Mile High Love (17 page)

              
“It would be my pleasure,” she took Cassie’s hand and smiled.  “I’ll tell
you what, we’ll even take a quick listen when you come back and see if we can
pick up any heartbeat.  It’s a little early, but sometimes we get a
pleasant surprise.”   

              
Cassie left the office, and wandered the halls of the building like a lost
soul.  Wes might have been all right with the idea of her going home a
little early and doing some work at home, but this was completely
different.  She rubbed her tummy protectively as the idea of putting her
child in daycare all day terrified her.  Her husband had been so
supportive when Abby had been born, and she never really knew how lucky she’d
been till now.  She never had to make the kind of tough choices she knew
millions of other single women had to make.  And then there was
Gunnar.  She winced just thinking about it.  He was going to find out
sooner or later, and if his previous reactions to things he felt forced into
were any indication of how he was going to feel, she was doomed.

              
Cassie finally reached her car, and sat for a minute.   She
remembered Gunnar when he was younger, and it brought a warm smile to her lips
when she thought about the young man who had called her mother to get the exact
type of ice cream she liked, so he could bring her a special gift when she was
feeling ill.  That was the Gunnar she wanted to share this news
with.  The one that would cry with her joyously, because he’d never been
afraid to show his emotions.  The one that would hold her in his arms and
rock her gently, whispering how loved and protected they were all going to
be.  She stopped day dreaming when she realized just how ridiculous that
scenario was, and just how impossible a happily ever after was going to
be.  In the end, she finally got her thoughts together, and headed off to
get some food.

By the time Cassie
reached the Mexican restaurant, she wasn’t really all that hungry
anymore.  Besides, she reasoned, it was so crowded she really didn’t have
the time to wait for a table anyway.  She sat down at the bar and ordered
a V-8.  She would have liked something a bit stronger to calm her frayed
nerves, but she patted her stomach lovingly, and ultimately decided to put her
name down for a table as well.  Whether or not she was hungry wasn’t
really the issue, she reasoned.  Just because she had no idea how to put
things right, didn’t mean that the child she was carrying should suffer in the
process.  She gave herself a mental kick to make sure and do everything
necessary to ensure a healthy pregnancy, and was just finishing her drink
before seeing about some food.
              
“I’ll have what she’s having.”
              
Cassie jumped when Gunnar came up behind her.  “Jeez. You scared me,” she
breathed, and moved her jacket and purse off of the seat next to hers so he
could sit down.
Without looking too closely at it, Gunnar picked up his drink and took a big
gulp, and then spit most of it back into the glass.  “What is that?” 
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. 
            “Vegetable
juice.”

              
“Yikes,” he made a face and asked for some water.  “I had something
completely different in mind.”

              
“I can see that,” Cassie was smiling, having a great deal of fun at his
expense.  “What did you think I was drinking?”

              
“I don’t know, I really wasn’t paying attention,” He gulped the water down
quickly.  “I can assure you I won’t be making that mistake again.”

              
“I guess not,” Cassie was still smiling, watching him tank down a couple more
glasses of water before he finally stopped making yacking sounds and sat down.

              
“What are you doing here?”  She asked.

              
“Just getting some food before heading out to see why the FAA has had such a
problem with me lately.  Now that I’ve calmed down enough to think about
it rationally the whole thing just doesn’t make sense.”

              
Just the mention of it put Cassie on edge.  “Oh Gunnar, don’t you think it
might be a good idea to let it lie just for a bit, before doing anything at
all.”

              
He raised an eyebrow at her.  “Probably,” he took a lazy sip from the
Strawberry Daiquiri he ordered.  “But I think you know me better than that
by now.  Besides, by the time the FAA gets around to actually reviewing my
case, and investigating the circumstances, it’s liable to take a lot more time
than they stated, and I just can’t wait that long.”  He stopped talking
when the host called his last name to indicate a vacant table.  “Care to
join me?”

              
“Oh no, that’s okay,” Cassie ignored the growl her stomach gave.

              
“Come on,” he picked up her purse and coat.  “We haven’t even been around
each other long enough to have had an argument yet.” His hand lingered on her
shoulder.

              
“There’s still plenty of time left in the day,” she shot back, shivering at the
warmth of his hand on her skin.  “Hey,” she called out after him when he
took off around the corner with her things.  He ignored her of course, so
she had no choice but to follow.

