A Secret to Shatter by Katie O’Connor
Chapter Sixteen
Ira stormed into Tammy’s and flopped into a bench seat. He tossed a half wave at Honey as she hurried past with a coffee pot. He instantly regretting passing his bad mood on. Luckily, she didn’t seem to notice the thundercloud hanging over him.
“Right back to get you, Ira,” she sing-songed.
Part of him was disappointed she didn’t drop everything for him. The realist inside knew she was doing her job the way she should. She poured coffee for a couple of gray-haired ladies near the front window. Dang it, he was jealous of the two old biddies. He shook his head at his own foolishness.
Moments later she breezed back to his table and slid into the booth across from him. “What’s up, Ira? You look like you lost your best friend.” She poured coffee into a clean mug and set the pot on the table. “Oh, no. Is Bill alright?”
“Bill’s fine. My computer, on the other hand, is not and the shop is closed while the shop owner is on vacation. I don’t want to buy a new one until I find out if it can be fixed.”
“Maybe I can help. I know a thing or two about computers,” she offered.
“You? Seriously?” What did a waitress know about computers?
“I did take several computer courses in college. I repair and maintain my own equipment. I don’t mind looking at yours. Unless you’d rather wait?” There was a hint of exasperation in her voice.
“You might as well take a look; you can’t make it worse. Sorry, I sounded ungracious. I’m happy you’re willing to look at my computer. I’m sorry for passing on my bad mood.” It would be great if she could help. He had some Army paperwork to fill out regarding his pension and medical coverage. He’d rather get it done sooner than later. Sometimes life rolled on too fast and things got forgotten in the day-to-day shuffle. This paperwork was too important to mess up.
“No worries. I understand. Technology gets the best of all of us at one point of another. I’m not taking it personally. Relax. Enjoy your coffee. What’s the best time for me to look it over?”
“When can you come? I’d like to get it fixed sooner rather than later. I’ve got forms to fill out, and paperwork to do.”
“I’m off in half an hour. Why don’t you hang around until I’m done? I can go home with you, or meet you there. Whatever works. I’ll have to stop at home and grab my kit.”
“Kit?”
“A couple of basic repair tools in case I have to rip it apart.”
“It’s a good thing you grinned, or I’d think you were serious.” Her irreverent attitude made him smile. “You’re not serious, are you?”
“Only a bit. What is wrong with it? Just in case I need to tear it down.”
“It started a couple weeks ago. It started getting slower and slower. Now it barely boots up. Websites time out before it can load them. It’s brutal slow.”
“Probably a virus. I’ll bring my virus stripper.” She grinned again. “I haven’t had to clear off a virus in months. I’m excited.” She clapped her hands. “Anyway, what can I get you today, besides coffee?”
“I might as well eat while I’m here. What’s the special?” Tammy’s was know for the daily specials. You never went wrong ordering them. In all the months he’d been eating here, he’d never had a bad meal. Beat the hell out of army mess food any day.
“Clam chowder with fresh baked bread, or meatloaf. I haven’t tried the meatloaf, but the smell is to die for.”
“Meatloaf it is. With mashed potatoes and gravy, please. And can I get an iced tea next time you swing past? No rush. Please and thank you.” He hadn’t had meatloaf in an eternity. Nobody made it like his mother had. He had her recipe, but couldn’t duplicate it. His always turned out as a dried-out brick. Maybe the special would be a good replacement for hers. He wondered if Honey could cook. If and when, and it was a big if, he got married, he’d prefer his partner could cook. He was a capable cook for most things, he even had several dishes he did really well. But despite his addiction to cooking shows, he was not a master chef.
“Right-oh. I’ll be back in a flash with your lunch. Working on your computer could take a while. Shall we plan for supper together?” She blushed prettily. “I don’t mean to invite myself to dinner…Never mind. I’ll just go put your order in.”
She was gone before he had a chance to agree to dinner together. He enjoyed eating with Honey. She was an entertaining and intelligent companion. A waitress with the skills to fix a computer was curious. Oh well, he’d been debating replacing it anyway. If she ruined it, not a big deal. He’d backed up his files last week.
* * *
“My laptop is in the library,”Ira explained as they entered his house. “I’ll get you started and make us a cold drink. Days like today, I wish I had air conditioning.” He waved her toward the office and she stepped in front of him and headed toward the newly completed room.
“It is brutally hot. I finally splurged on a fan for my bedroom. Even with the windows open, I couldn’t sleep.”
“I have a fan in my room too. I’m still debating cooling the entire house, but only on the hottest days. No sense suffering, but also no sense running air conditioning when opening windows works equally well most days.”
She looked back over her shoulder and smiled at him. “I agree entirely. We seem to have similar ideas about a lot of things. I like that in a friend.”
Friend? Now he was in the friend zone. Did a guy ever break out of the friend zone and into the boyfriend zone? Probably not. Honey had a dozen fabulous attributes, but didn’t seem to have any big ambitions for her life. Not like his own ambition to help out the family farm, and to build his own small farm. He reminded himself he wasn’t fit for marriage anyway.
In front of him, Honey’s flirty, above the knee skirt showed off her great legs. Her sexy long hair swung back and forth as she walked. She was as enticing in flats as many women were in heels. There was something about her, a natural grace and beauty, which called to him.
He didn’t consider himself tense or uptight in any fashion, but with Honey he felt calm and ready to take on anything. Even her jangling bell anklet was soothing.
