Page 40 of Breathless
“We’re up and running,” Rawlins said.
“Right on,” Taz cheered.
He programed the device while Rawlins packed up their gear and they headed over to boys’ dorm to finish setting up that digital display panel as well. Within fifteen minutes they were finished and headed to the security office.
“Rawlins, take a seat at the computer here,” Swede said when they entered. “I want you to learn how to work the system so you can train The Village’s security guy to run it.”
“How difficult is this?” he asked.
“Not hard at all.” Swede laid an easy-to-follow laminated instruction sheet in front of him. “See. Simple.”
Rawlins ran through the steps several times with Swede’s help until he felt he had it figured out and then he called Hannah to let her know the system was up and running. She came down to check it out before they left for the day.
Swede ran through the simple instruction sheet with her as well.
“This is so simple I can work it,” she said. “Thank you for the work you’ve put into making this happen.”
“It was our pleasure,” Viper said. “We don’t fly out until tomorrow afternoon if you need anything just let us know.”
“I will,” Hannah said, turning to Rawlins. “Your off tomorrow for Chaney’s appointment as I recall.”
“That’s right. She was up ready to come in this morning with me, can you believe her?”
Hannah smiled. “Actually, I can. Have a wonderful evening.”
When the director left, Rawlins looked at his Montana counterparts that he’d gotten to know so easily in such a short time. “I guess this is goodbye, guys,” he said.
“Yeah,” Taz agreed. “We couldn’t have gotten through this so fast if you hadn’t already started running the wire before we arrived.”
“Tell Chaney we wish we could have met her,” Viper said.
“Yeah,” Swede said.
“I will. Maybe we’ll get to work on another project again someday,” Rawlins said.
“Or Kenneally will bring you out to Montana when he comes on a visit,” Taz said.
“Yeah, he’s coming for one of those in a few weeks I think I heard Hank say,” Viper added.
Rawlins grinned thinking about that. “You never know.” He waved at this as he walked to his car and got in, starting the engine and letting the windows down to air out the car before driving toward Chaney’s condo.
He just hoped she wasn’t still mad with him from this morning.
When he unlockedthe door and walked into the condo he could smell dinner cooking. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it smelled good. He locked the door back and stepped into the living room. He didn’t see anyone at first, but he saw that the table was set, a basket for bread was there and salads waited for them. Food warmed on the stove and the aroma mingled with that of the bread baking in the oven. It all made him want to dig right in.
He investigated exactly what it was because he still couldn’t imagine it smelled like one of the frozen skillet meals he’d purchased. And it wasn’t. But he still couldn’t put his finger on it. Had she gone out shopping herself? But how?
“Hello,” Chaney called from the stairs.
He pivoted to see her dressed in a long yellow dress and flat sandals with her hair pulled over her left shoulder.
“I hope you’re hungry.”
“I am. It smells delicious.”
“You have time to quickly shower and change if you want. Or we can eat now.”
She was being too calm from the way he’d left her this morning and it set him on edge. He didn’t know whether to question her about it or not. Therefore, he decided to go shower. “I’ll be right back then.”
