Chapter 4 #2
Michael was uncomfortable and wiped the counter with specific concentration, avoiding his mother’s gaze.”
“Of course not.”
“Well, she is quite lovely, maybe a little plain but quite beautiful in a simple way.”
Well, there was one thing he and his mother were in agreement on.
“Or maybe, you’re just looking for a little—”
“Mother, seriously.”
When he came in, Angela seemed lost in thought, staring blankly at the rows of books lining the wall, leaning on one armrest of her chair, her hair flowing down her shoulder.
She hadn’t noticed him come in. He stared at her for a few seconds; he loved her sleepy brown eyes. She jumped at the sound of his steps.
“Oh, you scared me.” She held her chest with one hand.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
She looked at him, speechless.
“Thanks for waiting.”
“Yes.” Angela was curious. She was intrigued when Dot had mentioned Michael wanted to talk to her. She had wondered what he could want to talk about. In fact, it’s was she was thinking about when he startled her.
He took a seat in the chair opposite her, where Dot had been sitting a few minutes before.
“I just wanted to apologize for last week,” he said, his steel blue eyes looking straight into hers.
“Oh....it’s ok—“
“No, it’s not. I was out of line. Your life isn’t my business.”
“You were just trying to help but I’ll be honest with you, I was a little annoyed at the time.”
“You were.” He smiled. “Well, that’s exactly why I’m apologizing.”
“But then...” she said “I thought about it. You were right. It’s my life. It’s not Robert’s life. I really shouldn’t let him influence me so much.”
Michael smiled. He was happy she had listened. They sat for a second or two, looking at each other. She suddenly bounced slightly from her seat and reached into her purse.
“Here, I got this for you.”
She handed him a box – a French Audio Learning System on CD.
“I saw it and I thought of you.”
“Thank you.” He opened the top panel of the box to further investigate its contents. Eight hours of learning on eight CDs. He was rendered speechless by her actions; that she had thought of him and his family.
“You shouldn’t have—”
“Well, it was just fifteen dollars; it was on sale. No big deal.”
He smiled at her. He loved this part of her, always lending a hand.
She leaned in closer.
“See...on CD 1, you have Alphabets and Sounds, on CD 2, you have Greeting and then all the basic stuff.” She pointed. “It’s just a great introduction, I think.”
“But I’m sure you’re very busy,” she added. “You probably don’t have the time—”
“I do. I just didn’t think about it. It seems like such a giant task; learning a new language.”
“I’ve done it. This is how I learned Spanish,” she told him.
“You speak Spanish too?” he said, surprised.
“Si. Un poquito. A little bit.”
“Wow, you’re trilingual. That’s impressive.”
“I haven’t spoken it too much. Just on a few trips to Mexico. Not so much with the tourists; they’re all from the U.S. or Canada, but the staff at the resorts didn’t mind indulging me.”
“That’s great.”
“After you do this program, you could get into some conversation classes like I did...” she told him, excited. “...or I guess, you could hire a tutor as well.”
“I could. Or maybe talk with you a little,” he joked.
“Absolument. Absolutely.” She would definitely be up for that. It would be for a good cause after all.
“Well, thank you, Angela,” he offered, genuinely.
“No problem.”
She took her purse and was just getting up when he stopped her, putting his hand on her shoulder.
“There was something else I wanted to run by you,” he told her. She took her seat again, curious. “I don’t want to butt my head in your life again...”
She waited patiently.
“It’s just that, a good friend of mine is one of the Chapter leaders for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. It’s one of the foundations I’m involved in.”
She listened intently.
“Are you familiar with the foundation?”
“Yes. I’m familiar with the condition.” She was curious.
“They do great things. They raise funds to help with bringing awareness and working on a cure. The Chapters consists of volunteers from across the country, who donate their time to the foundation.”
His eyes lit up as he spoke. She could tell he was very devoted to this cause.
“One of the things they’re working on is getting newborn screening funded across the country, avoiding much angst and pain for parents who don’t always initially know why their children are hurting.”
Angela listened carefully.
“They do tons of great work. My friend heads a group of fantastic volunteers who help out.”
Angela was intrigued. She thought she’s love to volunteer - help out, maybe work with children.
“Does she need any volunteers?”
“Always,” he told her. “But there’s something else. There’s actually a position open right now for a ‘Funding Coordinator’”.
“Yes?”
