Promised Box Set

by James Kipling

  After his first brief encounter with the old woman, he excused himself, saying he was late for an appointment but would like to come visit with her some more when it was over. She was glad for any and all company, encouraging him to return as soon as he liked. When he did return a little over an hour later, he brought her a small pot of geraniums because he thought she’d enjoy them. It had taken a half hour to track down what he needed. He settled the plant carefully in a patch of sunlight on the kitchen table between them and leaned back to listen to the old and lonely woman talk. Before he left, he offered to move the plant to a better location and retrieved the recording device he’d stashed among the sturdy stems.

  Now Lucas had a multitude of stories that might indicate where his mother had moved to after Phoenix, or they could be about other random neighbors the woman had had at any time in the last several decades. He’d listened through the tape several painstaking times and put points from the different stories on notecards that lay before him on his carpet. Any number of these minor adventures could be the same woman or women. There was no way to tell which overlapped or where. And there was no way to tell which – if any – of the women was his mother.

  One woman had been fleeing an abusive husband and asked Old Mrs. Henderson to forward her things to a sister in Quebec. He pulled that card from his arrangement and set it aside. His mother didn’t have a sister nor did she know anyone from Quebec so that one was unlikely.

  Recently divorced, trying to save money to fight her husband and get custody of her kid back, moved to Los Angeles where she heard work was better. He put that one in a maybe pile. The story might fit Diane, but he didn’t think it likely she went back to a city she’d left less than two years earlier.

  Single mother working her way through nursing school. Definitely not. The child was a daughter and she’d been living in the apartment with the woman in question. Mrs. Henderson remembered baby-sitting the seven or eight-year-old a few times when the woman had to study for exams and practicals.

  Divorcée, no kids at the apartment but mentioned a son, worked as a secretary at a law firm in town. Moved with the firm to St. Louis. The physical description – if it was the right one for the woman Mrs. Henderson was remembering – was close to how Lucas remembered his mother.

  He was pretty sure the last one was Diane but still had no name. He might be able to find the name of the law firm and where in St. Louis they’d moved to. From there he could possibly ask about current or former employees. But the idea of dealing with lawyers made him nervous. So Lucas grabbed a beer from his fridge and sat on the floor staring at the notecard he thought was Diane and began searching online for old listings of law firms in Phoenix.

  ****

  A dark and unfamiliar head popped through the open door of Aiden’s office, startling him. Her hair was a curly mess held out of her face by a series of mismatched barrettes. The blouse and skirt didn’t fit quite right, a little too long in the sleeves and too tight around the waist and rear, like they belonged to someone else. The colors were boring against her caramel skin but her smile and eyes were bright with enthusiasm.

  “Hello. I’m Amy Barington, Miss Dunmore’s new personal assistant,” she introduced herself in a clipped vaguely British accent. Aiden went to open the door for her and invite her in, holding his hand out for her to shake. Amelia’s hands were occupied with a tray of steaming coffees and she mumbled an apology. “I am afraid I volunteered to fetch these and now I have gotten myself turned around. I cannot seem to find my way back to Zoe – that is, Miss Dunmore’s office. Am I even on the right floor?”

  “Uh… No. No, you’re not. Miss Dunmore’s office is on the fourth floor. This is the third,” he informed her.

  She sighed. “You see, I know that Americans mislabel the first floor but I can never recall in which direction it is mislabeled,” she explained. “Thank you for your assistance…” she peered at the nameplate on his door. “Mr. Butler.” She smiled again but there was something mischievous behind it this time.

  “Do you want help carrying those?” he offered and immediately kicked himself for it. Was this really how he wanted to see Zoe again?

  “I think I can manage on my own, but thank you, Mr. Butler.” She was already moving down the hallway back to the elevator.

  “It’s Aiden,” he called after her and saw her head nod in acknowledgment.

  A few minutes later, Amelia entered Zoe’s office where she found Mason alone. “Where did Zoe go?” she asked. It had taken her a little longer than she’d anticipated – she was unused to American coffee shops period, let alone during the morning on a business day in the heart of a busy area.

  “She’s meeting with the Board upstairs to sign the paperwork and make her return official and permanent,” he said, retrieving his order from the cardboard carrying tray. “When she returns, she will officially be the acting president of Dunmore Corp.”

  “Why are you not in the meeting?” Amelia asked. She put Zoe’s cup on the desk and hoped it would keep warm until she returned. Amelia took two sips of her own coffee and set it aside; it was sickeningly sweet. She’d know better next time.

  “Zoe asked me to wait here for you and show you around when you got back.” He appeared to be enjoying his coffee. She’d have to try what he’d ordered next, see if that was any better than Zoe’s favorite. “You ready to go now?”

  Amelia nodded and followed Mason out as he led her to the elevator once more. “I figure, we might as well start from the first floor and work our way up.”

  The number of introductions made and hands she was forced to shake was making Amelia’s head spin. Each new name and face, each forced smile, made her wonder what had possessed her to agree to Zoe’s suggestion she take this job. She’d never been a personal assistant before and she didn’t know the first thing about Dunmore Corp or what they did. By the time they were headed for the third floor, she was pretty sure it had something to do with computers and software. Mason was wonderfully patient with her and offered commentary of most employees under his breath as they walked away. It was the only thing keeping Amelia from completely falling apart.

