Aligned (15 page)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“Hello, handsome.”

Lord help me, I don’t have time for nonsense today. I reluctantly look up from my screen to see Aspen standing in the doorway leering at me. Although she may be pretty in a vapid kind of way, she does nothing for me. Nothing but annoy me, that is. A few months back after Roz was nearly killed, I asked Masters if he would train me and show me what I need to work on to gain some muscle and learn how to use it. The attack made me realize that being her best friend and living with her I need to be able to protect her if need be. I’m confident I can outwit just about anyone, but I’ve never had or wanted brute strength until now. No one but Masters knows of this, but Aspen hasn’t stopped sniffing around me ever since I started bulking up a little. I could care less about my appearance, and the look in her eyes now gives me the creeps.

“What is it, Aspen? I don’t have time for nonsense today.”

She has a mischievous gleam to her eyes.

“When exactly
do
you have time for nonsense, Wesley?”

“Never, but especially not today. I need to get this program launched and lunch is in two hours and forty-three minutes.”

This statement makes her laugh, but instead of leaving she comes further into my office and sets a cup of coffee down on my desk, letting her hand linger on my arm.

“Thank you for the coffee. It’s greatly needed and appreciated. The hand, however, is not,” I say, removing her hand from my arm and quickly using my hand sanitizer to scrub her germs off me. Too bad I can’t bathe in it.

She only laughs harder and takes a seat practically on top of me. “Wesley Sanders, I must say, I think you are the only man on the planet who refuses to be deterred by a pretty girl.”

“If that’s true it doesn’t say much for mankind…or the future of our planet. Really, Aspen, thank you for the coffee, but I need to get back to work. Is there something you need or are you trolling for compliments?”

Anger flashes in her eyes before she quickly masks it with her flirtiness.

“Oh trust me, Wesley, if it was compliments I was after I wouldn’t come to you for them. I was stopping by to see how you are doing now Roz is gone, but heaven forbid you be nice to me. I’ll leave you alone now.”

Before she makes it to the door I call her back. “I appreciate the coffee, Aspen, and it was nice of you think about me. Roz leaving has thrown me off and hasn’t exactly helped my mood.”

Neither has her coming in here to bug me while I am working but I thought better than to add the last part. I’ve filtered a thought! Look at me, growing already.

“That’s all right, Wes, I understand and I’ll leave you to your work.” She gives me one of those weird girly waves and slinks out the door. Gah, I always feel the need to take a shower in disinfectant after she leaves. Maybe it’s because she can never keep her germy paws to herself.

I throw myself back into my work and manage to get most of the kinks out. I’m pleased with the progress I made and haven’t even noticed how much time has passed when Andi comes in. Unlike Aspen she doesn’t flaunt her presence, she doesn’t even announce it; she only stands silently in the doorway. I can tell it’s her before I even look up by the slight cinnamon smell. I look up and smile at her. She gives me a small shy smile in return.

“Hello, Andi.”

“Hi, Wes. I stopped by to see if you wanted to get some lunch. If you’re in the middle of something I can wait while you finish.”

Ah, proof that some women understand the importance of not interrupting a man while he’s in the middle of work. I stand up and make for the door.

“No need, I finished and I am quite pleased with the results. It looks like we can do the test run after lunch and then it should be ready to launch first thing in the morning.”

She smiles widely. “That’s wonderful, Wes! I know Natasha is excited about the outcome of the new program.”

We get to the café, choose our meals, and sit down at my usual table in the far right corner. I sit in the same chair I always do with my back to the rest of the room, and Andi takes the chair directly across from me. I unfold my napkin and place it on my lap in an exact ninety degree angle. I place the knife at the top of my plate, the fork to the right and the spoon on the left. I twist my plate 120 degrees so that my sandwich is facing me. She sits there for a minute looking at me. I look up at her, wondering why she’s looking at me like that. I know my eating rituals seem odd to most people, but Andi has eaten with me plenty of times so she shouldn’t be surprised. I am about to ask her what her problem is when she leans forward and whispers.

“Honestly, Wes, how are you doing? I know Roz left today, and it must be hard on you.”

I sigh and put down my sandwich. I know she is asking out of concern but I wish people would stop bringing up Roz leaving. I am trying to forget, and having people mention it at every chance isn’t helping.

“I don’t really want to talk about it, Andi.”

She doesn’t push, she only nods and starts eating. That’s what I like about Andi. She never pushes me, or flirts, or has hidden meanings. She isn’t like most girls I know. She has a quiet presence and understanding I like a lot. She knows I don’t want to talk about Roz and lets it go without pestering me for answers. As I am chewing I start to think about Roz and that’s when it occurs to me what Andi is probably doing.

I drop my sandwich on my plate and blurt out, “Are you here because Roz made you promise to eat lunch with me every day? I don’t need your pity, Andi!”

I can tell from the sheepish look on her face that is exactly what happened. I start to stand and she reaches across the table and puts her hand on mine. The contact shocks me and I look up.

“Please sit down, Wes. That’s not it at all.”

I give her a skeptical look but sit down again. “So she didn’t ask you to babysit me?” I ask and she gives a small laugh and rolls her eyes.

“No, babysitting was never mentioned. She did mention she was going to miss you and she was worried you would close yourself off from others. She never asked me anything, Wes. I told her I’d love to eat lunch with you.” She turns bright red.

“Why are you blushing?” I ask her, curious at the change.

This makes her turn a deeper shade of red and she groans and hides her face in her hands. “Wes! You aren’t supposed to ask someone that!”

