Reese tapped lightly on the door. When the voice inside invited her to enter, she walked into Quentin's office. "I just dropped by to see how the search is going."
"There's still nothing new," he responded. "The daughters have tried contacting relatives, but no one has heard of anyone named Dorothy Alice Summers."
"That's odd," Reese remarked. "I should try looking up the name. Maybe some of the sources I've been using for my own research will turn up something."
"It's worth a try," Quentin agreed. "Someone is coming over from the University to help out. Why don't you talk to him about it?"
As if on cue, the man in question appeared in the doorway of Quentin's office.
"What timing," Quentin remarked. "Reese, this is the computer technician from the University, Blaine Kitteridge. Mr. Kitteridge, I'd like you to meet Reese Burroughs."
Blaine smiled and offered to shake Reese's hand. "It looks like we'll be working together again."
Reese was suddenly very quiet, so Blaine explained to Quentin, "I also work part time at The Stuart-Townsend Corporation."
Quentin nodded. "Ms. Burroughs and I were just talking about the research that you'll be helping us with. Reese had a few ideas of places where you could look for information." He paused to let Reese add to the conversation, but she said nothing. "Since you're so interested, Reese, why don't you take this one. You can show Mr. Kitteridge around and help him out if he needs anything."
Reese felt a little awkward, but she tried to appear professional and shortly agreed.
Lawrence walked out of the office at the end of the day, deep in thought, mulling over the news and events of the day. Not watching where he was going he almost walked into a woman coming the other way. "Excuse me," he mumbled, before looking up and seeing that the woman was Eileen.
"Hi," she greeted him with a sad smile.
A moment of awkward silence passed before Lawrence spoke, "I heard about your engagement . . .congratulations."
"Thanks," Eileen replied.
After another pause Lawrence said, "I wanted to talk to you, to let you know that I don't think I'll be able to continue with your tutoring. I hope you're able to find someone else."
"Oh, that's ok. I was going to call it off anyway. I'm going to be so busy with the wedding. I don't think I'll have the time for it right now."
"Hey there," Hector greeted the pair cheerfully, breaking the silence as he walked out of the office. "You two look like you were in a heavy conversation."
Eileen just smiled at Hector, but said nothing, as he greeted her with a kiss on the cheek.
"So are you ready to go?" he asked.
"Yes," she replied, still smiling as she took Hector's arm.
"We're going out tonight to celebrate," Hector explained to Lawrence. "I'll see you Monday."
Lawrence nodded and turned away as Eileen and Hector walked off together. He resolved to put the day behind him as he went home to get ready for class.
A few hours later, when Lawrence walked in to class, he was ready to concentrate and to stop thinking about awkward moments and the people at work. He just wanted to think about his studies. But when he entered the room, the person standing at the front of the classroom took him totally by surprise, and the reaction was mutual.
"Hello," Andrew said tersely and Lawrence replied with an equally brief greeting. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm a student in this class," Lawrence replied. "And you?"
"I'm the instructor," Andrew replied, eyeing his former co-worker with suspicion. He hadn't expected to run into anyone from his old job here. He had no problem with Lawrence, personally, but he was a reminder of the job he had lost and he was still angry about that. Andrew held his tongue, until Lawrence, who had nothing else to say, took a seat near the back of the room.
As he listened to Andrew's lecture, Lawrence noticed the cold looks that Andrew gave him whenever he happened to look in his direction. Lawrence wasn't concerned about it at first, but then he started to wonder if Andrew's animosity could affect his grade. By the time class was over, he was convinced that he should have a talk with Andrew and set things straight.
As Andrew was putting away his notes, Lawrence walked over to him and cleared his throat. "That was a good lecture."
Andrew turned to him with an angry glare. "Giving it wasn't my first choice. But what are you going to do?"
"I'm sorry that you lost your job," Lawrence said slowly, carefully choosing his words. "I never thought that you should have been fired."
Andrew stared at Lawrence for a moment, trying to decide if he was just saying that for his own benefit or if he was being sincere. "Thank you," Andrew said, his bitterness regressing. "You know, my quarrel was never with you. So let's forget it. No hard feelings." Andrew extended his hand and they shook on it.
