No Ordinary Love, Part 3, chapter 209
209
Days were passing by like nothing was wrong or happening. It takes person only two days to get used to so much security around, but on the third day you don’t even notice them. On the fourth day you start making friends with them.
That’s how I ended up with the boss on the terrace outside, sipping coffee with him, smoking my cigarettes.
“You married, boss?” I began a simple conversation, after he informed all’s well this morning. “you don’t minde me calling you Boss, right?”
“No, it’s ok,” he assured me. “I used to be,” he glanced at me just for a brief moment then his eyes went back to scanning the yard.
“What happened?”
“She wanted a husband at home and I was rarely there,” he replied without any change in his official tone without looking at me.
“Oh, sorry.”
“It’s better that way,” he returned. “The only women I’m capable of giving my full attention are the ones that hire me.”
“How did you end up like security boss?” I chuckled a little for no apparent reason.
“My father was a cop,” the boss instantly replied. “National security, decorated officer, died in a line of duty when I was ten. He used his body as shield for prime minister. Saved his ass lost his own.”
“I’m sorry,” that was all I could say.
“No, it’s ok. It was long time ago,” the boss assured me. “I’m not the type that spent his life whining about missing father figure,” the boss’s eyes found mine. “I always admired my dad for the way he had lost his life.”
“Well,” it sounded kind of weird to me. “It is brave to risk your life for someone else.”
“It’s also stupid,” boss returned. “That’s what most people will tell you.”
“But not you,” I kind of jumped to conclusion.
“No, I will say that, too,” he assured me then inspected my confused face.
I was speechlees wondering what to say at moment. He just kept his gaze like he was expecting me to agree with him. But how could I? Here’s the man we pay to protect us and in case of extreme necessity we’re counting he’ll take the bullet for us without giving it a second thought, and that man tells me it’s foolish to risk his life over someone else.
“But that’s why I choose my clients wisely,” he added when he noticed I’m silent. “So, don’t worry Mr Valo. I’d take bullet for you.”
“Well, sorry if I don’t look very convinced right now but what you’ve just said totally threw me off,” I honestly replied.
“It’s understandable,” he nodded.
“Care to make me feel better?” I hopefully asked for now with this man so confusing and scarce with his answers I was growing more disturbed.
“I don’t accept every job, Mr Valo,” he returned. “I can’t care less for safety of shady type of people. I can smell a criminal and bad men miles away. If I don’t like you, there’s no money in this world that will make me protect you.”
“So, you like us, that’s good,” I concluded trying to relax myself.
“No,” he shook his head. “I’m very familiar with what you and your wife do for this community, for the people. And I admire that. So I don’t like just like you but deeply respect and admire you. You two seem very worth dying for,” he said it like it’s nothing.
“I’d feel much better if you wouldn’t sound so calm talking about dying for us.”
Seriouslly, it felt very weird. Highly unwanted and very, very weird.
“I made my peace years ago, before I get involved in this. I hire guys who share my beliefs. I don’t need reluctant, insecure people in my agency. When I meet the client and accept a job, I round my boys and ask who’s willing to do this. Now, they all know it actually means, who’s ready to die for this or that person. That’s how it goes.”
“What happens if some of your guys doesn’t want that job?”
“He doesn’t make that specific team of course,” he returned. “My boys know that on the field you need to know you can count on each of your brothers. Those indecisive or with second thoughts are not welcomed in the field.”
“So, all these visible and invisible people around us here…”
“They all find you worthy dying, yes,” he ended instead of me.
“You know, you’re pretty morbid,” it escaped my mouth. “Sorry, I’ve met strange people in my life but this conversation was one of the weirdest I’ve ever have.”
“Death is a morbid business,” he grinned for the first time, seeming somehow more relaxed.
“See, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. Who thinks death is business in the first place?” I chuckled.
“Mortitians?” he suggested and we both giggled at that. “Professional hitmen?” he added.
“Ok, you made your point,” I nodded then shook my head. I figured I actually like the boss.
