No Deal Breakers (8 page)

"Good, because we also have the occasional
cat running around here, none of them are ours, per say, but they
take up residence anyway, they keep the mice away, I keep cat food
in the barn. They’re all wild, you won’t be able to get near most
of them," he explained, and then pointed to the freezers, "I always
keep some steak and hamburger, and a few other things in the
freezer in the house, but if we ever run low, you can find it out
here. This fridge is for soda and usually a few beers too. I’m not
a big drinker, but I like a few in the summer, maybe some wine now
and again. Do you drink?"

"Not really, about the same, I guess" she had
never actually drank before, but she felt that admission would hint
at her sheltered past, what girl didn’t have at least a few on her
birthday? Girls who hadn’t had birthdays in well over a decade,
that’s who.

She noted there were three doors in the
garage, one leading to the back, one to the front, and she assumed
the one they were headed towards led into the house.

"I have an extra set of keys in the house,
don’t let me forget to give them to you," he put a key in the knob
and opened the door. "Normally I wouldn’t lock this door, or the
one going into the kitchen, I keep all the exterior doors locked
though, I locked them all up this time since I was going to be out
of town." She nodded as he flipped on a light in what looked like
an oversized closet. There was one small window looking out toward
the gravel road and the front yard, against the other wall was a
hat rack, several coat hooks under a shelf that housed baskets
labeled "hats" and "gloves" and next to that a long wooden bench,
and under the bench were what she assumed to be Brian’s shoes.

He sat the cooler down on the bench and slid
his loafers under the bench next to a pair of worn cowboy boots.
She couldn’t help but laugh at the sight.

"What’s so funny," he asked, blue eyes
twinkling.

"You, you’re like three different people all
rolled into one," she gestured to his shoes under the bench,
"Tennis shoes, next to cowboy boots, next to loafers, and I saw
rubber boots in the garage. Not to mention your hats and coats."
With both hands she motioned to the cowboy hat, baseball cap and
flat cap hanging together on the hat stand, and to the worn work
coat, leather jacket, and pea coat, that he had just hung up.

"I guess you’re right, I’d never given it
much thought. But, now that I think of it, you’d be in hysterics
over my closet, everything from sweat pants and gym shorts to
tuxedos all living together in perfect harmony, it’s just who I
am." He gave her a wide smile, revealing a dimple she hadn’t
noticed before, he opened the door at the other end of the small
room and turned back to pick up his cooler.

She quickly divested of her coat and shoes
and followed him through the next door, into a beautiful, large,
and very modern kitchen. She could tell when they pulled up that
the two-story farmhouse had been well maintained, and loved. The
outside was white with black shutters and a deep porch the spanned
the front of the house, the kind she had given up dreaming about
years ago.

"Clearly, this is the kitchen, the laundry
room is off there," he pointed next to the door she had just shut,
and she turned to see a decent sized laundry room with a newer
stainless steel washer and dryer on one wall, and a long table and
laundry sink on the other. She laughed at the "lost socks" sign
hanging on the wall.

"Your mom, or your sister," she asked.

"Hmmm?" He was putting away the groceries in
the fridge and freezer.

"The decorating, the lost sock sign, the hat
and glove bin, your mom or your sister?"

"You don’t think I know how to decorate?"

"Honestly, no, probably not."

He smiled and shut the refrigerator, "Both, I
repainted and put in all new appliances when I took over back in
June, they all came to visit last month for Christmas and all they
did was complain at the lack of art and décor, I really couldn’t
care less about all that. They do, so they took it upon themselves
to go shopping and hang it all up. I don’t care one way or the
other," he shrugged, and added, "But, if you don’t like any of it,
you’re welcome to change it."

"Actually, I love all of their choices. They
did a great job," The dinning room opened into the living room,
which was full of overstuffed suede furniture, it was all very
masculine, yet cozy, she could see herself here. There was a large
picture window with a seat in it near the front door, and family
photos and a few tasteful pieces of art adorned the walls. There
was a hallway on the opposite side of the room and a staircase with
a small landing at the top, and at the far end of the living room
were two doors on opposite sides of the wall.

