Double the Love

by Taggart, Molly

  Daniel stubs out his cigar in his empty glass, and says, "Eden, this is Aaron Mitchell, Aaron, my wife, Dr. Eden Harris."

  Aaron rises and takes the woman's hand lightly. "Pleasure to meet you."

  "You're the caterer’s husband?" she asks.

  "Uh…Yeah." His wife, as usual, has been ingratiating herself.

  "Janice does a fabulous job catering these events,” Dr. Harris says. “It’s nice for her to get a break and join the party for a change.” Even so, Aaron’s sure she’s slipped into the kitchen more than once tonight. “She was a good conversation partner tonight.” She levels her eyes at Daniel. “Which I sorely needed since my escort abandoned me.”

  Daniel rises and extends his arm to her. Eden links her arm through his, and as they begin to walk back toward the house, Aaron hears her say, "He's cute. Are you…" Her words become inaudible as the pair trails off.

  Aaron’s about to sit back down and finish his cigar when he sees Janice pass the couple on the cobblestone walkway. She exchanges a few words with them. Eden points back toward the garden, and Janice follows her gesture, catching sight of Aaron. He quickly looks around for a place to put out his cigar and settles on Daniel's idea of extinguishing it in the last few drops of scotch remaining at the bottom of his glass. Then he tucks the glass under the chair.

  "Hey," Janice says when she arrives at the fountain. She slips her arms around his waist and kisses him.

  "Hey yourself."

  “You ready to come back inside?"

  "Okay,” he says, even though he’s not. “I think I made a friend."

  She chuckles. "Did you, sweetheart? Dr. Harris's husband? That's good." She lifts one hand to stroke his cheek. "I know you hate these things, honey, and I'm sorry to make you come, but I really wanted you with me."

  "It's a'ight. It's just...awkward, you know? I don't really fit in and I'm not sure what to say."

  "So you're a bit introverted. It's okay. It means you're introspective too. Thoughtful. You know I love that about you." She kisses him again. "Besides," she grabs hold of his tie and tightens it, "I hardly ever get to see you in a suit except on Sunday mornings, and you're damn sexy in a suit."

  He wiggles his eyebrows. "Am I?" His hands come down possessively on her hips, and he pulls her closer. "You think so?" Her lips are bittersweet with wine when he kisses her.

  "I do…and I'll tell you what. Since I know these things aren't easy for you, when we finally get out of here, and we get home, I'm going to reward you."

  "Oh yeah? I could use a reward." He presses his cheek against her cheek and sighs. "I could really use a reward."

  She shifts her head to kiss his cheek and then whispers in his ear. "But I want you to keep your suit mostly on. As much as you can, you know, and still..."

  "Only if you keep your high heels on," he murmurs in reply. "And nothing else."

  She laughs—not her "You're cute" laugh or her "You've got to be kidding laugh," or her "I don't know why I tolerate you" laugh, but her breathy, sexy "You're in for a ride" laugh.

  "Come on," says Janice, stepping back and tugging at his tie. "Let's go back in. An hour more at the most, I promise."

  "You go on ahead," he mumbles. "I just need a couple minutes to…" He clears his throat. He was going to say recover, but he just concludes, "I'll be in. I promise. I've got your back."

  CHAPTER THREE

  Janice Mitchell knows her husband well. They’ve been together nearly a decade and a half, after all, a fact that always shocks people, probably because they married young and Aaron looks closer to twenty-nine than thirty-four. He’s always had a baby face, despite his masculine voice and muscular form. Because she knows him well, she’s been forgiving tonight. Had they been hosting a soccer team cookout, or inviting the boosters to dinner to try to get them to open their wallets, she wouldn’t have slunk off with a stranger to a couple of a distant chairs and left him to do all the socializing. She’d have made sure he met his goals for the evening. She’s done it for years. Tonight, it was Aaron’s turn to help her meet her goal of securing a contract to cater next month’s alumni banquet. He did come back to the house eventually and stand supportively by her side, his hand occasionally resting on the small of her back, answering questions with brief but polite replies. And he did look good in that tailored suit, the red tie setting off the blue in his sometimes gray eyes, towering a good five inches above her.

