Controlling Vulnerable

Chapter 11

Lara walked to the coffee shop, smiling to herself at the novelty of wearing a coat. Central Florida was, according to the news, in the grip of winter cold snap as November dawned, and only the tourists were still in t shirts. She smiled at Colin, who said, "Nice jacket." Lara laughed, "I almost didn't bring one over with me, but I'm glad I did now. I can't believe I'm saying it, but it's actually chilly." She turned to see Joe approaching, and he swung an arm around her to give her a side hug. After the incident over Ryan they had settled into an easy rapport and Lara didn't dare admit it to herself but she enjoyed the small moments of physical affection he used to reserve for Linda, but which he now extended to her. He winked at Colin and said, "For once we'll need the coffee to warm us up!"

Work was progressing, and the next investor meeting was set for March. Lara was pleased with the progress and had recently finally managed to get a system of user access controls agreed with Ben for implementation in the New Year. She'd established monthly routines to review and start to score where the real risks to the business were, and with the exception of Scott, those that were initially reluctant participants had now accepted the new processes as part of business as usual. Scott didn't dare challenge much and delegated whatever he could to Ben, which worked well for Lara.

They went up to the office, and Linda asked about when Joe's mom Pat was due in town. Joe grinned and said, "She's coming a couple of days before Thanksgiving, staying until February unless she gets bored." Linda suddenly realised she didn't know anything about Lara's parents, and she said, "What about your Mom honey? Is she back home?" Lara shook her head, "No, she passed away not long after I had Grace, and my Dad died the year after I got married." Joe glanced at Linda looking worried, and Lara caught it as they reached Linda's desk, "It's okay, they've been gone a long time. They were pretty old parents, had me quite late. My mum was forty-four and my dad was five years older when I was born. My sister's sixteen years older than me." Trying to lift the mood, she changed tack, "So is your mother coming from Chicago Joe?" He nodded, "Yeah, ever since I relocated she comes down from Thanksgiving until February to avoid the cold. She joins the same church every year, so she hangs out with her friends." Linda sighed, "We'll miss her this year, but I've been promising my sister for the last five years we'll do thanksgiving up there and now she's sick I'll have to go." Lara rubbed Linda's arm in sympathy, knowing she was worried about her older sister back in Chicago who'd been recently diagnosed with breast cancer. She smiled at Lara and said, "Joe, do I need to freeze some sort of thanksgiving dinner for you before I go?" Linda laughed as he said, "Yeah, that'd be awesome, but it's not my biggest problem. You know my mom hates my house." Lara looked confused, "What's wrong with your house?" Linda wrinkled her nose, "It's a seriously amazing place, but it's not what you'd call comfortable or homely, and Pat hates leather couches." Joe nodded, pulling a face at Lara, "Yeah, I guess you've never been over have you. I don't even use most of it. My mom has the condo I got here the year I relocated, but it's tiny." Lara smiled, "Well since it's an American thing, I've no real clue what Thanksgiving is all about, but why don't you and your mother come to us? I can manage a turkey dinner. Beyond that I'm clueless, but I do have a comfy non leather sofa." Joe looked surprised and relieved, all rolled into one. "As long as you're sure, that would be amazing." Linda felt a glow inside and said, "Lara, Pat's going to love you so much."

Charlotte and Grace were buzzing with excitement to celebrate a new holiday and to have Joe over. With Farrah out of the picture, he was spending more time with Linda, Mark, Will, April, Lara and the children at the weekends. April now seemed to spend most of the time staying over when Will had Brandon. She and Lara had regular coffee catch ups and she'd confided in her new friend that the counselling was going well and the plan was still to give up the lease on the house opposite at the end of the year. Lara had grown fond of the gentle blonde girl, and even though she could occasionally sense tension between her and Will, she thought they would probably be fine. When she'd first met April, she saw little physical contact between the couple, but Lara couldn't help smiling inwardly when she saw them unconsciously touch or catch one another's eye. Sitting in Lara's garden one Sunday afternoon, Joe had sat next to her and whispered in her ear, "They're definitely sleeping together, right?" Lara had giggled and nodded, "If I had to guess I'd say so. I'm happy for them." The girls loved Joe, and he was surprised to find that despite having never had much to do with kids, he enjoyed hanging out with them. He loved the feel of their small arms around his neck, revelling in their uncomplicated, unconditional affection.