Deadly Expectations (66 page)

“I’m going out,” he said loudly as he gouged it deeply into the paper with a pen.
 
Then he stormed past me to the door.

“Now who’s being childish?” I called out to his back as he went out.
 
Take that mister all grown up.

I roared at the closed door and went to lie down until my head stopped spinning.
 
I was being childish too but I’d be damned if I was going to admit it first.
 
He hadn’t seen stubborn yet.

My cell phone ringing a couple of hours later woke me.

“What,” I said, snapping
the ‘t’
with my tongue.
 
I was still very sore and short tempered from our fight and on top of that he should have known he’d wake me up.
 
“Are you having a good time being out?”

“Marvellous,” he said, but he didn’t sound like he was marvellous.
 
He sounded lost and lonely without me.
 
I felt that way too but I wouldn’t admit it.
 
“Marie should be there in a minute.”

“Good,” I told him, “I’m looking forward to spending some time with somebody capable of being nice.”

I could hear him sigh loudly in my ear.
 
“Patrick is going to keep an eye on you from here.”

All the way from the restaurant?
 
There was no way I could look that far and I didn’t like being spied on.
 
Since what I taught
him
was so new I decided there had better be some rules about it.

“I’m keeping an eye on myself … can you please remind Patrick of his manners.
 
I didn’t ask him to so he needs to keep it to himself.”

“
Argh
,” Paul said sounding defeated, “I asked him to.”

“That’s just as rude.
 
Now you have bad manners too.
 
Good job.”
 
There was a knock at the door.
 
Marie.
 
He hung up on me.
 
So be it.
 
I took a couple of deep breaths as I walked to the door to let her in.

Marie brought iced tea and sandwiches and her bag of books.
 
She was excited to get to spend some time away from the man table at the restaurant and with me instead.

“What colour did Paul like best?” she asked.

“The black I think,” I felt my cheeks warming up and looked down at my food.
 
“He didn’t say.”

“They never say,” she laughed, “but it’s usually the black.
 
They won’t complain about the other ones either.
 
Keith’s the same way.
 
He won’t ask me to change out of the red or blue but if I wear black he’s crazier for me.”

I thought about Paul.
 
Maybe wasting our time being stubborn wasn’t the best thing right now.
 
Neither of us was wrong and our fight was stupid.
 
I decided to apologize after he did first.

Maria put her sandwich down and covered it up with a napkin then she made a face and grabbed her bag before running with it to the bathroom.
 
I heard the sandwich come up and gave her a minute.

“
You going
to be okay?”
 
I called.

“Yeah,” she said.
 
“I brought my toothbrush just in case.
 
Can I use your toothpaste?”

“Of course.”

“When did mayo become the work of the devil?” she asked me when she came out.
 
She sat back down on the couch without looking at the food.
 
I’d finished mine while she was in the bathroom so I packed the rest of it away out of sight.

“I’m sorry you hurt yourself,” she said.
 
“You didn’t fall on Keith’s stairs did you?
 
I told him that carpet was lumpy and too thick.”

I shook my head.
 
“But I’ll be careful on those ones.
 
I need to lie down.
 
Do you want to use the desk?”

“Okay.”
 
She got her books out and sat down.
 
I couldn’t sleep and listened to pages turn.
 
It was relaxing.
 
It reminded me of when Alina with me, studying at the table.
 
We were just near each other, together.
 
Not being alone.
 
I’d been alone for two years before that and her quiet company was nice and not demanding.

After a while she sighed.
 
“I’m warm … I think I’m going to fall asleep here.”

“I can fix that.”
 
I told her and started to get up.
 
I could turn up the air conditioning for her and get under the blankets but she got up first.

“No, I need a nap.
 
I have my courses pretty much nailed and if I don’t know it by now I’m screwed anyway.
 
Six exams in four days next week so I need rest more.”

She started to pack up.

“Are you going back to the office?”

“I guess.”
 
She didn’t sound too enthusiastic about it.
 
“The smell there is terrible now.
 
It’s not the food so much as the cooking.
 
I’m okay if I can make myself believe it wasn’t cooked but it’s hard to trick myself about it there when that’s what they do.”

I made some room.

“
There’s
a couple of spare blankets up in the closet and it’s cooler over here away from the heater.
 
You can nap with me.”

