Chapter 2 #4
What was it about this man that threw her off so?
Janice started to move so she could sit her drink and dessert on the table. She needed to know she hadn’t just killed the person she considered her only real friend, but Double-A beat her to it.
Giving Sascha several firm thumps on the back and rubbing in large circles, he passed the woman a napkin and he motioned with his other hand to the chairs across from them. “Please. Have a seat, ladies.”
Janice was reluctant to move, watching how the man crowded the woman she considered her best friend. Uncertainty built slowly within her. She couldn’t say she’d ever really minded change before, but this?
This was too much for her. Janice only had one friend and there was a reason for that.
Several actually. Among them, the main two were that she felt a special kind of kindred spirit with the other woman.
She also liked that Sascha had never been noisy about her past and respected her desire to keep it private.
Those two things had enamored Janice to the woman initially and became the basis for her own justification of letting her in.
Now though, Janice wondered how the other woman actually saw her.
It was Addie, looping an arm through hers, that got Janice around to the other side of the table and sitting.
When Sascha finally stopped coughing, Janice opened her mouth to ask if she was okay, only to snap her jaw shut as Double-A beat her to it.
“Are you okay?” He asked with matching concern. “Can you breathe alright?”
Janice watched Sascha nod, holding the napkin to her mouth as she proceeded to attempt clearing her throat.
Then he was moving to stand. “I’m going to get you some water.” He hesitated a moment though, clearly at war with himself over whether he should leave her or not. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
When Sascha nodded and waved him away, he began to move, hovering reluctantly as though he still felt like it was a bad idea to leave her side.
“His name is Ansell?” Addie chirped curiously as soon as he was gone. She leaned over the table as though conspiring.
Sascha nodded weakly.
“Is he your boyfriend?” Janice thought her voice sounded a little hollow in her ears. She felt like she was losing her best friend, but didn’t know what to do about it. But she needed to know. She needed to know what their relationship was.
When Janice managed the courage to look at her, Sascha looked uncomfortable and she could see the way Addie eyed her in her peripheral.
But then he was back, setting a cup in front of Sascha and saying, “Here.”
Janice would have to wait for her answers if the information wasn’t volunteered, or so it appeared.
She watched as the man held a small vial out to the other woman before dropping it into her hand as he said, “I already put some in your water.”
The whole table frowned at the vial before Sascha dropped it down the front of her shirt, probably into her bra as she asked, “What is it?”
Double-A smiled warmly at her. “Something to help you relax.” He said, bringing up a hand, he gently caressed the dark circles under her eyes. “You’ve been on edge a lot lately and it looks like you’ve been having trouble sleeping.”
“I have.” Sascha admitted, “Thank you.” Then she picked up the cup and took a sip.
“One to two drops in your drinks during the day. Preferably water. Two if you’ve been feeling more restless or anxious.
” He said, sounding oddly professional. Almost like a doctor or pharmacist. “Four drops at night before bed. If you wake up and have trouble getting back to sleep, I’d suggest two, but no more than three if they’re keeping you up. ”
They? Janice frowned in confusion. Who was ‘They’? And why would ‘They’ be keeping Sascha up?
With how things were going, it had probably been the worst idea to invite everyone the way she had.
But it wasn’t like she could stop them all from worrying and asking her what was wrong with the woman.
Unlike herself, Sascha was widely liked and respected.
She’d just thought it would be better for everyone to hear the woman’s news from her own mouth…
but she supposed this was probably the last straw.
Sascha was having problems. And had been for weeks now.
Everyone had noticed. . . but apparently Janice wasn’t high enough on the other woman’s list for her to talk about her problems with.
But she supposed, even she didn’t see herself as the most trustworthy person.
And gathering everyone for something that was just supposed to be a meeting for the two of them was probably not helping.
“Wait. What is that?” Addie was asking, sounding a bit like a nervous hen.
Janice supposed the woman hadn’t caught the ‘They’ part of Ansell’s statement.
“It’s a little homemade remedy my mom would use when she had stressful times.” Ansell said. “It helps you to relax and think more clearly so you can focus on what you’re doing.”
Janice supposed she could probably use some of whatever was in that vial herself if what he said was true. . . She really needed to go work out some of her build up tonight. It would help her feel more balanced, instead of feeling like she was being jerked every which way by her emotions.