              
“Ah wonderful,” he flashed her a brilliant smile when she finally caught up
with him at the table. 

“I’m so glad you decided to join me.”

              
“Well,” she looked at her purse and coat stuffed behind him on the seat. 
“Stealing my money and my keys have quite an effect on me.”

              
“Liar,” he handed her back her things when she sat down.  “You would have
stayed anyway,” he challenged.

              
“Oh really why?”

              
“Because I am so devastatingly handsome, ma cherie?” He began to speak with a
French inflection, and changed seats so that he could sit right up against her,
“and you could not resist my fabulous accent?”

              
Cassie squeezed her eyes shut and playfully pushed his kissing lips away. 
“That’s not a studly French accent you idiot,” she opened one eye to find his
lips, still inches from her face in an exaggerated smooching pose. 
“That’s more like Pepe Le Pew.”

              
“Ah but my little blossom, Pepe was the ultimate French stud.”

              
“Yeah right,” she snorted.  “If that was really the case, then how come
that poor girl kitty was always trying to get as far away from him as possible,
eh?”

              
“Come close and I will tell you.”

              
Cassie was a bit wary, but she was having too much fun to spoil whatever he had
planned.  She moved closer to him, trying hard not to laugh as she met his
eyes.

              
“Closer,” He motioned, never once letting his accent slide.

              
Cassie inched in.

              
“Just a little closer my dahling.”

Cassie bit her lip to keep from giggling
as she moved the last little bit.  Her face was almost touching his, and
she could feel the warmth of his breath caress and puff against her cheek.

              
  Gunnar lifted his eyebrows and finally gave it up.  “He stunk,” he
emphasized the k, and kissed the tip of her nose as she broke out laughing.

              
“Oh Gunnar,” Cassie smacked at his chest.  “What a goof.  I swear.”

              
“Is this not true,” he started laughing himself, almost dropping the accent mid
chuckle.

              
Cassie leaned forward and planted a quick kiss on his moist, always tender
lips.  “I love-” she stopped herself from saying what she really
felt.  “I love when you’re like this,” she covered, mentally kicking
herself for slipping and almost revealing her true feelings for him.  “It
reminds me of times when we were younger before everything got so complicated.”

              
“You mean before you broke my heart?”

              
“No,” Cassie defended herself.  “I mean before you broke my heart by deciding
to go to college about a million miles away.”

              
“Touché,” Gunnar kept the mood light, continuing to play with her as they
spoke, making her have to fight and maneuver just to get a look at the menu.

              
“So why is it, Mr. La Pew,” she finally took ahold the menu and stole a small
glance before he pulled it away again.  “If you’re so devastating to the
female race, why hasn’t anyone snatched you up then?”

              
“Well, Mrs. Smart Alec.  It just so happens that I almost did settle down
about five years ago.”

              
“I’m shocked,” Cassie pretended to faint. 

“You better behave woman,” he
pulled her back up, eyeing her devilishly.  “It just so happens that I
know where all of your ticklish spots are,” he moved his hand around to rest
innocently enough on her rib cage in order to demonstrate his point. 
“And, I don’t embarrass nearly as easily as you do in public places.”

              
Cassie pretended to be afraid and squawked when he applied pressure to just the
right area.  “Okay, okay, I give.”  She waited till he moved his hand
and her breathing returned to normal.  “What happened?”  She didn’t
really want to know about any woman that had gotten that much of Gunnar’s
attention, but she was the one that had stupidly brought up the subject to
begin with, and he seemed genuinely interested in telling her about it.

              
“She tricked me into thinking she was pregnant.”

              
Cassie heart lurched.  “Oh,” Cassie sat there with her mouth open until
Gunnar reached up and shut it for her.  “Are you sure she was lying?”

              
“Well, for the whole nine months and to this day forward she is still one of
the skinniest women I have ever been around.  You know, one of those skin
and bones type.”

              
Cassie made a face.  “Sounds lovely.”

              
“Don’t get me wrong, she was drop dead gorgeous.”

              
Cassie looked down at her figure, spreading way too far out across the seat and
put her finger to her mouth to chew.  “Well,” she said under her breath,
“If you like that sort of no flesh, boyish kind of look.”

