The Leafing: the 2nd book in The Green Man series

by Sharon Brubaker

  “What’s wrong, Perc?” she asked him.

  He came over to her and took the edge of her sweater in his teeth and pulled gently.

  Sylvia looked up at Tony questioningly. He shrugged and looked thoughtfully at the dog.

  “Do you need to go out?” she asked the dog.

  Percy didn’t stop, but just continued to tug gently on her sweater. Sylvia stood up and he pulled her towards the door.

  “Do you want to go for a walk?” Sylvia asked Percy.

  His ears perked up and he whined in return. She chuckled.

  “Look,” she said to Percy, “it’s probably high time I get home. Why don’t you and your Daddy walk me home?” she queried.

  She looked at Tony.

  He jumped as if startled. “Sure, sure,” he said. “Come on Perc, go get your leash.”

  Sylvia shooed Percy out into the hallway. “Go get your leash,” she told him, “I’m coming.”

  The dog trotted down a few steps and turned to look at her.

  “I’m coming,” she said insistently to Percy.

  The air was colder and damper when they walked outside.

  “Feels like more snow,” Sylvia said happily.

  As if on cue, a few flakes dropped from the sky. Tony seemed lost in thought as they walked and Sylvia didn’t continue the conversation. They turned silently and walked up the sidewalk. Sylvia opened the door and they stepped inside.

  “Thanks for the brunch and surprise,” she told Tony when they stepped inside. “It was great.”

  “No problem,” his voice had a husky tone. He turned her to him and took her by the shoulders and looked deep into her eyes. “You have no idea how good you are for me,” he said.

  Sylvia blushed and he gripped her tighter and gave her a long, lingering kiss. She wasn’t sure how long they stood in the foyer.

  “I know we’re both unsure about this,” he whispered into her hair. “Let’s just take one step at a time, okay?”

  “Okay,” she whispered back.

  The phone began to ring shrilly and with a sigh, Sylvia stepped from Tony’s arms, going to find it. It was in the living room on the coffee table. Percy was at his usual post by the window and French doors.

  “Hi Mom,” Sylvia answered flushing furiously as if her Mother could see her.

  “Syl, where have you been?” her mother demanded. “I’ve been calling and calling the house and your cell phone. Are you all right?”

  “Yes, Mom, I’m fine,” Sylvia assured her. “Can I call you back in minute…uh,” she stopped as Tony had come into the room to get Percy and he gave a little wave goodbye.

  “I’ll call you,” he whispered. “Dinner? Next weekend?”

  She nodded and waved and he went down the hallway to let himself out.

  Sylvia settled into a chair and returned her attention to her Mom who was prattling away. “What was that you said, Mom?” she asked.

  Her mother queried where she had been and Sylvia told her about brunch and the movie.

  “Are you dating this, this Tony guy?” her mother inquired.

  “No, Mom,” Sylvia told her. “We’re just friends.”

  “Hmm…” her Mom answered.

  Her Mother continued on, telling her of the thousands of people in the Philadelphia area without power due to the storm, the road closures and the many accidents. She asked Sylvia all about the party, the amount of snow they had at Bayside, her job and sundry things.

  Before they hung up her Mother told Sylvia, “you’re in a fragile state right now, Syl.” She warned her daughter, “Don’t do anything rash on the rebound with this Tony guy.”

  “Okay, okay, Mom,” Sylvia said, totally annoyed with her Mother’s advice. “I’ll be fine. Look, I need to go and get stuff ready for tomorrow. I didn’t realize it was so late.”

  They said their goodbyes and Sylvia hung up with a relieved sigh.

  Chapter 14

  The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.

  Ernest Hemingway

  Carol nearly jumped her when she walked into the office the next morning. She cried, “Well? Well? Tell me all about the party,” she blurted out. “Did you have a good time? What did Owen think of the dress?”

  Before Sylvia could answer Carol continued with a sly note in her voice, “I was going to call you yesterday, but…I didn’t want to disturb you.”

  Sylvia looked at her with a puzzled expression.

  “Let me dump my coat and stuff in the office and get a cup of coffee, okay?” Sylvia told her.

