One Night Love Affair *COMPLETED*

Chapter Eleven

Six years later

IT WAS AN UNUSUALLY HOT winter this year, but this January afternoon was especially hot. Everyone in Reedville, Texas were staying safely in the shadows, to avoid the burning sun. Everyone, but a man, standing in front of the first Baptist church of Jesus the Savior, looking at his phone.

James had arrived at Reedville, Texas to do business, and he found it annoying that the man he was meeting in this godforsaken place was running late.

It's not like there's any traffic here. There's no real reason for him to be late.

What was supposed to be a pleasant trip to Texas to get to know the miracle boy, who had made everyone in business and technology world, tripping over each other to get to him before the other, was turning into a small disaster. Firstly, he got lost on his way here, than there was this unnatural heat, his wife had made it her mission to make his life a living hell, and to top it all off, the only man who really cared about him was just diagnosed with cancer.

There was only so much James could take before snapping, he just hoped it wouldn't be during this meeting. The future of his company depended on this deal he wanted to make. He decided to wait for this miracle boy for another five minutes without complaining and then he would give him a call. And tell him he better show up, or any promise he gave him in the initial contact was off the table.

Minutes slowly passed, each taking longer than the last. One, two, three, four, four and a half, four forty-five, four fifty-five, four fifty-eight, four fifty-nine. Five minutes has finally passed and just when James was about to swipe the screen to make the call, a car came to a stop few houses away from where he was standing.

A young and athletic man jumped out and jogged to James.

"You must be Mister James Cornell." He shook his hand, and before James had an opportunity to say anything back, the man was already leading him to the car. "I'm Gabriel Reed, but everyone calls me Gabe. I'm really sorry for being late, there was just a minor change of plans I had to deal with, before I could leave the ranch."

With these words they had reached the car, when Gabe came to a sudden stop. He looked at James with an unreadable expression on his face.

"So, the change of plans required me to improvise a little, but there's no nanny at the ranch and Betty has a day off... Anyhow, we have additional company with us for the time being."

Without another word he opened the back door of the car and a small child was sleeping in the car seat.

"Without further ado, this here, is Samuel James Reed."

The kid looked to be about four or five years old, which seemed quite old to be Gabe's son. After all, Gabe was only twenty years old. If he was this boy's father he must of had him when he was only fifteen.

"He's a fine looking boy." James wasn't sure what to say. "You must be proud of him."

"He's a troublemaker. Drives my sister wild most of the time. But he's so smart I can hardly hold it against him."

Pride in Gabe's voice was obvious, and James took it as a confirmation of his suspicions about their relation.

"Just like his dad."

He must of said something wrong, because for a second Gabe's face fell. But the moment was over, like he just realized something. Whichever it was, it seemed to cause a great deal of amusement to him.

"You think I'm this little monster's father, don't you?"

A stiff nod from James, made Gabe's amusement even more visible.

"This is something I need to tell my sister!"

He offered no explanation, to whether James was right about his assumption or not, but only lightly shook the boy, to wake him up.

It took a couple of tries, but finally he managed to wake the little Samuel James Reed up. It took another few minutes to convince him that the best way to get over sleepiness was with a cherry pie and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Not that the boy needed any more convincing once Gabe mentioned cherry, pie and ice cream. All the sleepiness was gone in matter of hearing these words and all of the sudden the boy was climbing out of the car, chanting: 'Ice cream! I scream! I scream for ice cream!'

The chanting stopped the moment he saw James standing at the side of the car.

"Uncle Gabe, who's that man standing by the car?"

Okay, so I see now why it was so amusing to Gabe, I thought he was the boy's father. It's obvious now, he's his uncle, and I was wrong. But to be fair, he did seem awfully attached to the little guy. He brought him to the meeting that will potentially changed his life forever.

 "Champ, this is Mister James Cornell. I'm having a meeting with him, do you remember?"

"I remember." The kid just accepted that he'll have to share his uncle's attention with a stranger, but didn't really looked at James. He was too busy pulling Gabe's hand in the direction of the diner. "Can we go get pie and ice cream now, uncle Gabe? Please, please, pretty please!"

Gabe laughed at his nephew's antics, and caved into his pleas.

"Mister Cornell! Are you coming?"

James had no choice but to follow them to the diner.