“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.”
* * * * *
Chapter 53
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.
* * * * *
Chapter 54
The kilns had all cooled and Nathan was in the process of emptying the electric kiln when Will entered the studio. Will gave Nathan a look that Nathan took as a sneer.
“I hope it’s alright. I was just checking to see if everything went all right with the kiln. It was still going when you went to sleep yesterday,” said Nathan.
“That fine. You can’t mess up that kiln. It’s automatic. The gas is another story.”
Nathan stood motionless with a piece of ceramic in each hand. If now was ok to empty the kiln, Nathan wondered, then why had Will sneered at him. “What’s wrong then? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m judging your reaction,” said Will.
“To the way you’re looking at me? I don’t like it.”
“No,” said Will. “You got to relax kid. I wanted to see what you thought of those pieces your taking out of the kiln there. They’re the ones you helped with you know?”
Nathan grinned and examined the two ceramic birds in his hands, a hummingbird, and a cardinal. Each had a subtle shine from the glaze that Nathan had applied. “God performs such miracles with his creations,” said Nathan.
“I’ll give you that,” said Will. He walked over to Nathan and took the humming bird from him, “But I think the help you gave him turned out pretty good.”
“Yea, I guess it did. Do you really think so?”
“Sure,” said Will. He lifted the piece eye level and lightly brushed his finger across the surface, “You see the evenness of the glaze. This is good. The way the glaze covers the paint on the hummingbird makes every detail accentuated not dulled down. You wouldn’t get this iridescent effect where the colors meld between the feathers without the light glaze here, here, and here. This is quality work.” Will held the piece up to the light then offered the hummingbird back to Nathan. “You keep this one.”
Nathan held the piece up inspecting the details that Will had just pointed out. “Thanks,” said Nathan.
“You made it,” said Will. “But you don’t get to keep everything you make. This is a business. That’s your first, so take it home.”
“I take it you slept well.”
“Slept fine,” said Will and then added before Nathan would question, “and I already raided the fridge this morning. So let’s get to work.”
Nathan put the birds on the worktable where he had been placing the items from the kiln and went back to empty the rest of the items still inside.
“Put the soldiers over here,” said Will as he sat down at the station he had set up for painting. “I’m going to work on the boys. I have some more glazing for you to do, maybe some painting today too.”
“The boys? The toy soldiers you mean.”
“Call ‘em what you will,” said Will as he put on his glasses and started to sort through his jars of paint.
“I was meaning to ask you about them. I sorted the orders on the board like you asked me. I didn’t see any orders for these.”
“These aren’t for any clients.”
“You just decided to build a bunch of toys.”
“Something like that, I’m building an army.”
Nathan watched Will for a moment. He had another question for Will on his lips. Will had steady hands for such small detailed work, steady hands that had not shown signs of tremors over the last few days, and his breath lacked the usual sweet scent of wine. Nathan chose to go on working. If Will needed an army Nathan thought he understood why.
* * * * *
Chapter 55
The train ride had been scenic and peaceful. Mitch had spent most of the ride in the dining car with his notebook. He enjoyed trains and thought the trip was relaxing despite the mounting commuter crowd that had boarded as he approached the city. When he arrived at the station, all sense of calmness went away. Upon exiting the train, he was caught up in the whirlwind that was the city’s mass transit center. Mitch had not been to the city in two years and the bustle caught him by surprise. This was mid-afternoon and hardly a busy time by any means, still people whisked past him to get to where they needed to be.
Mitch took in a deep breath, lifted his duffel to his shoulder, and made his way to the street. Still too early to meet up with Abby he did not have an immediate plan. Mitch decided that his time would best be served at a diner and decided to find one nearby.
Out on the street the snow was falling in large fluffy flakes that were building up a layer of slush on the sidewalk. He paused outside of the doors of the station momentarily to get his bearings and was almost knocked down by a large man in a black overcoat carrying a briefcase. Mitch turned to say, “Excuse me,” and the man was already down the sidewalk. On the street people were in just as much of a hurry as they had been in the station. Mitch decided he needed to start walking just to not be taken down. He wanted to stretch his legs anyway, he thought, and if he came upon a place to stop he would.
The snow continued to fall and people pressed between cars in traffic with their shoulders hunched up to ward off the wet snow. Taxi’s honked their horns at the slow moving trucks in front of them. The vendors along the avenue stood vigil over card tables covered with plastic sheets, the same Mitch bought in bulk for job sites.
After walking several blocks, Mitch could feel the snow starting to cake into his hair and melt down the side of his face. Not wanting to get too wet he stepped into the next diner he saw and took a seat at the counter, placing his duffel on the floor next to him. A large Mediterranean man behind the counter approached him and handed Mitch a menu.
