Finding Home in Redemption

Chapter Fifteen

The next few weeks flew by and Thursdays, when Aaron would disappear for the entire night, I would lay awake for hours. Even though he came back every night unharmed, it did nothing but further frustrate me. It wasn't that I didn't trust him because I did. I didn't understand why it was such a huge secret. I thought about following him sometimes but that could, and most likely would wreck our friendship forever.

Before I knew it, Christmas was only a few days away. Cooper's closed down from Christmas Eve until the day after New Years every year. One of the great things about owning your own business was, you could make decisions like that.

The day before Christmas Eve, Sam helped me deliver gifts to all the guys at work. I opened a few things they'd given me and laughed when I opened a book with directions for changing your oil. I'd practiced changing the oil on one of Pop's junk cars during the summer, and forgot to put in a filter. It wasn't funny at the time, but all the guys thought they were hilarious.

Pop was excited about his gift and immediately went to his office to start looking for new songs to download. When Sam opened hers, she hugged me so tight I thought I might need to go to the hospital for a broken rib. Her scream almost caused my ears to bleed, but I got her back when I opened my card and saw what she'd written inside.

"Hey Bee,

Tell me when you're ready, and your first tattoo is on me.

Love your favorite friend,

Sam"

Pop wasn't too thrilled and begged me not to get one, saying something like his heart couldn't take the stress of his daughter getting ink. I knew he had a couple, so I brought them up.

"The only things I ever had the guts to put on my body permanently were the two things I'm most proud of in my life; what I did for my country and my only child's birthday," he stated as if that was the end of the discussion. All I could do was smile and walk away.

The work day ended, and Aaron and I made our way to Bucking Bandits to hand out the items we'd picked out for them. The gang thanked us and then we headed home. I was nervous and excited about spending the next few days alone with Aaron since Pop and I didn't make a big Christmas dinner as we did for Thanksgiving and Easter.

Aaron and I were setting up a card game when my phone began to ring. I glanced at it to see another unknown number and ignored it.

"Who was that?" Aaron asked.

"I don't know. I've been getting calls from an unknown number for a while now, but they never leave a message."

"You should just answer it next time," he suggested.

"Nah, they'll stop calling eventually."

"How long have you been getting them?"

"I seriously can't even remember. It's not a big deal."

"Alright well, are you ready to get your butt kicked tonight?" he asked, dealing out the first hand of Rummy.

"I'm sorry to be the bearer of such bad news, but, you're going down!" I said looking over my awesome hand.

"Let's play with questions," he added smiling.

"Yes!" I agreed immediately. "There's no other way to play."

"Agreed."

I won the first hand after only a few turns and giggled when Aaron threw his remaining cards in the air.

"How are you going to count your points now?" I asked.

"Just ask your question, you little cheater," he said as he picked up his mess.