  “I’ll get your coffee,” Carol said and hurried off to the break room down the hallway.

  Sylvia hung her coat on the hook behind her door and dropped her purse and briefcase. Carol looked as though she was going to burst out of her skin. Sylvia chuckled. She took the coffee and took a sip, savoring the heat.

  “Yes, I know I’m torturing you,” she told her friend who sighed exasperatedly.

  “You know Marian’s parties,” she said to Carol, “they’re fantastic. This one was all candlelight and gold accents, lots of people and fabulous food.”

  “What about Owen?” Carol asked, “What did he think of the dress?”

  Sylvia shook her head slightly. “Actually, he was quite rude. I’m not sure he noticed the dress.”

  “Rude?” Carol asked surprised. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean r-u-d-e!” Sylvia said hotly. “I ran into him and he was barely civil to Tony and me.”

  “Tony?” Carol asked insistently, “Who is this Tony?”

  “You remember,” Sylvia reminded her, “My neighbor—the one with the dog I watched.”

  “What was he doing there?” Carol asked.

  “I invited him,” Sylvia told her. “I ran into him on a walk on Saturday and invited him. He accepted. And, by the way, he loved the dress. We had a pretty nice time except for Owen’s childish behavior.”

  Carol sat back with her face turning white. “I can’t believe it,” she said.

  “I don’t understand,” Sylvia asked her. “What don’t you believe?”

  Carol just sat and shook her head. “Poor Owen,” she murmured.

  “Poor Owen? Poor Owen! What are you talking about?” she now demanded of Carol.

  Carol sighed and looked into her coffee. “Well,” she began, “I need to confess something. Owen wanted to start to make up with you,” she told Sylvia, “but, he felt he had been such an ass and he didn’t know where to start. I—I’ve been talking and emailing him…trying to coach him…but, your showing up with a date probably really threw him off.”

  “I’ll say,” Sylvia said dryly. “He avoided us the entire night after we had a thirty second conversation. The rest of the party was nice though. I had way too much champagne.”

  “Oh?” Carol answered.

  “And Tony was a perfect gentleman,” she said, remembering with a smile. “Yesterday he called me pretty early and cooked brunch for me. We had a nice time.”

  “Sylvia,” Carol said with a warning tone, “He’s married if you’ve forgotten.”

  “I know, I know,” Sylvia told her. “We’re just friends.”

  “Humpf,” Carol snorted. “But, not for long. You’re catnip for this guy.”

  “Carol!” Sylvia admonished, “You don’t even know him!”

  “I know…” Carol began, “I just have this feeling, that’s all.”

  “Warning taken,” Sylvia told her crisply and got up to go to her office when Mr. Carter walked in. His expression of hope and raised eyebrows was too much.

  “Not you too!” Sylvia wailed. “You were in on the plan?”

  “Not really,” Mr. Carter said, looking sheepish. “Carol just filled me in on what was happening.” He hesitated, “Well?” he asked.

  “Nada,” Sylvia returned. “Long story and he was rude. I need to get to work.”

  Mr. Carter looked astonished and looked from Sylvia to Carol and back and forth once more as
Sylvia got up and went into her office and shut the door. When she was inside her office, she could hear the two of them murmuring. Sylvia shook her head. She couldn’t believe the elaborate ruse that had been set up. She couldn’t believe that Owen was sorry and wanted to make up. Why he hadn’t even tried anything in the last few weeks to make her believe that? She put her head in her hands for a few moments and breathed deeply.

  She logged onto her computer and began catching up on her email. Next she dove into a pile of grants she needed to read and make decisions on. They would need to go before the advisory board, and she needed to set up a meeting. First she typed a chart with the skeletal basics for each grant request, then emailed the board a suggested date with the attachment. She was surprised when Carol knocked on the door to see if she wanted to go to lunch.

  “I don’t think so,” she told Carol. “I may step out for a bit and get some fresh air.”

  “I’m truly sorry, Syl,” Carol confessed. “I shouldn’t have interfered. Her face was cloudy and she looked close to tears.

  “Thanks,” Sylvia replied.

