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Chapter Thirty-Six
Aaron
“So, what you’re telling me,” he smirks at me, “is that you’ve gone completely stupid. I mean, seriously, there can’t be any other explanation.”
A wry grin touches my lips and I open my mouth to respond with a verbal bitch-slapping, but my phone rings. Rolling my eyes, I let out a loud sigh and snap it up, grimacing when I see who the call is coming from. I connect the call and hold the phone to my ear.
“Yeah, Fred,” I answer.
I listen to the person on the other line gripe and complain for a few minutes about what they need but don’t have to get the program completed. Fred, one of the tech department heads, is constantly concerned about one thing or another. He’s the kind of guy who seems to need something to complain about. It can get tiresome very quickly. His only saving grace is that he’s one of the best coders I’ve ever seen. And because of his considerable talents, I have to put up with his – quirks.
“Yeah, tell the tech team they can order whatever is required. Have a messenger service deliver it as soon as possible. I’ll authorize whatever it costs for fastest possible shipping,” I say into my phone. “And tell them I want beta testing up and running next week.”
I know I should be back in the office, helping deal with the heavy lifting as we’re trying to get the new system up and running, but I am just not into it right now. And I can’t make myself get into it. My heart and attention span just aren’t into it today.
“Yeah, I’ll be on hand to help with the beta testing,” I tell him. “Stay on them, Fred. We’ve got to hit all of our marks with this.”
I disconnect the call and drop the phone on the table. “Jesus Christ, you think they’d never written code or designed a security system before,” I grouse.
“If you need to get back to the office to handle your business, I can always bust your balls about this another time.”
I shake my head “No, it’s fine. I pay them a lot of money to handle this shit,” I sigh. “I don’t need to be there holding their hands every step of the way.”
Nick chuckles. “You wouldn’t think so.”
“Besides, how often are you in town? I’m not going to pass up a chance to get together with my best friend,” I go on. “Even if it’s only for lunch.”
“True enough,” he replies. “And I appreciate it.”
Nick had called me a couple of days ago to let me know they were flying him in specifically for a surgery that he’s apparently got some special expertise in. I’m smarter than most people in a lot of ways, but when it comes to medicine, I’m as ignorant as anybody. Just because I enjoy learning new things, Nick’s tried to explain a few things to me, but it just goes right over my head. He could make me feel like an idiot for it, but he doesn’t.
“Okay, so my question remains – have you gone completely stupid, Aaron?”
I take a drink of my scotch and look out at the ocean beyond the windows of the restaurant we’re sitting in. The sun is glittering off the surface of the Pacific, gleaming like a pool of liquid gold. The breakers, white and foamy, crash against the shore. I watch as a group of surfers ride the waves, cutting and moving, in perfect harmony with the churning water.
“I just don’t know what to do, Nick,” I tell him. “I never planned for this.”
“Of course you didn’t,” he replies. “You think I did? But you know what? It’s turned out to be the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“You’ve always been better about adjusting on the fly than I have,” I mutter as I take another sip of my drink. “It’s one reason you’re such a great surgeon. Shit goes wrong and you know how to fix it.”
Nick chews his salad thoughtfully for a moment, then washes it down with a swallow of iced tea – no booze for him the day before a big surgery. All the while, his gaze remains fixed on me and I can see the wheels turning in that big brain of his.
“I mean, there’s a reason you’re so great at computer security, though. You’ve always been great at breaking things down and taking them as they come, Aaron. Seeing it from all angles and developing a comprehensive solution instantly. You’ve always been able to see the bigger picture clearly. More clearly than I ever have,” he says. “I’m a great surgeon because I’m able to focus on the micro, man. You’ve always seen the macro.”
A rueful chuckle spills out of my mouth. “Sure, when things make sense. When there’s a logical order to things,” I reply. “There is no logic to any of this. It’s pure chaos.”
“Only because you’re letting it be that way,” he notes before taking another bite of his salad.
I push the fries around my plate, not really all that hungry at the moment. I know I should probably get something into my system, though. With the way I’ve been downing the scotch, I’ll be sloppy drunk by the time I leave the restaurant, and I can’t have that. So, I pick up the chicken sandwich on my plate and take a bite. I’m not impressed with the taste, but I force myself to chew and swallow it down to help soak up some of the booze.
“The fact of the matter is that you have a child on the way, Aaron –”
“As if I need the reminder.”
He grins. “You also have a woman who loves you.”
“Yeah, I don’t know about that,” I retort. “She did boot me out of the condo last night.”