"I’ll finish showing you the main level, and
then we’ll go downstairs and then I’ll show you the upstairs, that
door goes downstairs." He pointed towards the one closest to the
hallway, "and this is my office, it has an exterior entrance, too.
So any clients, or my assistant, Helen, shouldn’t intrude on our
personal lives, though I can’t make any promises, you’ve met the
people in this town," he smirked and led her into his office.

It was large, with plenty of windows, and two
desks, it even had its own half bath, Brian explained that it was a
new addition, as most of his clients lived closer to his house than
to his office, it just made sense to have two offices. That meant
he would be working from home a lot, and she had mixed feelings on
that.

There were two bedrooms and a full bath on
the main floor, Brian had the master on that floor, which he said
had an en-suite bathroom, but she didn’t go in his room. There was
also a small den with floor to ceiling bookcases, crammed full of
books and a small leather sofa.

Downstairs there were four more bedrooms, a
spacious family room complete with bar, pool table, fireplace and
giant TV, and one full, and one half bath. All of the rooms were
tastefully and modernly decorated, it turned out Genie and Julia
had taken the time to furnish and decorate every room. Brian
explained that they loved second hand and antique stores, and by
the looks of the house, they had a good eye for quality. When they
moved upstairs to finish their tour, she was surprised to find
three more bedrooms, and another bathroom.

"Nine bedrooms? I was expecting a modest
four, maybe five bedroom house."

"This isn’t the original house to the
property. The original house burnt down when my dad was young, my
granddad promised each of his kids their own room when they
re-built…they had eight kids. The bedrooms aren’t huge, but they
accomplished his goal."

"Wow, I’ve never seen anything like it,
saying ‘nine bedrooms’ sounds like it should be colossal, but he
used the space well, it’s very…homey. I love it. I can’t wait to
check out the barns and other buildings in the daylight," she said
as she walked into the last of the bedrooms.

It was breathtaking, one wall had French
doors leading out to a small balcony, it was too cold to go out on
tonight, but looking out the full-length glass she could see
nothing but glistening snow illuminated by the bright moon and
twinkling stars, for what seemed like miles. She knew right away
that this would be her room, she loved it.

"May I have this room? I love these doors,
it’s so peaceful here."

"Of course you can. I said you could have any
room you wanted. This has always been my favorite, too. It was my
room as a teenager. Julia and I would switch rooms often when we
were kids, just because we could, and I finally settled on this one
when I was fourteen. I loved to read out there. I have some chairs
and a small table to put on the balcony in the spring. You’ll love
it. I’m going to bring in the rest of our stuff, and then pay my
old friend Thunder a visit. Make yourself at home, as this is your
home now," he gave her a dimpled smile and headed back out the
door.

She was glad for the time to think and just
breathe. These had been the longest two days of here life. She had
so much to process. For the first time that she could remember she
felt truly safe. She couldn’t understand why, she should be
terrified, out in the middle of nowhere with a man she barely knew,
but for some reason she just couldn’t bring herself to feel
anything but safe and comfortable.

She sat down on the edge of the bed-her
bed-and took in her surroundings. They had chosen walnut furniture
for this room, there was a large dresser with a mirror directly
across from the bed, which was flanked by two night tables, and
there was another tall dresser near the French doors, and a small
vanity with a chair near the closet. They had used light blue and
chocolate as accent colors in the few paintings, curtains, and on
the comforter. It was all very soothing and comforting; it just
felt like home. A feeling that was new to her, but she was
beginning to appreciate more and more by the minute.

She heard the phone ring downstairs, and
Brian’s low, deep voice responding to whomever was on the other
end, he was truly a good person, something she had always thought
was impossible, especially where men were concerned. But, at every
turn he had done nothing but show her kindness and care. Not only
her, but everyone around them, he was exchanging expensive legal
work for baked goods, and for free it seemed. That was
admirable.

