Finding Home (2 page)

See you there. ~ Sarah

She shut her computer down and
gathered her purse and phone. 

“Do I look all right?” she asked
Terry nervously.

“You look lovely.  Don’t forget
your roses...and call or text me as soon as you get home!!!”

“Yes, ma’am,” she replied, pulling
her keys from her purse.  “OK.  I’m really going to do this.”

“Yes, you are and you will have a
good time.  Just relax and be yourself.”

Sarah nodded and gave Terry a quick
hug before leaving.  She googled the address for Diamondbacks and plugged
it into her GPS.  It was roughly fifteen minutes away, depending on
traffic, so she took a moment to touch up her lipstick and fluff her hair in the
vanity mirror on her visor. 

She had no idea what a man as
handsome and obviously successful looking as him would want with a girl like
her, but for once in her life, she decided to take a chance and not
over-analyze anything.  It was only dinner, and the man did pay for hers
and three other people’s lunches just to break the ice with her.  She felt
she owed him dinner in person at least.

When she pulled into the parking lot,
she saw him seated on a bench just outside the restaurant.  He still wore
his suit jacket but he’d removed his tie and opened his collar.  He looked
absolutely stunning with the setting sun picking up the bronze highlights in
his hair.

“This is crazy,” she murmured as she
grabbed her purse and exited her truck.  As if the movement from the door
caught his eye, Colt stood, a lazy smile touching his lips as she
approached.  Good gravy, he was even better looking than she remembered!

“Sarah Sauter,” he said, his voice
deep and rich, melting over her like honey.  He took her hand in his and
raised it to his lips, kissing her knuckles and sending her heart
soaring.  “Thank you for agreeing to meet me.”

“Thank you, for lunch and the
beautiful roses, and the invitation,” she replied, smiling up at him.  It
was a thrill to her to be smiling up at him; at five feet ten inches tall, she
rarely looked up at a man, but she guessed his height to be around six four, if
not six five, so she was definitely looking up into his face.

“You’re even lovelier up close than
you were across the way,” he complimented her.  She blushed, but before
she could speak, he tucked her hand into the crook of his arm.  “Shall
we?”

“Please,” she replied.

He opened the door for her and
shifted his hand to the small of her back to lead her in.  It took a
moment for her eyes to adjust from the setting sunlight to the low light of the
restaurant but what she saw was a pleasant surprise.  Diamondbacks was
built in an old warehouse.  The exposed brick and ductwork and polished
hardwood floors gave it a posh but rustic feel.  Soft music played and
tables were spaced far enough apart that diners wouldn’t feel they were sitting
right on top of one another.

“Hi, Mr. Harris,” the hostess beamed
as they stepped up.  “Your table is ready.  Right this way,”

“Thank you, Jennifer,” he replied.

Sarah noted that Jennifer was not
much younger than her, most likely a Baylor student.  They followed her to
a secluded corner table, Sarah vividly aware of Colt’s hand on the small of her
back through the thin fabric of her off white dress.  He held her chair
for her and to her surprise, seated himself in the chair next to her rather
than across from her.

“Brian will be your server, he’ll be
by in just a bit.  Enjoy your meal,” Jennifer said, leaving them.

“This place is nice,” Sarah said,
glancing around, “I’ve never been here before.”

Colt nodded.  “It’s one of the
first places I came to when I moved here.”

“Not a native Wacoan?”

He smiled, dimples flashing in his
stubbled cheeks.

“No, ma’am.  Military
brat.  My sister and I were born in Germany.  We’ve lived all over.”

“What brought you here?”

“My sister’s husband passed away
suddenly three years ago.  I moved here to help her with my two
nieces.  Claire, my sister, went to Baylor, met her husband there. He is
from Waco and opened his own business, so when they got married, she stayed
here.  The girls had just lost their dad and she didn’t want to uproot
them after such a big loss, so I came to them.”

The waiter came with glasses of
water.  Colt took the dilemma out of her hands when he asked if she would
like him to order for them both.  She smiled and was thankful she wouldn’t
have to worry about what to get.  He ordered steaks, only pausing to ask
how she’d like hers prepared, then asked for a bottle of wine to be brought
from his wine locker, which totally blew her mind.  He had his own wine
locker at a restaurant?  She didn’t tell him that she rarely drank
alcohol, deciding she’d sip her wine and try for once to just go with the flow.

“I think it’s great that you were
able to come be with your sister.  Where did you move from?”

“Fort Benning, Georgia.  I was
in the Army.”

“Really?  Kept on with the
family tradition?”

He chuckled, “Yeah, was one of those
no-brainer things.  Took the tests, went through the training, became a
Ranger.”

She felt her eyes bulge.  “A
Ranger?  That’s pretty impressive.”

He shrugged.  “I was basically a
foot soldier.”

“But still...you’d have to be pretty
good at what you did to end up in the Special Forces.”

“Or just be extremely stubborn and
refuse to fail,” he said with a wink.

“What do you do here?”

“Little bit of this and that. 
Contract work designing computer systems for local companies.  I teach a
computer course at the community college every other semester, help with
Claire’s company.  Occasionally take contract jobs with some former
colleagues who run a private securities firm. Just enough to keep me busy, but
that will allow me enough flexibility so I can help with the girls...although,
I’m not needed as much these days.  Claire got married again...my best
friend from the Rangers, actually.  He came for a visit, took one look at
Claire and the rest is history.”

“Will you be going back to the Army,
then?” she asked.  It would be nice to know if he had one foot out the
door before anything went any further, if it even went any further than this
dinner.

“No, no.  My service career is
over.  Civilian life suits me, and I’d miss my girls too much. 
That’s pretty much me in a nutshell,” he said, nodding to the waiter when he
offered to pour the wine for them.  “What about you?  I confess to
listening in to your conversation at lunch, that’s how I knew your name and
where you worked.”