“Coffee?”
“A coffee would be fine,” said Mitch.
The man produced a cup and a coffee pitcher in two swift motions, before Mitch’s jacket was off his shoulders.
Mitch removed his canvas jacket and before he could set
the coat down he heard his cell phone ring inside. He reached his hand to the inside pocket and pulled out his phone to see if Abby was calling. Abby was.
* * * * *
Chapter 56
Olivia had left the office early again, leaving Abby responsible for Jules. The two were peers yet Jules defined ‘when the cat’s away’ behavior. Olivia had not been gone for more than twenty minutes before Jules was deep into questioning about Mitch. Abby had made the mistake of telling Jules that Mitch was to call in the evening and Abby had been delinquent to report. Jules had not mentioned a report through the day as Abby was still catching up. Now that the last hour of Friday afternoon was upon them there would be no more slack. So Abby filled Jules in on what she remembered of the conversation. She did not really mind doing so. Having a man to discuss was a bit of an upswing for a change, something positive. The talk did remind Abby that she wanted to call Mitch though so she told Jules to let her go for a moment and Jules did so happily.
Abby tapped Mitch’s name on her cell and the phone dialed.
“Hello,” said Mitch.
“Hi,” said Abby. “How are you?”
“Great. A little wet. The snow is really starting to come down.”
“That’s funny, it is here too,” said Abby glancing out the window at the large flakes floating past.
“Well, I should think so. I’m only about three or four blocks from the museum.”
Silence. A pause. “Hello?” asked Mitch.
“Where are you?” asked Abby.
“I think I’m about three blocks over. At a place called the Moon diner. It’s on--,”
“—Yea, I know where it is. What are you doing there?”
“I had to step in from the snow. I was getting soaked.”
“What are you doing in the city?”
“Oh,” said Mitch, “This was a mistake. You don’t remember do you? I told you, you wouldn’t remember.”
“Remember what?”
“On the phone last night.”
Abby went back to the night before and rewound the conversation. Abby had said she was sorry she left, she had left because of her father, and she had talked about her father. What else was there that was missing? In a rush, an epiphany came to Abby. She had told Mitch that if he came this weekend she would smooth things over. She had told him to come. Mitch had said no and Abby dared him to come, had talked him into coming.
“Of course, on the phone,” said Abby. “Hang on a second.”
Abby turned to Jules and whispered frantically, “I invited him to the city last night, and it’s all your fault.”
Jules did not miss a beat, “So ask him why he hasn’t called you?”
Calmly Abby asked, “So why haven’t you called me? I mean what are you doing in the city already and you haven’t called me?”
“Oh, well I thought you’d be working. You’re working right?”
Abby whispered to Jules, “He thought I’d be working.”
“Well, tell him we can meet him when we get off,” said Jules.
Abby turned back into the phone. “We can meet you when we get off,” said Abby.
“We?”
“We, yea, you and me I mean,” said Abby. Abby rolled her eyes at Jules.
“Ok,” said Mitch.
“Ok,” said Abby, “How about O’Malley’s, say an hour?”
“Sure. I’ll see you then.”
Abby put her cell phone down on her desk then let out a guttural sound.
“That doesn’t sound nice honey,” said Jules. She pulled a compact mirror with face powder out of her bag, opened the clamshell, and applied a soft amount of powder to her cheeks.
“This is horrible,” said Abby.
“Is it?” asked Jules. “ Now why is that?”
“Because he is here.”
“This is going to be fun, I like country boys. I don’t think I’ve met a lake boy either.”
“Cut it out,” said Abby, “ besides, he’s from here. He just lives out there now.”
“Now there’s a thought. He was smart enough to get away from it all. You may have yourself a genius.”
“I said cut it out,” said Abby.
“Ok, ok. I tell you what. Why don’t we head over there now and get a head start. That way you can prepare.”
“Well, I’m not going to get anymore work done today. That’s for sure.”
“Now you’re talking.”
* * * * *
Chapter 57
“I’ll have a Guinness and a shot of Jameson and so will she,” Jules said to the young waiter at their booth.
“I will not,” said Abby. Jules locked her green eyes on Abby and arched her red brows. Abby changed her order, “Ok, I guess I will.”
“Sure thing,” the waiter said as he turned away, only moderately impressed with the two young women ordering shots.
Jules took note of his cavalier reaction, “I wonder what I have to do to impress him?”
Abby quickly picked up, “Nothing,” said Abby. “And this will be it for the shots. The last thing I need is to lose my head.”