  So she forgave him his momentary escape. Besides, she knows how different their personalities are and that it’s not easy for Aaron to exert himself socially, however gregarious he might be at home with his wife and daughters. She’s even glad he seems to have hit it off with Dr. Harris’s husband. Maybe he’ll finally make a friend here to keep him busy in Pennsylvania, and he won’t seem so annoyed when she has to work odd hours to keep the catering business going.

  Janice used to bake and decorate cakes, occasionally, when they lived in Georgia, but she never thought of running her own full-scale catering business from top to bottom until her sister called her up and told her she was giving up her own. Janice’s sister has since followed her husband to California, and now Janice holds the reins to the entire catering empire—if ten employees can be called an empire.

  Janice is pretty sure she’ll have the contract after tonight, despite Aaron’s limited engagement, and his disappearance did give her a chance to talk a good while with Dr. Eden Harris. They hit it off quickly, and Janice found herself confessing her desire to return to college sometime in the next few years. She might even take Eden’s Shakespeare class as an elective, though she wants to major in consumer psychology, which will help her to grow her business still farther. Janice hasn’t talked about this with Aaron yet, and she has no intention of doing so. The move from his home state has flustered him enough, not to mention the upheaval in roles that followed her taking on a full-time job for the first time in years.

  No, Janice isn’t irritated with Aaron as they walk through the door of their suburban home and pay off the babysitter. She experienced flashes of annoyance with him tonight, but every time she saw how adorably uncomfortable he was, and how handsome he looked in that suit, the feeling faded. Now, he’s all one excited smile, because he knows he’s getting his reward for mustering up the courage to go at all.

  They make sure the girls are asleep, and then they lock their bedroom door. Sophie’s walked in on them before. As soon as she’s done turning the lock, Janice feels herself pulled back against her husband’s strong chest. His cheek is smooth against hers, but only for a moment, because soon he’s kissing her neck and then nibbling her ear lobe. His deep voice thrills her when he whispers, “I love you. You were magnificent tonight.” His left hand slides from her shoulder to her neck and then grips the zipper at the back of her dress. Aaron pulls it down slowly, sending little chills through her as he kisses the revealed flesh. His lips are hot and soft against her skin, and she knows he’ll be as thorough and attentive as she wants.

  No, she’s not irritated with Aaron, not anymore. There’s a very different fire stirring within her now.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  "Whoa! Don't do that!” Daniel shouts. “What are you thinking? You've already got a round in the chamber!"

  "Oh. Sorry. I forgot." It’s been a long time since Aaron has been on the receiving end of coaching. It isn’t, he realizes, a particularly pleasant position to be in.

  "Go ahead and line up your shot," Daniel says in a now calm voice. "Now this is a peep sight, so you need to look through that little hole," Daniel points to the rear sight of the rifle, "and make sure you can see the entire sight. Then line up this sight," he points to the front sight "with whatever you want to hit. Now this isn't a hunting rifle, not in Pennsylvania anyway. You can't use a semi-auto for hunting here, but it'll be a great tool if you ever have to get up on your roof and pick off the undead in the zombie apocalypse."

  It’s hard for Aaron to hold the rifle steady when Daniel’s making him laugh. He positi
ons it more firmly against his shoulder.

  "Okay," Daniel continues, "now center the top of the front sight in the hole of the rear sight. Got it?"

  "I…think so."

  "Then take your shot."

  The recoil is stronger than Aaron anticipates. He’s pretty sure he shuts his eyes at the last minute, but at least he hits one of the outer, concentric circles and isn’t totally outside the target. Nevertheless, his shot is still a far cry from Daniel's very tight group of holes right in the center of the bullseye.

  "Yeah, that one's got a bit of jump to it," Daniel reassures him. "You'll get used to it after a few more shots."

  After they leave the range, they load the rifles back into Daniel's vehicle. "This is what you drive?" Aaron asks, surveying Daniel’s box-like, silver minivan. "On a regular basis? Even to the range?"

