Anchor Line (54 page)

 
              “Oh Liz,” Addie started, and Liz popped around the short corner.  “If he’s still there, tell him I’m fine and get me the bottle of Tylenol from my desk would you please.” 

 
              “I got you Ms Mar…”

 
              “Liz?” Addie Interrupted. “Please…call me Addie.” 

 
                          Liz just smiled.  “Okay Addie.”  And she turned and left. 

 
                          Addie sat on the little bench in the latrine, bending over so that her cold paper towels would stay on her neck. Her elbows resting on her knees. What did she do?  Attract all the wackos of society?  The only decent men she knew were her brother Roger, and her dad. Her thoughts drifted to another decent man, but then even Conrad turned out to be a dick.  Addie sighed as Conrad passed through her mind for the second time today. Wow. How her life had changed in two years since she’d met him.  Addie looked up as she heard the latrine door open again and saw Liz’s small frame come around the corner. 

 
              “He won’t leave until he knows that you’re okay.”  Liz said handing Addie the bottle of Tylenol and a cold Coke.  

 
              “Mother fucker!” Addie whispered, as Liz set into a case of the giggles. “Why won’t he just go away?”

 
             Liz sat down beside Addie still giggling. “I had one of these once. Then I met Carlos and he took care of him.” 

 
              “Hmph.”  Addie made the sound as she pulled the paper towels off her neck and set them on her knee. She popped open the Coke, shook out two Tylenol and took them with a long swig. 

             
“Ugh, I forgot my to-go cup in his car. He’ll probably use that as an excuse not to leave.” Addie’s face when she looked at Liz was miserable. She leaned back against the wall now and closed her eyes. “Maybe if I stay in here long enough, he’ll leave.” Then she looked at Liz, “But I doubt that.” 

 
              “Yeah, Me too.” Liz fell against the wall like Addie did and waited. 

 
                          Addie waited a few more minutes before she asked, “Hey Liz, do you think Carlos would beat him up?”  That set off a peal of laughter and the two women settled down again.

 
                          After about fifteen more minutes, Verna walked into the ladies room waiting as the big wooden door bumped closed against the metal jamb before she spoke. “MS Marshall?”  Her voice soft. “Are you alright?” 

             
Liz and Addie looked up at Verna who had the silliest grin on her face. Addie nodded to Verna and closed her eyes again, leaning up against the wall. “I told Captain Crisman that you had an appointment coming in about five minutes and you really wanted to rest before he got here.  He was quite adamant about staying, but I reassured him that you’d call him so that he would go.” 

 
            Addie got up and hugged Verna so hard. “So he’s gone?” She said elatedly. “Thank you thank you thank you!” 

 
              “Oh yes.” Verna said laughing hugging Addie back. 

 
                          Addie, Verna and Liz all walked across the hall. Liz followed Addie back into her office after grabbing her purse from Verna’s desk. Both women sat down and took a collective sigh of relief in Addie’s office. 

 
              “If you just want to take the rest of the day off, you know I can handle it.”  Liz offered. 

 
              “Oh, I know.” Addie looked up at Liz. “I feel the need to finish unpacking.” 

 
              “Well, go home then.” 

 
              Sitting at her desk, Addie decided to take Liz up on her offer and to go home. Dealing with Jim just drained the shit out of her and she’d had enough. Thankfully she’d taken the Tylenol when she had, or she’d have a screaming migraine by now. He’d phoned her twice to make sure that she was okay. But when she saw the caller ID on the phone, she didn’t pick up. Calling her chief, she explained that she was wanting to take the day off for a migraine and more than likely tomorrow as well if she wasn’t feeling better. Her boss was more than happy with her taking off. She’d hit the ground running when she got the position here and everyone, her boss and the employees that were under her were excited with the new changes she implemented and that she was a ‘hands on’ kinda gal. 

             
With that out of the way, Addie stopped by Liz’s cubicle and said that she was in charge of the office and that if she wasn’t feeling well tomorrow she’d phone her and that she’d see her Monday, but if she needed anything to phone. Liz got up and hugged Addie, giving her a smile and sent her on her way.

 
            Her drive home was fairly easy.  It was only two o’clock by the time she left so there was really no traffic anyway.  She pulled in the parking space and practically ran up to the second floor and got into her apartment.  Tossing her purse down on the bar in the kitchen, she went to her bedroom and changed into some yoga pants, a t-shirt and some socks. She looked out at the porch for a few minutes before realizing that she hadn’t eaten that much during lunch, so she went to the fridge and pulled out the prosciutto ham and melon she’d bought and fixed a plate, then cut some bread off the long loaf she had bought yesterday and buttered it lightly. Satisfied with her selection, she grabbed a bottled water from the fridge and took her plate out to her patio table. Her apartment faced the parking lot and she really didn’t care. She went back inside to lock the front door and grabbed her laptop to check her email.  Satisfied that she had her laptop, plate and her water arranged on her little patio table, Addie pulled her knees up so that her feet were on the chair opposite her, she pretended that she was on her own veranda in Italy and dove into her email.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

                         Conrad walked around the spacious two bedroom apartment, with the rental lady following spouting her sales pitch on the apartment. 

 
              “Just like the other apartment I showed you, you have Corian countertops and cherry wood cabinets in your kitchen and both bathrooms.  The lighting has dimmer switches in all of the rooms.” 

