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“I was going to come see you today,” he said. “Come in.”
“You were?” she asked. “Why?”
“We need to talk.”
“You don’t like to talk to anyone,” she said.
“No, I don’t. Which should tell you something. I’m sorry. I was wrong to do what I did. I’ll be apologizing for a long time.”
“Are you sorry you did it or that you told me you did it?” she asked. To her that was the most important thing.
“That I did it,” he said. “I couldn’t not tell you once I knew. It’s not who I am.”
“Because you don’t think before you speak?” she asked.
“No. I had to know if you were in danger. I had to know if what I did was going to cause problems.”
Which went back to her dream. Did she think her grandfather came to talk to her like Rob and Maureen did to Brent? No, she didn’t. It was her subconscious telling her what she needed to do.
But it sure did feel good to see her grandfather again.
“That’s the right answer,” she said. “And I realized that you’ve tried to ask me about my parents and I haven’t answered. Or I give just enough.”
“It’s a bad habit you have,” he said.
“I could say the same to you.”
“Something I’ve had to master,” he said.
“To protect others?” she asked.
He hesitated. “Yes. Part of the reason I was so good for this job was because I was a loner. No one is supposed to know what I do. When I do my job, I do exactly what is asked of me. I don’t look further. I don’t ask questions. Assignments are broken up and divided between many of us. No one has all the pieces of the puzzles. Only those so high up on the chain, I don’t know their names. I’m fine with that too.”
Which told her he wasn’t nosy. He wasn’t looking at her or others for no reason. He did his job and he moved on.
He was detached like he seemed to be about so much in life.
Yet he wasn’t detached from her.
“I shouldn’t have left the way I did. I should have stayed and worked it out with you. I know you don’t like to talk, but we have to.”
“We do. For the important things,” he said.
“And speaking of the important things. I know what today is.”
“So you came because you were worried I was going down the wrong path again?” he asked, sounding hurt.
“That was only part of it. I would have come today regardless, but I realized the date. Are you okay?”
He started to laugh. “I’m fine. Rob is insulted that I’m looking like shit because of what is going on with you and not mourning him. Then I got a lecture from both him and Maureen that I take for granted they know what I want or think without me asking or talking.”
She smiled. “I’m sure they do. But I also know that I’m not sure how honest I’d be with you if you asked direct questions and that is wrong of me. If I love you, and I do, then we need to talk. I need to trust that you won’t do anything with the information you’ve got.”
“Never,” he said. “Whatever happens with us, I’ll never betray what I know. It’s not who I am. It’s not what I could ever do.”
Knowing what she did about his job now, she believed he spoke the truth.
“And I’ll pretend that what you told me about your job never happened. We know I’m good at keeping secrets.”