“I thought, with your Marketing background and your personality; your love of people, you’d be a shoo-in.”
She was surprised, flattered he had considered her; that he held her in such high esteem.
“Thank you Michael, for thinking of me.”
“To be honest, I do that too much.”
“Do what?” she asked, confused.
“Think of you,” he said, half-joking.
She felt a warm rush at her core. The man was going to drive her insane.
“I do that too much too, I mean not about myself, you, anyway...” she looked away, biting her lip.
He smiled. He always managed to make her feel completely odd. She quickly changed the subject.
“Do you have the information? I would be quite interested.”
“I do. And if you wish, I could give you a reference for your work with my mother.”
“No. No. I don’t want to get this position because of any type of nepotism. If I get it, I’ll know it’s because I’m qualified.”
“Fair enough, you will be,” he shot her a smile as he got up.
“Come to my office.”
“Yes, Sir.”
As she drove home, she was more excited than she had been in ages.
And it had nothing to do with Michael, but all to do with a new opportunity for her.
She was initially doubtful of her experience and skills, but looking at the job posting he had given her, she felt quite confident.
Maybe she could get the job. She would definitely apply.
She barely noticed the fields of green and yellow and the horses as she drove by them.
She thought about her CV and how rusty it was; people she had to call to update references.
She also couldn’t stop thinking about the way Michael had looked at her, the way he had subtly told her he thought about her, the way he had gone out of his way to help her.
She wasn’t just in lust anymore. She wasn’t sure what she was in.
“Angela... Angela....” Robert tried to get her attention.
She was sitting on the sofa, laptop on her lap, typing away, updating her CV.
“Angela,” he yelled.
She jumped.
“You need to get ready....we’re leaving in an hour.”
“Let me just finish this. I don’t need an hour.”
“I’d like you to look good.”
Angela rolled her eyes. She wasn’t going to win this argument. She’d better go get ready.
She saved her work and put away her laptop and papers on the coffee table.
She hated having to put things on hold. She went upstairs and picked out a classy little black cocktail dress; something sophisticated which would meet Robert’s approval.
She carefully picked out matching sandals, a necklace and earrings.
The necklace and earrings had been a gift from Krysta as a thank you gift for all her help with Madison.
They were silver with charcoal glass beads; somewhat bohemian.
Angela loved them. She thought they jazzed up her conservative outfit.
She would later pin up her hair for an even more sophisticated look.
Robert wore kakis and a dress shirt. He always wore his hair parted on the side, perfectly sleek.
He favored dark ties and never had five o’clock shadow.
They used separate bathrooms to get ready.
The reveal was reminiscent of their early dates; the difference being that back then, Robert never objected.
“That necklace is God awful. I hope you’re not planning to wear that.”
“No. I just put it on my neck for the fun of it.” She leaned over in front of the mirror to put on her lipstick.
She was a beautiful woman; delicate and slender.
What was once considered gawky and awkward was now the envy of every woman around her.
She had sensual brown eyes, light golden brown hair and full lips.
Yet, she didn’t realize all this, which was what made her even more beautiful.
“You’re taking it off, aren’t you?”
“Nope.” She walked past him.
The ride to the party was a quiet one. Angela could clearly see that Robert was not impressed with her.
She didn’t care. She found it idiotic to get all bent out of shape over such a small matter.
She turned on the radio. There was nothing decent on, but it was better than complete silence.
They had been driving for a while, not saying a word.
Robert’s cell phone rang. She hated him talking on that thing while he was driving. He picked up.
“Oh.....Hi, Lance. How’s it going?”
That name sounded familiar. She couldn’t remember where she had heard it before. She stared blankly at the highway ahead, trying to remember. She could hear him talking in the background but she wasn’t listening to his words.
“Oh yeah....sounds like you’ve been keeping pretty busy.”
It suddenly occurred to her. That was the name in the letter; Laura’s letter, Laura’s Lance. She began listening intently. Could it be the same Lance? Lance was a rather unusual name. How many Lances had she known? Maybe it was just a coincidence.
“Yeah... I had a blast...” he went on. “That course is tough but a lot of fun. Is John’s shoulder any better, poor guy.”
He was obviously a golf buddy. It was probably just a coincidence, she decided.
“I’d love it. What date is that?”
“I’ll check my calendar,” he went on
“Oh... great. Everything’s great. How ’bout you?”