I am completely baffled. “What? I’m not supposed to ask why you are blushing? Why not? You were and I wanted to know. Why are you acting so weird?”

“Just leave it, Wes.”

I give her a look that says I won’t drop it until she explains and she knows it.

“Geez, Wesley, if you must know I was blushing because I admitted I wanted to have lunch with you every day, all right!”

She stands abruptly, says she forgot about something she has to do, and she will see me tomorrow. She runs off before I even know what happened. I sit there not having a clue about what exactly transpired.

I don’t even notice until Masters is sitting in front of me.

“Geez, you scared me to death! Why do you have to be so sneaky?”

He gives me a cocky smirk. “I walked right in front of you and sat down. If that’s sneaky, you need more self-defense work than I thought.”

Natasha sits down next to him and smiles at me.

“So what’s got your panties in a twist?” Masters asks me.

“Excuse me? I certainly do not wear panties, and I have no clue what that even means.”

Masters starts laughing until Natasha hits his arm.

“He meant ‘What’s going on?’” Natasha clarifies. “You seem a little off.”

“Yeah, even for you, and that’s saying something,” Masters adds and she hits him again.

“It’s women. I’ll never understand them.”

“Join the club,” Masters says, and puts his hand up to catch Natasha’s fist before she hits him again. She scowls but he kisses her hand and her look fades into a smile.

“Women problems, huh?” Natasha says. “Who’s the lucky lady?”

“Andi.”

At this Masters’ head snaps up and he scowls at me like I stole his lunch.

“Easy there, papa bear,” Natasha says, patting his hand.

“What did you do to Andi?” he growls, pointing his fork in my face.

“Nothing. Well, I don’t think so. I have no clue what happened here. The more I try to figure women out the worse my head aches. No offense, Natasha, but I will never understand your kind.”

She rolls her eyes. “Why would I take offense at that?” she asks sarcastically. “Tell me what happened with Andi and I’ll see if I can interpret ‘my kind’ for you.”

“I told Andi she didn’t have to babysit me for Roz and she said Roz didn’t ask her to, that she wanted to have lunch with me. Then she started blushing and I asked why, and made it worse. She covered her face, saying something about how you aren’t supposed to ask a girl that and then ran off. I still don’t understand what happened.”

Natasha gets a knowing look and a smile spreads wide on her face. Masters’ scowl only deepens. I look between the two and their completely different reaction to my story.

“What?”

Natasha squeals and Masters sets his glare on her. She completely ignores her new husband.

“Don’t you see, Wes? She was embarrassed by admitting she wants to be with you every day.”

“I’m a genius, Natasha, I figured that part out already. What I can’t comprehend is, why?”

“Because she
likes
you! Duh!”

“What?” Both Masters and I yell.

“Calm down you two. Don’t cause a scene.”

“She hasn’t said anything to me,” I say, still not believing her.

“Of course she hasn’t. She’s shy and not the kind of girl to tell a guy something like that.”

Masters keeps glaring at me.

“Well, thanks for the insight, Natasha. Now, I have that program I need to launch for you so I better get back to it.” At the mention of the program her eyes light up. I don’t stick around to get a response before I hurry back to my office.

The whole way back I keep thinking about what Natasha said. Could it be true that Andi does like me? And if she does, what am I supposed to do about it? Do I like her? For a girl I think she’s pretty great. She doesn’t do that annoying flirting stuff with me that Aspen does. She’s intelligent and doesn’t seem to mind my weirdness. But does she expect me to be her boyfriend now? Oh geez, I don’t know how to be a boyfriend! I just learned how to be a friend without scaring people off, for goodness sakes! This is all Rosaline’s fault. If she hadn’t left none of this would have come up. Now what am I going to do about it? I stop thinking and start counting my steps back to the office.

I put all the nonsense out of my mind and throw myself into my work. I have my intern Chaz come over and check out my final product. He’s as excited as I am to test it out. We do the test launch and are thrilled when it goes off without a hitch. We show Natasha when she comes back from lunch and she does a little dance and tells me how happy she is. Once we get Cole’s approval, we’re ready to do the countrywide launch first thing in the morning.

I go home, eat dinner, tell a story to Grace before bed, go through my bedtime routine, and get into bed. I stare out my skylight and count all the stars I can see. Nothing helps take my mind off what Natasha said at lunch. I don’t have any work to throw myself into to take my mind off of it, and even if I did I will never be able to let this go until I get to the bottom of it. I look at the clock—it is after midnight. I pick up my tablet and open my e-mail. I have a short one from Roz saying they set up camp at the first compound and would start the building process in the morning. I send her a quick reply.

Rosaline,

My life is out of control and it’s entirely your fault! Glad you are making a difference in the country.

Wes

Most people would freak out by such an e-mail, but not Roz. She will assume something happened since she left, which would be a correct assumption, and she will most likely write me back asking what happened. I will then tell her about the craziness with Andi and how it wouldn’t have happened if she had stayed and eaten lunch with me herself every day. I guess I could have written that all to her now, but this way we will have something to talk about tomorrow.

Once I am dressed I head out and head back to the Ministry. I go down to the guest quarters, find Andi’s suite, and knock on her door. I wait a few seconds and knock again. I am about to knock once more when the door opens. Andi is standing there with her hair disheveled, wearing a robe and squinting at me.

“Wes? Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Where are your glasses?” I’ve never seen her without them and she looks odd. Maybe it’s the squinting.

“They’re next to my bed since I was fast asleep. What time is it?”

I look down at my watch. “It’s 1:47 a.m.”