While Sven sipped at his coffee, I dug a knife into the grape jelly jar that he thoughtfully included on the tray. I spread it in a thin layer across the already buttered toast. I said, “This is just like when I was a kid. Grape jelly on toast.”
Sven said, “It goes great with peanut butter, too.” Then he added, “It’s not like you’re the only one that’s figured a few things out, Lowell.”
I reached under the sheet and slipped my hand along his inner thigh. “You mean you figured out what a sexy guy I am?”
Sven laughed that deep, rolling laugh that I loved. Then he said, “I have to admit that my life was pretty dull before you fell on me at the softball game.”
“Fell on you?” I asked. “You knocked me down, you brute.”
“Either way, it felt pretty good, didn’t it?” asked Sven.
I nodded. “Yeah, I have to admit that you’re right about that.”
Sven continued his comments. He said, “Life with Stuart was pretty dull. He was really picky about everything, and we never did anything but eat, shop, and watch TV. Once in awhile we went out to dinner or a movie, but there was never anything unique.”
I wrinkled up my face and asked, “Well, why did you stay with him? You said he walked out on you, right? You didn’t leave him.”
Sven said, “That’s how I thought things were supposed to be. I found a guy. He was kind of cute. I bought a house. I figured that after a few more months we would move in together. Eventually we would get married, and then we would grow old together as a couple of geezers rocking in chairs on the front porch.”
“And never ever jump out of a plane.”
Sven shook his head. He said, “We wouldn’t even have a candlelight dinner on the beach.”
I turned toward him and said, “Well, you were pretty damn lucky to find me, weren’t you?”
He laughed and said, “I don’t think I told you what happened at work the other day.”
I raised an eyebrow. “No, you didn’t. Aren’t you supposed to share things like that with me now. I think it’s in the rulebook somewhere that after a certain number of dates we start to share things like that.”
“Are you interested in what goes on at my bank?” asked Sven.
I grimaced briefly, and then I said, “I’m interested in what happens to you. Is that good enough?”
Sven smiled and said, “That’s a good answer. Anyway, I had this horrible day of meetings planned, and for part of it, I had to explain why we didn’t meet some of our performance goals.”
I said, “Aww damn, I bet that was rough, Sven.” I ran my fingers along his inner thigh again.
He grabbed my hand and said, “Quit trying to distract me. I’m trying to tell a story. Anyway, I started thinking about ideas that seemed good to me, but I thought they were a little risky. I thought there was a chance of negative repercussions from bringing them up.”
I opened my eyes wider and looked at him. Sven looked just like a little boy who was sharing something exciting with anybody who would listen. I asked, “Did you go ahead and bring them up anyway.”
Sven said, “Yes, I did, and you know what?”
“Well, I don’t think you got fired.”
He smirked at me and said, “No, they thought they were great ideas, and I cut our meeting time for the week in half. It turned out to be a great day, Lowell. Thank you for the inspiration.”
19
Sven
“You’re popular now, Mr. Paulsen.” Anita held out a steaming cup of coffee ready for me as I rounded the corner.
I took the coffee from her hand and said, “Thank you. You didn’t have to do this for me. I’m perfectly capable of making my own cup of coffee.”
She said, “You walk in at the same time like clockwork most mornings, so I was feeling generous. I’ve gotten inquiries about your suggestions about the meetings.”
I sipped at the coffee. “Inquiries?”
She took a sip of her own coffee and said, “Yep, they keep asking if it was really my idea and not yours.” She chuckled softly. “They are surprised that you thought outside the box.”
I smiled and said, “Well, you can take credit if you want to. I’m just happy to make an improvement for myself and everybody else.” I began to snake my way through the cubicles, and she followed at my side.
Anita said, “I know I’m being nosy again, but how are things with Lowell?”
After I entered my office, I said, “Close the door behind you.”
She looked slightly worried after she followed my instruction. She asked, “Has something gone wrong, Mr. Paulsen.”
I grinned and said, “Oh, nothing at all. I just don’t like talking about my personal life within earshot of everybody else. Anita, I’m actually kind of blown away. I can’t believe it’s all happening. I never had anything like this with Stuart.”
She took a long sip of her coffee and smiled back at me saying, “I’m so very happy for you. You’re a good man, Mr. Paulsen. Anyone should feel lucky to have you, but I hope you don’t mind if I say that I thought Stuart wasn’t quite good enough for you. I only met him twice, but I’m a pretty good judge of character. When do I get to meet Lowell?”
I sat in my chair behind my desk. “I need to figure out sometime to bring him up here. Lowell has asked about seeing my office. I just need to figure out a good day.”
She pushed her long dark hair back over her shoulder and said, “I’m sure he’s very handsome. I can’t wait.” Then she paused before she added, “If it’s okay to make the suggestion, the two of you should have some photos made so you can put one on your desk and think about him all day long.”
I said, “I really don’t need the help of a photo to think about Lowell.”
As if on cue, my cell phone vibrated in my pocket. A call was coming through. I pulled it out expecting it might be a call from Lowell.
