A Beautiful New Life (18 page)

“We got her.”
T
hey dragged out the
half-clothed
girl from real estate. The man who
search
ed
her handed Vince a wad of money. “We found it tucked down the front of her pants.”

Everyone stopped what
they
were doing
. T
he staff handling the search, including Vince, left dragging the girl with them.  Louise just stood there not
sure
if she should leave or stay. Edith came along then.

“Well I’d hate to be that girl.”

“So we can leave?”

“Absolutely, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Edith walked out without another word.

Chapter
Sixteen

Louise took some deep breathes and walked out the building. She was almost waiting for them to run out after her or stop her once she was out. She continued to take deep breaths as she
started to
walk to her apartment. She did not get far when Jordan pulled up in his car.

“Hey do you need a ride.”

Louise stopped and leaned into the opened passenger side window. “I don’t know, after today I really should walk off some of this energy.”

“That bad, huh?
Well I tell you what, how about you jump in and we go get some food and go to the park for a picnic.”

“
A picnic?
It’s
winter.
I don’t know.” Louise did not want to mislead
him
, even though she would not allow anything to happen she did not want him to invest so much time in a relationship that was not going to go anywhere.

“
It’s spring, despite the snow this morning.
Come on,
before
it’s
too dark,
as friends. I wouldn’t pressure you into anything
more,
you should know that by now.” His sad eyes told a different story, one of that he wished he could have more.

“I know.”
Her heart broke
a little more
as she said it
.
When he did not pull
away,
she added.
“Okay already, you win. Besides after the day I had I don’t want to be alone and I really do need to talk to you about what happened.”

Louise got in the car and they drove to Patsy’s Diner. Jordan went in and retuned a few moments later with a basket of goodies.

“
Mmm
that smells good. What did you get?”

“
Well none other than Patsy’s famous fried chicken
.” He pulled out of the diner parking lot and headed to the park on the east side of town.

Jordan parked the car. He grabbed the basket and they walked together to a little knoll looking over a lake on the edge of the park.

“This is a pretty spot, why haven’t you showed me this spot before?” She looked around and enjoyed the privacy the knoll offered.

“Well actually.” Louise could see the hurt in his eyes as he spoke and wished she had not asked. “I had plans to bring you here.
But
you found out you were married and I guess… I just didn’t find it appropriate at that moment.”

“Well it’s lovely, and I’m glad you’re sharing it with me now.” She touched him softly on the arm. She really hoped he understood she did not intentionally mean to hurt him. After they ate the basket of food Patsy made for them, they relaxed
in the shadows of the setting sun.

“So what happened today?”
Jordan finally asked.

Louise told him about the files she had copied
.
S
he
also told him how she believed they had
caught
her
. She told him how she was sure of it when they searched the employees as they left for the day.

“Hmmm let me guess, they caught someone stealing money.”

Louise sat up so she could see Jordan. “How’d you know?”

“I stopped by your office today at lunch and found your desk a mess. I was afraid they were on to you. So I had to do something about it.”

“What do you mean?”

He leaned in closer to her and in barely a whisper, “Let me just say, I’ve done my homework. There are
many
things
I’m
not supposed to know
,
but I keep my eyes and ears open. Since we have been working on
this
problem I make it my business to know who you work with
and
,
if necessary
,
find ways to get you out of a predicament. I’m trying to stay one step ahead of them to prevent you from getting caught.”

“So what did you do? Did you set that girl up?”

“
No, she has been stealing money for months now. I still
don’t
understand why because if you think about it you can’t really go into debt living here. Maybe that is just in her nature, to steal I mean.”

“
I don’t understand.
”

“I knew she would be searched before you.
The one thing I can count on is
they’re
idiots. They
didn’t
know what they were
going to find
. I just knew I had to give them someone before they searched you.
”

“Thanks for looking out for me.”
Louise realized that they were sitting too close. She
lay
back down enjoying the warm breeze blowing over her face and avoid
ing
any mishap between the two of them. Her thoughts went back to how it was unfair to Jordan that he was spending so much time with her.

She tried making other friends but was never able to click with anyone.
Since she moved out of the dorm, she did not see much of Gwen. Since
she
also did not want to have to leave someone she cared about behind when she left
, she did not seek out friendship
.
Now knowing what she knows,
some of the women she could have been acquaintances with were one of them. She wondered if they purposely befriended her. Jordan said she should still meet with them occasionally rather than cutting them off completely.

He now rolled over and
sat
up on an elbow. “What are you thinking about?”

She could feel his breath on her face and wanted to be close to him
again
like
she had been when she was Megan.

“I was thinking about my husband and
kids and how much I miss them.” It broke her heart to see the sadness in his eyes and to lie to him. She was human and she was lonely, but her morals were more important and
,
as
hard as she had to fight it
,
she would not give in to this no matter how lonely she was.