              
Gunnar ignored her comment.  “In fact when I look back on it I really
start to see how stupid she was for lying in the first place.  I liked her
more than enough to have stuck around for a while.  Of course, she knew
that marriage wasn’t even a remote possibility with my dislike of binding
commitments, so she probably figured a baby was the only way to get me to
bite.”      

              
Cassie winced at how nonchalant the matter was to him, and by the time the
waiter came around to take their order, she was more than ready for a little
diversion.

              
Gunnar ordered for himself and then for her, before she could even get a word
in.

              
“How did you know what I wanted?”  Cassie asked as soon as the waiter was
out of ear shot.

              
“Cassandra, really.  You are the biggest creature of habit I know, and
you’ve been ordering the same thing off menu’s everywhere you’ve gone since
before we even met.”

              
Cassie’s mouth flew open in protest.  “I do not, that is so un...true,”
she switched the shake of her head from no to yes and deflated as she admitted
her defeat.

              
“Ah ha!”  Gunnar’s broad smile was just one of many indications of how
pleased with himself he was.  “You,” he pointed a finger at her, “are no
match for me.”

              
“Dream on, buddy.”

              
“So how do you explai-”

              
Cassie put her hand up to silence him.  “I just happen to be a little
slower than usual today, that’s all.”

              
“Left your tongue sharpener in the car, eh?”

              
Cassie poked him in the ribs, and let out a satisfying sigh at his yelp. 
She knew Gunnar was about to retaliate when the waiter appeared with a huge
tray of drinks, chips, and finally, food.  “Oh thank God,” she ignored the
look that said he would wait till she least expected it, and stuffed a chip in
Gunnar’s mouth in an effort to make him forget all thoughts of a pay back, at
least till her empty stomach was full again.

              
“It would have worked you know,” he said between crunches.

              
“I’m sorry?” 

              
“The baby,” he admitted reluctantly. “I would have married her.”

              
Cassie choked on the bite of Taco she’d shoveled into her mouth, and then
dribbled and spit out most of the water she tried to drink to fix the problem
when Gunnar hauled off and hit her back a few times, trying in his own lame way
to help.  “Get off,” she finally smacked his hand away before the fourth
smack, and got a good clean drink to clear her throat.

              
“God,” Gunnar laughed at her and shook his head, “you are a bit spazzy today
aren’t you?”

              
“Yes Gunnar that’s it, I’m just spazzy today,” Cassie rolled her eyes.

              
“And hungry?”

              
“And hungry,” she agreed, and eyed him with a stare that made him stop
analyzing her long enough to eat a little of his own lunch.

              
“Why would it have worked?”  Cassie tried to keep how flustered she’d
become at how much the story had deteriorated from anything close to what she
had hoped to hear when she’d first asked him about the subject.

              
“Simple,” he scooped his beans up with his fork and waited to take a
bite.  “The way I see it, a baby’s just about the only good reason to get
married.”

              
Cassie barely kept herself from choking again.  “And little things like
love, passion, companionship,” she flipped her hand to emphasize her point. 
“I suppose they have no place in your warped little notion?”

              
“Why, when you can have all of things you just mentioned without it?”

              
Cassie picked up one of her corn tortillas and flung it at him.

              
“Ouch,” Gunnar pulled the tortilla from across the bridge of his nose. 
“That’s hot. Hey!” he shouted as another one smacked the side of his jaw. 

              
Cassie stood up and threw another one before he could grab her.  “You
remember that argument that we hadn’t gotten in yet?”

              
“Which one?”

              
“This one,” Cassie threw the last one his direction, feeling good and satisfied
as it banked off his forehead before landing in his lap.  “You know what
Gunnar, sometimes you really are a jack ass.” She started to leave but stopped
briefly.  “And you and Pepe have far more in common than you
realize.  Downwind of the handsome exterior and the expensive cologne, you
both stin-k..”

              
Gunnar sat at the table with corn tortillas scattered all around him.  His
mouth was hanging slightly open, and he leaned around the booth to get a look
at the front entrance.  He watched, dumbfounded as the door which had just
been opened, slammed shut. He touched his hand to his mouth, reeling in
confusion, and covertly raised his elbow just high enough to sneak a quick
sniff.