While I was staring at the screen, Anita excused herself and closed my office door behind her. I was surprised to see that it was a call from Ian. I answered and said, “Good morning.”
His voice sounded harried and breathless. Ian asked, “Can I come down and join you for lunch, Sven?”
I was surprised by the request and silent for a moment. I said, “Let me check the schedule, but I think it should be fine.”
Ian said, “Okay. Yes, of course.”
I pulled up my daily schedule on the computer, and saw that it was free of any lunch appointments. I said, “It looks completely open. Where would you like to go?”
Ian said, “I can just come to your building. There’s a basic restaurant on the first floor if my memory is accurate.”
“Yep, it’s not a whole lot more than a cafeteria. It’s not very elegant.”
Ian said, “I just need to talk to you about something, Sven, but I don’t want to do it over the phone.”
I felt my body start to tense. It sounded like something was wrong. I asked, “Is Blake okay? You sound a little worried.”
He said, “Blake is just fine, and I’m fine. Don’t worry about that, but we do need to talk. Does noon work?”
“Noon is great, Ian. I’ll see you then.”
I was distracted for the rest of the morning. Even when I received a cheerful text from Lowell saying:
I hope you’re having a great day. Mine is excellent every moment that I think about you.
I found it hard to concentrate. Ian’s voice made it sound like something was very urgent, and he didn’t want to wait until my work day was over. My mind raced about what it could be. If it wasn’t about him or Blake, it must be Reggie, or me. I couldn’t get the wildly careening thoughts out of my head.
* * *
Ian was dressed sharp in a button-up blue plaid shirt and khaki pants. He was just as handsome as Blake in his own way. While he had blond hair and blue eyes like me, he didn’t have the Scandinavian heritage.
I reached out for a hug when we met in the lobby of the building teeming with people coming and going fo
r lunch. He gripped my body tight as I said, “You’ve had me worried all morning.”
He said, “Well, it is a little concerning, but let’s get our lunch first and then we can talk.”
We ordered sandwiches and drinks at the counter and within five minutes we were seated at a corner table where we could see Lake Michigan if we leaned in just the right direction. I spread a napkin in my lap and said, “Okay, now tell me what this is all about. You said Blake is fine. Is it something about your work? Or about Reggie?”
Ian shook his head and said, “No, it’s about Lowell.”
I was instantly confused. I opened my eyes wide and asked, “Lowell?”
He nodded. “Yeah, Blake came home with the news last night, and neither of us slept well. We tossed and turned all night. We talked about it this morning, and I knew that I had to contact you before you heard things the wrong way from the wrong people.”
My brow knitted together in confusion. I said, “What kind of news? I just got a really sweet text message from Lowell about an hour ago. He spent the night after the game at my place, and I made breakfast in bed the next morning. I’m confused, Ian.”
Ian sighed heavily and said, “I don’t have any other way to put it. I think I just have to be direct. Lowell was at the Toolbox last night.”
I tilted my head to the right saying, “Yeah, that’s no surprise. I know he goes there regularly when he has a late evening at work. It’s sort of his routine if we aren’t hanging out together. He’s got some other casual friends that do the same. Sometimes he talks to Blake or Reggie if he shows up there.”
Ian continued and said, “It was a busy night at the Toolbox last night, and Blake called Claw to ask if he could pick up a few extra hours helping work the bar and ease the pressure.”
I said, “C’mon, Ian. Spit it out. I don’t care about Blake and Claw right now. You have me worried about Lowell.”
He said, “When Blake and Claw cashed out at the end of the night they were $500 short. This is the second time recently. Early last week they came up $400 short. It’s really unusual for them, and it’s even stranger that it’s such a round number.”
I spoke out immediately. “What does this have to do with Lowell? It doesn’t have anything to do with Lowell.”
Ian said, “Well, they are still trying to piece together exactly what happened last week, but last night they saw Lowell walking out into the main part of the bar from the back area where Sally’s office is. There’s a sort of short cut out to the street that goes past her office, and a few regular customers know that they can use it, so at first they didn’t think it was unusual to see Lowell there at all.”
I asked, “They think Lowell stole the money? Is that what you’re trying to say? I would think there are a lot of other explanations. Did Sally have money in her office?”
Ian sighed and said, “They found the money box in her office unlocked.”
I hung my head and mumbled, “He has been short of cash lately, but I can’t believe he would steal it.” I raised my head again and stared into Ian’s eyes, “You’ve known Lowell for years now. He wouldn’t do something like that. You don’t think he would do something like that, do you?”
Ian said, “I don’t want to think he would do something like that. Don’t jump to conclusions just yet. Blake and Claw are going to talk to Sally today, and they will do some more of their own investigations. I wanted to give you a heads up, but I would appreciate it if you didn’t say anything to Lowell.”
“Of course not. I won’t say anything to him, but I can’t believe he would do something like that. He doesn’t have a criminal record. At least I don’t think he does. He told me about one…” I held my tongue and didn’t say any more.
