Each time he saw me, no matter how I looked, he was unfazed, starting up the conversation without skipping a beat. It was a comfort level that only true friends forge over a long period of time, but Theo and I had achieved it in only months, just like I had with Kate.
Today it was Theo who was looking out of sorts with his unshaven face and pale skin. When he spoke, his normally raspy voice was even gruffer, making him sound out of sorts as well.
“Are you sick?” I asked.
“My throat feels like I swallowed hot lava, I can’t stop coughing, and I’m trying to track down the train I’ve been run over by, so I’m thinking…yeah.”
“Oh, no. Why aren’t you resting?”
“I’m getting there, but I had a thought and wanted to run it by you.”
“You look like death, you sound awful…surely this thought could’ve waited.” I laughed. He held up his finger for me to hold on while he disappeared, leaving me with a view of white ceiling tiles and the sound of him having a coughing fit in the background. He appeared back in the screen with red-rimmed eyes and a matching red nose. “Seriously, Theo, go make yourself a cup of tea and lie down.”
“I am. I am.” His voice was barely audible. “Kate turns thirty in two weeks, and I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out what to do for her, so I was thinking what if you came here and surprised her.”
I was silent for a moment while I pondered that idea. I didn’t have anything of urgency going on at work. I could do all my consult work I had been doing remotely, and it would maybe help to get me out of the rut I was in. Then I remembered the “but” that was holding me back from agreeing. “Kate doesn’t know that I know about her being sick.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I know. I’m planning on telling her my suggestion and see what she says. I just wanted to run it by you first to see if it was even possible on your end.”
“Well, yes, I think it’s totally possible, but I want to make sure Kate is one hundred percent okay with it. She has enough to contend with right now. I don’t want my visit to cause her an unneeded stress.”
His smile broadened across his sickly looking face. “Don’t you worry. I’ll take care of that.”
“Okay, keep me posted, but in the meantime, will you please go get some rest?”
_______________
It was the end of the workday, and I was getting ready to head out to meet DeAndre for dinner. I was happy we had been true to our word that we’d stay in touch when we had gotten off the plane. I had opened up to him a lot about Evan, and so far without fail, we had made a point of meeting every other week for lunch or dinner on one of the days I was working in the city.
So many times, I had the best intentions of keeping in touch with people I had met, only to have life get in the way. Such wasn’t the case with DeAndre, Kate, or Theo. Theo had video chatted with me before I headed into work, looking much better than he had the last time we spoke. He had let me know Kate was on board with my visit. I would’ve preferred to hear it directly from Kate, but I trusted that Theo had cleared it with her. I knew he didn’t want to do anything that would upset his sister as much as I didn’t. I closed my laptop and was getting ready to place it in my bag, looking up when Norm Goldman, the vice president of the company, walked into my office.
“You got a minute?” he asked cautiously.
Actually, I didn’t. I was supposed to be meeting DeAndre in a half hour across town, and I knew with rush hour traffic the cab ride to get there would take that long—if I was lucky. “Umm…” I looked down at my watch. “Sure, what’s up?” I relented, not having much choice in the matter.
“I just wanted to see how things were going.”
“Fine,” I replied. Norm and I always had a great working rapport. He was a fair man and showed kindness to me after Evan’s death. He wasn’t like the other bigwigs in the company, he actually valued the opinions of the employees and listened when they had something to say.
He took a seat on the other side of my desk, seeming a little uneased. “I just wanted to make sure because I noticed you put in for time off when we’re just getting ready to pitch the new campaign to S&K Industries.” S&K Industries was Jonathan’s company, and the campaign I hadn’t been part of.
I shrugged. “I don’t understand what that has to do with me. I’m not part of that team.”
“Yeah, about that. Jonathan Schroeder just thought with your state at the time, that maybe someone else would’ve been better off heading up the campaign. But the team could sure use your insight on it.”
My eyes widened. “Given my state?” I asked sharply.
“Well, yeah, you know he thought that maybe you’d be a little off your game after losing…after losing your husband.”
“Oh, did he?” I snapped. “So, one of your top clients asked you to keep me off the campaign because he thinks I’m not mentally able to handle it?”
“No, that’s not what he meant by it. He just thought—”
“Oh, no, believe me, I know better than anyone what his logic was behind his decision. And I suppose all of the other mentally stable people who could use my insight will