The lawyers she knew were ruthless and money
hungry. Like his wardrobe, Brian Harris made no sense. She looked
down at her left hand, now weighed down by the most gorgeous ring
she’d ever seen, maybe luck was on her side for once. She sighed
and her eyes landed on the Bible that had been left on the dresser,
she noticed that they left one in every room. She was sure Brian
would tell her it wasn’t luck, but God. She just couldn’t believe,
as he clearly did, not with all she’d seen and done. Even if He did
exist, He wouldn’t want her anyway.

She heard Brian coming up the stairs, "Hey,
Aria, I brought your stuff in from the car," he stood holding all
of her bags at the door.

"Thanks, come on in. Just set them down, and
I’ll work on getting everything put away," she stifled a yawn,
"tomorrow."

He laughed and dropped the bags near the
closet. "I think my mom left hangers in the closets, if not, or you
need more, I have plenty in the extra closet in my room."

"I’ll let you know, thanks, for everything,
you’ve been much better than I expected."

"It’s my job, remember," he winked, "Anna
just called and invited us to Sunday dinner at their place tomorrow
afternoon, I told her I’d have to talk to you and see what you
wanted to do. I don’t care either way, also I…um, well, I go to
church on Sundays, you’re welcome to join me, but I completely
understand if you don’t want to come, that’s fine, too." The church
would probably burn down if she stepped foot into it.

"I think I’ll skip church, if that’s okay,
but dinner sounds nice, should I make something?"

"I understand, I’ll let them know to set two
more places, if you want to make something I’m sure it would be
appreciated, but you don’t have to."

"I’ll come up with something. I’ve been
meaning to ask you, what religion are you?"

"Non-Denominational Christian, I go to New
Hope Bible Church, Pastor Mike is wonderful, I’m sure you’d like
him," he looked at his watch, "it’s getting late, I’m going to hit
the hay, do you need anything?"

"No, I think I’ll take a shower and then go
to bed myself. Thanks for everything."

"Stop thanking me, I’m your husband. Sunday
school starts at nine, so I’ll leave here about eight thirty, I
should be home by eleven thirty, depending on how many people
corner me afterwards. Todd and Anna usually have Sunday Dinner
around two. Let me know if you need anything, goodnight."

"Sounds good, goodnight." Brian gave her one
last smile, and was headed back downstairs.

She found what she needed for the night from
her pile of shopping bags and took a long bath to relax and
decompress from her long day. Once back in her room she found sleep
easily and without hesitation, perhaps it was the lock on her
bedroom door that made it so easy for her fall right into a deep
sleep, or maybe it was all of the small cracks Brian was making in
the walls she had around herself.

According to her new cell phone, it was after
nine when she woke the next morning. She knew Brian would already
be in church, but the quiet still took her by surprise when she
dressed and made her way downstairs, it wasn’t a bad quiet, just
not at all what she was used to, no cars, sirens, or people. She
found a bright orange sticky note on the counter addressed to
her;

Aria,

I left for church, I should be back before
noon.

Sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up, I hope
you

slept well. Make yourself at home, see you
soon.

Brian

Her heart swelled, and once again she thought
about how sweet he was, he didn’t have to leave a note, but he did,
just to let her know he was thinking of her. She smiled as she
thought of all the things he’d done for her over the last few days.
He used her nickname, the one she introduced herself as…the one no
one had used since she was twelve and moved in with Jack. It felt
right, it was becoming someone new and going back to someone she
had once enjoyed being, someone Jack had destroyed. She shuddered
at thoughts of her "uncle" Jack. He wasn’t really her uncle, she
didn’t have any family left, that was just the excuse he gave when
anyone questioned him. She pushed aside thoughts of Jack and her
previous life, she needed to move on and start fresh with
Brian.

She made herself an omelet, and a cup of
coffee, it felt good to get acquainted with this kitchen-her
kitchen. Cooking had never been this pleasurable for her, more of a
chore that she enjoyed, but she had never had the freedom to just
make whatever pleased her, she’d never had ownership over it, it
was a liberating feeling. She laughed to herself, funny that she
should find what many women found oppressive to be so freeing.