“Blake said that if they suspect he is behind it, they’ll talk to him and do a background search before going any further and bringing in authorities. He explained that it can be very difficult to prove something like this, but if they suspect Lowell after checking everything out, he will be watched closely any time he goes to the Toolbox.” Then Ian stared into my eyes. “Sven, if you know anything or find out anything, will you share it? Nothing good can come about for anyone if it’s all just kept a secret.”
I shivered and felt the hair on my forearms stand on end. I could feel a tear start to form in the corner of my eye when I said, “Yes, if I find out anything I’ll let you know.” I reached out to Ian’s right arm and said, “Is it okay if we end lunch now. I’m not very hungry any more. I think I need to go sit in my office for a little while.”
Ian nodded and said, “Oh, of course. I really hated that I needed to tell you about this, but I wanted you to hear it first from a friend.” He stood up and offered a hug.
I accepted it, but I broke away quickly. I said, “I’m sorry. I really need some time to myself.”
Fortunately, the main office area on my floor was nearly empty. Most everyone was still gone for lunch. I stumbled my way among the cubicles. I was reeling from Ian’s news.
Back in my office I nearly fell into my chair. Lowell telling me about his experience being caught shoplifting when he was ten years old pounded in my brain. I tried to pull up the memory and see Lowell as he said it. It was dark and we were scrambling down the bluff to the lake. I couldn’t really see the expression on his face when he told me.
I lowered my head into my hands and felt tears roll down my cheeks. The tears turned into sobs, and I sat alone in my office crying. If the suspicion really was true, I didn’t know what I would do. The news seemed to just come out of nowhere. Everything with Lowell was perfect. It was better than perfect. It was almost like living in a dream.
Now, it was all coming crashing down. At least, there was a threat that it would come crashing down. I realized that I needed to stop myself from jumping ahead too far into the future. Even if Sally proceeded with suspicion of Lowell, he needed to be given the opportunity to clear himself.
The tears rolled down my cheeks again. I couldn’t believe how one event could cast such a dark cloud over everything. The world was a perfect place and one random event later it was all going to hell.
20
Lowell
At 5:15 p.m., as soon as I arrived home from work, I tried to call Sven to plan something for the evening. The phone rang six times, and he didn’t answer. Finally, I hung up. I reasoned that maybe he was in the bathroom, or perhaps he was out in the backyard for a few minutes. Still, it was unusual for him to not answer the phone.
I paced around my apartment. Something just didn’t feel right, but I couldn’t place it. I tried sitting down in front of the TV, but I couldn’t think of any kind of show that I wanted to watch, Instead, I just sprawled on the couch and stared into the distance.
The apartment was neater and tidier than it had been in years. I knew that I would have to invite Sven over soon, and I couldn’t bear the idea of him seeing the pit I was living in when we first started dating. Over the past two weeks, on evenings that I spent at home on my own, I methodically moved from room to room cleaning up. As I looked around, I was proud of what I accomplished. It was still just a glorified box, but I wouldn’t be embarrassed to have Sven see it.
Fifteen minutes later, I tried to call again. Once more there was no answer. My palms started to itch, and I was a little bit worried. I told myself to calm down and try to call once more in half an hour. If I didn’t get an answer from Sven after the third try, I could drive over to his house and see what was up.
I opened the refrigerator and searched to see if there was something worth snacking on. I wanted to have dinner with Sven, but I needed something to distract myself while I waited the next half hour before I tried to call again. I told myself that he might call on his own, and that would cut the waiting time down.
The only thing in my refrigerator that would make an easy snack was two old yogurt containers of questionable age. I pulled them out one by one to check the dates and discovered they were more than a month past the suggested d
ate for eating. I grumbled and tossed them in the trash.
Then I pulled open the freezer. I had a couple of frozen pasta meals that I could heat up, but I didn’t want to eat an entire meal in case I was going to eat later. I slammed the freezer door shut and returned to the couch. I turned on the TV and switched the channel to local news.
It was a boring mishmash of the latest violent crimes in the city and a thunderstorm that was expected to arrive in two days. The weatherman seemed almost giddy with excitement, because we were experiencing an unusual dry spell, and the promised storm would bring that to an end.
Just as I picked my cell phone up from the coffee table, it rang. My hand shook as I looked to see who was calling. It wasn’t someone on my contact list, and I didn’t recognize the number. Still, it was a local call, and I decided to answer.
A female voice on the other end asked, “Is this Lowell Baker?”
I said, “Yes, it is. May I ask who is calling?”
She answered, “This is Sally.” She mumbled a last name that I couldn’t understand, but then she continued, “I’m one of the owners of the Toolbox, and I had a matter that I wanted to talk over with you.” Her voice sounded flat and lacking in emotion.
“A matter?” I asked.
She said, “I would rather not discuss it over the phone, Lowell. Would you be able to stop in at the Toolbox? I will be here all this evening, and then tomorrow I arrive at 11:00 a.m.”
I was confused by what she might be wanting to discuss, but I was a regular customer. Blake was also a bartender at the Toolbox. I didn’t want to ruffle feathers and create any unnecessary problems. I said, “Sure, I can be down in about fifteen minutes.”
Always Waiting: The League, Book 3 Page 12
