Chapter 8 #2
“I’ll be a minute.” He disappeared back down the pathway. Todd watched Ethan hand Javan the key ring and then motion towards the garage and the house before walking back and coming in the front door.
“Carl has filled me in on your situation,” Ethan said, his eyes meeting his own. “I want you to know that we will do everything in our power to keep you safe.”
“Thanks.” Somehow hearing those words from the man made it all so much more real.
“First, I’ll need you to fill me in on your life around here.” He glanced around and then turned back to him. “I’ll need to know about your job, your friends, who you’re dating, sleeping with, every aspect of your life. Nothing can be left out.” His eyes narrowed. “No secrets. Got it?”
Spending the day exposing his entire life to a stranger left Todd raw.
He stood by and watched the two men completely wire his home.
He’d had a brief talk with Javan, who spoke with a thick Jamaican accent.
The older man was funnier than Ethan and always seemed to be cracking a joke, usually at Ethan’s expense.
Todd found out through Javan that Ethan was married and had two kids ages five and seven back in Washington State. Javan traveled around too much to have a home base and was, as he described it, married to the job.
New wiring was installed to compensate for the new electronic needs, and he watched as Javan rewired his breaker box, a task that had been on Todd’s to-do list. He was shown how the new system worked, where the hidden cameras were, how to trip the alarm from any room in the house, and where to go if an emergency arose.
As he got ready to head to the park for his visit with Simona and Olivia, he realized that his private life was no longer private.
The dark SUV that Ethan had swapped the white van out for tailed him into town.
When he parked at the edge of the square and walked to the park to meet Olivia, the SUV was within sight.
Seeing Simona playing on the playground with a group of kids her age had him smiling. She was laughing and running around, being chased by a little boy in an obvious game of tag.
He spotted Olivia sitting on a park bench and watching him walk towards her and felt his smile grow.
“Afternoon.” He sat down next to her and took her hand in his.
“Hi.” She smiled back at him. “I wasn’t sure you were going to make it.”
His smile slipped slightly. “I was having my new security system installed this morning, which required some electric work.” He rolled his eyes and tried to come off as casual about the whole ordeal.
It was far too soon to confide in Olivia about his personal problems. Especially when it might mean that he was in danger now.
“So…” She leaned back against his arm slightly as she ran her eyes over him. “I was thinking about our date.”
He smiled. “Oh?” He pulled her closer and wished that they were alone somewhere, anywhere other than in front of a bunch of kids playing a few feet away.
“Yes, I was wondering if I should dress up or dress more casual.”
He chuckled. “Casual. Definitely.”
She nodded. “Is it a surprise?” she asked, her eyebrows arching.
“Do you like surprises?”
She chuckled. “Good ones, yes.”
“Then you’ll just have to wait and find out tomorrow night,” he supplied, causing her to laugh.
“I can do casual.” She relaxed against his shoulder.
“Tell me about your day so far,” he said as he wrapped an arm around her. He listened to her talk about her morning at work, about Simona’s adventures at Kayla’s day care, and what she had planned for dinner and the evening.
To most it would have sounded boring. To him, it sounded wonderful.
He wanted to take part in all of it. He wanted to hear Simona chatter on about her day, what she’d drawn or what games she’d played.
He wanted to hear about Olivia’s workday and help her plan to keep her daughter entertained for the evening.
When Simona spotted him, she rushed over and hugged him and then took over the conversation for a few moments until her friends called her back out to swing on the swing set.
When the sun started to get low, Olivia called Simona over and they packed up to head home for dinner.
Since he needed some more groceries, he made a stop and purchased some food. Ethan followed him inside and purchased a full load of groceries for him and Javan.
When he unloaded his groceries from his car, he could see a light in the rooms above the garage and was surprised when Javan appeared on the pathway to his front door.
“Everything all right, boss?” Javan asked, his white teeth almost glowing in the moonlight.
“Yes,” he answered, letting the man take one of the bags of groceries from his hands. “Here?”
“All quiet. Everything is in place.” He nodded, understanding that the man had gone through and installed two wall gun safes, one behind a picture in the living room and another one in the closet of the main bedroom upstairs.
Since they had discussed that it would be better for him not to be on the bottom floor, he’d spent time earlier that day moving his things up to the main bedroom on the top floor.
It hadn’t taken long to get the bedroom set up; the hardest part was moving the new mattress from downstairs up the two flights of stairs. But thanks to Ethan and Javan, it hadn’t taken as much effort on his part.
After putting away his groceries, Javan and Ethan disappeared while he made himself a grilled cheese sandwich and heated up some soup.
He took his food into the television room along with a beer and watched the sports channel until he started dozing off on the sofa.
Then he shut everything off, locked up, and headed up the stairs to bed.
He felt more at ease and slept a lot better that night, knowing that Ethan and Javan were out there, watching out for him.