Over the Fence (12 page)

David picked up the long box and turned it in his hands. “The way you’ve designed it, there’s only half as many bars in the box as one would assume.”

Eva beamed. “Exactly! That’s the plan. The customer is led to believe he’s getting much more for his money.” She noticed David’s surprised expression. “That’s a little marketing trick. And even if I can’t develop completely original packaging, I want to at least win a point with this idea.”

“Clever,” David said.

Eva closed the image of the long box and opened the graphic showing the chocolate mountain peak. “But it occurred to me today that more would fit in the round packaging, and it’s also quite out of the ordinary. I have no idea how I’d be able to sell the manufacturer on this thing, though.”

David turned the cardboard package in his hands as he looked at the screen.
“The Peak of Enjoyment,”
he read aloud. “I believe that’s a crucial selling point.” He put aside the prototype. “Well, on the screen it looks super.” He pointed to Eva’s packaging. “This thing here, though, doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the design on your computer. It looks like a pillar topped by one of those straw hats that Asian rice farmers wear.”

“Thanks a lot!”

“You know how to work with your graphics program, but working with cardboard to implement your ideas . . .” David let the words hang in the air. “Do you need to present a packaging design out of cardboard or is the graphic design good enough?”

“Both would be better. But I’m not a very good craftsperson,” Eva said with embarrassment.

“When does this have to be ready?”

“Tomorrow. I’ve already sent out the file”—Eva turned her cardboard design back and forth—“without this thing.”

“Do you have some more cardboard somewhere?” David asked.

“Not a lot.” Eva pulled out several sheets from her work folder.

“Decorative paper?”

Eva shook her head.

“I’ll get Jonas’s old art-supply box, and we’ll see if we can put something together. I really like your graphic, but this thing here?” He pointed to the pillar glued to the rice farmer’s hat. “That’s not going to work.”

“I know. That’s why I didn’t want to show it to my boss. I’m a graphic designer but, unfortunately, not an expert craftsperson.” David’s criticism had surprised her, but now that he had offered his help, she was no longer offended.

David stood up. “It’s a good thing I brought a bottle of wine. It looks like we’re going to need it today.” He took a gulp and turned to go. “If I can find my son’s arts-and-crafts box quickly, I’ll be right back.”

Eva watched him go, unable to move. David’s offer of help had caught her off guard. Sascha had always just laughed when he saw her designs. He’d give her a kiss on the forehead, then meet up with his buddies so that she could continue to work alone. David? He offered his help without her even asking for it.

Her father snored loudly as the TV droned on in the background.

Eva shook her head, trying to clear her mind, but she continued to think about him until the doorbell rang.

“You really don’t have to help me,” she said as she opened the front door. David stood in front of her, armed with a moving box. He looked puzzled.

“I know, but I want to do this. Jonas is watching a movie that I’m not interested in. To be honest, I want to find out whether we can work together to create better packaging.” He reached into the box and pulled out packs of Duplos, Kinder Chocolate, and chocolate bars she wasn’t familiar with. “With all the chocolate and wine, we now have more than enough comfort food.”

Eva laughed. The way he looked at her with such an enthusiastic expression made her heart flutter. Someone selflessly and enthusiastically supporting her creative endeavors felt good. “All right. Then we’d better get started. Don’t let my father’s snoring bother you. OK?”

“We can turn the radio on,” David suggested and followed her into the dining room.

Eva turned on the radio and turned the TV off, while David took brown paper and gold foil out of the box.

“How big are the chocolate bars?” he asked.

“About the size of the Duplo and almost twice as thick,” Eva explained. “Eight wedge-shaped tapered chocolate bars should fit in one container. The diameter should be almost twice the depth of each individual chocolate wedge.”

David estimated the diameter. “Almost two and a half inches.” Then he typed something into a small calculator he’d pulled from the box and nodded with satisfaction. “So we need a circumference of about seven inches.”

“How did you figure that out?” Eva asked. Geometry wasn’t exactly her best subject.

“The circumference. You know, the diameter times pi,” he said, as if everyone had instant recall to ninth-grade algebra. “How high should it be?”

“I have to look.” She pulled her Mac over and looked through the files.

“You don’t know?” he asked, obviously amused. “Now I know why the sample didn’t—”

“Stop,” Eva said, already feeling embarrassed enough. “I was only testing it and didn’t have the measurements worked out.”

David leaned back, his lips twitching, hardly able to contain his amusement.

“Three and a half inches,” she said and reached for the cardboard.

David emptied his glass. “You want another one?”