  Mason suggested they take the stairs up to the third floor. Amelia was confused until he paused on the landing. “There’s someone who works on the third floor I think you should know about but Zoe might not want to talk to him, about him, or see him and as her assistant, you should be prepared to deal with Zoe being…”

  “Are you referring to Aiden Butler?” Amelia asked with a smile.

  Mason was surprised. “She told you about him?”

  “A bit,” Amelia said, shifting her weight from foot to foot. “She did not go into much detail but I understand that things ended… awkwardly between them. Something happened around the time her father was killed and she blames herself for it, whatever it is.”

  “He was in a car accident the same morning her father died,” Mason explained, filling in the blanks for Amelia. “The nature of his injuries… He wasn’t quite… himself… for a while. He had difficulty remembering.”

  “That sounds awful. For both of them,” Amelia admitted.

  “That’s part of why she left when she did,” Mason continued. “She was feeling completely overwhelmed. I encouraged her to go. I was worried about her. Between the two accidents and the investigation… I thought it would be safer if she stayed away for a bit and I hoped it would help her deal with… everything.”

  “You sound like you regret it,” Amelia observed.

  “I… I wonder if I should have suggested... something shorter… more local,” he said cautiously. He didn’t like talking about Zoe to a third party this way, particularly one who was largely a stranger to him. But if she was to be Zoe’s assistant, she needed to be warned. And there was something about Amelia that was… calming, something he knew he could – and did – trust.

  “Say no more,” Amelia cut him off. “I will be on my toes when dealing with Zoe and
Aiden Butler. I might be able to get Zoe to tell me more about him.”

  “If she didn’t say much about him or about the company, what did the two of you talk about when you were traveling together? From what she’s told me, you were with her for several weeks.” Mason began heading up the rest of the stairs to the third floor.

  “It was close to two months,” Amelia explained. “I had just broken up with my boyfriend – it was a tricky relationship to get out of. I was lucky to meet Zoe when I did and even luckier that she was so generous. She spoke a lot about her father, her childhood, what it was like to lose her parents. She did not say much about Aiden but she went on about a man called Lucas at great length.”

  Mason snorted. “I’ve heard those stories. Did he make your boyfriend look like a picnic by comparison?”

  Amelia smiled weakly. “Not exactly. But they were a wonderful distraction.”

  They moved down the hall and Mason introduced her to Mrs. Henry and the rest of the Accounts Department.

  “Don’t tell me you got lost again,” Aiden said in an attempt at forced humor. Mason was watching Aiden and Amelia closely and it made Aiden nervous. Mason had been nice enough while Aiden recovered and got back to work, but the growing friendship they’d shared appeared to have died with Steve. Zoe’s absence had been a gaping chasm neither was comfortable crossing, preferring to holler across at one another when communication was absolutely necessary.

  “Thanks to your help, I made it back to the Miss Dunmore’s office without further incident,” Amelia politely responded back. “It might take me a few days, but I should not get lost much anymore.”

  “If she does, it’s my fault,” Mason chimed in. “I’m an easily distracted tour guide. I ramble too much about the projects and skip over practicalities like bathrooms and break rooms.”

  “He’s just being modest,” Aiden assured Amelia. “He came in here knowing only Zoe and in six months he knew the names of everyone who works here, what departments they’re in, and their kids’ names.”

  “Yes, well, Zoe did bring me here to conduct an investigation. I’m just very thorough,” Mason said, aiming at modesty. The three were beginning to relax. Zoe’s influence was still felt but it was no longer a hindrance. Mason was pleased to see that Aiden was doing well and betraying nothing about his personal feeling when Zoe’s name was mentioned.

  Aiden began questioning Amelia more about her personal history, where she was from, her family, what brought her to California. Mason knew they should be moving along with the tour but was interested in the information himself. Amelia avoided specifics but told them of her German mother and English father, that she’d gotten out of a rough relationship, and that Zoe had appeared like a godsend when Amelia needed help.

  At this last mention of Zoe, Aiden smiled hollowly, his hurt forcing him to look away from Amelia. Mason could read on his face what Aiden was thinking and broke the lull in conversation by mentioning that they needed to get back upstairs. Zoe would be getting out of her meeting soon.

  In fact, Zoe was waiting for them in her office with a bottle of wine. “I know champagne is technically more appropriate, but I figured, it’s my celebration and I’m going to drink what I want,” she said presenting a line of poured glasses near the edge of her desk.

  Mason and Amelia each took a glass and the three paused to toast. “To a Dunmore Corp president that Steve would be proud of,” Mason offered. Tears welled in Zoe’s eyes. There was a fourth glass in the set that she had put aside. She looked over to its perch on a bookshelf near the window. He should be here, she couldn’t help thinking. This was what he wanted more than anything.

  “To a promotion,” Amelia said, putting a lighter edge on things and making Zoe smile.

  “To moving forward while honoring the past,” Zoe concluded and they all drank.