“If it will make you feel better,” he began. “I did my own research on the other party,” he carefully said, “your friends father?”
“Yeah?”
“Yes, it’s good to know your enemy, so,” he shrugged. “Anyway, I don’t think he’ll try anything radical.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked. “Like he won’t try to kill us?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “He doesn’t have such history. His parameters involve threatening, intimidation, financial frods, shady contracts, standard bullying but nothing that will imply anything more serious than that,” he paused and I nodded waiting for him to continue. “Plus, he avoids the attention of any kind and you and your wife made sure that around even here in your home and everywhere you go he’s bound to get the attention. For him that’s too much fuss.”
“So you’re basically saying, it’ll all go smoothly and peacefully?”
“No, that’s what his profile says,” he corrected me. “I expect that at some point he’ll attempt a threat, he’ll also have someone follow you for a while to see if you can be found alone, if there’s any crack in my system he can get through. When he find none, he’ll stay away. He’s already in trouble so why create yourself more?”
“Yeah, but this can cost him everything and when one doesn’t have anything to lose…”
“Yeah, but he can always hope he’ll get away. Few years in jail, then he’s out. His money’s still there so he can start over in some other country. I’m pretty confident he’ll think of that at some point,” he seemed very sure. “Now, if you’ll excuse me,” the boss said getting up.
“Just one more thing,” I stopped him. “You said you find us worthy of dying for us. That means we must have done something that means a good deal to you.”
The boss nodded, “you’re good listener Mr Valo,” he grinned. “I had a friend who died in a car accident some four years ago. Left a wife and a daughter of thirteen. That tragedy broke their happy home, his wife started drinking, kid dropped out of school, ran away from home, start doing drugs. Someone from your youth centre found her on the street, took her in. She lived there for months, got cleaned, returned to school. Your people found her mother, helped her go to rehab, took care of her daughter until she was healthy again. Thanks to you and your people one family I couldn’t help was saved. Two lives preserved and given a new chance. And every day I see two of them happy, breathing I know you two are good people. That’s enough reason for me to take bullet for you,” he ended. “Now, I got to go,” he nodded and left and instantly another guy was appeared next to me, taking boss’s place. That was the drill if we were to stay outside the house. Normality of those days.
However, I released the young guy his worry and walked back in to find the Sweetheart. Something inside of me melted towards her, made me wish to instantly wrap my arms around her and thank her. That centre was her idea, she worked her ass to get it started, find the right people, expand its services, increase the network. She’s the one who strongly believed in it and probably seemed it in the light like the boss had. And I was slowly getting an entire new perspective of the centre’s existence. For me it was just simple shelter for young kids, I never saw it as a place that could help families stay together.
I found her in the kitchen, cooking. She was facing me with her backs, too busy in her work. Literally I rushed to her and wrapped my arms around her waist gently, and kissed her neck.
“I love you,” I whispered feeling her relax in my embrace, leaning onto me as she chopped some red pepers. “You’re the most amazing woman in this world.”
“I know,” she giggled then tilted her head to kiss me. “But what made you so impatient to tell me that?” she asked going back to her chopping.
“Something that the boss told me,” I confessed nuzzling her neck inhaling her vanilla scent.
“Can you share or it’s private?” the usual question she asks if there’s possibility someone confided in me. How can you not love her for that.
“I think I can,” I shrugged, then rested my chin on her shoulder watching her making even little square pieces with strikes of the knife. I told her the story about the boss’s late friend’s family in short.
“Mmm, little Sparks, a real good kid,” Sweetie said in melachonic tone.
“You know her?” I tilted my head so I could watch her face.
“I should since I was the one who found her,” she said casually.
“How come I don’t know about it?”
“It happened while you were on tour,” she returned and I nodded. “She was in horrible shape. Something about her reminded me of Eli, so…” she sighed. “She has very energetic personality so I called her Sparks.”
“Is that how you found the boss? Though her?” I asked.
“That’s how I heard of him and got his number,” she corrected. “When I told him my name he knew who I was immediately and that practically was all it took him to accept the job.”