Eva nodded and focused on drawing the dimensions on the piece of cardboard. She would add an inch to the length to better secure it to the top of the mountain, then add one and a half inches to the base’s diameter.

David nodded as he filled her glass. “It already looks different. Do you have a compass?”

Eva shook her head.

“A glass with a diameter of two and a half inches perhaps?”

“I’ll look in the kitchen.” Eva went into the next room and measured some glasses and cups with the ruler. Before long, she discovered one that was two and a half inches in diameter and headed back into the dining room. “We’ll need to make it a bit bigger,” she said.

Soon, they’d put together the basic framework.

“It still looks like a pillar,” Eva said.

“At least this one is straight.” David pulled Eva’s old sample out of the basket. “In comparison, the old one made the Leaning Tower of Pisa look straight.”

Eva laughed. It was fun working with David.

“Now we’ll cover it with a little gold foil,” David suggested. “Since your graphic was gold.”

Eva was impressed to see how the details of her work seemed engraved in David’s memory. Within two minutes, he had wrapped the column in the shiny paper. “Now all we need is the peak.”

After they emptied their wineglasses again, Eva picked up the bottle of Merlot that David had brought into the dining room. She poured a little, then tapped her glass against David’s and smiled at him. “It’s late now. I think we’ve done enough for today.”

Her father had said good night and gone to bed at one in the morning. With a shake of his head, he’d watched them briefly as they sat together at the table. “Like two kindergartners,” he muttered.

“Are you tired?” David asked.

Eva thought it over. “Not one bit.”

“Me neither.” He took a sip. “You want to keep working?”

“Sure. Why not?” Eva said, and really meant it. She enjoyed her time with David.

Two hours later, they had emptied the second bottle of wine, and the new prototype was ready. They’d made the peak-shaped top out of cardboard and brown crepe paper. Its diameter was a little bit wider than the pillar-shaped body, which was now neat and straight. The brown crepe paper on the top looked like chocolate running down the sides.

Eva felt more alive than she had in a very long time. She photographed not only the design, but also David cleaning up leftover paper scraps. The moment he looked up, she pressed the shutter.

As David packed up the remaining materials into the moving box, Eva saved the prototype photos in the company folder.

“You pulled an all-nighter because of me,” Eva said after an odd silence.

David picked up the box. “I had so much fun. I’d love to have a job like yours.”

“Believe me, it’s not always as fun as this,” Eva said. “It depends on who you’re working with.” Eva knew she didn’t have to say that, but it was the truth. It didn’t seem like work when she was with David; she knew that from experience.

“Thank you,” David said with a smile as he walked toward the front door.

“No. I’m the one who should be thanking you.” Eva hesitated to open the door.

David held the box under his right arm, propping it on his hip. Before he opened the door with his left hand, he moved close to Eva and delicately kissed her on the mouth. “We should absolutely do that again,” he murmured, before he stepped through the door and skipped down the steps. “Good night!”

“Good night,” Eva whispered, then closed the door. She could hardly believe what had just happened. He had kissed her. Without hesitation. And she had returned his kiss. Without hesitation. In fact, she would have liked to kiss him even more. Her mind raced. The evening had gone wonderfully, especially the kiss, which practically brought her to her knees. David was a special guy, but Eva knew she had to fight to get him out of her head before it was too late.

After the kiss, sleep was unthinkable. Eva lay in bed; she tossed and turned until she finally decided to get up. She washed the used glasses and scrubbed the stove, still crusty after the incident at lunchtime. The lunch plates were also still in the sink. Even after this flurry of cleaning, she still felt wired and confused. Why had David kissed her? Did he have extramarital affairs that no one knew about? Stefanie was on vacation, and Eva had made it clear to David that she wouldn’t be living next door for long. Who would be more suitable than her for a fling?

In an effort to continue distracting herself, she sprayed carpet foam in the living room to clean up Felix’s dirty tracks. She gently spread the foam over the dirt with the brush mop. According to the instructions, the foam would dry quickly and Eva could then vacuum it. Her father was a deep sleeper; this wouldn’t wake him.

She made a cup of tea and sat in the living room, staring at the foamy carpet and occasionally sipping her tea. If it hadn’t been so early, she would have called Lena to talk about David. But it was five o’clock in the morning and even though they were very close, a call this early wouldn’t be appropriate. Just because she couldn’t deal with David’s kiss didn’t mean she had license to wake up Lena from a sound sleep. After all, it wasn’t an emergency. She didn’t want to alarm her friend for no reason.

