Page 100 of His Wounded Heart

He gives me a toothy grin that I can somehow see underneath the gray beard and mustache. He claps me on the shoulder. “That’s the only thing I can ask, Clark. The only thing.”

I’m dreading turning on my Mac’s Safari program, but I need it to pick up some clipart for the final pieces to the website so I need to access the internet. I don’t want to see the little envelope icon on my email. I just can’t bear to see it. No, no, no. Not today. Today is all Simon.

Today is also about paying bills.

I need to finish this website so I can present it to my client.

I click on the Safari icon. There’s mail.

I have to open it.

“You don’t have to open anything from the AOL user,” I tell myself firmly.

I can show restraint…

I can look up the word restraint in the dictionary and start living my life under that definition….yeah, sure, that’ll work.

I scan my inbox. The worst email in there is a sale on shoes by my favorite designer. I click on it so the pretty pictures can soothe me.

After I can breathe again, I pull up the stock art catalogue, purchase the clipart that I need, and pump my fist as I complete the website.

I go through every page, making sure that every single hyperlink works, and they do. I keep it in my testbed, so that the customer can’t have it go live until payment. I forward them a link to the website in the testbed so they can review.

Normally at a time like this, I would be planning a fancy dinner at the local Burger Barn with Bella. The place has the curly fries that she likes, and peanut shells on the floor, which always makes her giggle. But tonight I’m up for a different kind of celebration.

I get up from my chair and stretch. I really should invest in a chair that doesn’t make my back and butt ache. Maybe after the dentist’s website is done. That job came in two days ago, and it’s a big one.

I pick my phone up off the table and go to the living room and curl up into the corner of my couch. I can’t help the smile that must cover half of my face, but I shiver as I remember this is the exact spot where Simon had kissed me when we were on my couch.

I press his number.

“Trenda, hello. How are you?”

“I’m doing really well. No emails and I finished that website I told you about. How about you? Are you making progress on the gymnasium?”

“Yeah, we are. Harvey and his team are doing a great job. So is Renzo.”

“I imagine everything is coming together with Arthur coordinating things.”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you, we had to send him into Knoxville to find some specific types of hinges that we need right away. If he can’t find them there, he’ll probably have to go into Nashville.”

I bite my lip. “Now it’s not like I’m an expert at building things, but I’ve done my fair share of repairs around the house. Aren’t you still at the foundation, framing, and roof point?”

“Yeah,” Simon answers me slowly.

“So you’re a long way before you’re going to get to doors or cabinets, am I right?”

“That’s true.”

“So, you basically sent him out on a snipe hunt.”

“Now, Trenda, a snipe hunt is when you send someone out to hunt for something that doesn’t exist. This hinge exists, but you’ve got to order it from Italy.”

“And you have no need of it, right?”

“Maybe.” I like the way he answers me, slow and sexy-like.

“Was this your idea?”