“I promise,” said Jules, “no more shots.” When the waiter came back with their beer, she immediately ordered two more. The girls toasted to late night phone calls and drank their shot of Jameson. Both of them snickered their noses at the sharpness of the whiskey.
O’Malley’s was large for a bar in the city. Upon entering there was a large recessed floor full of tables that was surrounded on the sides by dark wooden booths and above them a second floor of the same. At the back of the room was a stage that had equipment set up for the sound system. Televisions peppered the bar, Abby thought this the only down side of the bar.
“So how do you feel?” asked Jules.
“I feel hardly anything right at this second,” said Abby. They both started laughing again. “Seriously,” said Abby, “I’m good, this is good. But really, no more shots.”
“Ok, ok. Scouts honor. Look over there,” Jules gestured across the room to the entrance. “That cute guy has to belong to you. If not he’s mine.”
At the entrance of the bar stood Mitch in his jeans and canvas jacket, holding his duffel next to him. He saw the girls watching him so he raised his hand to wave.
“He’s mine alright,” said Abby. She got up from the booth and walked in his direction.
The two met in the middle of the floor and each raised their arms to the others waists. They gave each other a quick kiss and then Abby took Mitch’s hand and led him to the table where Jules was waiting for her kiss on the cheek.
“Aren’t you lovely?” said Jules.
“You must be Jules,” said Mitch.
The girls sat and Mitch took a seat next to Abby after putting his coat on a hook at the end of the booth.
“So here we are,” said Jules.
“So here we are,” said Mitch. “I suppose I’ll get a beer.” He gestured to the waiter that had watched him walk over to the table. Mitch glanced at the two shot glasses that Jules had slid to the end of the table. He exchanged glances with the girls. “What were those?” asked Mitch.
“Wanna try one?” asked Jules.
“Forget I asked,” said Mitch.
When the waiter came to the table Abby was relieved to see Mitch ordering a bottled beer.
Abby felt like she was showing Mitch off. Jules was chatting away to Mitch and Abby watched how he held his bottle in his hand away from the table. She liked how he kept a half smile on his face and maintained eye contact with Jules while she spoke to him. He was wearing a cream collar shirt with a dark blue t-shirt underneath that seemed made for the dark motif of the bar. Abby thought that he was charming, as did Jules. He was charming. To be with the two girls so politely fawning over him was not hard.
Mitch thought wise to order some food for the table, and though the girls said that they were not hungry, everyone ate plenty when the fried calamari and potato skins were brought to the table. Mitch too was pleased to be with Abby
. He watched her as she nibbled her food and sipped her beer, giggling at Jules’ wit.
After the appetizers were finished, Abby suggested they order another round of drinks. That’s when Jules excused herself for the evening.
“Why don’t we all go then,” said Abby. “I am sure you want to change after that train ride, and I’d like to freshen up before dinner.”
Mitch agreed and the three paid the tab and made their way for the door. Outside the sidewalk now was covered with an inch of snow and flakes were coming down thick.
“Isn’t this beautiful?” said Jules.
“You want to catch a cab with us?” asked Abby.
“No you go ahead, I’ll find my own way. See ya!” said Jules. Jules turned and tromped off in the snow.
“Will she be able to catch a cab?” asked Mitch.
“She’s not going home yet.”
“Oh, I see.”
Mitch put his hand up over his brow and peered in through the snow down the darkened street. “ I’m not sure we’re getting a cab either.”
“That’s ok, I’m not far. And I have my slicks on.”
Mitch saw that Abby had changed her shoes before leaving the bar. She was wearing blue duck shoes.
“Those look comfy,” said Mitch.
“They are. C’mon, this way,” said Abby.
Abby took his arm above the elbow and pulled him in front of her so that he could lead the way. The night was velvety black and the flakes appeared from nowhere just feet above their heads.
Abby wondered if Mitch realized that she had forgotten that she had invited him to come see her this weekend. She thought about the linguistic gymnastics she had done on the phone earlier and how transparently clumsy they were. Then Abby thought that if Mitch did know, how charming that he had taken everything in stride.
* * * * *
Chapter 58
As they walked along the avenue toward her apartment Abby pointed out shops that were attributed to her and why. She used this drycleaner as a tailor, the other for skirts. This soap shop is where she got her soaps and bath oil yet when Mitch asked, certainly not her shampoo, that would be downtown. And when they were within a block of her apartment she pointed out a sweet shop that had the best gelato and biscotti. Mitch asked how their espresso was and Abby replied that she did not know where to get a better cappuccino. They decided they needed to have some then.
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