Her brows crinkled in worry. “I don’t think that will work. Before I left my office the techs installed something called a VPN on my laptop. I don’t even know what a VPN is but the way they explained it to me I think I have to use it from my own home Internet connection.”
He nodded with a smile. “I know a thing or two about VPN’s. It means Virtual Private Network. It’s a piece of software run on your laptop that sets up a secure connection between the laptop and a server at your office. You can use your laptop anywhere as the security of the connection is based on the software on your laptop.”
“Oh! That actually makes sense to me! Do you work in IT?” she asked.
“No but I traveled a lot and had to securely connect to my office from various places. I’ve used VPN’s quite frequently. I’m retired now.”
“Retired? How can you be retired? You’re much too young!” she exclaimed in surprise.
“I sold my shares in the company I created to my partners. So… now I’m retired,” Frank said with a smile. “Why don’t you get your laptop and give me fifteen minutes to get cleaned up then come over to do your research. I can make us lunch. I was going to make a chicken caesar salad.”
Once more she flashed her brilliant smile at him and nodded. His equilibrium took a hit each time she did that. His mind kept expecting her to scream vile accusations or belittling insults at him. When he got kindness instead he reeled in confusion. He braced himself against the counter and her eyes went to his hands.
“Are you ok?” she asked gently.
He forced a smile out and nodded stiffly.
“She really did a number on you, didn’t she?” Elyse said compassionately, her eyes softening.
Frank’s eyes widened and he had to grit his teeth to contain the gasp as a huge wave of emotion, feeling strangely similar to relief, washed over him. “Excuse me please,” he croaked as he turned and walked down the hall towards his bedroom. He heard the front door closing as he walked into his master ensuite. He pulled off his cycling clothes and stepped in the shower. Tremors ran through his muscles as he turned his face up to the spray.
He allowed himself a few minutes of that and felt himself calming. Shampooing and soaping himself clean took only a few moments and he actually felt much better once he stepped from the shower. He toweled himself dry and put on some comfortable jeans and a polo shirt. He slipped his sandals on and went back out to the kitchen to prepare lunch.
Twenty minutes later he came to the conclusion that Elyse wasn’t coming back. He stepped outside and crossed the road to knock on her door. Moments later the door opened and she looked at him with concern in her eyes.
“Are you coming over to do that research and have lunch?” he asked.
She bit her lip and his eyes were immediately drawn to the gesture. Damn.
“Are you sure it’s ok?” she asked.
“Yes! As I said, it’s just something I need to deal with. I feel much better now. Thank you,” he said with a smile.
“I’ll get my laptop. One moment.” She darted back to her kitchen and returned with the device in her hands. She locked up and they went back to his place.
Once they were inside he led her back to the kitchen and she sat at the card table. “Your taste in furnishings is very… utilitarian,” she said with a grin.
He smiled self-consciously. “Yes, the table and chair set was cheap and temporary. I plan on redoing the kitchen from scratch so I didn’t want to get any furniture until the room is done.” He put two plastic bowls on the table with plastic cutlery and carried the large bowl of caesar salad to the table. He then brought three smaller bowls to the table. One contained freshly grilled chicken strips, the second had freshly sliced lemon wedges in it, and the last contained seasoned croutons.
“All I have to drink is water or wine,” he said. He looked in the fridge again. “The wine’s a nice pinot grigio.”
Elyse nodded. “I’ll have a glass of wine please.”
Frank got two glasses out of the cupboard and poured for both of them. He carried them to the table and Elyse’s eyebrows went up. “Not plastic?” she teased.
“Never!” he responded in mock outrage.
He took a seat across from her and they filled their bowls with the salad and added the chicken and croutons. Frank squeezed lemon juice on his salad as Elyse watched curiously then she did as well.
“What shall we toast?” Elyse asked.
“How about to new beginnings?” Frank suggested.
Her smile was warm as she nodded and raised her glass. They sipped the chilled wine and it was delicious.
“Oh, that’s really nice! Very light!” she said and he could tell she meant it. He nodded and tucked into his lunch.
They ate in silence for a bit then she glanced over at her laptop. “Do you think you could show me how the VPN thing works? If I can connect to the office today the IT department will see I was able to connect and that may relieve some of the pressure of getting a connection for Monday.”
“Sure, no problem,” he said.
“The salad is delicious!”
“Well, it’s difficult to make a bad salad if your ingredients are fresh,” he stated.