“Tell me about them, you talk about
them
but you never personalize them. Tell me something specific about each one of them.” He sat up on the edge of the blanket to give her space. He wanted to let her know he understood. Yes
,
he was sad but only because he would hope that one day he would find someone as committed to him as she was to Arlin.

“Well…I don’t know. I guess I don’t like talking about them because then I would miss them even more and I have so much to lose if I slip up now.” She too sat up now and faced Jordan. She loved watching him. His soft features made her melt inside. She was glad when he spoke again.

“But you need to talk about them so you don’t forget what you are doing here. Like with today’s surprise you would have kept it together more if you had them on your mind. I know you would have fought harder to control your emotions.”

“If I end up dead what good would all this work have been for?”

He laughed. “I know I shouldn’t laugh but have you not noticed that as smart as these people might seem, they are really just like me and you. They survive on assumptions but give them something that is
real,
they will turn the other way. Just like today, they were assuming something was going on in your building
so
I gave them something real and they went running.”

“I guess I learned from my dad a long time ago, you never underestimate anyone.”

“As I’m not going to underestimate you and allow you to change the subject so easily.
At least tell me their names and the last thing you did with them before you left.” He has only seen her smile this big when she was thinking about them. He could tell she loved them very much.

“You aren’t going to drop this are you?” She smiled
,
not just at the memory of her kids
,
but at
him,
too
and how easy it was to talk to him.

“Nope!”

“Okay than, I have just the three boys, Charlie, Drake, and Kenny. They are
eight and half, six, and four
. I remember trying to find something to wear and Kenny came in and told me Fran
was ther
e to pick me up to go shopping. She was, well is, my best friend.”

“Mom, Mom, the voice got closer. Mom, Mrs. Fran is here.”

“I’ll be right there.” She slipped into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and opened the door and the youngest of her three boys was standing in the hall.

“Are you going to be gone long?” His golden blonde hair glistened in the hall light. He was f
our
and hated when she went anywhere. Arlin would push him off to the older boys who would pick on him. They
weren’t
being mean; they were just being brothers but Kenny did not have any escape when Louise was not home.

“Hey look you’re already showered and ready for bed. Good boy.” She leaned down and kissed his head. It would not be too much longer and she will have to be reaching up to give him a kiss. He was growing so fast and her being barely over five feet tall it would not take long for him to catch up and pass her by as Charlie already had and Drake was fast behind
from catching up with her
. She was glad they had their dad’s height and not hers.

“I will be back in an hour and a half, just in time to read with you before you go to bed.”

“Okay but don’t be gone long and be careful mom.” He hugged her around the waist. “I love you.”

“I love you too sweetie.” They walked down the hall to the front room where Fran was waiting.

“He’s such the worry wart. When I got home he was sitting at the front door waiting for me.”

“Hey buddy, did you sit here the whole time waiting for me?”

“No, I saw you pull in so I came over here and sat.” He stood up and took the bags out of her hands. They walked upstairs to
her
room and
he
put
the
bags in the closet. “Let’s go read now.” Kenny grabbed her hand and led her to his room. He crawled into bed and picked up the book they had started reading the
previous
night. He read two chapters, marked his page, and put the book on his nightstand. He curled up in his blankets as Louise gave him a kiss and said goodnight.

“I don’t like to say I have a favorite but that little guy is something else.
There’s
just something about him.
But
don’t get me wrong my other two are wonderful kids. I must say I’m very lucky to have such great loving kids.”

Louise went and checked on Charlie and Drake who were at the dining room table finishing
their
homework.

“Hey guys, do you need me to look over that for you?” Louise walked over and kissed each of them on the head.

“No”, they said in unison.

“We’re just messing around now.” Drake smiled. “We finished our homework while you were gone. Mine was pretty easy so I think I’m okay.”

“Yah mine too”, Charlie added.

“Okay, if you’re sure I won’t bug you about it. Did you have your snack yet? I could make some popcorn,” Louise walked into the kitchen.

“That sounds good, Mom. Can we sit downstairs and watch TV while we
eat
?” Drake was already down the stairs grabbing the remote.

“Yah, that’s fine. Just don’t make a mess.” Louise put the popcorn in the microwave and set the timer.

“After we ate our popcorn and watched some TV, I sent them to bed and went to my room.”  She wiped away a few tears that escaped. “I’m not going to cry, because crying would mean I have lost and I won’t lose. Not them, I won’t lose them.”

Jordan reached out a hand and rubbed her back, he did not dare move any closer. She was vulnerable and it would be wrong for him to take advantage. “Keep strong, you have it in you. I saw it the first day I laid eyes on you.”