“Oh, it looks amazing in here,” Honey exclaimed when she stepped inside the library. She whirled around to face him. “You’ve done an incredible job. I love the layout. It’s changed so much since we worked in here the other day. There has to be double, no triple, the shelving. Impressive.”
The room was enormous. It had probably been a family room in its past life. Ira had built floor to ceiling shelves around the entire room with bench seating in the three bay windows which faced the backyard. He’d finally finished shelving all the books he’d found and collected. He had settled on a rough categorizing system. History all in one place. Mystery in another. Much to his surprise, he had twenty dictionaries, eleven thesauruses, and five sets of encyclopedias, one of which dated back to the late 1800s. He had a little bit of everything on his shelves.
He was extra proud of his seating arrangements. He’d put an oak desk at one end of the room, and had two sets of two wing chairs in opposite corners. There was a side table between each set. They were upholstered in plush velvety material in a deep burgundy. On the wall opposite the windows, he’d added an electric fireplace with plans to replace it with a real one in the future. The room had a quiet elegance.
Honey hurried forward and sat on one of the chairs. She bounced lightly on the seat and leaned back; eyes closed, a blissful smile on her face.
“I could live in this room. I couldn’t have designed it better myself. Color me impressed. Deeply impressed. Well done, Ira. Well done. I love those carpets. The book print is perfect for in here.”
He hadn’t designed to room to please anyone but himself, which made her enthusiasm for the space extra sweet. “Thank you. I spend a lot of time in here. It’s become my favorite room.”
Honey rose and walked in front of the shelves, fingers trailing over the spines. She paused now and then to take out a book and flip through it. She spun around. “I don’t see any children’s books here. No library is complete without Dr. Suess, Beverly Cleary, The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. Oh, what about Robert Munsch? Pippi Longstocking?”
Ira laughed at her enthusiasm for children’s literature. “I’ve ordered a few of those from an online, second hand shop. “And the entire Goosebumps series. I’ve even got a complete collection of Heinlein’s juvenile stories coming. I grew up on those. So many memories.”
Her grin spread across her cheek and lit her eyes. “Now, I’m doubly impressed. I bow to your library skills.”
“I thank you.” He sketched a light bow. “Now, I’d like to see if your computer skills are a match for my library skills.” He winked. “It’s on the desk. There is no password. Have at it. Good luck. I’ll grab those drinks.”
He was back in five minutes. Honey sat at his desk, behind his open laptop. She seemed totally oblivious to his return, so he leaned against the doorjamb watching her work. She’d scooped her long curly hair into some type of weird messy bun on the top of her head. It flopped loosely to the right as if a simple head shake would send the curls bursting free. It was attractive, and made him want to loosen it and watch it cascade down her bare back.
Her brows were furrowed and she nibbled the left edge of her bottom lip. There was a pencil lodged in her hair above her left ear. She was a disaster and she was the most tempting thing he’d seen in a long time. Probably forever.
“You gonna stand there staring? Or are you going to bring me that drink?” she teased without looking up. “I’m parched. Thinking is thirsty work.”
Laughing, he strolled over and set the cold drink on a coaster on the desk. “Here you go. What are you finding?”
“An interesting browsing history. A lack of password protection. And a boatload of viruses. It’s a wonder this thing works at all.”
“What do you mean, an interesting browsing history?” He knew she’d look around and didn’t worry about it. He had nothing to hide, but his history would never qualify as interesting.
“Ranching sites, bookstores, menswear, porn.” She paused dramatically.
“Fudge.”
Honey laughed. “I shouldn’t tease you. The link you clicked is a well-known hacker site. Likely where you got your virus load from. Since it’s the only one remotely linked to questionable sexual content, I’m guessing it was a mistaken click. And, you really need to clear your browser and your cache now and then. The stored data can slow you down. You’ve got sites in here from the day you bought your computer.”
“How do you know that?”
“I told you, I’m good with computers. Very good.”
“What are you hiding from me? You’re more than just a waitress. You mentioned college classes.” He was curious now, more so than he had been before.
“I sort of studied computer science at SAIT. I might have taken two programs simultaneously.” She ducked her head and studied the keyboard.
“Two? And you’re wasting your life as a waitress.”
He must have hit a nerve because her head shot up and she jumped out of her chair. She was around the desk in seconds to jab him in the chest with her pointer finger.
“Get over yourself, Mr. Military Hero. Just because you don’t approve of my chosen career, it doesn’t mean it isn’t the right one for me. I adore people. I love waitressing. Give it a rest. Or I’ll plant a virus so deep in your accounts that every computer you ever own will crash as soon as you set it up. I can track you; I can hack you. Got it?” She stormed back behind the desk.
“You can do that?” Her claim seemed outrageous. Naw, she couldn’t. No way. Still, best not to take any chances. “I apologize for implying you need a better career.”
“You didn’t imply it, you stated it. Repeatedly. Ad nauseum. Over and frickin’ over.” She pounded away at the keyboard for a moment and hooked some kind of external drive up to it. “I’m running some sophisticated, government issue, anti spam, anti spyware, anti viral software. It’ll take a couple hours to complete. But when it’s done, your computer should be fine. You need an anti virus software. And to reset your passwords. For everything. Literally every one. And don’t make them all the same. Hackers love that.”
Her words were clipped and professional. He’d really ticked her off. But really, if she had these mad computer skills, why was she waitressing? Yeah, best not to ask. He took a few minutes to think things over, wandering from shelf to shelf as he did so. She was right. Her career choice was none of his business. He had no right to criticize. Her contentment should be enough. Shouldn’t it?