by Naomi Niles
“Oh,” she smirked, “I would have let you right up if I’d known that! Could’ve saved you a few minutes of mindless chatter. Anywho, go right on up!”
“It’s quite alright, and thank you…” I searched for her name tag and found it on the corner of her desk, “Tammi.”
“No problem at all.”
My heels clicked against the floor as I headed down the hallway. Inside the elevator, mirrors covered each wall as I checked myself one more time to make sure everything was in place. Nervousness began pumping through my blood as the elevator raised from floor to floor until it chimed on my destination. The doors opened slowly like a whale’s mouth as I took a deep breath and made my way to his office.
I knocked twice and straightened my shirt out. Moments later, another man opened the door. He smiled and extended his hand. “My name is Brian. You must be Caroline.”
“Yes,” I said, placing my hand into his. “Caroline Dalton.”
“Well, it is nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you that I feel like I practically know you already.”
“Good things, I hope.”
“Yes, very good things. Come on in.”
I stepped into Harrison’s office. A small leather couch was positioned against the wall next to a miniature refrigerator. Two filing cabinets sat against the other wall, and behind the large wooden desk, Harrison sat on the phone holding up one finger to let me know he just needed another minute. “He is on the phone with another possible business partner. We’ve got a lot of those rolling in these days,” Brian said as he invited me to take a seat on the couch.
“Well, I suppose that is a good thing.”
“Suppose? No, it is a great thing. It is how we pay the bills around here.” He opened the refrigerator. “Are you thirsty? We have water, Sprite, and Coke.”
“No, I’m fine. Thank you.”
Just then, Harrison got off the phone and came around to my side of the desk. I stood up to greet him with a handshake, but he pulled me in for a hug instead. It caught me off guard, but I welcomed it. “Good to see you again, Harrison.”
“Likewise, Caroline,” he said as he released me. “I’m glad you could make it out on short notice. Brian,” he glanced at his employee, “I think she is the one we need for the time being. She just graduated from ASU. My daughter’s best friend. I figured I’d give her a shot and see what she could do for us.”
“Right. Well, I am looking forward to it. That is, if you decide to join our team for now. I’ve been the one handling the accounting for this company, and that stuff is nerve-racking.” He smiled. “But if you went to school for it, then I know you will probably be able to handle it better than me.”
“We will see.”
Harrison smiled at me, then directed his attention back to Brian,. “Brian, do you mind giving us a minute or two alone? I want to go over a few things with her and show her around the building a little bit.”
“Oh, sure thing, boss. Call me if you need me. I’ll be in my office drawing up some designs for the Lawson project.”
“Got ya.”
I walked towards his desk and glanced at the picture of Sarah. I shook my head as her smile became bittersweet. “Hard to believe that it has only been two months since she left. It feels like it has been so much longer than that.”
He stood beside me with his arms folded across his chest. I tried not to notice the biceps that bulged from beneath his long-sleeved shirt. “Yeah, it does feel like she has been gone for much longer than two months. I know that she would be happy that this opportunity is here for you, though. In a way, I feel like I am still looking out for her by helping you out a little bit.”
“Oh.” His answer threw me for a loop. Maybe he was just going out of his way for that reason alone. I didn’t want to misconstrue any of our interactions, so from that point on, I tried to keep my feelings separate from what was going on between us. He was just here to help me for the sake of his daughter, and that’s it. “Well, yeah, I’m sure she would be happy that you lent a helping hand to me.”
“Absolutely.” His smile was alluring. His chest protruded from under his shirt, and I had to force myself to look away from him before my gawking became obvious. “So, I was thinking of just showing you around the building and give you an idea of where you would be working if you chose to stick around for a little while. Shall we?”
I smiled. “Certainly.”
