Chapter 15
There was simply nothing left to do around the house by that morning! He'd done all the cleaning that he could do. Since he had a housekeeper that came in twice a week, there wasn't even much of that. He kept the yard work up, so there had been very little to do there. He had even washed the Escalade by hand after Sturgis had left from their meeting last night! With nothing left to do, AJ decided that he needed a trip into town just to get away from the house. He couldn't remember the last vacation he took that hadn't involved a trip somewhere, most of them to Italy to see Francesca. He never took time off just to have time off and he was going stir crazy. Hell he had even gotten up this morning and had his uniform half on before he remembered that he was not allowed to go into the office…he was on LEAVE!
Wednesday, June 1, 2005
1245 EST
The Mall
Falls Church, Virginia
After running a few errands in town, AJ decided to stop at Callisto's for lunch. He didn't get to eat at his favorite place very often midweek. AJ wasn't the only one that enjoyed Callisto's, Judge Miranda Love and her daughter also liked to meet there for an occasional lunch. Miranda, Nora, and her one year old grandson, Randy, were just finishing up their meal when Nora said that she needed to use the restroom. Miranda told her that they would be fine so Nora left her mother and son at the table alone.
It was then that AJ arrived and was shown to a table next to them. He sat down and rather than picking up the menu that the hostess left with him, he was looking around waiting for his waiter to arrive. Miranda and he made eye contact as his gaze came to her table. They smiled at each other and because the tables were close enough that they could talk without disturbing the other dinners, AJ said, "Hello." After getting a cheerful 'hello' in response, he added, "I'd heard around the office that you had a child. He's cute, what's his name?"
With a startled look on her face Miranda looked at her grandson for just a moment and then back at AJ, she chuckled and said, "His name is Randy, my daughter Nora, named him after me."
"He's your…grandson?" AJ asked completely astonished.
"Yes my daughter Nora is twenty one and married to Tom Boone's nephew. Josh's father was Terrance Boone, Tom's brother."
"Oh," AJ said. "I didn't realize that there was a family connection between you and Tom."
"A tenuous one, yes, but we are the only family either of the children have. Josh's parents were killed in car accident three years ago, and my husband was killed in action in the Gulf War."
"He was Navy as well?"
"Yes. Navy all the way. Darrel would have been upset that Nora didn't follow in the family tradition, but I'm happy as long as she is."
"So what did she choose rather than the Navy life?"
"She's a social worker with Family Services, Josh is a police officer, and I think this little guy," she indicated her grandson, "Is going to grow up to be President one day."
A beautiful young blonde came up to Miranda's table and sat down, with a laugh she said, "Oh mom you know he's going to grow up to be a lawyer and then a judge just like his grandma."
With a smile AJ said, "I still find it hard to believe that your mother is old enough to be a grandmother."
Miranda blushed just a little and introduced Nora and AJ to each other. After they greeted each other, Miranda apologized and said that they had to be going because her lunch break was over.
Nodding and rising as they prepared to leave, AJ said to Miranda, "I hope to see you again soon."
"If you want to, you will," she replied with a grin.
AJ found himself smiling as he finished up his errands that afternoon. With all that was going on in his life, he was surprised that he had something to smile about, but the thought of seeing Miranda again and that she seemed to want to see him also, was promising. He wondered if she had heard about the charges against him and what she thought about it if she had. She had to know something was going on since he had been at lunch on a weekday without his uniform. But she'd been pleasant and cheerful so if she did know what was going on, it didn't seem to matter.
To Be Continued….