As Lawrence started out of the classroom, he ran into Lauren.
"Hey there," she said staring at him with a wide grin.
Lawrence nodded and tried to walk past her, but she stood blocking the door.
"I've guess you've heard about the big engagement. Isn't it great?"
"Yeah," Lawrence mumbled and tried to walk on.
"When you see Hector at work, tell him I said congratulations. I've seen them together when I was working at the office and they looked so cute together. I'm so happy for them. It's just so romantic."
"Yeah. I've got to go," Lawrence said in a low voice and finally made his way out of the classroom.
"You're in an odd mood tonight," Hector remarked to Eileen as the couple walked out onto the patio behind the restaurant after dinner.
"Am I?"
"You seem a little distant. Are you having a good time?"
"Of course. I guess I have a lot on my mind."
"Like?" Hector prompted. "You'll have to give me a clue. I'm not the psychic here."
Eileen sighed sharply as she took a seat on a nearby bench, "Neither am I."
"What happened?" Hector asked as he sat next to Eileen.
"I just found out that it's all nonsense. I thought . . .I thought I was picking up on something, but I was way off."
"I'm sorry," Hector said sympathetically as he put his arm around her shoulder.
"Don't worry about it," Eileen said as she leaned against Hector's shoulder. "I'm glad I found out now, so I won't waste anymore time chasing silly ideas."
"I'm glad to hear it," Hector replied. "So what are you going to do with all that extra time you have now."
"Oh, I don't know," Eileen answered coyly. "I guess I could start making plans."
"Good, because I want to get married to you as soon as possible." When Eileen drew back, he asked, "What? Don't you agree?"
Eileen hesitated, "That depends on how soon you're thinking. I can't just throw a wedding together. There are people to invite and things have to be reserved in advance."
Sensing Eileen's reservations he asked, "You aren't having second thoughts, are you?"
"No, there are just a lot of things to think about, that's all."
"Ok," Hector nodded, although he still had doubts. "Whenever you're ready, I will be too."
After finally losing Lauren, Lawrence started towards his apartment. On the way there, he decided that he wasn't ready to go back there yet, so he took a walk around the neighborhood.
Instead of distracting him, the walk left Lawrence feeling even more disgusted and discouraged about his life. He hated that he lived in this run down neighborhood where he didn't belong.
As he walked past a seedy little bar, he was surprised to see someone he knew walk out onto the sidewalk. He was almost too embarrassed to say anything, but the other man called out to him first.
"Lawrence. Hey," R.J. called out a greeting. "What are you doing here?"
"Just taking a walk to clear my head."
R.J. was a bit skeptical, seeing as this wasn't a good place to walk alone at night, but he decided not to mention it. "I was just about to head home, but I'm not in a hurry. Why don't you come in and have a drink with me?"
Lawrence agreed and followed R.J. inside.
"I'm glad we ran into each other," R.J. remarked as they sat at a table and waited for the barmaid to bring them their drinks. "We've never really gotten a chance to talk at the office. I've talked to Hector quite a bit, especially since he announced the engagement." R.J. noticed a dark look pass over Lawrence's face, so he continued, "So you and Hector go way back?"
"We went to high school together. We weren't close friends."
"He seems like a nice guy," R.J. said lightly. "And so does Townsend's daughter." He paused, but Lawrence only responded with a slight nod. "In fact, everyone I've met at the office so far have been cool. I have heard from Hector that a couple of people who used to work there had been trouble, but I don't know. What do you think?"
"I've never had any problems with anyone."
R.J. studied Lawrence for a moment, trying to gauge whether he really meant that or not. "Maybe it was just a personality conflict. Some people have problems with each other."
"That could be it," Lawrence agreed.
Deciding that Lawrence wasn't going to give him any good office gossip, R.J. finished his drink and stood to leave. "I should be getting home. We'll have to do this again sometime," he said as he shook Lawrence's hand.
"Sure. I'd like that."
"I'll see you at the office on Monday."
No comments:
Post a Comment