“Yeah, but what is it?” Addie stressed.
Janice assumed the woman thought he was giving Sascha drugs or something with the way her voice sounded. But Janice knew the smell of weed and every other natural drug. From where she was sitting, it just smelled like tea.
“It’s concentrated tea.” Ansell said now. “All natural and I grow it out in my garden. It contains no illegal substances, I assure you.” He sounded proud as he made his proclamation.
“It tastes heavenly.” Sascha said as she pushed her cup across the table to Addie. “Want to try?”
Addie took the cup and gave it a sniff, before giving a pleasant exclamation of, “Oh my.” She gave the cup another sniff. “Why, that does smell amazing. . . May I?”
Sascha was silent and Janice heard her boss pour some of the drink into her mouth before humming softly.
The cup was passed back and Sascha asked. “Good, right?”
“It’s absolutely delightful.” Addie chimed. “You must give me the recipe.”
Ansell breathed a laugh. “How about I give you the rest of mine?” Janice looked up to see the man pass another little vial to Addie, this one down to little more than a quarter filled.
“I drink this stuff all day to keep a level head. If you want more I can bring it to the bank, but it’s ten dollars a vial.
” He hesitated, looking as though a thought occurred to him.
“Only drink it if you’re stressed or anxious, and never gulp it or drink it while driving. ”
“Why?” Janice could hear the little frown in Addie’s voice, but couldn’t bring herself to look away from Ansell’s face as he explained in a very professional way about medicating and driving.
Again, she noted how handsome he was. He had a strong jaw and a long straight nose. Full lips and bright, clever hickory brown eyes surrounded by long lashes. His skin was a sort of honey-brown tannish color, with dark neat eyebrows and well defined cheekbones. . . he really was her type.
She just wished she knew why he acted so cold to her. And it appeared, only her. He was just fine talking to Addie, but Janice had the distinct feeling that niceness would go back under lock and key the minute she opened her mouth.
“Besides,” He was saying now, “if you drink too much, too fast you might find yourself unable to stay awake.”
Yep. Janice thought. He was definitely some kind of doctor or something.
She swallowed hard and forced herself to look at Sascha when the conversation lulled. She had to ask. Needed to ask now or she might lose her opportunity. . . and her nerve. “Who is ‘they’?” Janice asked into the silence. Her voice sounded tiny in her ears. Weak, fragile even.
Sascha swallowed. “What do you mean ‘they’?”
“He said ‘if they’re keeping you up.’ Who is ‘they’?
” Janice frowned, feeling as thought her entire world was teetering on an edge.
It would only take one word, a single word from Sascha to have her whole world come tumbling down.
. . but then, she had pulled The Tower this morning.
. . perhaps she’d been misreading the cards all along.
It wasn’t that the foundations of her office would fall apart. . . it was that her world would fall apart.
She saw the way Ansell looked at her and tried not to pay him any attention. She didn’t want to see him. Didn’t want to see the look of disgust on his face when he looked at her. So she pretended she didn’t see him in her peripheral. That he was just a fuzzy outline and laser focused on Sascha.
She noted the slight blush that tinted the beautiful woman’s cheeks and the way she chewed more slowly as though attempting to buy time.
When she finally opened her mouth to speak though, the waitress arrived with their plates.
“Here you are.” She chimed, sounding happier than Janice had the heart for. She set down the plates she carried before turning to Sascha and Ansell. “And I’ll be right back out with the rest of your dishes.” Then the waitress rushed off.
They all sat silently at the table, waiting for the waitress to come and go again. Sascha was the only one who touched the food, working to finish the sandwich half she’d started on earlier.
Then the rest of the food was there and Sascha looked over her selections.
The woman had three wildly different dishes set before her, and since Janice had noticed she’d cut back on her spending, she assumed Ansell had paid for all of it.
Sascha sipped at her tea and cleared her throat, before she finally answered. “Well, I guess you both being here is good, I’d have to talk to you later anyway, Addie.”
Addie was silent, but Janice folded her arms at her chest, almost as though she could protect her heart from whatever was coming, and kept her gaze focused on Sascha. All the while, repeating a litany of anything the world can give, I can take. It’ll take a lot more than one woman to beat me.