Greg said nothing. Then he asked, “Are we interviewing more candidates for office manager today? I’d really like someone to fill your position right after the first of the year.”
She’d been so excited when he’d told her that after they were married, he would invest in any enterprise she wanted. He didn’t think it would be a good idea for the two of them to be working together at his company once they tied the knot right after Christmas. She’d been so excited by the prospect of being able to start her own business that she hadn’t minded leaving his design company in the least.
Now though she wondered if he just wanted her out of this office so she couldn’t see what was going on with the staff.
CHARLIE TRIED TO concentrate on her work. She had to have at least six designs to show the client by the end of the week. While she already had more than that, she wasn’t happy with a few of them. She wanted them to be perfect.
But as hard as she tried to keep her mind on her designs, she kept thinking about what she’d seen. Or hadn’t seen. She knew she couldn’t have seen Lindy. Lindy had been dead for years. So why would she think she saw the woman standing across the street? Why now?
Her cell phone rang. Seeing it was her boyfriend, she quickly picked up. She did love the sound of the word boyfriend. “Hi,” she said.
“Hey.” Daniel’s voice made her smile. “I know you’re at work. Just had to call. I missed you last night.” They still had their own apartments. Often they slept over at one or the other. That was why Daniel kept pushing for them to move in together.
It would be cheaper, and they would see more of each other, he’d argued, but Charlie couldn’t help dragging her feet. She liked having her own place. If she was being honest, she also didn’t trust that this relationship would last. From life experience, she knew she couldn’t count on anything. She feared that living together would make the breakup worse. Not that she told Daniel this, but she did question after a couple of months where he thought this was going.
He was the one who’d brought up moving in after their first month of dating. “We’re happy now, that’s all that matters, right? I mean, we don’t have to spell out what this is, do we? Just let this play out and see where it goes.”
That was Daniel’s laid-back approach to everything. He worked at a local video gaming company where he could wear shorts all year and skateboard around inside the building. She doubted he was putting money into his 401 plan—if the company even had one.
Besides it wasn’t like she was ready for anything serious. She enjoyed having a boyfriend maybe a little more than she enjoyed Daniel some days. She feared there might be something wrong with her.
From as far back as she could remember, she’d had this feeling of doom as if a black cloud followed her around and one day lightning would strike her dead. She had good reason to expect the worse given her life so far. Maybe that was why she read her horoscope every morning. Was today the day?
After who she’d seen standing across the street this morning, she feared it was.
“I missed you, too,” Charlie said into the phone, deciding not to say anything to Daniel about what had happened this morning. She’d never told anyone about Lindy, and she decided to keep it that way, even though there were times she yearned to share her worst secret.
“See you tonight?” he asked. “Anywhere special you want to go for dinner?”
“Surprise me.”
He laughed. “You do realize that you’re giving me the thumbs-up to select the nearest drive-through...”
“Daniel?” asked the designer in the cubicle next to her when the call was over. Tara was a petite blonde in her midthirties, married and very pregnant with her third child. “I love living vicariously through you,” her friend said as she patted her huge belly. “It beats waiting for this baby to make an entrance.”
Charlie smiled at her. “It will all be over soon.”
Tara laughed. “Spoken like a single woman without children. Delivery is the easy part.”
“Daniel just wanted to know where I might like to go for dinner,” she said. She’d dated in college and some after, but most hadn’t lasted long. When Daniel came along, it had been a while since she’d had a boyfriend. Often, that made him seem too good to be true.
“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of doing that with Bud,” Tara cried. “Who knows where he would take me. He’s tried surprising me with a home-cooked meal. The man can’t boil water. He set the kitchen on fire.”
Charlie laughed. “I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.”
“That’s what the firemen said.”
“Daniel doesn’t apparently cook either or know the way to a grocery store. So don’t be too jealous.”
They went back to work when Amanda walked past, giving them both The Look. Once she was gone, they shared a conspiratorial headshake.
“I used to think that she just needed to get laid,” Tara whispered. “But apparently not even that can change her disposition. Did you see the ring?” She laughed. “How could you not see it? She waves it in everyone’s face. That diamond set Greg back plenty.”
Charlie wondered if everyone in the building saw how much Amanda disliked her. “I heard she’s quitting work after the wedding.”
“And the wedding is less than a week away.” Tara pretended to thank God and they both chuckled.
For a moment, Charlie felt as if everything was right in her world again as she went back to her work. She loved her job. She loved her coworker, her friends, and she had Daniel. She thought about how lucky she was and pretty much convinced herself that everything was fine.
Of course she hadn’t seen Lindy. It was just an optical
