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“That’s what I was paying you when you were at the farm.”
“Yes, but this is a much easier gig.”
“Wait until Chuck E. Cheese Thursday.” Ellie cackled.
“Ellie Stillwell, it will be a pleasure doing business with you again.” Nathan leaned back in his chair. “So what type of uniform do you want me to wear?”
“Go to Seigel’s or Howard. They have very nice dress uniforms. Single- and double-breasted.”
“You have done your homework, haven’t you? Why am I not surprised?” Nathan gave her a big grin.
“You know me well. You can have a badge embroidered, or something to pin on. I’ll leave the authoritative visual aspects to you.”
“Roger that.”
“Which reminds me. Everyone has a walkie-talkie. We had an incident early on, and I wanted to be sure my people had easy access for communication.”
“Is there anything you haven’t thought of?” Nathan kept grinning.
“I guess I’ll find out if and when the occasion arises.” Ellie let out a huge sigh of relief. “I am so very happy you are willing to do this for me.”
“Like I’ve said so many times, anything for you.”
Ellie reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “Come, I’ll show you around the place.”
Chapter Eleven
Wednesday
Tori awoke with a sense of anticipation. She crawled out of bed so as not to wake her husband. She planned to fix something for him to eat later. Her mission was to keep him in a good mood for as long as she could.
The week before, she had frozen some beef stew, so she pulled it out to defrost. She boiled up some noodles that he could reheat. A big chunk of bread was wrapped in aluminum foil, which he could also warm. Satisfied that he would be satisfied, she started on her usual fare of toast with a little butter. She decided to trade off her coffee for herbal tea. Not that she was a fan of herbal tea, but she didn’t think she needed the caffeine that morning. She was already juiced up. She had no idea if she would find the woman, nor did she know if the woman would spend any time with her. But it was worth taking the chance.
She heard her husband get out of bed and head toward the bathroom. She wasn’t sure if she should bolt or wait. It was too early to head to the art center, but she didn’t know what else to do with her time. Bake! She decided if she baked cookies, that would keep her busy and her husband satisfied his wife was doing something wifey.
About a half hour later, he came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. She knew what that meant, but not today. She was already showered and dressed.
He came up from behind and put his arms around her and pulled her close to him. She could feel him getting aroused. As if a guardian angel was watching over her, the timer rang on the oven. “Oops. Can’t let these burn.” She jiggled away from him and put on oven mitts.
“Well, maybe while they’re cooling down before I do?” He sounded rebuffed.
“Oh, hon, not now, please.” Tori was sweet, but she knew it didn’t land well with him.
“Fine.” He let out an exaggerated sigh and meandered out of the kitchen.
Tori looked up at the ceiling, mouthed the words, “thank you,” and gave a sigh of relief.
She checked the digital clock on the stove. It wasn’t even close to nine. She had to find something to do to keep herself occupied. Maybe she would stop in the office to check the mail. It would kill some time. She yelled down the hallway, “See you later, honey. There’s food in the fridge for you to heat up later.” She heard a grunt in the distance. His way of saying, “Have a nice day.”
Tori realized she was very nervous. There was so much to think about. She also realized that once she thought about things, she would have to take action. If the past twenty years hadn’t taught her a lesson, then she would never learn. She was happy she had chosen to tell her boss about her situation. It gave her enough confidence to get through another day. The pregnancy would be a challenge, but she was feeling better about it now that she knew her employer would be on her side. She didn’t want to think about how her husband would react to the news. She also knew she might have to leave him at some point. As confused as she was, one thing was for certain—she was not going to spend her life having more regrets. She knew people stayed together “because of the kids,” but kids are a lot smarter and much more in tune with what is going on around them than adults give them credit for. Kids can sense tension. Most people can. But kids internalize it more. They will blame themselves for the tension between their parents. She knew that firsthand. For years, she blamed herself for her mother’s drinking and her father’s absence. But by the time she was twelve and had to care for her little brother, she was aware enough to realize that her circumstances were not her fault. The sad part was that she never took care of herself. Sure, as far as hair, clothes, makeup as she got older, but mentally she was “on hold.” She kept believing the answer was ahead, never thinking it was within her.
Since working at the law firm, she had witnessed a lot of reasons for the sort of domestic turmoil that led to divorce. Most of the time it was infidelity, but the infidelity was a result of someone’s not feeling loved, not being emotionally supported, or just mutual disengagement. On countless occasions, she had heard the words “We drifted apart.” It made her wonder about the word “drifted.” Were they ever on course, or were they always adrift? Looking back, she realized that she and her husband had been adrift from the beginning. First it was being adrift from their families. Second, they were adrift from a purpose. A goal. Consequently, they drifted away from each other, but neither one recognized it. At least neither admitted it. Now that she was finally aware of how her lack of a compass had gotten her into this boggy mess, she wasn’t going to let her boat run aground again. Not if she could help it.But enough of the metaphors,she thought to herself. But they gave her a clear picture of her situation.
On her way to the office, she stopped at the diner to get a buttered roll for herself and a donut for Mr. Bellows. She would have picked up something for Arlene, the receptionist, but Arlene was gluten-free and there were few diners in the area that didn’t specialize in high sugar and wheat content.
As she was paying the tab, the same woman gave her a knowing nod. It gave Tori a bit of the willies. Who was that woman and how did she know about her and her “cop” husband? In her excitement, and plans to get to the art center, she had almost forgotten about the foreboding message the woman gave her. “Thursday. Ringo’s.” Then she remembered he said he might go fishing on Thursday.What’s up with Thursday?She shook it off for now. She had bigger things on her mind today.
When she entered the office, Arlene gave her a big hello. “Hey, thought you weren’t coming in today.”