  Chapter 32

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Diane. It’s Zoe.”

  “Zoe! It’s good to hear from you again so soon.”

  “I was going to wait until Sunday like we’d said, but I didn’t want you to hear it on the news like you have everything else. The Board officially named me as president of the company today.”

  “That’s wonderful. Your father would be very proud. He always had so much faith in you. I know he didn’t tell you about it until a few years ago, but he’s been talking about having you take over since you were little and kept asking to visit him at the office.”

  “He did?”

  “Of course. He had a few offers to sell over the years, but he wouldn’t hear of it. ‘It’s all for my daughter.’ He would call me up each semester you made the Honor Roll and later the Dean’s List just to have one more person to brag about you to.”

  “It was after the meeting that it really hit me again. That he’s gone, I mean. He should have been there.”

  “Do you really think he wasn’t? Do you think anything could ever stop him from being with you on a day like this? He was there. You might not have seen him, but he was there. Trust me. I’m a mother.”

  “How many things of Lucas’s were you there for? I mean, I know you were at his graduation – both of them – because I saw you there. But what else?”

  “Well… There was that play he did in high school. I know he only played one of the kids in the mob and he didn’t have any lines but I was in the back row with the parents of one of the new kids to the school. I felt the need to wear a wig and they wouldn’t have recognized me anyway – it was easier to blend in. Then there was the championship soccer tournament.”

  “Lucas didn’t play in that game.”

  “I know. I sat in the bleachers and watched him warm the bench but I got to see him. Then there was that time he let you convince him to run off to Las Vegas…”

  “You knew about that? Wait – you were there?!”

  “You told your father you were going to a concert with some girlfriends of yours. Not sure what band it was you told him you were going to see but he knew it was a lie. He called an old cop buddy of his to follow you but he was busy. I was visiting… an old friend… not too far from Cupertino and had lived in LA so I said I’d make sure you got into the city safely. And when you began heading for Nevada, well, I kept following you. I love my son but I have to say, I think the smartest thing he ever did was chicken out of that wedding.”

  “Hey!”

  “Do you really think you’d be better off right now if you’d married Lucas? Don’t get me wrong; I’d love to have you for a daughter-in-law, but Lucas… I don’t know… He’s my son, and he always will be, and I love him. But…”

  “But he’s been around David too long?”

  “Maybe. If I could have… If only… I should have… done something… about him sooner. Now…”

  “Lucas isn’t David. He can be an idiot and selfish and he’s lazy… but he isn’t David.”

  “David wasn’t always like that though. That’s what worries me. I’ve had to be more careful about trying to see him now – I think David almost saw me the last time. I think he might have recognized me if he’d thought I would risk it. But those last few times I saw Lucas… I’m… worried for him.”

  “Do you want me to check on him? I mean, I expected him to show up or do something when I got back into town so I’m a little… worried about him myself. Of course, I was pretty clear the last time I saw him so maybe he’s just finally taken the hint.”

  “I don’t want you to do anything you’re not comfortable doing.”

  “I can handle Lucas.”

  “You always have. You would have been good for him. I’m only sorry he was never good for you.”

  ****

  “Won’t it be difficult to work on taking over as acting president if you’re not here?” Mason asked, mild frustration working its way into his tone.

  “I’ll be gone for a little over an hour, maybe two. It’s no different from going out to lunch,” Zoe said defensively.
<
br />   “Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?” His annoyance at her leaving was replaced with concern as he accepted that she really was going to go see Lucas. “You know he’s not at the house anymore. He’s got an apartment—”

  “I know where he’s living now, yes.” Zoe was done talking about it. If she listened to Mason too long, she might chicken out. She wanted to do this for Diane but she wanted to satisfy her own curiosity as well.

  “Let her see what her ex is up to,” Amelia put in her two cents worth. “I sometimes wonder what John is doing and if it were not so… if it were not so difficult to check in on him, I would like to see what he has done since I left.”

  “I still think it’s a bad idea for you to go alone,” Mason muttered.

  “Lucas isn’t dangerous,” Zoe assured him. “At least, not to me. He might be mad at me but he would never hurt me. The guy promised to track down and turn in his own father for me. Do I think he could ever actually do it? No. Do I appreciate the sentiment? Of course. But it doesn’t mean I’m going to get back together with the guy and it doesn’t mean I have to cut him out of my life altogether. He was my friend for a long time and I’m allowed to see him.”

  There was a faint knock at the door and a rather pale Aiden eased the door open when he was told it was open. “These are the accounts for the last two quarters,” he said, bringing in a small box of files. “I know you’ll want to get up to speed on where things stand since the embezzlement… Well, Mrs. Henry wanted me to give you these.”

  “Thank you,” Zoe said quietly. She cleared her throat and tried to speak with more authority. “You can put them on the desk. I’ll look at them when I get back.”

  She swept past him and out the door while there was enough room to keep from getting too close.

  “Has there been any news from the cops on your accident?” Mason asked to hold Aiden up and keep him and Zoe from being forced to ride the same elevator down. Amelia gave a small eye roll that Mason caught out of the corner of his eye, but she kept her mouth shut.