She paused as I placed another gentle, innocent kiss on her neck.
“He didn’t want to take the money, you know,” she said.
“Really? But you convinced him, right?”
“We made a certain kind of an arrangement,” she returned. “His boys get their fare share and the boss wants us to use his share to build another centre in the north part of the city. That’s where Sparks lives. Also apparently there are lots of kids that would find good use of it.”
“Now, I like him even more,” I concluded.
“He’s really a great guy,” she said.
“You know,” I shook my head a little, “you find great people in very strange ways and in very strange places.”
“Is that bad?” she teased.
“No,” I chuckled. “It just came to me how on first sight you seem so ordinary…”
“You mean boring?” tease again.
“Yeah,” I nodded accepting her game and she chuckled. “You’re the most boring person I’ve ever met.”
Now, I made her laugh, “Thanks.”
“Just play with me, ok?” I asked and she quickly nodded. “I know that from your point of view everything in your life and about it is normal…”
“You’re so wrong,” she said, leaving the knife and turning around in my arms and cupped my face. “I felt normality for the first time when I met you,” she assured me. “You made me feel that I finally belong to someone, some place, to you, with you. You’re the only normality I know. Well, you and our wonderful babies,” she ended then leaned and kissed me.
“That’s what I figured out, too,” I agreed and she smiled, kissed me again then returned to her work. “So, you actually accept my belief that everything about you is-“
“A bit different, yeah,” she interrupted.
“A bit more than just ‘a bit different’,” I pointed out.
“Sorry, love, I can’t see it with your eyes,” she apologized sadly turning to look at me again. “That would bring utter chaos, could each of my decisions and, I just can’t live like that,” she sighed and pleaded with her eyes. “It’s one thing to hear kind words from you, but totally another to make me see myself the way you do. That I can’t have. It would ruin everything.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re such romantic, love,” she smiled. “You tend to idealize every single detail, the tinest thing about people you love. If I’d to ask you how you see me right now cooking you’d probably say how I’m so elegant and gracious. You’d make simple task of preparing vegetables sound like something otherworldly, make it sound like the way I’m doing it is something so special no one else can ever do. But that’s you. You never see the flaws, love. You refuse to see them. You transform mistakes into charming traits. And it’s ok because it works for you and I love you for that,” she paused then lightly shook her head. “But, I need to see myself clearly,” she pointed out. “I need to think of myself as someone who made lots of mistakes but also did few good things. I just have to believe that I’m not invincible, unmistakable, flawless Sweetheart you think of me. I can’t have that in my head. I need to question myself, to doubt, analyze and all that stuff I do to myself every day because that keeps me going and making good choices. Without that, I’d ruin everything I’ve managed so far. But most of all, I’d ruin our family, you and me. Does that make any sense to you?” she asked feeling that maybe she got me confused.
“It does,” I smiled. “Ok, no convincing then,” I concluded with a heartedly smile and she relaxed.
“Thank you,” she kissed me.
“But this means I can still keep idolizing you in my head, right?” I joked.
“Hey, whatever happens up there is yours business only,” she playfully raised her hands in defensive manner. “I won’t be picking on that.”
“Good,” I nodded.
She smiled as I let go of her and moved to help her. She passed me some chedar cheese to grate as she chopped carrots.
“It wouldn’t hurt if you’d picked certain areas of my brain,” I started glancing at her seductively and she bit her lower lip. “You know the one that involves us both mostly naked.”
“Mostly naked?” she returned playfully.
“Mhmm.”
“Well, you can always give me clues.”
I put down the cheese and the grater and turned to her looking her straight in the eyes. “You, me,” I spoke each word slowly, making pauses and leaning closer to her, “basement, now.”
She waited until I was just about to kiss her to quickly step back and run to the basement door.
“You coming or what?” she asked peaking her head through the basement door grinning. “Don’t keep me waiting,” she singsonged from downstairs.
Oh, honey, trust me, I won’t.