“Really?
 
I spend so much time alone now.
 
I like being here with you.
 
It’s cozy like I’ve known you forever.”

“I know what you mean,” I told her.
 
I knew why.
 
Paul said Marie and I had always gotten along but she didn’t know that.
 
She brought a book and got the blankets and put one over me then she lay down close beside me.

“Were you fighting?” she asked.

“Why?”

She pointed at the desk.
 
“Notepad … he wrote through eight sheets.”

We laughed.

“It was childish.
 
Paul gave me something for the pain in my foot and back last night and I was still high from it when I woke up.
 
His best friend is my doctor.
 
He sent a bunch of first aid stuff with us so he told him what to give me.
 
I went to look for Paul when I woke up because he went somewhere and didn’t leave me a note and I didn’t notice my phone was dead so he got everyone looking for me.

“I’ll apologize for being unable to use a phone when he apologizes for being unable to use a pen … he wrote that note when he stomped off.”

Marie laughed again.

“You’re right to apologize second … he was stupid first.
 
He was sure gloomy this morning but I think he’ll start sucking up soon … he’s setting up a surprise for you or something.”

“I’ll be nice then Marie.
 
I’ve been on my own since I was sixteen.
 
I guess I’m still getting used to having things done for me.
 
Always just looked after myself.”

She was thumbing through her book.

“I thought you two had been together forever.
 
You seem so connected.”

“I guess,” I told her.
 
“We met last spring and spent a couple of nights together here and there through the summer.
 
It was casual, intense … he’s addicting.
 
But nothing we ever thought would be long term.
 
I was so busy with work I didn’t realize I could be pregnant until I was two months late.
 
So I found out for sure and went to tell him.
 
I never left.
 
We got married at the beginning of November.”

Marie laughed.
 
“Now I feel like the old married woman and I’m only nineteen.”

“I think Paul and I give each other the pieces we were missing in our lives.
 
We both want the baby so much.
 
It’s turning out really good.”

“I’ll set you up with some really sleazy things when you’re back in shape … that’ll turn out really good.”
 
She winked at me.
 
“Now
sshhh
, I’ll read to you a bit.
 
Keith gave this to me when we got married.
 
Shakespeare sonnets.”

I turned on my side with my back to her and she read a few of her favourites then she yawned and put the book down.

Chapter 48

I heard the key in the door.
 
Marie was cuddled in close behind me with her arm around my ribs.
 
Her breathing didn’t change so she hadn’t been woken by the door opening and the sound of all the feet on the carpet.
 
I figured it was Paul with Keith and Patrick.
 
I couldn’t be bothered to read and find out for myself.
 
Or open my eyes and look up.
 
They stopped at the foot of the bed.

“Funny how they do that when they’re pregnant,” Keith whispered.

Paul laughed a bit quietly.

“Here goes,” he said, “hope she’s not still pissed.”

He came to the side of the bed and got down on the floor near me and pushed my hair back behind my ear.

“Sshhh Anna,” he whispered, “it’s me.”

“Hi Paul,” I whispered back.

“Are you still mad at me?”

“Only if you’re still mad at me.”
 
I could hear someone coming over to Paul but I didn’t open my eyes.

“I’m not … I brought someone to see you.”

I felt weight on the bed near me and someone else behind Marie so I opened my eyes as a hand went on my arm.

“Hey Kiddo,” it was Ray.
 
Keith had pulled Marie off me and was waking her up so I carefully pushed myself up and hugged him.

“Ray … it’s good to see you,” I said.
 
“But you didn’t have to come all this way.
 
Paul took good care of me.”

Paul glanced at Marie.
 
“House call.”

I got it.

“House call,” Ray repeated.
 
“I didn’t think Paul could talk you into checking in with a doctor after you fell so we decided I should come to you.”

“I’m good,” I told him, “but I missed you so I’m glad you’re here.”

Keith had Marie up but she was sleepy and out of it.

“She threw up from the mayonnaise … her book is on the bed here somewhere and the rest are on the desk,” I told them.
 
“Toothbrush might still be in the bathroom.”

“I’ll get it,” Patrick said.
 
I hadn’t noticed he was with them. Maybe Ray had come to see him too.
 
There would be hangovers tomorrow.

“Are you still sore?”
 
Paul asked as he stood up.