He opened his door and led me around the building. I noticed a few of his construction workers glancing in my direction as we walked past. Harrison spoke to each one of them by their first names. That impressed me. It helped me see that he cared about each one of his employees, and I knew that if I did choose to work here, he would treat me the same way. “Hey, boss,” one of them said, “who is the beautiful young woman you are escorting around here?”
He smiled, then led me towards him. “Come on, Caroline. I want you to meet someone.” The young man we approached was slim. His beard extended just beyond the surface of his cheeks, and his eyebrows maintained a natural arch that looked as though they were professionally done. He was a pretty boy with light brown eyes and a low haircut. I figured that Harrison was going to try to set me up with him. I didn’t want anyone young, though. That was one of my issues with Johnathan.
“Anthony, this is Caroline. She is, hopefully, our new accountant.”
He removed his glove and shook my hand. His callouses were rough, like sandpaper, as he firmly held onto me. “Hi, Caroline. It is nice to meet you, and hopefully, you’ll stick around. Harrison is a good guy, and no, he did not pay me to say that.” He had winked at Harrison before the both of them shared a laugh together.
“Well, it was nice to meet you, Anthony. I am still deciding, but judging by the looks of things, Harrison is no doubt a good guy.” My eyes lingered on him for a few moments as Anthony slid his gloves back on.
“Well, I need to get going. We gotta be on site today at 1 pm.”
“Long day ahead?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Make sure you guys stay hydrated and keep yourself covered from the sun, and tell Harold to use the company card to get you guys a bite to eat. Lunch is on me today.”
“Sounds good, boss! Check and check. You have a good day. And you, too, Caroline. Hopefully, you’ll stick around a little longer.”
I smiled, and with that, he headed out of the building. “Anthony is a good guy. One of my best workers here, and he would give the shirt off his back for me if he had to. Those are the kind of people I like working for me because it makes my job easier and I am more likely to go out of my way to make sure they are taken care of.”
We spent the rest of the day in his office, talking about what my duties as the accountant would be. I was pretty familiar with all of the tasks, but I was still unsure if I wanted to take on the job. I was focused on leaving in a few months, and I knew that if I started liking it here, it might prompt me to stick around in Cottonwood longer than I wanted to.
“Well, how about this. You take a few days to think about it and then contact me again… let’s say, this Friday. That gives you about 3-4 days to think it over and get back to me. Although we could really use you here, there is no rush. Take your time.”
“Thank you, Harrison. I will think about it and get back to you Friday. Should I come here?”
“You know what, I have the day off Friday. How about you come by my house? If that’s not too much to ask.”
“No, that’s fine. That’s fine. It’s closer, anyway, so it works.”
“Good. So, Friday it is.”
We embraced each other again, and as I found myself holding onto him longer than I should have, I quickly took a step away. “Um, yes, Friday it is. I’ll um; I’ll see you then Mr. Harrison, um, I mean Harrison. Sir.”
I left the office as quickly as I could to save face, hoping I didn’t make a complete fool of myself in his office. I started realizing that what I felt could develop between us
was just a figment of my imagination. Harrison wasn’t into young girls like me, and I could tell by the way he introduced me to Anthony. I sighed as I got into my car, then I looked up to the heavens. “Alright, Sarah, you were right. Your dad is not into me. But so what! He is still hot!”
Chapter Eleven
Harrison
The steam billowed from my coffee like a smoky chimney as I sat in the front room watching a blank television screen with a newspaper spread open on the table. My cell phone sat just to the side, and in the back of my mind, I still hoped that it would ring and I would hear Sarah’s voice on the other end. I didn’t know how much longer my hopes would torment me, because no matter what, I would never be able to change the reality of what happened. My baby girl was gone. With a deep sigh, I reached forward to grab my phone and flipped through my voicemails.
