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After a few hours of this and several beers, Mark was sure his plan had worked. Most of the time he sat listening to Sarah’s account of what she had been doing the last two years. Several of the things he wanted to hear about Agnus had asked for him so this also helped. Soon the night was almost over and all that was left was to say goodbye. Mark had pulled it off. Agnus was done scrutinizing his every look at Sarah and she seemed quite content that he and Sarah were just friends.
“Well, I better get some sleep. It was a long trip back here,” Sarah said as she stood up. “You two need help in the library tomorrow?”
“That would be very kind of you,” Agnus replied. “Mark has been very helpful, but he’s not you.” Agnus gave Mark an evil grin and he smiled back. “Seriously though, good call on assigning Mark to be my assistant. Half the time I don’t really think he is assisting me as much as going off on his own projects. He was born to be a researcher.”
Sarah leaned in and gave Agnus a big hug, a very sisterly hug. Then Sarah walked over to Charles.
“Gimme a hug, big guy,” Sarah said as she held her arms up. There was no way she was reaching him without jumping. The hug was short and much like a sister hugging her little brother. Then she turned to Mark.
Mark wasn’t sure what to do. He needed to give her a friendly hug. Not too long, not too short. This would be the most difficult part of the evening.
Mark leaned over and held his hands out, trying not to look too anxious. Sarah hugged him deeply but Mark held back. He ended the hug abruptly and tried to look preoccupied. He wasn’t going to ruin this evening with a hug.
“See you tomorrow then?” Mark asked as Sarah reached for her coat.
“Yep, I’ll be there,” Sarah replied.
“Jen, could you pass me my coat, I think I’m gonna head back also,” Mark said to Sarah. Agnus and Charles who had been teasing each other stopped abruptly. That was when Mark realized his mistake.
“Shit, sorry Sarah. Oh, crap, sorry Agnus,” Mark was terrified. Not only had he called Sarah Jen, he had sworn right in front of Agnus. His perfect night had fallen apart with two sentences.
Sarah just looked at Mark as she handed him the coat. She had such sadness in her eyes. She wasn’t angry, she wasn’t even upset, she was just very sad.
“I understand, you miss her. I miss her too. It’s been a hard two years.” Sarah then walked out the side gate of the yard.
“It’s ok Mark, I’ll see you in the morning,” Agnus said as she got up from her chair.
What had he done?! This was terrible! In the morning he would try to talk to Sarah, maybe tell her about how much he missed Jen. Maybe they could find something to talk about, reminisce about her. That might fix things. Do friend things, that’s what he needed to do. Mark put his jacket over his arm and followed Sarah out the gate. As he walked he could see Sarah a few feet in front of him. She turned at her door and walked up to it.
“Night Sarah, see you in the morning,” Mark said as he passed by.
Sarah turned and with tears in her eyes, she replied. “Night Mark.”
Mark felt horrible. He had messed everything up. Sarah was crying and he wasn’t quite sure why. Perhaps he had just reminded her of the fact that her youngest sister was dead. Maybe he brought back a lot of painful memories that Sarah was trying to keep bottled up. He needed to fix this. He needed to talk to her tomorrow. He had to fix this!
Mark rose in the morning after tossing and turning for most of the night. He had spent half the night going over his mistake before he finally fell asleep. Agnus had already forgiven him for swearing but he wasn’t sure why Sarah was so upset. He needed to talk to Sarah, explain things, and try to make her feel better.
Mark hurried and threw on some clothes then headed out the door. When he passed Sarah’s house he noticed that it looked calm and peaceful. Maybe she was still sleeping. Sarah always did like to come in to work late. She was constantly being chastised by Roger for her tardiness and sometimes taking time off. As Mark thought this over he laughed to himself. He had always been so worried that Sarah might get fired. Knowing the truth, that Sarah was really the boss, he felt silly. All the phone calls from Roger had been a clever ruse to keep people from suspecting that she was really the owner and probably off on trips recruiting new Asuune.
Mark’s steps quickened as he neared the library. He wanted to see Sarah, get a chance to talk to her again. He could fix this. It was Sarah, she would go back to her joyful, silly self after a few comments about how self-absorbed he could be. When Mark opened the door Agnus was busy working and strangely Charles was there. He was sitting across from her with his feet up on the table reading a novel. Charles wasn’t much for historical research but he did like to read a good book now and then.
“Morning guys,” Mark said as he made his way to his office. He thought it was strange to see Agnus and Charles not in Agnus’s office but maybe they were just trying to get more room. Charles, was after all, a little too large to really stretch out in her office.