  "Hey, this minivan is state-of-the-art." Daniel slides the door closed. "The chicks dig it. You can take out the back seats, lay down some blankets over all those dropped, crusted bits of bank drive-thru lollipops that are congealed to the floor, kick the empty juice boxes out of the way, put on a little music, try not to get a matchbox car crammed in the small of her back..."

  Aaron laughs and shakes his head as he walks two cars over to his own black pick-up truck. He follows Daniel's minivan to a nearby bar, where they scarf down the kind of glutinous pub food Janice has told him he needs to stop eating now that he isn’t in his twenties anymore.

  "So, at these university parties," Aaron asks, "when they ask you what you do for a living…" If he was embarrassed to answer that he was a high school phys ed teacher and soccer coach, he can’t imagine how Daniel frames his stay-at-home dad and part-time coaching gig.

  "Yeah," Daniel says. "I tell them I'm a 21st Century Minority Domestic Engineer who occasionally takes forays into Postmodern Theories of Firearm Instruction."

  Aaron nearly spits out the beer he’s just started to swallow. He covers his mouth with the back of his hand as he chokes it down.

  Daniel runs a tongue along the back of his teeth. "Hey," he mutters, "You're not one of those guys who thinks I'm not a real man because I stay home to take care of my kids while my wife pulls in the big bucks, are you?"

  Aaron wipes the back of his hand on his jeans. He laughs uncomfortably. Then he shakes his head. Janice chose to stay home after Emily was born. It was easier, she said, than juggling day care and work and home life. Frankly, he was happy she could be content with the traditional arrangement. When she took over the catering business, his routine got thrown out of whack. He’s proud of what she’s accomplished in such a short time, but he can’t say it’s been an easy adjustment for him. In his heart, he wants to be there for Janice to help her succeed, the way she’s always been there for him. Yet he can’t honestly say the shift hasn’t wounded his masculine pride just a little bit. She used to be focused on his career, and now she’s focused on hers. Sometimes he thinks that he takes a back seat to the business in her attentions. He misses the way she used to focus on his soccer games, instead of staying home to get food ready for the next big gig and then showing up at the end of the first half.

  "I burned out working," Daniel says, as though Aaron has asked him to explain his decision. "I was the youngest person to ever be the CFO of my company. I made a ton of money, too, but I ruined my first marriage because I was never home. It was rocky for years, but she didn't leave me until our son was eleven."

  That explains why Eden seems too young to be the mother of a medical student. She isn’t. She’s Daniel’s second wife.

  "It forced me do some serious contemplation," Daniel continues. "I became more involved in my son's life after the divorce than I was before. By the time I met Eden, I'd quit my job as CFO, gone back to accounting, and I was down to 40-hour weeks. I missed so many early years of my first son’s life. I got a second chance with Eden, with the twins. This time around—I'm not going to screw it up. Eden enjoys her work. She's not comfortable with daycare. It just made sense for me to stay home with the boys. "

  "What's it like, though," Aaron asks Daniel hesitantly, "going from a CFO's salary to nothing but a part-time coaching stipend?"

  "Well…I eased out of it when I went back to being an accountant. We had to downsize a bit. Oh, and I don't get a coaching stipend."

  "You don't?"

  "No. There are people who'd like to eliminate the team, but since it doesn't cost the school a dime and we win a lot of matches… " He concludes with a shrug.

  "I don't understand," Aaron says. He slides his empty bottle to the side and nods to the bartender for another. "Why would anyone want to eliminate the rifle team?"

  "Because it's a rifle team."

  Aaron blinks and then repeats, "I don't understand."

  "Hahahaha. Oh, man. You really are from Georgia aren't you? I guess this is a big change for you. Wife starting a new business, then going back to college—”

  “—Going back to college?”

  “Yeah, to get the B.A. she never got. She talked to my wife about enrolling in a business psychology program at the party.”

