Chapter 29
"What?" Luna gasped.
"I want her love. Oh, not right away. I am a patient man, but she is the kind of person that I could envision spending the rest of my life with."
Luna sat there stunned. She wasn't supposed to allow dead airtime like that, but AJ's admission had caught her by such surprise that she couldn't help it. It took his prompting of, "Dr. Huggins?" to snap her out of her silence.
"I really don't know what to say, Bert. You've just met her and you seem to be moving awfully fast."
"I'm not a spring chicken any longer and have learned that life is way to short to fill it with second guessing. I think I'll know when the time is right to tell her how I feel and until then I'm happy to just be there for her."
"What if she's not able to return your feelings?"
"Then at least I'll know that I tried and lost honestly, rather than going through life wondering 'what if?'" AJ told her.
"That sounds wise Bert, and I truly hope that things work out as you hope. You can tell your special lady, from me, that I think she's a very lucky lady to have you interested in her."
"I'll do that doctor, and thanks for listening tonight."
"That's what I'm here for Bert. Thank you for calling and keep us updated on how things are going."
"I'll do that," he promised and ended the call.
Well, there it was, he had let her know how he was feeling, how would she react? AJ wondered as he hung up the phone. She sounded like she was not objecting to knowing what he was thinking. He was going to take that as a positive sign.
AJ got up on Saturday and started it like any other; he went for a ten mile run in the woods behind his house. He got home, started a pot of coffee that would brew while he was in the shower and then caught up on housework. His twice-weekly housekeeper kept up with the dusting, vacuuming and general cleaning, but he still did his own laundry and grocery shopping. With those chores out of the way he did some yard work and by then it was time for lunch.
After that, he would usually relax and catch whatever game might be on the sports channel, but this Saturday was different. He was going over to Luna's to help her get her spare room ready for Shawn's arrival. He wore a T-shirt and jeans, not his normal attire when calling on a lady, but better suited to a day of cleaning and hauling boxes.
Her second bedroom had never been used as anything more than a storage area, but the need to create a room for her child caused Luna to go through boxes that hadn't been touched since she'd moved in. Most of the things were placed into two stacks, discard and donate. There were just a very few that she kept.
He had been a bit disconcerted when he'd suggested that they go out to eat and she refused. Her head bowed and she turned her face away making sure that her hair shielded her face.
Luna seemed surprised every time he would stop what he was doing for even a moment and give her a quick kiss. Some were only pecks, some a bit more, but nothing too intense while they were working. When they took a break late in the evening to eat, AJ startled her by pulling her into his arms as she returned from the kitchen after clearing the table. This kiss was deeper than any of the others he'd given her that day, and although she did respond he could tell she was holding something back.
The subject of his call to the station the night before had been avoided all day. All she would talk about was Shawn or the lightest 'get to know you' topics. AJ was concerned that he had pushed her to soon about his feelings for her, but he was an honest man and felt that she should know he was thinking of a future for them. He had always wanted more children, but that had never happened for him. Now here might be the chance to help Luna raise Shawn if she could see a future for the three of them as well.
To be continued…
