Chapter 7
Looking down into the bottom of his cup he saw he had one sip left. Staring up at her he waited for her to explain how she had known he was finished with his cup of coffee.
"It takes you sixteen sips to finish a mug of coffee and that was your fifteenth for that mug, so I just knew that you were about ready for this other cup," Chrys told him.
"You counted my sips of coffee, while you were programming the computer?" he asked, astonished that she would do such a thing.
"It is my job to notice personal things about people and use them to better understand the way they think and as such help them to better use their time and computers," she answered in a rush, afraid she had made him mad with her observation.
"And counting the sips it takes me to finish a mug of coffee helps you to understand me better?"
"I've just been trained to notice everything going on around me when I'm working. I'm sorry if that upset you Admiral, but working with computers, numbers are used a lot," she shrugged.
The rest of the day passed with them talking whenever AJ was not busy with the running of the office. He would find himself asking her questions about her work and the computer that had been moved into his range of personal space at his desk. He was a bit surprised to find that he voluntarily used the thing three times that afternoon!
Chrys noticed this and kept her grin hidden, she was sure that she had another computer convert on her hands, even if it would be some time before he would admit it.
Wednesday and Thursday, AJ came to work and noticed that Captain Candell was already there because there was coffee already made. He would pour himself a cup and go into his office and sit down at his desk and stare at his computer. He wondered if she was still wearing those awful t-shirts with writing on them. He would have to make a note and have Jen check.
Thursday evening when Chrys got off work at JAG she went back to her hotel room and placed a call to her parents. She realized that the last time she had talked to them she hadn't even asked about her niece. She must have been more tired than she thought, because Mallory had always been a big part of Chrys' life and now that her dad was dead she was even more so.
Chrys' parents took Mallory into their home when her father was killed in the action in Afghanistan. Her mother had abandoned her two-month-old daughter when she found that motherhood didn't suit her. The child had traveled with her father whenever he was able to have her with him. When this wasn't possible she would stay with her grandparents. Then at his death, they took permanent custody of her. Chrys' life in the Navy was not suited to having her niece with her; it was too much traveling for a young child.
"Hi!" Mallory said when she answered the phone.
"Hey, kid, how goes it?"
"Hi, Aunt Chrys, where are you at this deployment?"
"I'm in Virginia at JAG Headquarters. How's school going?"
"It's going, are you going to be coming home when you get done with this job?" Mallory asked, lonely for her aunt.
"I hope, kid, I miss you."
"I miss you too, Aunt Chrys, it's been a long time since you were home."
"I know, hun, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten you. Is Granny there?"
"She's practicing for the reunion, doing the dishes and tap dancing!" Holding the phone just slightly away from her mouth the young teen shouted, "Granny, its Aunt Chrys!"
"Hi, darling, how are you tonight?" her mother asked, picking up the kitchen extension. Before Chrys could reply, her mother shouted, "Hugh, your daughter is on the phone! Pick up you, old coot!"
"Hi, Baby, how have you been?" her father said, picking up the extension in the living room.
"Working hard, and loving it," Chrys told her dad. "You would love the Admiral that I am working under right now, he was a warped sense of humor."
To be continued…..
