Page 20

“What’s wrong?” Andi whispered, leaning closer to Carys while the rest of the lunch table continued to discuss the latest gripes about work, boyfriends, and the cost of living. It was a ritual that their group practiced every few months when the stars aligned, allowing all eight of them to meet up.

“Nothing,” Carys replied, but she couldn’t look at her friend.

“Something is definitely wrong. Margo just admitted to dumping Martin for the fifth time and you didn’t say anything.”

Carys perked up slightly, looking around, but she didn’t bother to tune into the conversation. She didn’t have the energy.

“She’ll figure it out, eventually.”

Andi eyed Carys speculatively, then took a sip of her coffee. “My guy is out of town too.”

Carys sighed, wondering where Rafi was. Had he made it to New York yet? Or was he somewhere else in the world? “Yeah. It’s tough when they leave us alone.”

Andi toasted Carys with her coffee in silent agreement.

Finally, someone announced that she needed to get back to her kids.

Carys was so relieved, she nearly jumped out of her chair.

Andi chuckled and waved to the others. “We’re off too,” she announced, then looped her arm through Carys’s as they headed out of the diner.

The pair walked along the path toward their office building, each lost in their own thoughts.

Finally, Andi leaned in and hugged Carys. “It will get better,” she announced.

“Promise?” Carys sighed, hugging her friend back just as tightly. “Because this really sucks.”

“How long has it been since you’ve seen him?”

“Seven days. He’d tried to get back four days ago, but something came up.”

Andi sighed and there was a lot of understanding in that sigh.

“It’s been two days since I left my guy and I’m already a mess.

” She smiled. “At least they caught the freak that was bothering me, and the weirdo cleaning your apartment has stopped, so that’s something.

” They’d reached their office buildings, but since she and Carys worked in different buildings, Andi headed for the stairs while Carys walked across the street to the building where her office was located.

“Good luck!” Andi called back over her shoulder.

Carys grimaced, thinking about the small items in her apartment that had vanished.

Andi thought that Carys’s mystery “cleaner” had stopped, but that wasn’t true.

As she pressed the elevator call button, she thought about mentioning the other odd happenings around her apartment.

Carys watched Andi reach the doorway to the stairs and sighed, deciding to keep it to herself.

Andi had a lot of work to do and Carys…yeah, she had some stuff to accomplish before she could finish for the day too.

Besides, she’d replaced the missing toothbrush.

But she’d also discovered that her pot holders had been taken. Who steals pot holders!? And why?

This was really getting creepy and she should probably talk to the police, but what would she say? “Hey, someone is breaking into my house and cleaning for me. Oh, and they’ve stolen a toothbrush and pot holders.” She would be laughed out of the police station.

Besides, no one had broken in over the past week.

Plus, she’d gotten two new security cameras.

One that watched the front door and another that surveilled her balcony door.

Not that she suspected anyone would come in through her balcony.

She lived on the third floor, in a garden-style apartment, but anyone climbing the balcony would be pretty obvious to her neighbors.

Unless the intruder crossed over from her next door neighbor’s balcony, she suddenly thought. Could they? Would they? Would that be difficult to do?

Carys thought about her neighborhood, feeling the paranoia sinking its claws into her again. Every person she thought about, each of her neighbors, was starting to look like a pot-holder thief. It was creepy.

At least work was going well. A new marketing director started yesterday.

The new woman had held a staff meeting and told everyone that they were going to be more collaborative going forward.

The new director had divided up the responsibility of building the ad campaign so that not everything fell on Carys’s shoulders.

So…things were okay. Her life was…fine.

Unfortunately, she missed Rafi. A lot! Every day that he wasn’t close by, the ache in her chest intensified. She missed him both physically and emotionally, and that scared the bejeezus out of her.

Carys thought about the evenings over the past month when she’d been discouraged about work issues.

They’d been regular problems, such as when Tanya had blasted Carys for a made-up reason or Dave telling her she’d forgotten to do something related to the campaign, which he’d never asked her to do in the first place.

It had been Rafi who had recognized that suppressed frustration.

