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From his peripheral vision, he could see Penelope’s body deflate.
Surfer dude responded, “Totally cool with that. Uh, sometimes customers have second thoughts and just aren’t feeling it.” Lucas could hear tapping in the background. “So, according to this checklist I’m supposed to follow, it says I have to ask why you’re closing your account. But, hey, let me take a guess, you didn’t wrap it up during college, amiright? And the last thing you want is to uncover any bambinos out there looking for a free ride?”
Ignoring the infantile commentary, Lucas continued while glaring at Penelope. “Send confirmation that I have been expunged from your system to this email address.” He cited his mayoral address to add an official edge to the request. “While you delete all traces of me in your system, also be sure to delete any other email addresses where my personal information has been sent, as this was done without my personal consent.”
“Dude, no way. You know that’s, like, a crime.”
Penelope’s eyes grew wide and her lips began to tremble.
“Dude, this is gonna take a while. I have, like, a whole page of instructions in my binder on when to call the po-po if someone sends in a dude’s DNA without their heads-up. You know you can totally press charges.”
“That won’t be necessary as long as my instructions are followed to the letter. Am I making myself clear?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely,” Surfer dude hesitated and added, “Shit. I’m not supposed to swear on customer calls.”
“Send confirmation of this discussion to the email provided.” He quietly pushed end on the phone, unsure if he could respond with any modicum of calm. So, he stared at the wood grain surface of his desk.
The silence was deafening.
He stared blindly at the document before him and slowly tore it in two. And then tore it once again, and dropped the pieces into the trash can beside the desk.
As if sensing the magnitude of her poor judgment and Lucas’s benevolence, Penelope’s entire body shrank into itself.
“Lucas.”
He held his hand up to stop any further discussion as she sucked in a breath and covered her mouth with both fists.
Taking a moment to ensure he handled the situation at hand with his usual level of reserved forbearance, he finally looked at Penelope, whose face was pale, her eyes pooling.
“I think you are a wonderful woman...”
“Oh God, no.” She shook her head back and forth.
“…but I’m not sure we’re the right fit.”
“Please. I’m so sorry, Lucas. I see that I overstepped. Please don’t do this. Let me make this up to you.”
He tapped his finger on the desk, aware of the pain he was causing, but dealing with his own, for once in his life, was going to be the priority.
“That’s not necessary.” He cleared his throat. “I’m not… angry.” He felt the vein near his right eye twitch, indicating otherwise. “I just think we’re ill suited. I had planned to have this conversation with you once you returned from visiting your sister. I think, all things considered, now’s a good time to go our separate ways.”
She shook her head back and forth, her high ponytail swaying in rhythm as a perfectly timed tear fell down her cheek. “You don’t mean that.”
He allowed his silence to speak for itself.
Resolute, she lifted her tote from the chair and then turned toward him as if to say something, possibly another attempt at reconciliation, but must have thought otherwise after taking in his glacial expression.
Instead, with downturned shoulders she exited his office, the door barely making a sound as it shut.
He leaned on his desk and bowed his head, contemplating what could only have turned out to be, had he not intervened, a disaster.
Lucas had no desire to find his relatives, distant or otherwise. Wasn’t remotely compelled to hear how or why a mother would leave her baby in a box exposed to the elements. Where he could have been mauled by the coyotes that sometimes ran the streets at night looking for someone’s unsuspecting pet as a late-night snack.
More importantly, if he were being honest, surfer dude wasn’t too far off the mark with his assumptions as Lucas didn’t want to know if anything came of that one dark night. Because the thought of having to face ‘her’ again made the hair on his arms stand on end and his heart race.
Over the years, when he considered that possibility, he was able to move past a guilty conscience knowing that if anything did come of that night, she would’ve been on his doorstep with a vindictive smile on her face and her greedy palm sticking out.
Despite his ability to compartmentalize certain parts of his past, the vision of another little girl he met in third grade came into focus. One who plagued him relentlessly over the course of his primary and secondary education. The one person who could make him lose his temper and his sanity.