  “What? She hasn’t mentioned any of this to me!” Janice doesn’t have time to get a degree and run a business and help with the kids. Hasn’t life been flipped upside down enough this past year? His thick eyebrows narrow.

  “Bartender?" Daniel raises a finger. "Can we can get this man a scotch instead?"

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Janice puts her book down when she thinks she hears Aaron's truck pulling into the driveway. She expected him back in time to tuck Sophie in for bed. These days, Sophie prefers her father for bedtime routines, for most things, really. The girl’s now been asleep for almost an hour. Emily is still reading in her room, and probably will until midnight.

  A car door opens and slams shut outside, but the sound of the purring engine does not cease and the lights don’t go off. Instead, the lights move away from the house. Aaron rustles around on the porch, apparently trying to get his key in the lock. Janice goes and opens the door and finds him standing there, swaying gently front to back. He reeks of alcohol.

  "Come on in, honey," she says indulgently. At least he had the sense to get a ride home, and if he was out that late, he and Daniel must have really hit it off, which means he’ll have someone to hang out with besides her.

  Aaron makes his way slowly, cautiously, to the living room and slumps down on the couch.

  "Did you have a good time?" she asks. "Did you drink a little too much?"

  "Hey," he says, raising and erratically wagging a single finger, "doh yooo lechure me—"

  "—I'm not lecturing you," Janice interrupts, and she suddenly feels less tolerant. "But, damn, Aaron, you know we got volunteered to teach Sunday school tomorrow morning." Last week after services, Janice was cornered by the Johnsons, a married couple who taught the first grade Sunday school class. They were going to be out of town and asked if she and Aaron could substitute. Janice felt like she couldn't say no. She was a doer, after all. "And now I'm going to have to teach it alone, because you sure aren't going to church with a hangover. And then how far are we going to have to drive to pick up your truck?"

  Aaron waves his whole arm in the air this time. "You doh hat to worry 'bout that." Janice can tell he’s concentrating on his annunciation now: "Daniel's gonna pick me up tuhmorrah and drive me to get it. I can rely on him. At least he tells me the tooth. At least he's honest with me. He doh try to hide things from me."

  "Look, Aaron, I'm glad you made a friend and you like him and you had a good time, but what are you insinuating?"

  "I'm not inshoowaiting. I'm not inshoowaiting anything. I'm directifying it."

  "You're what?"

  "I'm directifying it. Directly directifying it."

  "Oh, Lord, Aaron. I'm putting you to bed. Whatever you're riled up about, we can talk about it when Sophie and Emily and I come home from church tomorrow."

  She sits next to him on the couch and pulls off his shoes and then
his socks. She undoes his belt buckle, grips one end, and slides it roughly from the loops.

  "Are we having sex?" he shouts.

  "No, Aaron, we most certainly are not having sex. I'm putting you to bed."

  "Oh." He blinks three times, very hard and slowly. "Oh…Janice?"

  "Yeah?" By now she’s taken his arm and put it around her shoulder.

  "I'm suh-sorry, honey, but I thhink I'm gonna puke on your new carpet."

  "You absolutely are not!" She wraps her other arm around his waist and pulls him up. "You’re going to hold it in until I get you to the bathroom."

  He does, just barely. Janice sighs with exasperation, slams the bathroom door, and leaves him there, kneeling to that porcelain throne.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Aaron is awoken by a loud pounding on the front door. It begins as if a distant drum in a dream, but it just keeps growing louder. He groans and throws back the covers and gradually makes his way to the door in his boxers and T-shirt. He glances at the hall clock on his way through. 10 AM. He looks warily through the peep hole, grabs his forehead with one hand, and winces as he opens the door.

  "God but you look awful," Daniel says. "Sorry, did I wake you? You did say you wanted me to drive you to get your truck at 10 so you'd be back in time for your church service."

  "Yeah," Aaron mutters. At the time, he thought he'd be fine to go to the 11 o'clock service. He completely forgot about the Sunday school thing. "Yeah, I don't think I'm going to church after all. My wife and daughters are already gone. But let's go ahead and get the truck. Come on in while I get dressed."