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I hurried across my office and I was going to…
My phone started ringing, breaking my focus. I answered on the third ring without checking who was calling, my eyes following Charlie and this Liam’s every move as I stopped before I opened my door.
‘Yes?’
‘Yes? That’s how you answer the phone?’
I let out a long breath and, dropping my head, closed my eyes. My sister. ‘Beth. Sorry. I was in the middle of something. Can I call you back when I’m done?’
‘It’s okay, you don’t have to get back to me. Ivy wanted to make sure I called…’ There was a rustle and then I heard a sweeter voice come on the line. ‘Uncle Willie, you’re coming, right? Mom said we should maybe call in the evening, but sometimes I fall asleep and sometimes she forgets to call even though she says she will so I wanted to make sure you’d come. You’ll come because you promised, right?’
The stress I was experiencing over Charlie melted right off of me and I smiled. ‘Yes Ivy, I’ll be there.’
‘See, Mom, I told you he’d come. Hello Uncle Willie. Did I forget to say hello?’
‘You did. Hello back to you, little monster.’
There was a giggle that warmed my heart.
‘I’m not a monster. I missed you, Uncle Willie.’
‘You missed me? Am I hearing that right? Is this the same girl who left me all alone to go play with her new friend across the street when I was last there?’
‘Yeah, I missed you very much. And I don’t like him anymore. He is stupid.’
I heard Beth’s sigh and soft voice in the background saying: Ivy you can’t call him stupid.
Ivy ignored her mom.
‘Boys can be stupid sometimes. But I love the sound of you missing me. Can you say it again, please?’
More giggling came through, then her sweet voice got quiet. ‘I missed you so much, Uncle Willie.’
‘I missed you too, beautiful. And I’m heartbroken that you’d think I’d miss your birthday. No way. Of course I’ll be there.’
‘But you missed three birthdays so far – what if you miss this one too.’
I walked back, went around my desk and sat down. ‘Not a chance in the world. Who would bring your present then? I’m gonna be there the whole weekend.’
‘But you promise, right?’
‘I promise, baby.’
‘Okay. I believe you. And no crisis okay? I don’t want any crisises.’
I laughed. ‘Thank you for believing me.’
‘But no crisis,’ she repeated, her voice going low. ‘Say it.’
I had to hold back my laughter. ‘No crisis.’
‘No Lindsey?’
That pretty much wiped off my smile. Ivy did not like Lindsey. At all. I could hear Beth murmuring to her in the background as well. ‘No Lindsey. Just me.’
‘Okay. Don’t forget my present. Here, you can talk to my mom now, but not too much. No doodling.’
I chuckled to myself. ‘No dawdling. Okay. Thank you, little monkey.’
I was still smiling when Beth came back on the line. ‘Sorry about that, William. She has all of us dancing to her tune.’
‘No worries. I’m glad you guys called.’
‘Why? Is something wrong?’
‘No. Nothing’s wrong.’ Although it had been exactly the right timing before to stop me doing something stupid. ‘Just a hectic day. Anything you guys need from here?’
‘Just you. William, we didn’t get to talk much these last few weeks. You’re doing good, right? With Lindsey…’
‘Yes, Beth. I’m good. Everything is better now.’
‘Okay. We’ll talk more when you get here. Mom says hi. We’re all excited to see you.’
‘I was just there a few weeks ago.’
‘We miss you, what can you do. Okay, I need to go, Ivy is climbing the tree again. Ivy! No! You aren’t allowed…’
Before I could say goodbye the line went dead.
‘William?’
I looked up and saw Gayle standing at my door.
‘Yes.’
‘Douglas wants to see both of us in his office about a new case.’
I stood up and walked to her side. ‘You know what it’s about?’
‘I think it’s an airline. That’s all I know, he just got a call when we were in another meeting.’
As I closed the door, I couldn’t stop myself from looking towards Charlie’s office. ‘Charlie left already?’ I asked Gayle when I couldn’t see her in there. No sign of her or that Liam. ‘If we’re starting something new tonight we’ll need her to come back.’
‘I hope not. She is finally on a date.’
I stopped walking. She was already out on a date with Liam?
‘With Liam?’ I asked surprised, forgetting myself.
Gayle stopped as well and turned to look at me in confusion. ‘Liam? Liam from the office? No, she’s out with Ralph.’ She tilted her head and studied me a little too closely.
I cleared my throat, pushed my hands into my pockets and started moving again. Thankfully she didn’t question me and fell into step beside me. Ralph. Our little deserter. Shithead. I’d completely forgotten about that one.
