Mr. Carter chuckled when he saw her return late Friday afternoon.
“You look worn out,” he said.
Sylvia nodded trying to think of a positive response. She couldn’t because she was so weary.
“I know,” he said, “This is a huge place that’s deceiving in size from the outside. We can debrief on Monday. Go home and have a relaxing weekend,” he told her. “I’ll see you Monday morning.”
Sylvia thanked him. She wasn’t sure if she could even speak intelligently at that point.
When she got home Sylvia flopped onto the couch thinking what a nice boss she had and wondered why he had been sent to Thurmont. He had hinted that it wasn’t his choice to change locations and he commuted a good hour or more to and from work. He actually lived in a town fairly close to her hometown outside of Philadelphia. His commute must be brutal, she thought.
She woke up the next morning, stretching luxuriously in the fact that she didn’t have to go to work. She had fallen asleep on the couch and woken up several hours later, crawled up to bed, stripping off her clothes and falling into a deep sleep. It was a gorgeous summer morning. A soft breeze blew the curtains in the bedroom. Sylvia ran downstairs to put on coffee, took a shower, got a cup of coffee and jumped back in bed naked with a steaming cup and a good book. She felt like a queen.
After an hour or so of reading she remembered she had wanted to go to the herb farm. She called Marian to confirm the directions. It was about 45 minutes away and through several back winding roads. Sylvia kept her fingers crossed that she could find it again. She was successful and picked up several healthy plants and two beautiful planters that looked like stone, but were made of a fibrous material. She also picked up a small herb basket with thyme, lavender and rosemary to put on her desk at work. The woman who owned the herb farm urged her to purchase exotic plants for her office when Sylvia explained the sterility of the place. She caved and bought a bromeliad and a peace lily. They were certainly easy enough to care for. She loved the stag’s head fern, but wasn’t sure it would go over well at Thurmont to have a large plant attached to the wall.
On her way home she stopped in a small town filled with boutiques and antique stores. One of the boutiques had gorgeous clothes in exquisite fabrics. Sylvia fell in love with a lemony yellow linen sundress sprinkled with small purple iris. Sylvia decided had to have it, especially after she tried it on. Usually she didn’t wear yellow, but when she put on this dress, it brought out the golden brown highlights in her brown hair and thankfully didn’t make her look sallow. Sylvia bought it immediately not even caring where or when she would wear it. She picked up some fresh strawberries and early vegetables at a farm stand, potting soil from a discount store and headed home to work on her planters.
The planters looked beautiful flanking the stairs from the deck filled with thyme that spilled over the edges, tall spiky rosemary, curly tufts of parsley, and mounds of oregano. She breathed in the heady fragrance of the herbs happily. All day she kept trying not to think of Anna with Owen and Marian, but it was difficult especially now that the sun was setting and she knew Anna was surely at Marian’s by this time. Sylvia wished jealously and childishly that she had a reason to go or call there.
Anna was a puzzle to her. She obviously sensed Sylvia as a threat with regards to Owen…but was that enough for the cold hatred that she had seen in her eyes? It was disconcerting to have someone who is a stranger dislike her so intently and for no apparent reason.
The weekend passed far too quickly for Sylvia and she moved into a busy week. Mr. Carter wanted drafts of brochures on the company by the end of the week. Sylvia pulled together her notes and worked on a couple of different designs to share with him. Mr. Carter was busy addressing some of the public’s concern about the superfund clean-up. He received several letters of complaint and some hate mail for the company. Any phone calls she received on the subject she thankfully forwarded to his voicemail. Carol e-mailed her about lunch and Sylvia gladly joined her. She had started to pack lunch, finding it difficult to cook a meal for just one person. Usually she rounded out her sandwich with a salad from the cafeteria. Carol was waiting for her when she arrived.
“How are you doing?” Carol asked.
“Fine,” Sylvia answered, “Hard at work.”
“I know what you mean,” Carol complained. “I had to work late a lot last week.”
“Yes,” Sylvia said, “I didn’t see you at the meeting.”
“I know,” Carol said, “I opted to stay here late rather than listen to the boring financial reports. Sometimes it’s difficult to not to nod off in those meetings.”
“I know what you mean,” Sylvia said. “I was yawning a lot by the end.”
Owen came from the cafeteria over to where they were seated.
“Do you mind if I join you?” he asked.
“No, not at all,” Carol said, smiling up at him.
Sylvia made introductions. Carol had met Owen briefly when he was hired and asked how he was doing. They chatted about the lovely weather and the upcoming expected blaze of heat that would hit next month. Carol left in a few minutes needing to get back to work.
“How was your weekend?” Sylvia asked Owen lightly, dying to know where Anna was.
“Good,” Owen replied, “Quiet. You?”
“Same,” Sylvia replied, “Quiet, but good.”
They were both silent for a few moments, not knowing how to continue the conversation. Before the silence became too awkward, Owen told her that Marian would be calling her soon. She was planning a party in a couple of weeks and wondered if Sylvia would come and also help her out.
“I’d be glad to,” Sylvia said. “Do you know when it is?” she asked him.