The carpet was dry now. She sucked the rest of the dirt away with the vacuum’s brush attachment. The velour carpet didn’t seem as soft as before, but at least the tracks were gone. She stroked it with her hands several times. She hoped her mother wouldn’t notice anything.

Sally from work had sent her an e-mail saying they would discuss Eva’s designs internally and that she should be prepared for a videoconference at two in the afternoon. In order to sleep in a little longer, she prepared coffee for her father so that all he had to do was push a button. She put the coffeemaker in the dining room, plugged it in, and put a note next to it. She also put two slices of bread, some butter, and jam on the table.

With one last look, she decided that everything was ready for her father. She nodded with satisfaction before turning off the light and heading to her bedroom. As she lay down, she realized how tired she was. She snuggled underneath her blanket and hoped she’d be able to fall asleep soon.

Ten

“Good morning, Eva,” someone whispered into her ear. Her brain refused to understand her father’s words. She had turned on her cell phone alarm to ensure she wouldn’t sleep too late after the long night.

“What time is it?” Eva asked as she pulled the covers over her head.

“Eight thirty.”

Eight thirty? She had set her alarm for eleven. “Let me sleep. Didn’t you see my note?”

“Of course,” her father said as he turned on the light. “But the coffee machine isn’t working and the newspaper is still in the mailbox.”

“Go get the newspaper yourself or you can read it later,” Eva murmured and dug herself deeper under the covers.

“I’ve already waited a whole hour,” her father whined.

Eva moaned and clenched her hand into a fist. Now she definitely wouldn’t be able to sleep any longer. “Dammit, Papa!” She threw back the blanket, stood up, and pushed past him. “I’ve only slept three hours! Did you really have to wake me up right now?”

“Normal people sleep at night,” her father said.

“Normal people work during the day and don’t have to baby—” She swallowed the rest because she was too tired to argue.

She trudged barefoot out to the mailbox, pulled out the newspaper, and marched into the dining room, where her father sat at the table. He looked at her reproachfully. Without a word, she gave him the newspaper and hit the button on the coffee machine. Nothing happened. Then she noticed the lid over the filter was slightly open. “Did you open it?”

Her father nodded.

“Then why didn’t you close it again?” She shut the lid firmly and pressed the “Start” button. The water pumped instantly into the filter and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee spread throughout the house.

“I’m not familiar with that thing at all!” he said.

Eva put her hands on her hips. “So why didn’t you leave it alone and just press the ‘Start’ button like I said to in this note?” She held up the paper.

“I didn’t do it on purpose. And since you’re already here, why don’t you prepare my toast for me?” Her father slapped open the newspaper and read the front page.

“You just have a broken leg. You can butter your bread yourself. Why do you think I set everything out for you?” Eva marched toward the kitchen. “It was so I could sleep. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do right now.”

She felt him watching her as she stalked away. She refused to coddle him like he was a three-year-old child by spreading butter and jam on his bread.

She went back to her room and fell back into bed. She pulled the covers up to her chin. Her mind was in an uproar. Even though she couldn’t sleep, she at least wanted to lie down and rest. She would likely have to work late again tonight, and her father had to respect that.

At eleven, she crawled out of bed. Her anger had dissipated, though she still felt sleepy. After a shower she felt fit enough to go shopping. Though her father had eaten a late breakfast, it wouldn’t make any difference. He still would want to eat a normal lunch. She grabbed her handbag and two shopping bags and crossed the terrace toward the garage.

In the supermarket, she noticed how friendly people were to her. Only after she caught her reflection did she realize she had a smile plastered on her face. It was contagious. In the meat department, she bought three cutlets, hot dogs, and cold cuts. This would make for some nice quick-and-easy meals for the next few days. There were plenty of potatoes in the cellar. To restock the wine, she bought a case of red.

When she returned home, she put all the groceries away. Her father was lounging on the sofa and pouting. The bread and condiments lay undisturbed on the dining room table. She put the coffee machine back in the kitchen, the bread back in the bread box, and the butter and jam back into the fridge. If her father would rather not prepare his own bread with butter and jam, then he’d just have to go hungry. Eva put on comfortable clothes and sat down in the sun on the terrace with a cup of coffee and her Mac. She looked over her e-mails, answered some, and prepared for her afternoon videoconference call.

With her important business tasks already done, she warmed up the leftover roast and noodles. She would make herself a cheese sandwich and eat the remaining salad.

“Lunch is ready,” she informed her father, who was still pouting in the living room.

