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It’s the most pleasant meal I’ve had the entire week.
As she gets up to retrieve bottled water from the tiny fridge in the corner, my eyes fall to her skirt.
Although it’s a long one, as she moves, it lifts a little and I catch a glimpse of her ankle which is swollen badly, almost as if she sprained it or something. That’s also when I notice that her gait isn’t exactly steady and she’s walking slower than usual.
I feel a coldness settle in my body and suddenly the food that had been bursting with flavor, now tastes like ash in my mouth.
“What the fuck is that?” I’m striding over to her before the words are even out of my mouth and gently maneuver her startled form to the couch.
When she realizes what I’m talking about, she struggles in my hold.
I ignore her and push up her skirt, just enough so I can see her ankle.
“It’s not as bad as it looks!” She exclaims, quickly.
I shoot her a look which is blazing with anger. “It looks like you have a sprain.”
“It’s from three days ago and it’s not that bad, actually. I fell but the doctor gave me some pain medication and I try staying off my leg mostly. Now with the added help at the main desk, it’s easier to do so as well.”
“Three days?” I echo. “You never mentioned…” I trail off and it hits me that if it had been a normal thing, she would have brought it up and laughed at her clumsiness. But the fact she hadn’t, probably meant it wasn’t an accident. “Elise,” I say in a warning tone.
She sighs. “I had to deliver some urgent documents to the third floor that had just arrived and I was about to exit the elevator which was full. I tripped.”
When she fell silent, I felt like this wasn’t the complete story, so I narrowed my eyes at her. “How do you trip in an elevator full of people?”
She hesitates then admitted, “Someone stuck their leg out. I don’t know this for sure. But I was walking fine and out of nowhere, I saw someone I was passing, and I tumbled over her leg. I grazed my palms a bit but my ankle got a little hurt.”
“Give me a name.” My tone is harsh and menacing.
Elise meets my gaze evenly even as she shakes under the force of it. “I was too busy falling down to take a look around.”
When I don’t budge, she says, “What would you do, Lucas? Go beat them up?” When my eyes flash at her words, in agreement, she tries to tug her leg out of my hands, unsuccessfully, all the while insisting, “I’m trying to keep a low profile as long as I have Sophie with me here. Once she’s in daycare, I’ll try to sort these things out.” She sighs. “Lucas, you have to understand; everyone here already thinks that I’m hell bent on seducing you since I can’t have Darren. You’re standing up for me or creating a scene on my behalf will only make this whole thing worse. If they attac
k me to my face, I don’t take it lying down.”
“You’re being harassed, Elise!”
“And you want me to report it to HR? What can Lana do? Post it on the bulletin board: Picking on Elise can result in suspension? Think about it. There is no hard evidence. It’s my word against theirs and even that aside, I don’t know who the person was.”
I release my grip on her foot and start pacing, angrily.
Why is it that lately every situation being thrown my way seems that it can’t be handled with my abilities alone?
“Is this how you behave on a date?”
Elise’s loud statement makes me stop and glance at her.
She looks annoyed. “I’m not going to stop living my life just because some people still think this is high school. It took me a lot of effort to cook today and I want to spend some time with you and you’re just sulking because I’m not letting you beat up some women.”
“I wouldn’t beat them up,” I mutter. “Get them permanently unemployed is more like it.”
“You’re not stooping to their level,” Elise tells me, calmly, and pats the seat next to her. “I want Sophie to look up to you and I can’t have her go around screaming ‘revenge’ every time something bad happens. So, come here.”
I see a flash of confidence in this woman, a confidence that’s been missing from her gaze for a while now. And I’m helpless against her command, so I go and sit by her. I suddenly turn around and put my head in her lap, stretching out on the remaining couch. “I haven’t slept properly for a few days,” I say, slyly. “Maybe you’d let me catch some shut eye? “
I peek at her and she’s blushing but instead of saying no, like I had expected, she instead runs her fingers through my hair in a soothing manner, her blunt nails scratching my scalp in a way that relaxes me. “I’ll watch over you.”
Her words are steady and I can see she’s not kidding. Her hair is unfurled and I wrap one strand around my finger, playing with it, this tightness in my chest making me suddenly want to hold her in my arms. I can feel her fingers combing through my hair and the soothing rhythm of it is almost lulling. The exhaustion of the past few days takes me over.