“June 21st,” he told her. He asked how the job was going and she told him it was fine and busy. He had finally started working in the plant and checked out some of the environmental controls. He mentioned he would start some tests either this week or next. They were quiet again. The silence wasn’t exactly strained, but it was uncomfortable. Sylvia couldn’t help but feel a little prickly towards him. She looked down at his hands resting on the table. The aura was there, just a ½ inch or so of bluish-white light emanating from his skin. She looked at her own hand. It was difficult to see her own aura. She could just barely see the outline of it. She wondered what would happen if their two auras met. Instinctively she moved her hand closer.
“Sylvia,” Owen said softly, breaking into her thoughts. “Are you okay?”
Her hand stopped moving. “Hmm?” she murmured and looked up at him, but avoided his gaze. “Sorry,” she said, flushing a little. “I was thinking of something I needed to edit.” She didn’t feel right lying to him, but didn’t want to explain about the auras. “I’d better get back to the office. Nice to see you,” she added politely.
Owen nodded, “Same here,” he said.
She returned to the office trying to sort out her feelings about Owen. He had been friendly today, but too polite. She guessed that he definitely did not feel the same way she did about him and decided it was a school girl crush that had to be put to bed.
Hoping that working hard would put Owen out of her mind, Sylvia completed the draft of one of the brochures. She took it in to Mr. Carter who was pleased with the result. She told him the other brochure was nearly completed. He said he would send this first brochure to the corporate folks and let them know a second was coming. He hoped they would send it out for printing by the end of the week.
That night Marian called to tell her about the upcoming party. They chatted and Sylvia carefully avoided asking her about Anna at first.
“Tell me about the party,” Sylvia asked her. “How can I help you?”
“Well,” Marian began, “It’s a mid-summer’s eve party. We had lots of fun with them in England. We’ll be mildly pagan and build a bonfire and celebrate summer,” she told Sylvia. “I think I’ll refrain from rolling burning wheels down the hill though,” she said with a chuckle,
“and quell my deeper pagan roots.”
Marian continued, “I am hoping to serve fresh strawberries with champagne,” she said.
“Boy! You pull out all the stops!” Sylvia interrupted.
“Well, yes,” Marian said matter of fact, “It will be fun. I was hoping I could enlist your help to pick strawberries that morning with me. I’ll have most of the food prepared, but we’ll need to put on the finishing touches.”
“Sounds like fun,” Sylvia said.
Not able to contain her curiosity, Sylvia asked, “How was dinner Saturday night?”
“Fine,” Marian answered blandly. “Anna is an interesting person. She seems to be a brilliant chemist. She and Owen talked about things that were way over my head,” she told Sylvia. “She asked Owen a lot of questions for his environmental control plans,” she mentioned to Sylvia vaguely.
Sylvia didn’t comment and hung up after a few more minutes of chitchat. She smiled at Marian’s comment that Anna was ‘interesting.’ Sylvia would have loved to have seen her face. Feeling catty, she told herself to stop.
Sylvia finished creating the second promotional brochure the next morning and e-mailed Carol if she wanted to have lunch together. She did and they met in the cafeteria.
Carol was her usual perky self. She told Sylvia she was going back to school in the fall. She enjoyed her job, she told Sylvia, but wanted to go back for some computer classes and possibly a degree.
“Uh, oh,” Carol said suddenly, “Look out.”
“What?” Sylvia asked.
“Mr. Headly, one of the company executives and the company leach! Don’t let him get you in a corner,” she advised in whispered tones. “I call him Mr. Dick Head.”
Sylvia started to giggle. She couldn’t help herself.
“I’m serious!” Carol insisted, “Stop laughing! Here he comes!”
Mr. Headly was the man who stared at her so from the podium at the meeting last week. He was the one with the aura with dark streaks and he made a beeline for their table.
“Hello, Carol,” he said. “What’s the joke?” he asked.
“Hello Mr. Headley,” Carol said politely, nearly blushing. “No joke, we’re just being silly. This is Sylvia Ash, one of our new hires. She works in Public Information,” she said, introducing Sylvia who was taking long sips of cold soda to calm her giggles.
“Ah, yes,” he said. “I’m Richard Headly,” he introduced himself. “It’s nice to meet you.” He held out his hand and Sylvia took it introducing herself.
He held her hand for a moment too long for her comfort.
“I saw a copy of your brochure,” he told her. “Nice work. We’ll be keeping an eye on you.” He leered at her and she truly blushed.
He turned to go and Carol rolled her eyes at Sylvia. Sylvia had to choke back a giggle. She took a calming gulp of cold soda again and looked up at Carol who grinned at her.
“Okay, okay, I’ve got it…Richard Headly—Dick Head,” she said trying to control her giggles a second time.
“I told you,” Carol said seriously, trying to hide a smirk.
They watched him work his way through the cafeteria with his fake smile. He sat down when Sylvia saw Anna come in. She watched with interest that Anna practically sat on Mr. Headly’s lap and looked like a cat purring and licking cream. He was definitely interested in her attentions too. In fact, they looked like old friends.
“Oh, those two,” Carol said, bored. “They’re all over each other all of the time. Not quite a company scandal, but they’re an item.”