I landed on one that she left seven months ago. “Hey, diggity, diggity, Daaaaddy! What in God’s name are you doing?! I just called you one minute ago, right when you told me to call you back, but you are not answering! I hate when you do that… and then you have the nerve to get mad at me when I don’t answer. Anyways… I told Caroline that I wouldn’t tell you this, but that girl thinks you are a hunk. Every time I get on the phone with you, she is begging me to FaceTime so she can see you. She is sooooo annoying, but she’s a good girl, though, and maybe in another lifetime, I could actually see you two together. I know, it’s weird, huh? Anyways. Call me back because I know you aren’t doing anything except running a six-figure business.”
She giggled. Her laughter was like a sweet fragrance from roses on a spring morning. I fought back the tears as she continued, “I love you, Dad, and if I don’t answer, it is because I am in class. We both know that you are getting old and you’ll be senile any moment and you’re going to need somebody to run your business, you know? Since you will barely be able to remember your own name.” She laughed again. “Love you. Bye.”
I waited until the phone clicked before I hung up. I listened to her voicemails at least a few times a week. It felt like those messages were the only thing that I had to keep her presence around me. I folded the newspaper closed, grabbed my coffee, and made my way to her room. As soon as the door opened, a calm peacefulness rested in the air. Everything in her room was exactly how she’d left it. I told myself a thousand times that I was going to clean it out and give away her clothing, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. As time passed, I started to realize that her room was more than just a room to me. It was a memorial. It was her gravesite right here in my home.
I walked to the pictures that were scattered in frames along the surface of her dresser. The majority of the photos were taken with Caroline. I leaned forward to get a better look at them. The first picture showed the two of them with their arms around each other. They looked to be in third grade at the time. Both had snaggle-toothed smiles and long hair. I smiled thinking of the time she told me that her front tooth was coming out. When I put a dollar under her pillow, she woke up the next morning pouting because it wasn’t enough. “Caroline got 10 bucks for her tooth, and I only get a dollar! The tooth fairy is cheap here!”
I ended up sliding a $20 bill under her pillow that same night with a note that read, “Sorry, Sarah, the tooth fairy made a mistake. Please forgive me.” That was one thing I loved about her the most: she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind at any time. The picture right beside that showed the two of them in high school. They were growing into beautiful young women. They dressed just alike, and for the most part, I could hardly tell the two of them apart. My Sarah had gotten Caroline into trouble more times than not, and I hated that my sweetheart was the one to stir up trouble, but she couldn’t help it. She had so many traits that were similar to her mother, and at times, all I could do was shake my head.
Caroline did a lot to settle her down, though, and I believe that if it wasn’t for her friendship, Sarah might have done something far worse than the normal, reckless adolescent behavior. On the furthest to the right, a picture of the two of them during their college days. They were mature. Makeup covering their faces and eyebrows freshly arched. I grabbed the picture and held it in my hand. I couldn’t do a thing but shake my head at the fact that I would never see Sarah face-to-face again. I switched my attention from her to Caroline. She had a crescent smile. Her hand was on her hip like a teapot handle. In my brokenness, I found comfort in her gaze. Something told me that she understood what I was going through and she would be there to help me through it. I couldn’t explain the connection I felt with her at that moment, and I didn’t want to. Sometimes, things just felt perfect, but in the back of my mind, I couldn’t shake the idea that what I felt was wrong. This is my daughter’s best friend, and that was a line that I wouldn’t cross if she was alive, but now that she was gone, I felt solace in Caroline’s eyes. I exhaled, then placed the picture back on her dresser and walked out of the room. I had a long day ahead of me.
As soon as I got to work, Brian was in my office, dropping off a small stack of papers. I tossed my jacket onto the rack. “Boss, how are you feeling today?” The sun beamed through the large window in my office as I headed towards the desk.
“I’m as good as I can be, I guess.”
“Yeah, I understand. Honestly, I didn’t expect you to be in today. I dropped these papers off with the expectation that I wouldn’t see you for a few more days since I am heading to California for that meeting.”
“Yeah,” I took a seat at my desk and scanned over the papers. “But you know me. It’s best for me to come into the office and stay busy rather than sit somewhere and allow my emotions to get the best of me.”