 
            Conrad listened as the lady went on and on about the apartment. They walked around looking in the closets and the guest room on the left as he walked down the hallway toward the master. Thankfully it was separated by the guest bath. He didn’t want to have to hear his guests from his bedroom.

 
              “And this is the master suite.”  She said behind him.  “You have your own bathroom. Separate tub and shower.  Again your Corian countertops and cherry cabinets.”  The lady droned on, “And a very spacious walk in closet.”

 
              “Very nice.”  Conrad answered poking his head in the closet. “So this one is available now you say?” 

 
             “Yes sir.  You can get your keys today.  Good thing that you pre-qualified when you were on leave.”

 
              “Have anything with a view of the pool on say, the third floor?”  He asked joking around as he walked to the big window to have a look at the view.  

 
              “Well, those are the number one requested apartments actually…and no, we won’t have one ready until next month. Third floor I believe. But living here on the second floor has its advantages, and there is an older couple living upstairs here. So it’s pretty quiet.”  She smiled brightly as she leaned up against the bedroom door jamb.

 
            Conrad looked out the window first looking down and over the parking lot, then over to the other building that faced his. He sucked in a breath so loud, the lady straightened, asking if he was okay.  Directly across from this very apartment was Addie. Or a woman that looked striking like her. Sitting at her patio table like Addie used to do when she visited him in Italy. She was eating and had her laptop open before her.  He marked the distance.  God, he felt like he had earlier in the afternoon when he’d seen her in the parking lot at her work. His stomach felt like it caved in toward his spine and he couldn’t tear his gaze away from her.  It was like someone punched him in the gut all over again.

 
            This window, his master bedroom window, was directly across from hers.  He moved from the window, down the hallway, making a quick right into the smaller guest bedroom and looked out that window.  Seeing that he could look straight into her apartment, Conrad started to breathe heavier.  He made his way out of that room making a quick right and was out in the living room dining room combination, and walked up to the patio sliding glass door. He didn’t move the blinds aside. He just stood there, watching her.

 
            The lady came up behind him and went to pull the vertical blinds aside. “Want to look outside? There is a storage shed out there.”

 
              “NO!”  He said harshly. Then realized that he freaked the lady out, so he looked at her for a moment and smiled, and in a more even tone putting one hand out, “I’m sorry.  I…no…please don’t pull back the blinds.”  He shifted nervously looking back at Addie. “This is available now? Today?”

 
              “Why yes. You can sign today if you like.”  She smiled almost nervously.  “You don’t like the other apartment that is available on the third floor across the complex?” She asked.

 
              “No. I’ll take this one.” Conrad tore his gaze from who he now knew was Addie and looked at the lady. “I’m ready to sign. Let’s do this.” He smiled now to ease her. 

 
            They made their way out the door and down to the golf cart that was parked in the parking lot. He glanced up at Addie and saw that she was engrossed in an email that she was typing. He still pulled down his ball cap to make sure that Addie wouldn’t recognize him, and the golf cart jerked into motion. 

 
              “Um, do you know her?” The lady asked nervously. 

 
            Conrad nodded. “Yeah, she’s an old friend.” He paused as the golf cart raced back to the club house. “She doesn’t know I’m here though.”

 
              “So this is a secret?”  She asked slyly.

 
               “You could say that yeah.” He answered.

 
            He didn’t hear the last thing the sales lady said.  He was secretly plotting how he’d tell Addie that he had an apartment across from her.  Are you fucking serious?  His mind screamed. Nobody was this lucky. Now all he had to do was get Addie back into his life. And he had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be easy.

 
             The signing of the apartment was quick, and Conrad wrote a check to get his utilities turned over in his name by the end of the month. He got his keys and took off at a brisk pace to his truck. Once in, he started it up and took off out of the apartment complex to the hotel where he had stayed last night. He had cable and internet here, no reason for a hasty retreat yet so he’d stay at the hotel for the night. Turning on ESPN, he started packing everything up to move into his apartment tomorrow. That done, Conrad looked at his watch, four fifteen. With Addie home, he could start his plan of action today. This afternoon. He tossed the apartment packet and checkbook on the dresser and checked to make sure he had his wallet and headed out to start his plan to win Addie back into his life.

 
           Addie walked into her office the next morning feeling better than she had in the past few days. It was Friday, and that helped. Once in the office, she didn’t see Verna sitting at her desk and only a few women at their desks. But they were either on the phone or with a customer. Everything looked well in hand, so she walked down the small hallway to her office.

 
            As soon as she hit the doorway to her office, she saw the beautiful pink long stem roses on her desk from where she was. Moving around her desk, she spied the big card propped against the vase and tore it open. The card was only signed ‘C’. 

             
Curious, Jim usually signed things with his first name when he dropped them off or had them delivered. Oh well, maybe he was doing something different. She went to move the flowers and saw that a CD was taped to the vase of flowers. How had she missed that? She pulled it off and pushed the roses over a bit to access her mouse and see her monitor. Smiling at the roses, maybe she really should give Jim a chance. Flopping into her chair looking at the clock on her desk, eight thirty.  UGH!  She should be at home sleeping. That was going to be her plan but decided against taking the day off. Booting up her computer she sat back waiting for it to do its thing when her cell phone rang.