“I understand that, and I did go to him. His idea of
fixing things was to make it more personal.”

“Personal?”

“Dinner and spend the evening with him discussing
it.”

“Many a meeting in this city is conducted during
dinner.”

“No, sir. If you told me to meet you in your office
Wednesday at five and we’d discuss my budget issues over dinner,
I’d believe you. But you don’t come in here leering over me,
licking your lips as if I were a prime cut of meat, and hinting
that dinner and our evening together will fix my budget if I give
you what you want.”

“I should hope not.”

“Precisely. If this were simply an annoying personal
thing between us, then I wouldn’t have been filling out forms for
H.R. this morning. But when my job is being held over my head
because I won’t willingly submit to his boyhood fantasy, it’s not
personal. It’s sexual harassment in the workplace. I think you need
to hear the recording.”

Bruno listened and shook his head through the whole
thing.

“Cassie, I’m truly sorry this has happened to you.
It’s an unfortunate incident both for you and the City. I did make
several inquiries about your budget, and the treasurer’s office
promised me a full accounting by the end of next week, at the
latest. Keep your expenditures to a minimum for the next couple of
weeks until this budget situation is addressed.”

“I’m not running this place into the red.”

~~15~~

Cassie looked at her watch, then picked up the phone
and called Trent. It was an hour later when she was in his office,
and he pulled out a chair for her to sit.

She looked around. It was reasonably neat, but
cluttered in books and equipment. “Tiny office. It’s almost
claustrophobic.”

“There’s a lot of equipment in here.”

She pointed to a thing behind him. “Is that a
printer?”

He nodded. “Come around here and you can see the
paper that feeds it.”

She looked at the wide roll. “So a page can be
endless?”

“Almost. Each job is custom. We’re in the middle of a
doing a remodel on a hotel. Even though each counter should be the
exact same size, there’re not.” He smiled. “We did every kitchen
counter and bathroom in Sweet Grandview. Not only did the colors
vary in each apartment, so did the measurements." He grinned. "You
could say I’ve been in your apartment, and you didn’t know it.”

“Amazing. How’s the pain?”

“I’m coping. I called the doctor this morning, and
they had already received everything from Shore Medical. I’ve got
an appointment tomorrow at ten thirty, and I’ll go from there to
Shawn’s appointment with the cardiologist.”

“What about your surgery?”

“They said they’d call me back with the date and
time.”

“I want to be there. I’ll take that day off. I’ve
also made arrangements to be away from my desk so I can be with you
and Shawn.”

“I appreciate it. Coffee?” He turned to the coffeepot
behind him that sat on top of a file cabinet.

“I brought a bottle of water.”

“It’s fresh.” He held up the glass carafe filled with
coffee.

“I’m fine.”

He looked at what she had brought with her. “That’s
your lunch? Celery and peanut butter?”

“Beats a can of V-8, although I think the V-8 has
more nutrients. Peanut butter is protein.”

“Here take half my sandwich and share your
celery.”

“It’s a deal.”

He slid a magazine across the desk. “Take a look at
page fifty-six.”

She opened the magazine and sucked in her breath.
“It’s beautiful.”

“It’s a huge waste of space. Everyone knows the
shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and
there’s not a single straight line in that place. It might look
nice, but it’s not practical. It’s a nightmare. No one will ever be
comfortable in that house, and they’ll never know why.”

She looked again and realized what he was saying. “Go
back to school, Trent.”

“Keep dreaming, Cas. I live in my mother’s house that
is eight hundred square feet. This is a uniform, and my name is on
it, in case I forget who I am." He shook his head. "My son might
not live to see his fifth birthday, and you’re telling me to go
back to school and get my degree? You got a genie in a magic
lantern?”

His words stung. She munched on his sandwich and,
after some consideration, she asked, “Are you happy here and is
this what you want to be doing twenty years from now?”

“They’re good to me here. I do my job and I do it
well. I could almost do it in my sleep.”

“And in twenty years?”

“I can’t see that far ahead.” He fisted his right
hand and rested his forehead on it. “Shawn is my sacrificial lamb.
He’s the love of my life.” When he raised his head, there were
tears streaming down his cheeks.

Her heart ached. She went to him and gently kissed
him. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that to you. Maybe you
think I’m wrong, but I want to hold onto the hope of Shawn
surviving and living a normal life.”

He buried his wet cheeks into the side of her
neck.

She pressed her cheek to him. “If we weren’t meant to
be a family, then why would God have brought us together when He
did? Why not a year from now? Why would He allow me to fall in love
with Shawn only to rip him away?”

“Why was he born with a defective heart? Why my son?”
he mumbled into her shoulder.

“Why not Shawn? He’s brought together a whole
community of nameless faces praying for him. People who don’t know
him have dug into their wallets and given precious dollars or
generous gifts so he can have this surgery.” She leaned back and
gazed into his eyes. Moisture clung in tiny droplets to his golden
brown lashes. “A company developed the equipment for this
procedure. Look at what has occurred to bring this to fruition.
This is not a setup for failure. You have to believe. Hold onto the
hope.”