On those nights, he’d taken her into his arms and just held her for as long as it took.

That’s all she’d needed, just his strong arms around her and his breath in her hair.

She’d felt one hundred percent better after those moments.

“You have work to do!” Carys whispered to herself, then smiled at one of her co-workers who paused outside of her cubicle.

Sitting down, Carys started working through the next ad script and graphics.

Grabbing her pencils, she started sketching, forgetting her problems as her creativity took her to another world.

Several hours later, Carys suddenly noticed that she was the only person left in the office, so she sighed and started packing up for the night, carefully filing her work progress into the cabinets.

She wasn’t bringing any work home with her tonight.

She was going to head back to her apartment and…

and what? She didn’t have a specific activity in mind.

Maybe she’d do laundry and clean. The world always felt better after a thorough cleaning.

Just stepping out of the building and into the chilly, night air helped to ease her tension.

Because she was lost in thought, making a mental list of the tasks she wanted to accomplish when she got home, Carys didn’t see the man approaching her.

“Carys!” the man called out.

Carys turned, careful to keep her expression polite. But her jaw dropped as she watched her father approach, nearly running to catch up with her.

Frederick Remington had changed a lot since she’d seen him last. He’d lost most of his hair and had gained about fifty pounds, not to mention the deep creases around his eyes and sagging jowls.

She remembered the last time she’d seen him.

Even though it had been years, Carys still hadn’t fully recovered from that miserable confrontation.

She remembered the day like it was yesterday.

They’d been in court about ten years ago when he’d sued her.

She’d been eighteen and about to graduate from high school.

Because she’d graduated from a high school with over three thousand students, each family was given only four tickets to the graduation ceremony.

At the time, she’d given a ticket to her mother, grandmother, and grandfather.

Her father had sued her, demanding that last ticket.

She’d lost the case. The judge had ordered her to give him the ticket. So she had. However, she hadn’t told her father that she wasn’t going to walk in the graduation ceremony. Carys’s mother and grandparents had celebrated her high school graduation with her privately.

The rage that she harbored for this man swelled up within her. Instead of speaking to him, she turned and hurried toward the subway station. She refused to talk to him. She’d made that perfectly clear already.

“Carys!” he called out again, running to get in front of her. “I just want to talk! I want to explain!”

“No, thank you,” she replied as politely as her clenched jaw would allow. “No explanation needed.”

Her father huffed right behind her and she could feel his anger building.

“Obviously, explanations are necessary! You won’t let me in your life!

You won’t even accept my letters! How am I supposed to explain my side of the story if you won’t even talk to me or read my letters?

” He rushed ahead again, then stopped right in front of her.

Carys barely paused, emotions filling her throat. She wouldn’t even look up at him as she stepped around him. “I don’t need your explanations.”

“Yes, you do!” he snapped, keeping up with her. “I have a right to tell you my side!”

She tried to sidestep him again, but he blocked her. “Carys, I’m your father! I have a right to be in your life.”

Carys didn’t agree. Not after what he’d done to her all those years ago. So she kept walking. “Please leave me alone!” she hissed, still trying to get around him. He blocked her again. No matter how quickly she moved, he moved faster.

Finally, his frustration erupted and he grabbed her upper arms, holding her still. “Carys, you need to listen to me! I’m not the evil villain, regardless of what you think!”

Carys cringed, trying to pull away, but he was stronger than he looked. “Let me go!” she cried out, feeling bruises forming under his grip.

“Not until you listen to me!” he insisted. “Just one meal. I’ll buy you dinner and we’ll talk. Just…stop fighting me! I won’t let you go! It’s my right as your father!”

Carys was just about to knee him in the groin when his hands were suddenly ripped away from her arms. She looked around and saw Rafi had one of her father’s hands in his and was twisting it. Her father dropped to his knees as his face contorted with pain.

Rafi’s voice was a low, menacing growl as he said, “The lady said no. That should be the end of the conversation.” Rafi twisted a little harder and Carys’s father let out a yelp, his head nearly touching the concrete.