Aaron Gillespie

The streets of downtown Boise were busy on the second Saturday in November. People walked briskly along the sidewalks, their coat collars turned up and their heads leaning into the wind as they hurried from store to store. Shops and restaurants were crowded. A good sign for retailers, since the Christmas shopping season hadn't yet begun in earnest.

Alicia Armstrong sat at a table in Espresso Heaven, a coffee shop on Main Street, waiting anxiously for someone who looked like Aaron Gillespie- 24 years old, five foot nine, orange hair, blue eyes- walk through the door.It wasn't much of a description, but it was all he'd given her. She doubted it mattered. She was certian she would recognize him, even after all these years.

No, it wasn't the description- or the lack thereof- that was making her anxious. It was wondering whether or not he would agree to her outlandish suggestion. If he didn't...

"Care for some coffee while you wait?" the waiteress asked, drawing Alicia's gaze from the street scene.

"No, thanks. But I would like some herbal tea, if you have any."

"Sure thing. Whole selection. Be right back."

Alicia laid a hand on her extended abdomen.

"Maybe this is a crazy idea, Humphrey." Humphrey was her pet name for her unborn child. "He could be an ax murderer."

Aaron had suggested that possibility last night when they'd spoken by phone. He'd called from the motel near the airport shortly after checking in.

"You're taking quite a risk, Alicia," he'd said. "You don't know much about me really. Just old memories and some live chats on the Internet. I could be criminally insane. I could be an ax murderer."

She didn't believe he was dangerous, of course. She'd known the entire Gillespie family when she was a girl, had made mud pies in the back yard with Aaron's cousin, Aubree. (I don't know if he has a cousin named Aubree, but hey, it's my story.) In fact, she'd had a major crush on "Pig" when she was fourteen and he was seventeen. But the Gillespies had moved to Florida before she could grow up and make him notice her.

No, Aaron was no ax murderer. There were plenty of things she didn't know about him, ten years later, but she was certain the boy who used to fix her bicycle chains and search for her missing cat was no monster.

A blast of cold air signaled the opening of the coffee shop's door. Alicia glanced up... and stopped breathing.

She was over seven months pregnant and already as big as a barn. She hadn't had a good hair day in atleast fifteen weeks. Before leaving the house, she'd hidden the mess under a black and red beanie. To top it all off, three pimples had appeared on her forehead this morning and now glowing as bright and red as Rudolph's nose.

And then there was Aaron Gillespie.

How did an Adonis at seventeen become even more handsome a decade later? Shouldn't he be less attractive or something?

He found her with his eye, and he smiled.

Good grief! They could light the Capitol Christmas tree with that smile.

She swallowed hard, then smiled in return, watching as he made his way toward her.

Get a grip, WriteThisDown365. It's only AlmostOath777, and he's just here to concider doing you a favor. It doesn't matter how good-looking he is. He's still a man, and right now that makes him verboten. Off-limits.

He stopped on the opposite side of the table. "You must be Alicia." His gaze dropped to her abdomen.

"Although you look a little different from the last time I saw you." He glanced up. "You're taller, right?"

"Right." She chuckled nervously.

"It's good to see you again, Alicia."

"You too, Aaron."

He pulled out the chair and slid onto the seat. The waitress appeared before he had time to remove his coat.

"Can I get you something?" she asked, sounding breathless.

"Large coffee. Black. Thanks."

"No frills," Alicia said as the waitress hurried away, obviously eager to fill the order and return as quickly as possible.

He smiled again. "No frills."

Now he seemed more attractive than earlier. Oh, her wacky pregnant-hormones were doing a major number on her. She hadn't given a man the time of day since Craig walked out three weeks after their wedding. She wasn't going to start now. Playing the fool once per dacade was her limit.

"Popular place," Aaron said, intruding on her thoughts.

"Yes. I usually come about nine in the morning, before I open my store. It's a little more quiet in here than. The eight-to-fivers have come and gone, and I can sit in the corner and sip my tea while reading the paper."

The waitress arrived with Aaron's coffee.

"Thanks," he said as he flashed the young woman one of his million-watt smiles. Then looked at Alicia, giving the waitress no excuse to linger. "Okay, let's talk about why I'm here."

"No-nonsense. Is that the drummer in you?"

"I guess so."

She sat up a little straighter, drew a deep breath and let it out. "Aaron, I know this is a huge favor to ask of anyone. Especially since you haven't seen me in years. If there was someone else I could ask..." She sighed. "But there isn't."

"Do you really think it's the best way? I remember your grandfather, and he didn't strike me as-"

"I can't tell him the truth. If you'd seen him in the hospital as I did, you wouldn't ask me to. If he knew I was about to become a single mom, he'd worry about me, and worry is the last thing he needs to do."

A thoughtful frown drew on Aaron's orange eyebrows that drew them close together. "Deceit is rarely the best path to take."

"Is it so terrible to want to protect someone you love?"

"No," he answered softly. "It isn't terrible. Misguided, maybe, but not terrible."

Alicia looked out the window at the scurring Saturday shoppers. "I never meant for things to get out of hand. I never meant to tell even the first lie, it sort of... happened. It's a long, stupid story."

----------------

Aaron had come to the cafe' to tell Alicia he couldn't agree to this charade. He'd come to tell her there was no way, not even for a recently rediscovered childhood friend, he could pretend to be anybody's husband. After all, his opinion of marriage wasn't a particualarly high one.

But there was something about Alicia...