He sat down in a chair right in front of my desk. “Yeah, I hear ya, I hear ya.'” Silence sat between us like cigarette smoke before Brian spoke up again. “So, yeah, that California meeting. I am looking forward to that, boss.” He reclined in his chair and propped his leg over the other. “I always say, ‘if we get this one account, we will be set’ and then we get that account, only for me to say the same thing a month later.” He laughed. “I guess this is what things look like when business is booming.”
I flipped through the papers, barely paying attention to anything he said. In my mind, images of Sarah and Caroline floated around like bittersweet memories. Sarah was gone, but it felt that there was a magnetic pull drawing me closer to Caroline. I couldn’t shake the idea of her comforting me out of my mind. “Boss?” Brian said, snapping the images out of my mind in a flash. “Did you hear me?”
I put the papers down and glanced at him. The beam of sunlight shot to his left like a spotlight. “I’m sorry, Brian, I think I’ve got too many things on my mind right now. You were talking about Caroline, right?”
He smiled. “Close. California. Caroline is the new accountant you hired.” He put his feet flat on the ground and rested his elbows on his knees. His gaze was fixed directly upon me. “Boss, now, you know I see a lot. I am very vigilant at times, and honestly, I’ve seen the way you looked at Caroline.”
My eyebrows furrowed. “What? Don’t be ridiculous, Brian.”
“Come on, man,” he said, laughing. “You can be honest with me. The woman is smoking, and that is clear. Nice body, cute face… I mean, she looks like the type that would catch your attention on any given day. Now, I know that Sarah just–”
“Brian. That is enough.”
“Boss, I was just–”
“Brian…”
“–saying that you should be careful because you could find yourself–”
I slammed my fist into the desk. The vibration rattled the plastic shelves on the surface and caused my pendulum to shake. “I said, that is enough. I do not want you speaking about Sarah or Caroline. I know what it looks like, but before you go and start making assumptions, you should probably get a better hold on the truth. Caroline is just… she is just a friend, and that is it. And, as a friend of my daughter’s, I am helping her out in her career. That’s it.”
His eyeb
rows raised in the middle of his forehead. His head shifted to the right as if he was examining the dust particles that drifted around in the sunlight. “Alright, boss,” he said without making eye contact. He stood up, gathered his things, and headed for the door just as my phone rang. I massaged my temples as he closed the door behind him. I hated myself for snapping at him like that. I wanted to apologize before he left, but I couldn’t find the words. I would have to do it later. “Hello?”
“Harrison? Hi. I was just calling to remind you about tomorrow.”
Her voice lured me out of my moment of despair. “Yes,” I said, smiling. “Tomorrow. Of course. How could I forget?”
“Right. Well, I was just making sure that we were still on. I am kind of looking forward to it.”
“Yes, so am I. So… Will I see you tomorrow? Around 7-ish?”
“Sounds good. See you then.”
“OK.”
She hung up the phone as I thought about Brian’s words. He was right. Maybe I was using her to somehow help cope with the death of my daughter. He didn’t say it, but I knew that is where he was going, and I didn’t want to hear it. I wanted things to keep going the way they were going, because for right now, Caroline was the only person in the world who could help me cope with such a devastating loss, and I didn’t want to disrupt our connection, whether it was right or wrong.
Chapter Twelve
Caroline
As soon as I hung up the phone, there was a knock at my door. It was still late morning, so I had no idea who could be out to visit this early. Johnathan stood on the other side with a bouquet of roses in his hand. I sighed, debating whether or not I should open the door for him. He was wasting his time with me, but I just didn’t have the heart to tell him. He was a good guy. Sweet. Patient. Friendly. Everything I would want in a best friend, but not a lover. I started to creep away from the door until my phone rang. Damn it, I said to myself. Now he knew I was nearby because there was no way I would go anywhere without my phone.