Laura's Big Win (25 page)

“So, what happens if he doesn’t
call?”

“I go on living, but I realized there
is a lot to see, and I need to go see it. I love it here, but my
time is running. I wasn’t kidding when I said this would be your
place to run; I really believe that. So, I’m going on tour, ready
or not.”

“Wow, I’m not so sure about trying to
fill your shoes; you just seem so great at keeping it all together,
knowing just what to do, and you make it look really
easy.”

“Look, don’t try to fill my shoes; they
aren’t the ones he’s looking at. You know that, I know that, and as
for the rest of it, after what you pulled off yesterday, it’s a
piece of cake. No hill for a real climber. Now, I need to get back
to my place and put some serious thought into my future out in the
wide world. You do the interview tomorrow with the new girl; you
know the drill. Okay? See you in the morning. Can’t wait to see
Doris’ face when I tell her.”

And with that, Alice retreated to her
own cottage and Laura was left with some very mixed emotions. What
Alice had said about running the place seemed reasonable, but could
Laura really do it? Was there maybe someone else in line? She was
still somewhat unsure of herself in some ways, and she knew
managing even a part of an enterprise like Windmere was not for the
faint of heart. Still, there were Doris and Marie, Dennis and
Franz, Cal and Roger…..and Ryan. What was holding him back; was it
something she said or did? She wanted very badly to take a step up
in their relationship, and now with the divorce behind her, she was
free to make her own decisions; things were progressing, however
slowly. Time to corral the kids and get things wrapped up for the
day. The next day would come whether she was prepared or not. As it
turned out, the new day would bring an event which she both longed
for and was unprepared for at the same time.

The morning kitchen scene was chaotic
when Alice dropped her bombshell to the rest of the staff, but as
disruptive as it seemed, the unspoken transition of authority to
Laura gained instant traction. In considering it later, Laura
puzzled about how clear a transition it had become, yet she was by
far a junior partner at Windmere; was there something she was
missing in all this? She resigned herself to being on the learning
curve, but even at that, she had learned a lot about the White
House, Ryan, Alice, and a lot of other things. It was time to earn
her keep and she headed for her office, stopping along the way in
the center area to pick up some printer paper for the small color
unit in her office. It was at that point Ryan came in, returning
from a weekend field trip, and saw her at the supply
cabinet.

“There’s our miracle worker girl. Roger
sent me the pictures he took Saturday. How in the world did you
manage to pull that off, and on such short notice? Everybody in the
pictures looked fat and happy, except for that one girl; maybe you
can explain her later today when things calm down a
little.”

“It just seemed like a good idea at the
time, and the whole thing sort of came to life all at once. The
guys with the tractor were a riot, and to tell the truth, the whole
thing made me feel good. I think everybody felt that
way.”

“So, you should be rewarded, but,” he
said as he kissed her on the forehead “that will have to do until
you’re better paid.”

There are moments in each person’s life
when things happen that seem to be outside them, almost as a third
person. Such a thing happened to Laura at that moment, probably not
beyond her will to control but certainly beyond her desire to
control, and she heard someone say, in her own voice: “You missed;
my lips are way down here.”

She had no more heard herself say those
words than she realized what she may have just done to their
relationship; where was her patience now when she needed it so
much? What would he do? Were things ruined? Would he be angry, or
just pull away?

Ryan heard the words escape her lips,
felt her nearness, even her warmth from being so close to him, and
it was too much for his self imposed restraint. Hands still on her
upper arms, he leaned back just a little, gazed straight into her
beautiful eyes, and said simply: “Do overs?”

Laura’s voice was small and trembling
when she answered with one word: “Please.”

Slow motion would have seemed like
light speed, but there was no more hesitation, no going back, not
this time. Just the two of them in their own world. As his arms
encircled her, and his lips found hers, the thought occurred to
Laura that she didn’t need the ream of paper for anything just
then, but she did need both arms around this man, and she simply
let go of the package, at about shoulder height. It was not a
significant event in the context of the pure emotion the two of
them were generating at that moment, but in the remainder of the
world the heavy package of paper made a significant impression when
it hit first the end of the copier, then in a ricochet fell into
the metal waste can, turning it over and striking the nearby desk
leg. In his office early, Roger had missed all the quiet
conversation between Ryan and Laura, but the crashing sounds
brought him quickly to his office door to investigate; and just as
quickly, he turned around and went back to his desk, with one
thought emblazoned in his mind: ‘Now, by God, we’re getting
somewhere with those two.’

It was similar with Marcia, arriving
for work as usual, and doing a high speed u-turn in the hallway.
Time for one more cup she thought; no sense disturbing things
now.

Slowly it dawned on the two lovers that
they were standing in the middle of an office that would soon be
busy with other people. Their full contact, no holds barred kiss,
had literally taken the breath from both of them, and they stood
holding each other until the tumult subsided enough that they could
at least talk. Laura was first to speak, but still with a very
small and somewhat shaky voice. “Do you promise to reward me like
that again if I do more good deeds?”

“Count on it, but just in case I think
maybe we should practice in between times, okay?”

“Okay, I’m sure I can work that into my
schedule.”

“In the meantime, do you realize we
have brought an entire corporation to a standstill by taking over
the main office?”

“Yes; do you care?”

“No, but we probably should let these
people get to work. Okay?”

“Okay, but I want a rain check on a
replay”

“A whole book of rain checks, madam.
Now hie thee to thy office and crunch some numbers for the
stockholders. Oh, almost forgot to mention we have a merger group
in here next week I need you to sit in on, probably as much to
referee as aid and abet. And save some practice time this evening.
No sense forgetting what we just learned.” Ryan’s grin said he
would certainly not forget, and he looked forward to a
replay.

