okay, Romulus. I’m not mad,” I said, holding out my hand while he licked it.
“Not like that you priss. Come over here and crunch down like I am.” “Is this really necessary?”
“Come here Romulus…give Annie some puppy kisses…that’s a boy… look at all those puppy kisses!” She said as Romulus slobbered all over my face. With one swipe of his giant tongue he licked me from my neck to my eyebrow.
“Is this even sanitary? Do you know where his face spends most of its time?”
“Dog’s mouths are cleaner than peoples, you know,” Amanda said. “How comforting. I’ll remember to pass the next time a human offers to lick my face,” I said, heading inside to check on the cleaning crew.
I kept a steady pace of “busy” all day so Emmet wouldn’t be able to find a convenient time to corner me and ask me why I lied to Rich and Bob. He’d have more questions than Amanda. Although I had no misgiving he would eventually ask, I wasn’t going to make it convenient. Short term, my stall tactics worked.
“Annie,” Emmet said as he was getting up from dinner. “Come outside tonight at 10:00. I want to work with you and Romulus to get reacquainted. There are some other items to discuss as well.”
I wondered, was that a request? Was I allowed to say no thanks, not tonight? Didn’t what Amanda subject me to count toward “reacquainting time?” I guess I could have pushed back on his request, but I was just prolonging the inevitable. When he said “other items” I imagined that was code for questions he insisted on having answered. I obliged and was outside by 10 p.m..
Emmet let Romulus out and I bent down to pet him like Amanda showed me. He licked my face and Emmet gave me a questioning look. “Amanda reacquainted us,” I said, standing to go back inside.
“Not yet,” he said; it was a gentle order. Emmet let the suspense build to an unbearable level before speaking again. We had thrown the ball for twenty minutes easily when he reached into his back pocket and pulled out some papers. “You had quite a busy day today. I wanted to talk with you about this earlier, but you seemed to rush from one task to another.”
Glad I wasted all that energy for nothing, I thought. I wondered if he was holding the report from my background check and wanted answers… maybe he received an email from Bob and Rich telling him who I was… maybe Amanda emailed him…
“Read these,” he said, interrupting my self-torturing thoughts. They were emails from people at Purdy. I started to read them, there were six. I skimmed each one quickly looking for the bombs. There were no bombs.
“The emails are about the party. They liked the party.”
“Annie, you are going to have to read the emails more carefully in better light. They didn’t like the party. They loved the party. Saturday night was the most successful client event we have ever had with Purdy; they’ve been clients for almost five years. Jack Purdy will likely add you to his will.”
“It wasn’t all me, Emmet. Amanda had a huge part in the evening as well.”
“I’ve already spoken to Amanda. She’s quite forthright when it comes to giving credit. She offered the flashlights, martini glasses, cigars, sofas, and coffee tables…all of them were your ideas…even embossing Purdy’s logo on various items.”
“It was Amanda’s idea to focus the evening on Purdy…I just filled in the details.”
“Yes, I know. You may not realize this, Annie, as it is a rare occurrence, but I’m paying you a compliment. Two actually; I’m recognizing you for a tremendous effort, and tremendous results. You envisioned a unique event and executed it. Take the compliment, Annie.”
“Thank you,” I said, hoping it was enough of an acknowledgement.
“There is more.”
Okay, here it comes. Build me up and then…BAM! You’re a fugitive, Annie, and we don’t need your kind here…
Emmet stared straight ahead. “I was ugly last week, and you remained professional…mostly…carrying out some very critical assignments, including the party.”
“Mostly?” I asked.
“Well, there was the oatmeal and coffee incident; the redlined privacy agreement; and let’s not forget leaving me to fend for myself with Elizabeth. But anything significant having to do with my firm, you didn’t tamper with. That was professional.”
“Wow, a compliment and a thank you. It must be a full moon.”
“Brace yourself. You are getting treated to a once in a lifetime trifecta tonight. I owe you an apology.” He was still looking at the sky, but I could see the corner of his mouth turn up into a slight grin; and then it was gone.
“You don’t really need to—”
“Are you always this argumentative when someone is being nice to you? Just listen. As important as work is to me, the boys are my number one priority. In Susan’s absence you took impeccable care of them. Even when I accused you, you never lost sight of their welfare.” He stopped talking and shook his head apologetically. “Annie. I truly am sorry.”
“I know you are, Emmet. It was a huge misunderstanding; it’s in the past where it belongs. Just tell me you loved the scrapbook. The boys put so much time into it.”
“You have no idea, Annie.” He didn’t say another word. I think he was quite choked up over the last few days; how wrong he had been, how poorly he had treated me, and how much he loved his Father’s Day present.
“Emmet, thank you for giving me my job back. My cooking will be better, I promise.” I nudged him with my shoulder. Emmet just nodded his head and smiled.
17
The remainder of the week, although busy, was quiet and routine. Susan returned to work on Tuesday and though Emmet was more relaxed around me; his interactions were void of any of the intimacy he displayed on Sunday. It was what I needed. Dull and boring suited me just fine. The only break in routine was a new face on date night. Enter Judith. She was built like an Amazon, but still polished and refined. Josh had Eli convinced she was a man. That couldn’t have been far from the truth. Man or not, she was infinitely more pleasurable to be around than Elizabeth, although the bar was admittedly low. Her kindness evident in the little conversation we engaged in, and I was thrilled not to be called Hannah all evening long.
Every night Emmet and I visited quietly from 10 to 10:30 under the beautiful summer sky with Romulus. The serenity of our time was never spoiled with an ill word or intruder. It was just our time to share. It was comfortable, like an old slipper. No pretense or expectations; no painful questions; no worries. Many evenings we shared only the silence. At times we shared our day. This time and place was where I felt most at peace. A feeling I didn’t remember existing for years. It cleansed me and grounded me. Sometimes I would stare at the stars and count my blessings for each one I saw.
I was relaxing in my new life. Was I suppressing the latent fear of Lawrence’s search? Perhaps I was. For that, I was grateful for the chance to rejuvenate myself…mind, body, and spirit. Harold and I trained three times a week and I ran every day at the park. There was a beautiful path one mile around. Although I jogged
