“Cut Charlie some slack,” he said now. “She’s just not a morning person. She’s an artist. Her creativity kicks in later in the day. I’m sure she—”
Just then the young woman in question arrived. Through the glass wall of his office, they watched Charlie burst through the outer office door in a flurry of flapping winter coat and scarf. She always swept in, often in a rush, always exuberant and usually running late. This morning appeared no different—except for the fact that she was later than normal.
As Charlie shrugged out of her coat and scarf, Amanda saw that she wore a bright-colored sweater that hit her small frame mid-thigh with dark leggings. Her long curly dark chestnut hair was pulled back in a high ponytail. A few errant locks had come loose and now framed her face, making her look much younger than her twenty-nine years.
Amanda didn’t have to look at Greg to know that he was smiling. Had either of them ever been that young, and so wonderfully naive and full of life? Charlie radiated an innocence and a kind of energy that she knew enchanted him. He’d told her that Charlie reminded him of summer days growing up.
This morning Charlie’s big brown eyes were wide and her complexion so pale that her freckles only looked more adorable. Amanda feared that the young woman brightened her fiancé’s days a little too much and that alone was troubling.
“She’s limping,” Greg said, frowning.
So she hadn’t been exaggerating about having an accident, Amanda thought as Charlie stopped in Greg’s office. There was a tear in the young woman’s leggings at one knee and the skin underneath was scraped. Nor was she her usual cheerful, apologetic self.
“Are you all right?” Greg asked, clearly genuinely concerned.
“I took a tumble, that’s all.” Charlie’s gaze breezed past him to Amanda and back. “I’m so sorry. My horoscope warned me not to leave the apartment. I guess I should have listened.”
Her horoscope? Amanda turned away so Charlie didn’t see her eye roll.
“I’m just glad you’re all right,” Greg said. “Do you need to see a doctor?”
“No, I’ll be fine.”
Turning back, Amanda watched Charlie head for her cubicle, her limp more pronounced.
“I hope she’s all right,” Greg said.
“It’s just a skinned knee. I’m sure she’ll survive.” Amanda sighed. “It is always something with that woman.” She started toward the door. “You really need to get tougher with her.”
Greg said nothing. Then he asked, “Are we interviewing more candidates for office manager today? I’d really like someone to fill your position right after the first of the year.”
She’d been so excited when he’d told her that after they were married, he would invest in any enterprise she wanted. He didn’t think it would be a good idea for the two of them to be working together at his company once they tied the knot right after Christmas. She’d been so excited by the prospect of being able to start her own business that she hadn’t minded leaving his design company in the least.
Now though she wondered if he just wanted her out of this office so she couldn’t see what was going on with the staff.
* * *
CHARLIE TRIED TO concentrate on her work. She had to have at least six designs to show the client by the end of the week. While she already had more than that, she wasn’t happy with a few of them. She wanted them to be perfect.
But as hard as she tried to keep her mind on her designs, she kept thinking about what she’d seen. Or hadn’t seen. She knew she couldn’t have seen Lindy. Lindy had been dead for years. So why would she think she saw the woman standing across the street? Why now?
Her cell phone rang. Seeing it was her boyfriend, she quickly picked up. She did love the sound of the word boyfriend. “Hi,” she said.
“Hey.” Daniel’s voice made her smile. “I know you’re at work. Just had to call. I missed you last night.” They still had their own apartments. Often they slept over at one or the other. That was why Daniel kept pushing for them to move in together.
It would be cheaper, and they would see more of each other, he’d argued, but Charlie couldn’t help dragging her feet. She liked having her own place. If she was being honest, she also didn’t trust that this relationship would last. From life experience, she knew she couldn’t count on anything. She feared that living together would make the breakup worse. Not that she told Daniel this, but she did question after a couple of months where he thought this was going.
He was the one who’d brought up moving in after their first month of dating. “We’re happy now, that’s all that matters, right? I mean, we don’t have to spell out what this is, do we? Just let this play out and see where it goes.”
That was Daniel’s laid-back approach to everything. He worked at a local video gaming company where he could wear shorts all year and skateboard around inside the building. She doubted he was putting money into his 401 plan—if the company even had one.
Besides it wasn’t like she was ready for anything serious. She enjoyed having a boyfriend maybe a little more than she enjoyed Daniel some days. She feared there might be something wrong with her.
From as far back as she could remember, she’d had this feeling of doom as if a black cloud followed her around and one day lightning would strike her dead. She had good reason to expect the worst given her life so far. Maybe that was why she read her horoscope every morning. Was today the day?
After who she’d seen standing across the street this morning, she feared it was.
“I missed you, too,” Charlie said into the phone, deciding not to say anything to Daniel about what had happened this morning. She’d never told anyone about Lindy, and she decided to keep it that way, even though there were times she yearned to share her worst secret.
“See you tonight?” he asked. “Anywhere special you want to go for dinner?”
“Surprise me.”
He laughed. “You do realize that you’re giving me the thumbs-up to select the nearest drive-through...”
“Daniel?” asked the designer in the cubicle next to her when the call was over. Tara was a petite blonde in her midthirties, married and very pregnant with her third child. “I love living vicariously through you,” her friend said as she patted her huge belly. “It beats waiting for this baby to make an entrance.”
Charlie smiled at her. “It will all be over soon.”
Tara laughed. “Spoken like a single woman without children. Delivery is the easy part.”
“Daniel just wanted to know where I might like to go for dinner,” she said. She’d dated in college and some after, but most hadn’t lasted long. When Daniel came along, it had been a while since she’d had a boyfriend. Often, that made him seem too good to be true.