Despite himself, he said, "Why don't you tell a little more about-" he motioned toward her stomach "-all this? You've never gone into detail in the chat room."

"As if I'd want to risk the entire Internet knowing what an idiot I was." Still staring toward the window, she released a deep sigh. "It's bad enough my friends and employees know."

"I'm your friend, Alicia. You can tell me."

That drew her gaze back to him.

"Hormones," she whispered with a pitiful wave of her hand toward her tear-filled eyes. Then she grabbed her purse, opened it, and withdrew a packet of tissues.

"Sorry."

"No problem." He sipped his coffee, waiting patiently.

After a lengthy silence, she began speaking in a low voice, so low Aaron had to lean forward in his chair in order to hear her.

"I met Craig Reeves last March at a party. He was an acqaintance of one of my employees and was in town for a few weeks. He was from Reno where he worked as a carpenter. Craig was utterly charming, totally charismatic. He had a certian way about him that made all the women take notice. But it was me he paid special attention to that night. And every night after that, too. He wined and dined me, showered me with flowers and gifts. Nothing like it had happened to me before. I fell hard. He asked me to marry him two weeks later. He wanted to get married right away."

Aaron whistled softly, which drew a wry look and a nod from Alicia.

"I called my grandfather. He's the only family I've got left since my parents died, so he was naturally the first person I wanted to tell. I was excited and happy. I thought he'd be happy for me, too. But he warned me not to rush into anything. He said I should wait a while. He said if it was really love we felt for one another, then it would still be love in a few more weeks or months." She wiped her eyes with the tissue. "I was so angry with him. I said some very unkind things before handing up the phone. I didn't listen to his advice either. Craig and I were married four days later."

Marry in haste, Aaron mentally recited, and repent at leisure. Of course, he wouldn't have rewritten the old adage: Marry and repent. Period.

"I knew it was a mistake almost from the first day," she continued, "but I wouldn't have admitted it to anyone. My pride was involved by that time. I kept telling myself things would improve. We just had to get used to living together, to each other's idiosyncrasies. I tried not to complain that he was spending too much money and that he came hom late so often."

Alicia fell silent. She worried her lower lip withher teeth while staring down at her hands, folded upon the table. Unshed tears swam before her blue-green eyes. She looked incredibly fragile and vulnerable.

All of Aaron's protective instincts flaired to life. But those instincts weren't good ones, he reminded himself. Better to ignore them.

He took another sip of his lukewarm coffee.

"I found Craig with another woman three weeks after we were married. He seemed surprised that I was upset by it. Apparently we had different ideas of what marriage meant."

"Apparently."

She took a quick breath and let it out. "We got a divorce in Nevada. It only took a few weeks, since Craig was still a resident. It was all realitively painless and civilized. I was relieved I hadn't told Grandpa I'd gotten married." She sighed again.

Aaron wondered if she realized how often she did that. The deep breath and audiable sigh. The rise and fall of her shoulders. The worrying of her lower lip between her teeth.

"And then I discovered I was pregnant," she added softly.

"Did you tell Craig?"

"Yes. He said I'd have to prove it was his and accused me of marrying him for child support." She released a self-deprecating laugh. "This after he nearly cleaned out my saving account in three weeks' time."

If Criag Reeves had lived within a hundred miles of this coffee shop, Aaron would have sought him out and taught that charming, charismatic son of a gun a thing or two.

With his fists.

"I told him I didn't want anything from him, not even his name on the birth certificate." She sat a little straighter, lifting her chin, a spark of determination in her eyes that hadn't been there a moment before. "I have my own retail business, and it's doing well. I can support my baby without any help from him."

"But..."

"But-" her shoulders slumped again "-there's my grandpa."

"Why didn't you tell him the whole truth after you discovered you were pregnant?"

"I was going to. I was wating for the right moment. A time when the truth wasn't going to make me look like an idiot."

"No. But I felt like one. Anyways, I knew I couldn't keep putting things off. I mean, he was going to know something when I went to Arizona for a visit and had a baby with me." She smiled wryly. "Grandpa isn't senile."

Aaron returned her smile.

"He had his heart attack before I could tell him." Her expression sobered. "I rushed down to Arizona to be with him. No one thought he was going to live. Not his doctors. Not his friends. No one. I couldn't very tell him then."

"And he didn't notice you were pregnant?" He couldn't keep the skeptical note out of his voice.

"He was too sick to notice. I was careful how I dressed. Besides, I wasn't very big at the time." She glanced down. "Not like now." She placed both of her hands on her abdomen. "And Humphrey's still got two months to grow."

"Humphrey?"

"Thats what I call him. Or her."

"You don't know the sex?"

"I didn't want to. I'd rather be surprised."

He could have told her she sounded as old fashioned as she thought her grandfather.

She raised her eyes again. "So...here I am. I didn't tell Grandpa Roger I was married, let alone divorced, because I didn't want him to be disappointed in me. I can't tell him I'm pregnant and alone, because I don't want to worry him and put stress on his weak heart. And now he's coming for an extended holiday visit, and I need a husband." Her expression was full of hope. "Just for pretend. Just for the holidays. I need him to think I've got someone to love and care for me after hes gone."

Turn her down, Gillespie. You don't need this sort of headache.

"Please, Aaron."

It would be the craziest thing he'd ever done.

"It's only for five and a half weeks." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Please."

Undeniably, certifiably insane.

"All right, Alicia. I'll do it."