  Sylvia put on her coat and headed out the door.

  “See you in an hour,” she told Carol.

  Leaving the building was freedom. Sylvia drew in long draughts of the cold air and went to her car. She drove out of the parking lot, not really knowing where to go. She barely realized she was headed towards home when her cell phone rang. Sylvia used one hand to fish inside her purse for the ringing and vibrating object. She glanced at the caller id before she answered.

  “Oh, Marian,” Sylvia cried, “Not you too!”

  There was a pause and Marian’s voice answered, “Sylvia, I thought the usual greeting was ‘hello.’ Is everything all right?

  “I’m sorry Marian,” Sylvia said. “It’s been a day. Hold on a moment.”

  Sylvia turned her car into the parking lot of a strip mall and let it idle as she resumed to talking to Marian.

  “Sorry, Marian,” Sylvia apologized again, “Apparently Carol and Owen had cooked up something to get Owen and I back together at your party. It seems everyone knew about it but me. And Owen was so rude at your party,” she blurted out.

  “Ahh,” Marian said. “Sylvia, I didn’t know about this, but it answers why Owen has been in such a black mood. I called to see if you wanted to come to dinner this Saturday with Jon and me? Owen will be out of town, if you’re worried about that,” she added.

  “I would love to Marian,” Sylvia told her, “but, I already have a date for this Saturday.”

  “Well, how about brunch or lunch on Sunday?” Marian offered.

  “That would be great,” Sylvia told her.

  “Good,” Marian said, “Eleven a.m. at my house?”

  “Sure, sure,” Sylvia answered. “It will be good to see you. Is there anything I can bring?”

  “No, just yourself,” Marian told her.

  Sylvia glanced at the time and realized her lunch hour was nearly over. She glanced at the strip mall she had pulled into to talk to Marian. Starving she was grateful to see a take-out Asian restaurant. She hurried in for some miso soup and a couple of sushi rolls. In her car she sat sipping the miso soup wondering what to do. Thinking about the party she realized she really had not given Owen a chance to talk to her. Her immediate reaction was the welling up of anger that had been squashed for weeks. Now she was curious as to what he would have said to her. She finished her soup and started to drive back to work eating her sushi on the way.

  Chapter 15

  Strength of character means the ability to overcome resentment against others, to hide hurt feelings, and to forgive quickly.

  Lawrence G. Lovasik

  As hard as she tried, Sylvia could not stay angry with Carol. Seeing Carol’s glum face when she looked at Sylvia was more than she could bear. Two days later she put a box of pastries and three coffees on Carol’s desk.

  “Look,” she said to Carol, “I’m not angry with you. I honestly don’t know what I’m feeling about Owen and I probably won’t until I talk with him myself. As much as I would like him to make the first move, he’s not. If we want to talk, I guess I need to get up the nerve to talk to him,” she told her friend. “And,” she added, “It is not your fault he acted like an ass at Marian’s party!”

  Carol looked at Sylvia. Sylvia looked at Carol and they both fell to laughing and hugging each other. Mr. Carter came out of his office with the commotion.

  “Now that’s what I like to see,” he said, smiling, “One big, happy family.”

  Both girls rolled their eyes at him and laughed again. Sylvia held out the pastry box.

  “Here,” Sylvia said to Mr. Carter, “have some of my bribe for Carol.”

  The caffeine and calories were a healing balm. Carol looked more like her old self and her sassiness reappeared. Mr. Carter beamed beatifically. Although it would be awkward in many workplaces, he acted like a surrogate father to the both of them. They were especially close as an office team, and became close friends when after Sylvia and Carol nursed Mr. Carter through his heart attack the previous summer.

  With things calmer and happier in the office, Sylvia was able to throw herself back into her projects. It was a long, but a smooth work week and she was quite happy to see the weekend coming. The bitter chill of the last few weeks let up with a surprising wave of spring-like weather. Saturday’s temperatures were to hit nearly seventy degrees and she was looking forward to a walk in the sunshine. The anticipation of dinner with Tony was a bright spot. She wondered what surprises he had in store for this weekend and shoved her growing feelings about him into a corner of her mind. They were just friends, she kept telling Carol, her mother and herself. But, were they?

