The Potter's Daughter (Literary Series) (26 page)

“Hello, I’m Nathan.
 
You must be Caroline,” said Nathan.

“Yes, finally, nice to meet
you.
 
Let me help you with the groceries.”

“Thank you.
 
Where’s Will?”

“Oh,” Caroline made a snicker, “He
had a bit of a melt down.
 
I fed him
an omelet and tucked him in by the fire.”

“I’m not surprised,” said
Nathan.
 
“He has been showing signs
of exhaustion.”

“Has he really been up for three
days?”

“It’s not just that,” said
Nathan.
 
“He hasn’t had a drink for
a couple days.”

“Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure.
 
He’s been making up for it working
around the clock.”

“Huh.”

The bags were empty with the last two
items being some type of hot Italian meal in tin foil with a plastic top that
Caroline could not decipher, “This isn’t meatloaf,” said Caroline.

“Chicken Parm, he hates meatloaf,”
said Nathan.

* * *
* *

No one would accuse Abby Bellen of
being low energy, however when she walked along the avenue with Jules, Abby was
along for the ride.
 
Jules Stalwart
entering the building was never stealth nor a secret to anyone.
 
Before entering any room she could be
heard approaching halfway down a hall.

Jules was a tall feisty firecracker
of a girl, with bright orange hair and emerald green eyes that lit up her clear
complexion.
 
A flash from Jules’s
eyes said she knew something others did not, and if one were part of her
circle, she just might clue them in.

Olivia had left the office early to
run some errands for the baby in her belly, so Jules and Abby decided that they
would follow suit.
 
Rather Jules
decided they needed to slip out to catch up.
 
Before Abby could put up too much
resistance, they were on their way out the door to the Lavender Room around the
corner.

Typical of older hotel lounges in
the area the Lavender Room was sparsely lit.
 
A forest had suffered for the wood
paneling covering the wall and the dimly lit mirror behind the bar, stained
with an indelible mist, barely reflected anything beyond the row of liquor
bottles lining the back.
 
Per the
lavender namesake, the room had a lavender décor from literal lavender blossom
table settings to the colored fabric of the booths, napkins, and sashayed
curtains that hung strategically through out.
 
The bar even served a Lavender Martini
as the house drink yet overall was known for great Appletinis, which Jules
adored because they contained a light dash of rum that made them buttery.
 
Abby was certain that Jules also liked
the Appletinis because they highlighted Jules green eyes.

The girls chose two lounge chairs
at a small table near the door.
 
Not
so close to the entrance as to be interrupted with any one walking in and out,
yet close enough for Jules not to miss any potential opportunity to make eye
contact with the young men that frequented the lounge.

Abby was pleased to be back in the
city in the refreshing company of her friend.
 
Jules ran rampant in discussion,
unafraid to speak her mind and often unconcerned whether anyone could hear
her.
 
Abby enjoyed dishing all of
the gossip with her yet there was always a risk that Jules would blurt out
something just beyond Abby’s taste, usually sexually shocking statements that
were not quite vulgar.
 
At times
there had been outright propositions to innocent male bystanders.
 
Over the years, Abby had heard a long
list of whom Jules would ‘Do’ and had ‘Done’, and she always chuckled at
Jules’s pronouncements.

By Jules second Appletini, she was
midstream in bringing Abby up to speed on everything she had missed while she
had been gone.
 
Olivia had given
Abby a surface spin and now Jules was here with the drill down.
 
Jules went through the checklist of
office romances, people they both knew outside of the office, and then onto
people that Abby had never met yet had heard about time and again from
Jules.
 
Abby punctuated Jules
enthusiasm with an occasional “Really,” and “You know, I thought so.”
 
Even the slightest show of response
fueled Jules yet Abby was pretty sure Jules could go on talking with or without
her participation.

After they had covered everyone
that Jules knew came time to discuss Jules herself.
 
Jules had been seeing a guy when Abby
went out of town yet now that was in the past.

“What did he do,” asked Abby.

“It’s what he didn’t do.
 
He didn’t excite me,” said Jules.

“What made him so boring?”

Jules raised her brow, “He didn’t
excite me.”

Abby sighed briefly taken back,
remembering she was talking to Jules.

“That’s a shame,” said Abby.
 
Abby sipped her drink afraid for the
next few minutes of conversation.
 
Fortunately Jules eased off and said something to surprise Abby.

“It is a shame,” said Jules.
 
“I really liked him.”

Abby saw a glimmer of sadness in
Jules eyes which drew her back to missing Mitch.
 
With the few Appletinis consumed, the
thought of Mitch hit Abby with an alcohol driven nostalgic sensation.
 
Ironically, at that moment Jules decided
that Abby’s turn had come to talk about her time away.

“Did you hook up with any lake men
up there in those woods?” asked Jules.

Abby hesitated, daring herself to
answer, thus unleashing Jules on a whole new area of exploration.
 
However Abby could not and did not want
to keep to herself.
 
With a blank
stare, Abby fixated on Jules.

“Yes,” said Abby, and then nodded
her head slowly, “Yes Jules, I hooked up with a great guy.”

Elated by the discovery that Abby
had conjured up some form of romance on her sojourn, Jules fortified and
furrowed her red brows, “So tell me.
 
Who is he?
 
What happened?”

“What happened, where do I start?”

“At the beginning preferably,” said
Jules.

Abby gave Jules the run down on how
she met, spent time with, and essentially ditched Mitch Carlson.

“So that’s it, you’re just not
going to see this guy again?” asked Jules.

“Well I kind of messed it up.”

“You haven’t messed anything up
yet, only if you let this go.”

“I suppose you’re right, I should
give him a call,” said Abby.

“When?”

“Later I guess.”

“Now that’s messing up.
 