“Really!” Sylvia said. “She’s after Owen too,” she said quietly—more to herself than to Carol.
“Humph” Carol complained. “She’s after anything male in pants.”
Sylvia laughed. She loved Carol’s bold chutzpah.
“Uh, oh,” Carol said quietly to Sylvia.
Sylvia looked up to see Owen coming into the cafeteria. He saw Anna cozied up to Mr. Headly and had a look of surprise on his face. Anna totally ignored him and he blanched visibly.
“I’ll see you later,” Carol said, getting up from her seat. She walked past Owen and said, “There’s a free seat over there,” and she nodded in Sylvia’s direction.
Sylvia didn’t know whether or not to kiss her or crown her with her food. Owen came right over and Carol was giving her the thumbs up behind him and she couldn’t react.
“Hi, Syl,” he said, “Can I sit here?”
“Sure,” she said ignoring Carol’s grin.
She tried to keep the conversation light, but noticed Owen glancing frequently over at the table with Anna and Mr. Headly. They continued to have their cozy tete-a-tete in front of the company lunch crowd. Personally Sylvia thought they should go to an office or something. It was embarrassing to watch. She glanced at her watch and knew she had to get back to work.
“I need to get going,” Sylvia said gently.
Owen, who had been lost in thought, glanced at her. “Sorry,” he said. “Yup, I need to be going too.”
They dumped their trays and left. Sylvia didn’t glance back to see if Anna was watching or not. She couldn’t help but think that things hadn’t changed much since high school with the boy/girl competition thing and wondered if they ever would. Owen walked her back to her office.
“See you later,” she said lightly.
“See you,” he said, still distracted and waved goodbye to her and headed down the hallway.
She didn’t have time to think of Owen and their non-conversational lunch. Mr. Carter was pacing from his office to her desk back and forth and back and forth when she went in.
“Is everything okay?” Sylvia asked as she put her purse back into her desk.
Mr. Carter’s face looked worried and he glanced at Sylvia anxiously. It looked as though he wanted to say something and then thought the better of it. She peered at him curiously, waiting for him to say something. Finally, after a minute or two, he did.
“Yeah,” Mr. Carter answered and then he stopped and turned. “No, not really. I was wondering if you could help me out?” he asked.
“Sure, I guess so,” Sylvia answered, totally puzzled.
“I have to meet with a bleeding hearts activist group about the stream clean up,” he told her. “I was wondering if you would come along also.”
“Sure,” Sylvia answered. “When is it?”
He looked pained. “It’s really short notice,” he said. “It’s tonight.”
“That’s fine,” Sylvia told him. “I don’t have any plans for this evening.”
Mr. Carter looked relieved. “Thanks,” he told her. “I’m hoping these folks are going to be fairly calm. We had some pretty radical folks protesting throughout this project…” he broke off.
“I know a little about this, from a friend,” Sylvia said. She didn’t tell him that her grandmother had been part of some of the protest groups before she became ill.
He gave her the details and asked if she wanted to join him for dinner before the meeting.
“Sure,” Sylvia answered.
She spent the afternoon refreshing her memory about the demise of the stream and the clean up efforts, trying to get prepared for the evening.
They left just after five to get to an area seafood house. After they ordered dinner, Mr. Carter thanked her again for coming.
“You need to stop thanking me,” Sylvia said. “You’re making me nervous! What can these people do? We’ll be in the meeting room at the public library, right?”
“You’re right,” Mr. Carter answered. “It will be fine.”
He asked her how she liked the area and she told him that it was nice to live here and not just visit her grandmother here. She said she was settling in nicely.
“I’m not that familiar with the area,” he admitted. “Since they shipped me down here, I have spent most of my time either at the office or on the road commuting. I listen to a lot of books on tape,” he told her.
Sylvia nodded. “What do you do in your sp
are time?” she asked him.
He laughed and looked a little sheepish, “I love trains and model trains,” he told her. “I have quite a set up in one room of my house.”
“I know nothing about that,” Sylvia admitted, “but it sounds interesting.”
He told her about his travels by rail in the States and in Europe until their food came. The seafood house was fairly quiet on a Tuesday evening. They finished with some time to spare and Mr. Carter suggested they go to the library where the meeting was going to be held for the remaining time.
Sylvia tried to pay for her meal, but Mr. Carter told her absolutely not. He would submit it for reimbursement from the company, he told her. She assented.
The public library in town was quite small, but very cozy, thought Sylvia. They had a great variety of videos and a decent selection of books. She looked around and decided that she should get a card, but realized when she pulled out her license, that she needed to change everything over to Gran’s address. That would be something she could do on that day off in July. She told the woman at the circulation desk that she would be back in the next few weeks to get a card.
Mr. Carter had taken a book and went back to the meeting room to wait nervously for the group. He had also taken a couple of display boards that shared photos and captions from the beginning of the stream problem to its current ‘healed’ state and set them up around the room along with some promotional pamphlets on Thurmont and their products. Sylvia continued to look around until she saw a few people come in and head for the meeting room and she went to join Mr. Carter.
The Greening: a novel of romantic suspense...with a touch of magic (The Green Man Series Book 1) Page 15
