I tilt my head down. “Why do you only have your underwear on under that lab coat? You came to work with clothes on, did you not?”
Anna laughs, picks up her lab coat, and drops it.
“I watch spy movies. I know they can put trackers and tracers on things. So, I took my clothes off upstairs in the lab and put on my lab coat to come and see you in case Danny slipped a microphone in my pocket or my purse or something. Everyone knows that I stole you, but that doesn’t mean I have to hand them proof that you’re still here. I made Danny believe you were gone, and I had no idea where. I lied to him.”
I hug her tightly. That’s one thing Anna isn’t: she never lies. And I put her in this situation to lie to the one man that she actually loves. I’ve seen her with other men. I’ve seen how she acts with them, always aloof and putting them at a distance. No matter how much she tries to deny it to herself or to me. I know she loves him. And it kills me that I caused this divide between them.
“You can get him back. Once I’m gone, you can get him back. He loves you and you love him. I know you do.”
She looks up at me with tears shimmering in her eyes. “Yeah, but not enough. He should know me enough by now to know that I will do anything to help you. And I know he will do anything to protect his boss. We are at an impasse.”
She takes a big bite of her pizza, chews a bit, and then stuffs it into the side of her mouth. “Did you love him? Despite everything Alexander did, I saw you on your wedding night. You were lost in him, but not only physically. You had this look...like he was your everything.”
That question set me back a bit. I don’t love him; not like she loves Danny. He was so hot and cold that I never knew fromone minute to the next what was happening. So, my guard was never down enough to let him in to trust him enough. But the few times that he was soft, kind, and caring, it would have been so easy to love a man like him. But nothing about Alexander is ever easy. “I don’t love him, Anna. I could have, but no, I don’t love him.”
I take a bite of my pizza and we both stare at the wall, chewing. Anna finishes her slice, balls up her napkin, and tosses it at the trashcan, totally missing. “Fuck.”
When she gets up, she puts the napkin in the trash, grabbing a t-shirt off the rack she puts it on. She puts her coat on the hanger and slips in beside me under the blanket.
“Fuck this. This is depressing. Let’s put on a movie. Oh, by the way, I’m spending the night. I don’t want to go home in case the dick is there. I brought clothes for work tomorrow. Oh, and I’ll also take some of your shit home and wash it. God knows you don’t have much.”
I just smile at her. She’s hurting, she’s angry, but even still she tries to be so strong. I bring up the laptop and put on her favorite movie. I flick off the light, turn the lamp on beside us, and toss her a blanket and pillow. She grabs her Pepsi, takes a drink, and we settle back in. I know what she’s thinking, what movie we are going to watch, but tonight it’s for her, for everything that she’s done for me and everything that she’s lost because of me. This is the least I can do right now.
The movie starts, and only a few bars into the opening song. She squeals and claps her hands. She hugs me so tightly.
“Oh, my God! I love you. You know me so well. This is exactly what I need. Yay, Deadpool!”
~ ~ ~
I wake up to the smell of toast and roll over, Anna is standing inthe makeshift kitchen chewing. Her hair is still wet. And she’s dressed in her lab coat again.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you, but I’ve got to get going. Don’t come out today to the archive department; everyone will be in today.” She tosses the last of her toast into the trash can.
Anna puts one hand on her hip. “I wanted to get out of here before they showed up. If you hurry, you can grab a shower in the chemical lab. I don’t know why they have such cool shit. How come we don’t have all the cool stuff they have? I snagged you a dry towel on my way back.”
She points to where a bottle of shampoo, a clean towel, and a face cloth are piled on the chair.
“I got to go. I’ll try to give you a phone call later. I know you’re stuck in this box, but I’ll come down after work and hang out for a bit. Maybe I should just move in. I don’t really want to go home and deal with him.”
I get up and hug her goodbye. Picking up the towel, I rush to the chem lab and quickly go to have my shower. Looking around the shower stall, I pick up the conditioner. Anna’s right, they have a really cool set up in here, like name brand shampoo, not some weird generic bottle on the wall like we do.
The day passes quickly inside a box with no windows. Time can either move fast or it can move extremely slowly. Today seemed to go by extremely fast. I finished the book I stole off the archives table and watched a couple of movies. Anna never called, so I’m assuming she got busy.
I just started dozing off and the door started to rattle. Anna is pounding on the other side, yelling my name. I get up and go over, and I open it.
“Oh my God, what’s the matter? Are you okay?”
She rushes in and heads straight to the table and turns around and looks at me. Her eyes are enormous, and her face is flushed pink from running.
“Your father-in-law is fucking scary, like Godfather holy scary. They all showed up today. Danny, Alexander, your father-in-law, and Carlos. I was just waiting for someone to pour cement, stick me in it, and throw me over the edge of the river. OMG!”
I take her hand to bring her over to the bed and sit her down. Not much scares Anna, but four huge, scary men coming at her all at once, asking questions that would scare anybody.
“Are you okay? They didn’t hurt you, did they? Did they threaten you?”
“No, they didn’t threaten me, they just asked me where you were and wanted to know why I did what I did, and I kind of fell for the pressure a little bit and let it slip that yeah, I was responsible for getting you out of there. But I stuck to the lie I told Danny and told him you were already gone. I don’t mean to sound like a wuss or anything, but I think Alexander’s really worried. Like, he’s really concerned. Not just because he wants his toy back, but he’s really worried about you. But he also said some weird shit. If it was possible to get a hold of you, you need to stay away from your dad.”
“My dad, why would I go to my dad? He hates me.”