  As promised by the Weather Channel, Saturday blossomed from a chilly sunny morning with strong sunshine heating up the world in a January thaw. Sylvia took her coffee out to the deck. The chair was chilly and she huddled into her coat until she felt warmed by the sun. As she sat it wasn’t long until she actually felt hot. She stood up and stretched, picked up her coffee and walked through the yard down to the beach.

  The winter storms had thrown up a lot of debris. Sticks, logs and trash littered the beach. When the weather and water warmed up, the Susquehanna and North East rivers would purge, bringing things up from the bottom. If water levels were high, the Conowingo Dam would open its floodgates and tons of debris would litter the shoreline. Sylvia knew the community would have a cleanup day with huge bonfires on the beach, but she wasn’t sure she could wait that long. She would pick up some of the smaller sticks and driftwood to use in the fireplace. She was careful using it in the fireplace because when it dried out it would poof up into flame instantly. The minerals in the water and sand gave the fire gorgeous colors. She loved to use the dried driftwood in bonfires on the beach. Then, she spied it. It was a large black ‘something’ on her beach. Inwardly she groaned. A couple of years ago Gran told her a neighbor had had to hire someone to lift the heavier things from the beach. This looked like one of those things. Under her breath she cursed the person who would throw their trash into the bay.

  What was it? From a distance, it looked like a swollen black puddle. Getting closer she realized it was a bag of trash.

  “Eeeuw,” she said out loud to herself. “I don’t want to begin to think about picking that up. “Eeeuw!” she said again more loudly as a stench floated towards her nostrils. It filled her mouth and nose and she retched. What a horrible stench. What was in that bag?

  Sylvia saw something sticking from the bag. She couldn’t tell what it was, but it was large and pale, with something sparkling from it. Tentatively Sylvia stepped closer as curiosity got the better of her. As she got closer Sylvia could see a pale, skeletal hand glittering with rings.

  Sylvia froze on the spot. Her eyes were glued to the hand poking from the bag. Then, she noticed a matted piece of blond hair at the edge of the yawning hole in the bag.

  “Oh, God. Joyce,” she thought. It had to b
e Joyce. She fumbled for her cell phone buried in her pocket. What to do? Call Tony? Call 911? She called 911 and explained what she found on the beach. The operator told her they would dispatch a state policeman right away.

  On trembling legs, Sylvia walked back to the house. She put coffee on and waited in the living room staring at the bag. Time seemed to stand still. She didn’t seem to be breathing. A loud knock jolted her. She scrambled to her feet to answer the door.

  A tall, blond officer with piercing blue eyes met hers when she opened it. He looked familiar.

  “Ma’am?” he asked. “Did you call 911?”

  “Y-y-yes,” she said shakily. “Come in.”

  She led him down the hallway to the living room and pointed to the beach with a shaking finger and trembling hand.

  “There,” she said. “Down there.”

  The officer went out the door and down the deck stairs. It took him only a moment to begin calling on his cell. He came back up to the house where Sylvia sat on the couch hugging herself.

  He knocked politely and then let himself in when she nodded.

  “May I sit down?” he asked.

  Sylvia nodded again.

  He opened his laptop and looked directly at her.

  “I need you to tell me everything that happened this morning, Ms. Ash,” he said.

  How did her know her name? Was it from the phone call to 911? She looked at him again. He looked so familiar.

  “Excuse me,” she said, “Before I begin, I have to ask, do I know you?”

  His professional demeanor dropped briefly. “Yes,” he said. “I’m the officer that answered the call about Ms. Hansen. I’m Joe, Detective Joe Collins.”

  “Now I remember,” she said softly, more to herself than to him. “You were so kind. You brought me a blanket and sat with me a bit on that horrible day when we found Anna’s body.”

  She proceeded to tell him how she got up and was having coffee on the deck, when she saw something large and black on the beach. She went to investigate and found the hand sticking out of the bag, and called 911. There wasn’t much to tell. He asked if she had touched anything and she told him, “ no.” After she told him the story, the reality of it began to sink in. She rocked back and forth.