Read Online Third Time's the Bride! by Merline Lovelace - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Merline Lovelace
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indicated the aerospace industry as a whole uses more than five thousand chemicals and compounds, each of which can contain five or ten different ingredients. The exact composition of what goes into our products and processes is proprietary but we’re close to that number.”
“Good grief! Five thousand ? And I thought we were doing good to squeeze toluene and formaldehyde out of nail polish!” She shook her head while the other members of Trane’s quartet poured out a soulful accompaniment. “You must work under volumes of EPA regulations.”
“Dozens of volumes.”
“How in the world do you manage to comply with them all?”
“Very carefully.” He hesitated a beat. “My wife’s degree was in chemical engineering. She headed our EPA compliance team until we decided to start a family. She quit working around resins and solvents well before she got pregnant with Tommy.”
Dawn couldn’t help wondering if fumes from those solvents might have triggered the virulent tumor that killed Caroline Ellis. She suspected Brian must have agonized over the same question himself.
“Travis mentioned that EAS’s main manufacturing facility is in Texas,” she said, steering away from that painful thought.
“It is. Just outside Fort Worth.”
“He also said you plan to give him a personal tour of the facility. Do you know when?”
“Not until after he completes his formal separation from the air force and comes on board at EAS full-time. Why?”
“Just trying to coordinate our schedules. I might have to make a quick trip up to Boston sometime next week to check in at the office and retrieve more clothes. Depending on how your interviews go, of course.”
The reminder that her services might not be required long enough to require a wardrobe refurbishment was a definite mood killer. Or maybe it was Brian’s reference to his wife. In either case it was obvious to both of them that the “whatever happens” they’d danced around earlier wasn’t going tohappen tonight.
The tension was still there, though. Not as compulsive as it had been earlier, but not totally extinguished, either. Dawn felt its subtle pull as she pushed off the sofa.
“How about a refill on the coffee?” Brian asked, rising, as well.
“No, thanks. I think I’ll call it a night.”
They walked to the kitchen together, each recognizing that the moment had passed, yet reluctant to let it slip away entirely.
“I enjoyed tonight,” Dawn said, pausing by the door. “Thanks for introducing me to Mike Davis and Jim Coltrane.”
“Miles Davis and John Coltrane. And I enjoyed it, too.”
“What time are you meeting Travis and Joe tomorrow morning?”
“Ten. Tommy and I will have to catch the early service at church. Do you want to join us?”
Dawn almost said yes. She’d attended regularly with her brothers and parents when she was young. She’d also participated in family counseling sessions mediated by their pastor when things got bad at home. The bitter divorce had not only broken up her family, it put her parents outside the pale in the conservative church they’d attended and left Dawn disillusioned about so much of what she’d always taken for granted. Her own rocky relationships hadn’t exactly brought her back into the fold. She’d get there. One of these days. Maybe.
“Thanks for the offer,” she told Brian, “but I’ll pass. I still have some work to catch up on. Just buzz me when you get home and I’ll assume Tommy-duty so you can head into the office.”
“Okay.”
“Well...”
Oh, for heaven’s sake! What was she? Some high schooler returning from a date? Walking to the door. Waiting to be kissed. Aching to be kissed, dammit.
“’Night, Brian. See you tomorrow.”
* * *
Sunday whirled by in seemingly nonstop activity.
Dawn was up early and took her laptop out to the gazebo to put the finishing touches on the mock-ups for both Zucchini Carrot Crunchies and Sweet Potato Stix. She’d just zinged them off
“Good grief! Five thousand ? And I thought we were doing good to squeeze toluene and formaldehyde out of nail polish!” She shook her head while the other members of Trane’s quartet poured out a soulful accompaniment. “You must work under volumes of EPA regulations.”
“Dozens of volumes.”
“How in the world do you manage to comply with them all?”
“Very carefully.” He hesitated a beat. “My wife’s degree was in chemical engineering. She headed our EPA compliance team until we decided to start a family. She quit working around resins and solvents well before she got pregnant with Tommy.”
Dawn couldn’t help wondering if fumes from those solvents might have triggered the virulent tumor that killed Caroline Ellis. She suspected Brian must have agonized over the same question himself.
“Travis mentioned that EAS’s main manufacturing facility is in Texas,” she said, steering away from that painful thought.
“It is. Just outside Fort Worth.”
“He also said you plan to give him a personal tour of the facility. Do you know when?”
“Not until after he completes his formal separation from the air force and comes on board at EAS full-time. Why?”
“Just trying to coordinate our schedules. I might have to make a quick trip up to Boston sometime next week to check in at the office and retrieve more clothes. Depending on how your interviews go, of course.”
The reminder that her services might not be required long enough to require a wardrobe refurbishment was a definite mood killer. Or maybe it was Brian’s reference to his wife. In either case it was obvious to both of them that the “whatever happens” they’d danced around earlier wasn’t going tohappen tonight.
The tension was still there, though. Not as compulsive as it had been earlier, but not totally extinguished, either. Dawn felt its subtle pull as she pushed off the sofa.
“How about a refill on the coffee?” Brian asked, rising, as well.
“No, thanks. I think I’ll call it a night.”
They walked to the kitchen together, each recognizing that the moment had passed, yet reluctant to let it slip away entirely.
“I enjoyed tonight,” Dawn said, pausing by the door. “Thanks for introducing me to Mike Davis and Jim Coltrane.”
“Miles Davis and John Coltrane. And I enjoyed it, too.”
“What time are you meeting Travis and Joe tomorrow morning?”
“Ten. Tommy and I will have to catch the early service at church. Do you want to join us?”
Dawn almost said yes. She’d attended regularly with her brothers and parents when she was young. She’d also participated in family counseling sessions mediated by their pastor when things got bad at home. The bitter divorce had not only broken up her family, it put her parents outside the pale in the conservative church they’d attended and left Dawn disillusioned about so much of what she’d always taken for granted. Her own rocky relationships hadn’t exactly brought her back into the fold. She’d get there. One of these days. Maybe.
“Thanks for the offer,” she told Brian, “but I’ll pass. I still have some work to catch up on. Just buzz me when you get home and I’ll assume Tommy-duty so you can head into the office.”
“Okay.”
“Well...”
Oh, for heaven’s sake! What was she? Some high schooler returning from a date? Walking to the door. Waiting to be kissed. Aching to be kissed, dammit.
“’Night, Brian. See you tomorrow.”
* * *
Sunday whirled by in seemingly nonstop activity.
Dawn was up early and took her laptop out to the gazebo to put the finishing touches on the mock-ups for both Zucchini Carrot Crunchies and Sweet Potato Stix. She’d just zinged them off
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