Broken Wings

Part Twenty Three - The Calm After the Storm

Chapter Twenty Three

Did I embarrass myself last night?

Aaron was at the desk in his room opening some emails on his laptop when his phone bleeped. He reached for his coffee and sipped it as he read the text with a smile. Poor Julia, another night with a few too many drinks.

He could tease her, but she wasn't ready for that. Instead, he chuckled as he replied.

No more than I've come to expect. No seriously, you made a lot of friends, so that can't be a good thing.

He sat back and checked the time, nine fifteen. He was desperate for breakfast, but was going to wait until she was ready too. Coffee would have to do, this was his third mug.

Bleep. Smiling he picked up his phone.

Is THAT why I've got a pocket full of phone numbers?

He gasped, the cheek! He wasn't teasing her, purposely, and then she drops that. Shaking his head, he typed rapidly.

Yup. You only arranged three actual dates though; the first is the hotel restaurant in 15 mins.

He could almost hear her panic through the hotel walls at that.

Was I THAT bad?

He let her dwell on that for a little while, instead calling Chalford and Messing to see how Kitty and the dogs were. He'd barely been connected when there was a furious knocking at his door. Smiling he crossed to it and opened it, just as he had confirmation that all was well.

He looked down at Julia's flushed face, her lips pulled together desperately keeping in the words that wanted to burst out of her. She was wearing her pyjamas, shorts and a vest top with an unzipped hoodie wrapped around her. It gave him far too much a view of her cleavage, he was glad of the topic of his phone call to push his ardour away.

The second he disconnected the call, she squared up to him, "I thought I remembered it all, I was joking..."

He stared at her for a long moment, but couldn't keep it going, "you were fine, it was a hassle free night."

"For a change?"

Putting a hand on each of her shoulders, he met her eyes, "as first dates went it was pretty seamless."

Her eyes widened at that and she opened her mouth to explode, so he placed a hand over her mouth, "joke. That was a joke. I'm starving, get dressed. I'll drive us to a great breakfast place. Fifteen minutes ok?"

She glared at him until he removed his hand, and then snapped, "thirty!"

When he nodded, she thrust her middle finger at him, "you bastard."

He could only chuckle as he watched her stomp back to her room.

Breakfast was the best. Despite her rather seasick stomach, the effect of being too drunk the night before, the eggs, bacon and mushrooms with pancakes, washed down with half a gallon of coffee helped her to feel far more in control. The atmosphere was back to being pleasant, light hearted, and despite the headache threatening her concentration, Julia was enjoying herself.

"So what time do we collect the dogs?"

Aaron glanced at his watch as he sipped his coffee, "we need to hit the road by midday, there's a baseball game in Queens, so the traffic could be horrendous."