“Did you grill the chicken?” she asked
“Sliced and grilled,” he admitted.
“You like to cook?” she asked with raised eyebrows.
He cocked a brow and pinned her with his eyes. “What makes you think I wouldn’t?”
It was her turn to blush. “Sorry, I have to admit I got totally the wrong impression of you from day one.”
He looked away and nodded. “So did I… of you.”
She lifted her glass once more and caught his eye. “To new beginnings?”
He nodded looking into her warm green eyes. “Yes. I’d like to start over.”
“Your Jeep, your bicycle, and your muscles all led me to believe you were some kind of jock,” she confessed after she swallowed the sip of wine.
He snorted in amusement. “No, I’m no athlete. I got the Jeep to help me get the bicycle to the start of remote trails. It will remain in the garage if my destination is reachable by bike or the stuff I am picking up can fit in my panniers. I love cycling for the exercise it gives me and the peace and grace of the movement. My muscles are just the result of perseverance and hard work. I don’t enjoy working out but I know it’s good for me so…” He shrugged.
He glanced at her and frowned slightly. “I’m sorry to admit I let your resemblance to my ex set my impression of who you were. As I said she was… difficult… over the past year and I seemed to catch you when you were frowning… or yelling.” Elyse put her face in her hands. “It reinforced the impression. I can see you aren’t like her at all. I just have to undo what she’s done to me. I ask for your patience while I work on that.” She nodded to him and they returned to eating.
When they were done Frank collected the dishes and put them by the sink. He’d do them while she was using the Internet.
“Let’s work on that VPN connection,” he suggested.
She nodded and brought her laptop over and flipped it open and on. Once it reached the desktop she turned it to Frank and he connected her to his wireless network.
“Now whenever you come over with your laptop it will automatically connect,” he smiled as he turned the laptop back to her. “This icon loads the VPN software. I’ve used this one before. Just double click on it.”
She did and the application opened. “You see this setting here? Your techs have already configured the connection. All you need to do is click on this and then click on the connect option. Go ahead.”
She followed his instructions and a prompt jumped up on the screen asking for her password. He looked away as she typed it in. A few second later the prompt disappeared.
“What happened? Where did it go?” Elyse blurted.
“It’s still running. See the little icon at the bottom right? If you see that it means you have a good connection. If you open up your applications that access your office servers you should now be able to get to them.”
She opened her office chat client and immediately received a message from the on-duty IT staffer acknowledging her successful connection.
“AH! It’s working!” she squeaked with glee and clapped her hands together.
“There you go. Simple, right?” he grinned at her enthusiasm.
“Sure when you explain it. I must have asked the tech who installed it on my laptop to explain how it worked a half dozen times and each time it just sounded more and more technical and complicated!”
“Yeah, that’s how techs speak. I picked up enough tech talk to learn how to pick out the important bits,” he nodded thoughtfully.
Elyse sent a quick note to the tech indicating she would be connecting the following day. He acknowledged her response.
She looked at Frank once more.
“To disconnect the VPN just right click on the little icon down there and choose disconnect. Then do it again and choose exit.”
She did it and the icon disappeared. She grinned and clapped once more. “Oh my god Frank! I can’t tell you how nice it is to get help with this stuff from someone who doesn’t just drown me in tech jargon.”
He just shrugged and grinned. “You still have an Internet connection so you can do your research for Internet providers with a browser. You ok from here? I’m going to go do the dishes.”
“Yes, thanks!” She popped open her browser and began.
“Would you like some more wine?”
She looked at him with a happy grin and nodded quickly so he topped up her glass.
Frank moved to the kitchen sink and began to fill it. His knees were wobbly from all the smiles she was hitting him with. He sipped at his wine hoping it would relax him in her presence.
As he worked he could hear the sound of her talking on her cell as she called the places she found online. He wasn’t listening to the words but just the tone and inflection in her voice. She had a very warm and friendly manner and he let that sink into his brain as he held an image of her beautiful smiling face in his mind. He hoped that would help break the link to his memories of Stephanie.
The dishes done he glanced over at Elyse and saw she was deep in conversation with someone so he went out to the garage and grabbed his toolbox. He carried it back inside and pulled a tape measure from the box. He took some measurements of the walls in the living room and entered them into his notes app on his cell. He planned on painting this room and he’d need to know how much paint he’d need. Also drop cloths to protect the beautiful hardwood floors.
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