"We were about to run out of anesthetic, and since I'm the newest, I had to drive to a clinic on the other end of the island. Besides, in case you haven't noticed, it is almost dark.
"And your school is donating quilts for the recovering patients to rest on, which I'm supposed to pick up when the teachers get out of their staff meeting. As soon as I deliver the drugs, I'm coming back here to do that, which is why I am at exactly this spot in the universe just when you need me most."
"Lucky me."
"Are you running away from school? You're traveling kind of light if you are."
"Very funny. Class was canceled this afternoon, and I am going into town to find a public computer."
"Are you one of those people who obsessively check their e-mail? You know the kind-they can't go twenty-four hours without checking, even if it means walking through a driving rainstorm to get to a computer. I never would have guessed."
"I am not obsessively checking my e-mail. It happens that my aunt is sending me some information that will help clear up a little problem we're having.” Harriet quickly explained Lauren's belief that her work had been copied and the subsequent disappearance of that work.
"You're not one of those people who see trouble around every corner, are you? Do you have to have drama in your life constantly?"
"I don't see that my dramatic needs are any of your concern,” she said, and turned to look at him.
"If I'm going to be your boyfriend, I need to know these things."
"You are not going to be my boyfriend. You stood me up."
"For the last time, I did not stand you up. You never called me back. I waited a reasonable amount of time, and then I went to the exhibit-alone, I might add."
"You didn't look very alone to me, and besides, I did call you back. I left a message with your assistant."
Aiden pulled to a stop in front of the UPS Store.
"I don't have an assistant. I'm the low vet on the totem pole. Notice how I'm the guy being sent to pick up supplies."
"Okay, call her what you want, I'm telling you, your phone was answered by a woman. I told her what time, and she assured me she'd give you my message."
"When did you call?"
Harriet thought for a moment. “It must have been around five."
"I was in surgery until almost six. My phone was in my jeans pocket in the locker room."
"Wasn't your locker locked?"
He leaned back and frowned at her.
"We're not exactly in inner-city Detroit here. I don't think the lockers at the pet shelter even have places to put locks. They're more like kitchen cabinets."
"So anyone could have answered your phone."
"I suppose, but you said it was a woman. That narrows it a little. There is one woman vet, although her voice is pretty distinct, I think there are three female vet techs. After four, the receptionist is a high school girl, and I think there's at least one lady janitor. Take your pick.
"The point is, any one of them could have heard my phone ring, answered it and then forgotten to tell me. The point is,” he repeated with emphasis, “that although I technically did stand you up, I didn't know I was standing you up because I never got the message."
"Okay, smart guy, that explains why you weren't at the show with me, but that doesn't explain the blond arm candy you were sporting."
"That's Doctor Johnson's assistant-and his granddaughter, I might add. She asked me to join her at the pottery show, and given her relationship to the boss, I didn't feel like I could say no. And why am I explaining myself to you? I didn't do anything wrong."
Harriet kept silent.
"I think this is the part where you say, ‘Oh, Aiden, I'm so sorry I misjudged you… again,’ and then we kiss and make up."
"That would be a lie. In my book, a guy who moves on with a blonde, boss's granddaughter or not, is not a guy to trust. And since we don't have a relationship, there's nothing to make up."
He sighed. “You are making this really difficult, and as much as I'd like to continue working on our relationship issues, I've got to get the drugs back to the clinic."
He jumped out of the truck and came around to Harriet's door before she could get out. He opened it and pulled her into a kiss before she could react-or at least before she could react the way she would have if she'd been able to think.
Instead, she wrapped her arms around him and felt the hard muscles of his back quiver under her touch. Her traitorous hands worked their way up his spine, and then her fingers tangled in his glorious black hair. He deepened the kiss and slid his hands down to her bottom and pulled her toward him. A part of Harriet wanted to know what was going to happen next, but a blue BMW started to pull into the parking spot next to Aiden's truck and they had to separate and move to the sidewalk to avoid being run over.
Two boys who looked like they were ten or eleven got out of the back seat and followed their mother into the UPS Store. As they passed Harriet they made faces and stuck their fingers in their mouths to simulate gagging.
"Hey, just wait a few years, guys,” Aiden said and smiled. He turned back to her and leaned in for another, quick kiss. “I'll swing back by here in about twenty minutes, and if you're done, I can give you a ride back down the hill,” he said then got back into the truck and drove away.
Harriet went into the UPS Store and, in a matter of minutes, had her e-mail open in front of her. True to her word, Aunt Beth had sent a full-page colored scan of a quilt that was almost identical to Lauren's exhibition piece.
"Wow,” Harriet said.
The young woman at the counter looked up from the forms she was studying.
"It's a good picture,” Harriet explained sheepishly and looked back at the computer screen. She pressed the print button and, when asked, selected eight copies-she knew the Loose Threads would each want a copy to study.
When the printing began, she forwarded the e-mail to each of them.
She looked at her watch. Aiden would be back by in about five minutes. She shut the computer off and went to the register to pick up and pay for her prints. The rain, which had let up when she'd entered the store, had begun falling in earnest again. She reached into her sweatshirt pocket for her purple hat and realized she'd left it in Aiden's truck, so she stood under the store awning to wait.
Five minutes passed. She felt the crumpled, germ-encrusted five-dollar bill in her pocket and remembered her aspirin mission. She looked at the other stores in the block and spotted a convenience store three doors down. She was back in front of the UPS Store in seven minutes, but there was no sign of Aiden.
If it hadn't been raining, she would have set out, but she waited another fifteen minutes, hoping for either Aiden or a break in the weather. She had just decided she was going to have to walk home in the rain when Darcy pulled into the parking lot in her county car.
She rolled down her window. “You better get in."
Harriet pulled the door open. “I'm glad to see-"
"I'm not here by chance,” Darcy interrupted.
"What's wrong,” Harriet asked, feeling the blood drain from her face. “Is it Aunt Beth?"
"No, Beth is fine, but there's been an accident."
"Who? What happened?” she said in a rush, instantly feeling guilty at her relief that it wasn't Aunt Beth.
"Aiden,” Darcy said, and rested her hand on Harriet's arm. “He's okay. He's bruised and shaken, but he was up walking when I found him. He asked me to find you."
"Take me to him.” Ice gripped her heart as memories of Steve's death came flooding back. It must have shown on her face.
"He's going to be fine,” Darcy assured her.
"But?” She turned to face her.
"His passenger didn't fare as well."
"His passenger?” Harriet said in a wooden voice.