Let me see your phone,” said Jules

“You can’t be serious.”

“Do or die honey, pull out your
phone.”

Abby picked up her bag and began
sifting through it, “I don’t know.”

“Listen, you’ll thank me for this,”
said Jules.

Abby set down her purse, she had
her cell phone in hand, “So what am I supposed to say to him?”

Jules stood up, “I don’t know.
 
Tell him you miss him.
 
If he’s everything you think he is,
he’ll respond.”

“And where are you going?”

“I’m just going to step away for a
minute, you can handle this on your own.”

Abby glanced down at her cell phone
as Jules walked away.
 
Abby
suspected that Jules was going to slip outside and have a cigarette, having
been a chronic quitter Jules could not resist a smoke after a few drinks.
 
Abby did not have to search through the
phones contact list.
 
Mitch’s number
was listed as recent under outgoing calls.
 
She hesitated only for an instant before letting her thumb tap down on
the send button.
 
Holding the phone
to her ear Abby heard the phone ring once, twice, and then Mitch’s voicemail
picked up and his recorded voice asked her to leave her name and number.
 
Not anticipating voicemail, Abby
scrambled as to what to say, she started with “Um,” and quickly recovered,
“Mitch, this is Abby.
 
I was just
calling,” she quickly ran through a list of reasons in her mind, “cause I was
thinking about you and--,” her phone chirped loudly in her ear.
 
Abby drew the phone away to see Mitch’s
name blinking across the screen.
 
Abby pulled the phone back to her ear, “—You’re on the other
line.
 
Just a second.”
 
Abby held the phone away again,
maneuvered a couple of quick gestures with her thumb and pulled the phone back
to her ear.
 
“Hello,” said Abby, “I
was just leaving a message.”

“Yea, I guess that’s it right
there,” said Mitch, referring to a beeping sound only he could hear.
 
“So how are you?” asked Mitch.

“Oh great, yea everything is great
here.
 
It’s good to be back.
 
You know,” said Abby.

“Well, I’m glad to hear that.”

“Yea.”

“So what’s up?”

“What’s up?”

“Yea you called.”

“I called?
 
Yea, of course I called.
 
Well I was out with a friend.
 
I am out with a friend.
 
Jules, I told you about her.
 
I think.
 
She’s not here right now.
 
Well any way, I was thinking about
you.”
 
Abby could not believe
herself and was sure that she sounded like a fool.

“I’ve been thinking about you too,”
said Mitch.

“Really?”

“Yea, I have.”

“I like that,” said Abby, and then
thought to herself that she once again was sounding foolish.
 
“I mean that’s nice.”

Abby then went on to tell Mitch
about her day back at work and how her day was the day before.
 
She began to tell him how sad she was
that she left so quickly, that her father had upset her, and that she was still
not sure how to handle that whole situation.
 
Mitch listened on his cell as she
peppered the conversation with information about people he knew nothing about
from her conversations with Jules earlier.
 
To Abby all of these conversational elements were contextual and to
Mitch they were mostly all foreign.
 
Most of all though Mitch was truly pleased to hear Abby’s voice and he
did not mind listening to her rambling about the day’s events.
 
That is until he could tell that she was
working herself up emotionally and he thought best to ease things off.
 
Mitch was satisfied to know that Abby
had not left Willow Lake on his account.

“Abby?”

“Yea, Mitch?”

“Are you and your friend having
cocktails?”

“A couple.
 
Why do you ask?”

“No reason,” said Mitch, “but maybe
it would be better if we talked a little later.
 
Do you think that would be alright?”

“I would like that,” said
Abby.
 
“How about if you call me
tonight, before you go to bed.”

“Ok, I’ll do that,” said
Mitch.
 
“Bye, now.”

“Bye,” said Abby.

Jules had returned to her seat
wide-eyed.
 
She echoed Abby “Bye,”
and then chuckled.
 
“See, now aren’t
you glad you made that call.”

Abby felt warm and bubbly.
 
She raised her Appletini to her
friend.
 
“You were right.
 
I didn’t mess up.”

* * *
* *

When Abby woke the following
morning, her face pressed onto her pillow, her scalp felt tight on her skull,
and her tongue swelled in her mouth.
 
Opening her dry eyes, she searched for the bottle of seltzer usually
kept on the wooden nightstand.
 
Abby
perked up as she consumed most of the bottle.
 
In spending time with Jules, she had let
herself become dehydrated.
 
This
morning Abby would surely suffer from the carelessness of not balancing last
night’s alcohol consumption with food and water.

The cordless phone sat eye level on
the pillow next to Abby.
 
She
recalled she had been talking to Mitch before drifting off to sleep.
 
He had called her cell just as promised
and she dialed him back on the cordless to hear him better.

How long Abby had been on the phone
with Mitch.
 
Abby could not be
sure.
 
She did not remember finishing
the call and tried to piece together the conversation thinking that she might
have fallen asleep on the phone.
 
The last moments before sleep were cloudy at best yet she did remember
saying goodbye.
 
All was coming to
her now.
 
She remembered saying many
things that she probably would not have if she had not gone out with
Jules.
 
How much she said for sure
though she was not certain and the more she thought about the conversation the
more she began to worry that she had come off as a foolish schoolgirl.
 
As she brushed her teeth, she recalled
discussing her father with Mitch.
 
In the shower, she remembered ranting about how her father had made her
feel over the years.
 
While she
dressed, she remembered that the majority of the conversation had been her
explaining why she had to leave and Mitch sweetly listening to her.
 
She decided that the call was not as bad
as she had first thought when she awoke this morning and though she could not
remember where they had left off, she would call him later in the day to thank
him for being so considerate.
 
Today
was Friday and combined with yesterday the workweek overall would be short.