For her part, Laura simply said “Yes,
master; off I go to the salt mine. I know: practice, practice,
practice. Slave driver.” And with a giggle she departed for the
confines of her office.

As the week wore on, Laura and Ryan had
occasional moments to share between the two of them, but had not
gone on an all out romantic binge. She would make it a point to
stop by his office first thing in the morning and see if his neck
was bothering him, and it seemed every day he had some sort of
problem with it that needed her attention. The understanding
between the two of them was that massaging his neck constituted a
good deed for the company, if not for him personally, and should be
rewarded. It was a silly game, but it invariably ended up with them
in each other’s arms before getting on with the day’s work. The
evenings offered them less protection in the form of other staff
being around to slow thing down, although Jack and Amanda were
certainly around. On more than one occasion Ryan had suggested they
come to the great room with a movie DVD, or to watch some kids
special. It was true that the great room, when not otherwise
occupied for business, could be used by anyone, but when he had
moved from the White House to the apartment , it became recognized
more as Ryan’s living and recreation room, although he did not
spend an exorbitant amount of time in it. Things had changed in the
last few days, not only between Ryan and Laura, but in his
relationship with her children. Whether they sensed something or
not, they seemed closer to him than before. Amanda was openly
accepting, and more than once had fallen asleep in his lap, to be
carried gently to her bed in the cottage. Jack was less accepting,
and it occurred to Ryan they needed to talk, with no one else
around, man to man as it were.

Saturday morning after his run, Ryan
wandered out toward the carriage house, but not aimlessly. He was
well aware of what went on around the place, and he knew Jack and
Franz often spent Saturday mornings dismantling things so Jack
could learn what went on inside and how to determine a problem
without having to always disassemble things; even at the tender age
of six, it was an invaluable education, although to Jack it was
simply entertainment. True to form, Ryan found the two of them in
the repair shop with a small engine in complete disassembly on the
workbench. He had to admit to himself he would have no idea where
to start putting it back together, and he highly respected Franz
for his abilities. Moreover, he had heard about the hosting event
Franz and Dennis conducted over the past weekend, and Ryan became
more aware of this man as a person. But, that was not the point of
the mission this morning.

“Good morning, gentlemen. Doing a
little surgery on the one lunger?”

“‘
Morning Ryan; yes, we
are. Fill him in assistant mechanic Jackson.”

“Yes, sir. I found this ol’ thing on
the junk heap down by the old farm house, you know, where they
found ol’ blue. Anyways, it was on a mini-bike and Franz said if we
could get it running and my mom said it was okay, I could learn to
ride it someday. So we’re trying to find out what’s wrong, aren’t
we Franz?”

“That we are. Mostly, I suspect it is
simply worn out, but the block is still good, and the crank and
piston look good, so I think if we’re patient, by the time Jack is
maybe 16 or so we can have it going.”

“Sixteen?! You said maybe a couple of
weeks; I know you said a couple of weeks, didn’t you?”

“Well, maybe I did say a couple of
weeks, but that’s not saying your mother is going to allow this,
ready or not; nothing I can do about that, but maybe this guy
could.” Franz had lobbed one over the net to Ryan, who didn’t even
see it coming. His fielding was less than expert, but Ryan was a
quick study and the response was sure and on point.

“Not me, coach. I think maybe she runs
that show pretty well as it is. Far be it from me to interfere.
Anyway, I need something this morning.”

“And that would be…..?”

“I need to borrow your assistant
mechanic for an hour or so. Probably bring him back in one piece; I
just need to do a little legislating before things get out of
hand.”

The real meaning of the discussion went
right over Jack’s head, but Franz understood what was taking place.
Word traveled quickly around Windmere, and there had been more than
mild speculation about Ryan and Laura, and how her two children fit
into the puzzle. It seemed obvious what would eventually happen
with the adults, whether they knew it yet or not; the money was
going down on a calendar pool, with the winner being the person who
guessed closest to the actual date on which they would be married.
It was rather wild speculation at the moment, but these were
optimistic people who enjoyed a good wager for the fun of it. In
the meantime, Ryan needed to clear the air with Jack, or at least
try to do so.

“Feel free; he’s all yours. I’ll be
right here when you get back from wherever you’re going Jack. Take
your time. Okay?”

“Okay. See you when I get back. Where
are we going?”

“Not very far; mostly just a short
walk, but I want to show you something. How about we let the dogs
out for a run with us?”

“Okay. I’ll get the gate.”

The dogs heard the bolt slide on the
kennel gate and were out of their house in a flash, ready for
action. Ryan started off down the drive to the golf course with
Jack at his side and the dogs bounding for joy out ahead of them.
About half way to the course boundary itself, he made a turn off
the driveway, pointing to a pathway that was somewhat overgrown and
not readily visible. The dogs did a quick reversal of course and
caught them in no time, racing through the trees to “protect” the
humans coming behind them.

“Wow; I been through that drive a
million times and never saw this trail. Is it a secret or
something?” Jack’s curiosity overcame his reticence to accept this
man he saw as somewhat of a threat to his position in the family.
After all, Jack felt it was his job to protect his mother and
sister, much as he would have done in the shelter if Dennis had
proven to be a threat. Size didn’t matter when his family was
threatened, and he knew now that his father would not be there at
all, probably never. His reluctance with Ryan was only natural in
his six year old eyes; he had a family to protect and lately things
had been going on that he had no control over. His mother seemed to
be preoccupied with this man and it appeared he was a threat to
Jack’s position.