Chapter thirty-six
Aaron
I found myself at the office earlier than usual. I got a ton of work done. I seriously considered taking all of tomorrow off if it wouldn’t throw off River’s work schedule.
I hadn’t been able to sleep the last few nights. Even if it meant I watched TV while he worked, I just wanted to bask in his being home again. I sat at my desk, feeding fruit to Daisy. I wasn’t lying about Daisy. She didn’t seem as animated as when she was with Charlie.
I needed to email the club and tell them how Charlie and River were doing as a team. I hadn’t anticipated getting close to him, but if I looked at how they were doing, I would say they were great. Charlie had settled in and was learning commands quickly. He was growing every day nearly as big as Daisy now. I wondered if they had a little romance going on.
Daisy had helped him learn commands. I didn’t recall any instructions about using another dragon to help them, but that should be part of the curriculum. Maybe at the next get-together, I could talk about my experience with Daisy helping Charlie learn. I’d heard that two dragons would teach each other, but it should be part of the training. As a mentor, I had to check in on him once every ten days or so now that we were in the third week. River was going to get the royal treatment. I laughed to myself. It turned out so much better than I had expected initially.
I looked at my phone. River should be well into his four-hour flight. I pulled up the app and saw the little airplane making progress. Sarah came back to the office. “You look better today. Probably has nothing to do with someone getting home in hours.”
“Who? I don’t recall anybody coming home.” I smiled, showing all my teeth. “I might come in late tomorrow or not come in at all. I haven’t slept the last two nights, and it’s catching up with me.” My body decided that a yawn would emphasize my point as if I planned it.
I told her that Rodney would take over many daily tasks on Fridays and be the on-call person on Saturdays and Sundays. I also made her aware that I was promoting Jon; he would have authorization to sign off on changes and hands-on tasks that I had been doing. He would work out perfectly, and there was a guy on his crew who thought he could advance to his job.
“I’m going to spend more time with Sun Harvest.” She looked at me.
“Aaron, that’s fantastic. I bet I have River to thank for that too.”
“Yeah. He inspires me to be better, to go after things I gave up on.”
“I couldn’t be happier. Just another reason I know he is your person.” With that, she turned back to her work, then stopped and turned back to me. “Aaron, I am happy to see you living again. You’ve never been anything but fantastic. Unfortunately, for a while, you had lost your spark. River has brought that back in blazing glory.” She got up and hugged me.
I hugged her back. “River’s is the one, Sarah.”
“Yeah, he is. I couldn’t be happier for you.” She sat down and turned to her computer.
I picked up my phone and looked at the little airplane. It hadn’t moved since the last time I looked. I closed the app and relaunchedit. The plane sat stubbornly in the same spot. The aircraft had Wi-Fi, so I could call using an internet voice program. I called Rivers’ phone, and it rang, but there was no answer. I then called Shandra nothing. Finally, Tyrell, again, I had no answer. Maybe the Wi-Fi was having problems, so it would no longer work with the tracking app. That made sense. I went about my regular workday around 3:45 p.m. I gathered up my things and got Daisy dressed. I kissed my sister’s cheek.
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I'm not sure if I will be here or not. I might just take River to the vineyard and work from there.”
“Sounds good. Love you.” She wiggled her fingers at me.
As I walked out the door, I pulled the app up again. The airplane icon didn’t show at all now. I tried calling again but got no response. It was weird. I headed to the apartment. On my way in, I stopped at the concierge desk.
“Gary, can I ask you to text me when River is coming up? I know you usually don’t notify when it is someone with a key, but I am excited about him getting home.” I tried not to look as embarrassed as I felt.
“For you, Mr. Aaron, of course. You two better have a terrific night. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” He cracked himself up. When I left Gary, he continued to laugh.
Once I got to the apartment, I prepared four plates for the dragons and covered them each with plastic wrap. We could feed them but not have to prepare plates for them. I knew what River liked to eat, so I prepared a tater tot casserole to enjoy later. It had all his favorite things: cheese, canned cream of chicken soup, beef, and tater tots. I already know how delighted he would be.
I took a shower and put on pajama bottoms. I didn’t even bother with underwear. I knew I would be tenting them quickly, butthat was okay. I was going to be with the object of my desire, and I liked that it was clear what this man did to me.
I looked at my phone. I should have heard from him by now since it was 5:30 p.m. The plane was due to land at 5:00 p.m. I knew there was a lot of snow. Maybe they were behind an hour. I sat on the couch and called Daisy to me. I petted her and threw the fuzzy cat ball. I was doing everything I could not to start pacing.
I could feel a curl of panic in the pit of my stomach, and I wasn’t sure why. The clock seemed to crawl by. I tried calling all three again. There was still no answer.
Could he have changed his mind about us? Did he go to his aunts to avoid me? I couldn’t imagine him not talking to me about what was happening in his head.
By the time it was 6:30 p.m. I had officially spun out of control. There was still no answer from Tyrell, Shandra, or River. I called the airport and gave them the tail number of the plane. Someone different picked up the call. “Mr. Gentry, we need to check on that. Can you give us a number where we can reach you?” I gave them my number and hung up.
My chest was tight. There was something wrong. I knew it at 8 p.m. I saw a text message from Gary saying I had guests coming up.
Guests? That was plural. Could he mean River and Charlie? I ran to the elevator door, wishing it would travel faster. When I heard the elevator chime, I stood right in front of it. When the door opened, it felt like someone punched me in the stomach.
All the air was sucked from the room, and my head spun. I couldn’t form words. Blaze, Stone, Storm, and Forest were in front of me.