She smiled.  “Yes, I gathered
that.  And again, thank you for the roses.  I’ve never had flowers
delivered to me.  It was nice.”

“Never?” he asked, clearly taken back
by her admission.

She shook her head.  “Today was
the first time.”

“You must have dated some pretty
thoughtless guys.”

That had her laughing.  “No,
just non-existent ones.  I don’t really date much.”

“And why is that?  Not that I mind. 
It’s my good fortune to find you unattached and available.”

She felt her cheeks heat and knew her
face was probably ten shades of red by now.  Her eyes were drawn to his
warm brown eyes and for a moment, all she could do was gaze into them.

“Well, I’m not exactly the social
butterfly type.  The only men I work with are all married, most old enough
to be my father.  I’m also one of the youngest people in the
company.  Two are younger than me but both married with kids, so we don’t
exactly have a lot in common.”

“What do you do on the weekends?”

She sipped her wine, finding it
surprisingly delicious, which was a first for her.  She had never tasted a
wine she liked before.

“I read, occasionally babysit my
neighbor’s son, and during baseball season I go to all of his games.  Once
or twice a season we make it to Dallas to a Rangers game, and catch Baylor’s
home games when he doesn’t have a game.”

His smile broadened.  “You like
baseball?”

“I love baseball.  The Rangers
are my favorite American League team, but my heart lies with the Braves.”

He clasped his hands over his heart,
raising them up and down like a beating heart.  “Just say you’ll marry me
now,” he teased.  “The Braves are my team, too.”

Sarah laughed, feeling her heart do a
backflip.  “What do you know?  Kindred spirits.”

“How did a Texas girl end up being a
Braves fan?”

She shrugged one shoulder.  “My
dad was a Braves fan.”

“Was?”

“I lost my parents when I was
eighteen.”

“I’m so sorry,” he said, his voice
somber.

She looked up from her salad and offered
a soft smile.  “Thank you.  They were never able to have kids. 
They tried for years and it just wasn’t meant to be.  They adopted me as a
newborn when they were in their mid-fifties.  It took them that long to
save up the money needed for all the legal fees.  My dad had a weak
heart.  He died two weeks after my high school graduation.  My mom was
devastated.  Her health began to decline rapidly after he passed.  I
lost her just six months later.  Cancer took her.  They had no close
family.  They were both an only child and their parents long gone. 
So, I’ve been alone ever since.”

“What about your birth family? 
Have you ever tried to locate them?”

She shook her head.  “I know
that my birth mother was only fifteen when she had me.  She lived in Wyoming,
I believe.  My parents never really talked much about it.  I’ve
always known I was adopted.  They never pretended otherwise, but any time
when I was little, if I asked about it, they’d just say I was their special
Angel from God and that was it.  It wasn’t until my mom got sick that she
gave me the box that held all the paperwork from the adoption.  I’ve never
opened it.  They were my parents; they were all I needed.”

He nodded, accepting what she
said.  When their food arrived, they were quiet for a few moments while
they ate, and Sarah was surprised to realize it wasn’t an awkward silence, but
an amiable one.  She was exceedingly at ease with him, which totally
baffled her.  Usually, she was a tongue-tied mess around guys.  Not
so with him.  Colt was relaxed and easy to talk to, and oh, so
beautiful.  She studied his profile as he spoke to Brian the waiter and
thought she could easily stare at him all day and not get bored.

“So, tell me, what is it you do at
Sunday’s Gifts?” he asked when he’d finished eating.

“Well, my official title is Field Rep
Liaison.  I also hold the title of International Accounts Liaison and
House Accounts Liaison,” she said, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

“Impressive,” he chuckled, obviously
picking up on her sarcastic note.

“Isn’t it, though?” she laughed. 
“Basically, I am a glorified data entry clerk.  The Liaison titles just
sound better,” she said with a wink.

“So, you sit at the computer and
what?  Key in orders all day?”

“You got it.  It’s pretty dull,
routine work.  I get to talk to our International clients when they call
in an order, and that’s a lot of fun.  My Australian accounts like to hear
my accent.  As do my Irish accounts.  And of course, I love hearing
theirs, and getting little snippets of what their day is like.  But I
usually only talk with them every six weeks or so.  Most orders are faxed
or emailed in.  Then I just have to key them into our system.”

“How long have you been working
there?”

“Since I was sixteen.  The
owners, Julie and Mark, were really good to me when I went through all that
with losing my parents.  The job is low stress and low pay, but it keeps
the bills paid so I stay with it.  Unfortunately, though, they are getting
ready to implement a system where the field reps and other accounts key their
orders directly into our system, which would in effect, eliminate my job.”

His eyes darkened as he narrowed
them.  “Would you be laid off?”

“I don’t know.  They’ve assured
me that I won’t lose my job, but I don’t know what else in the company I could
do.  All other positions are filled.”

“Surely they would find some way to
keep you on.  You’ve proven to be a loyal employee, given them how many
years on the job?”

“Ten as of last month.”

He was quiet a moment.  Sarah
felt a subtle change in the air around him and met his gaze over her now nearly
empty wine glass.  No telling what he was thinking about her, the little
orphan who still worked for the first place that hired her.  He grew up in
the military and enlisted himself.  He’d lived all over the world. 
She’d never even been out of Texas.  Again she wondered what a man like
him could possibly see in someone like her.

“The lobby’s getting crowded,” he
noted once Brian delivered their check.  “We should probably clear out.”

She nodded and stood once he’d
settled the bill.  He led her through the restaurant to the front door
with his hand on the small of her back.  The sun had set while they were
dining, leaving a fresh, spring chill to the air.  She shivered as they
stepped outside, drawing her arms close and rubbing her palms over them.