She placed his plate on the table. Before she had brought her own plate and salad bowl to the table, her father was at the table, swallowing his first bite.

“Have you seen Felix this morning?” she asked, wondering why the cat hadn’t already demanded his food.

Her father shook his head. “I let him out last night before I went to bed.”

“He’ll show up soon.” Eva sat down at the table. “After my meeting, I’m going to see Mama. Do you want to come?” She bit into her cheese sandwich.

“Of course,” her father said before shoving a hefty portion of noodles into his mouth. He emptied his plate quickly and Eva grinned. He must have been famished after not eating any breakfast.

She enjoyed her salad and cheese sandwich.

“Is there any dessert?”

“No.”

“But I’m still hungry,” he complained and looked at her pleadingly.

Eva pushed the last piece of sandwich in her mouth, chewed it, and swallowed. She couldn’t hold back any longer. “That’s too bad. You didn’t have to miss breakfast.” Eva rose, gathered up the dishes, and went into the kitchen. “I don’t have time to make you anything. But you know where everything in the kitchen is.”

“But . . .” There was disbelief in her father’s voice. “I . . .”

“You brought this on yourself. I have to work now.” Eva would have loved to see the expression on her father’s face, but that would have made her exit from the room far less effective.

She grabbed her cell phone and went into her room. Lena picked up after three rings.

Eva told Lena everything that had happened the previous day. “So what should I do?”

“With your father or with David?” Lena asked.

Eva sighed. “With both.”

“You stood your ground today with your father. That should send him a clear message that he’ll need to make his own breakfast from now on. And with David?” Lena paused. “What do you know about his relationship with Stefanie?”

“Nothing. But they’ve been together for years and have a fourteen-year-old son. What are the chances he’ll leave her? And even if he leaves her, I can’t live with him in this town. I have to go back to London.”

“What if you just have an affair with him? That could be a lot of fun,” Lena suggested.

Eva was dead silent.

“Uh-oh. You’re in love,” Lena said. “Well, you can forget about having an affair. You’ll just have to avoid him. You can do that for a couple of weeks.”

If only it were that easy!

“Eva, you can also just let everything be and see what happens.” Lena cleared her throat. “But if it goes wrong, it could be really bad for you.”

“I know. It’s better if I just try to avoid him.” Eva looked at the time. “Thank you, Lena. I’ve got a meeting with my boss in ten minutes.”

“OK, concentrate on making that go smoothly. We’ll talk again soon. OK?”

Eva promised and went out to the terrace. Her father was sitting in the backyard, basking in the sun. She didn’t want to hold the meeting in his presence. With her laptop under her arm, she went back to her bedroom. The neutral wallpaper behind her would be a much better background than her niece’s room was. She also wore a clean shirt, tied her hair up in a businesslike chignon, and pulled up the designs. Nothing could go wrong.

The meeting went even better than she’d hoped. Both Matthew and Adam liked her designs. She needed to put the finishing touches on them by Thursday evening, and the presentation would be done from London on Friday. Eva regretted that she couldn’t be there, but Sally reassured her that everything would be presented according to her specifications. Eva had barely closed her laptop when her cell phone rang.

Sally was on the line.

“Did you forget something?” Eva asked.

“No. I couldn’t tell you everything. Matthew put another colleague on the project at the same time. He had doubts that you would be able to come up with something so quickly. The other designs were not great and after seeing what you delivered, he now says he always ‘knew you could do it.’ ” Sally mimicked Matthew. “Well, I just wanted to tell you that everything’s settled now.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” Eva was disappointed that Sally had withheld this from her.

“What difference would it have made? You would have been under even more pressure. At least that’s how I would have responded.” In the background, Eva could hear Sally tapping on the computer. “I’m looking at the cylindrical carton. The prototype looks really good. Can the lid be removed easily?”

“Yes,” Eva said. “The manufacturer could perforate it so the package would always be well sealed and the lid wouldn’t be destroyed after opening it.”

“Cool idea. Really cool.”

Eva heard the excitement in Sally’s voice and that made her happy. “I hope the client likes it, too.”

“The slogan is great and complements the packaging. I think they’re going to love it,” Sally said.

The meeting ended shortly after four. Eva looked for her father in the backyard, but he wasn’t there. She found him in the living room, watching TV.

“Papa, I’m ready,” Eva said with a nod.

Without hesitation, her father turned off the TV and got up. Her mother would be pleased to see them after such a short visit the day before though she understood about Eva’s pressing work deadlines. Now, Eva was curious to see whether her father would complain about her to her mother.

Eva’s father didn’t complain, but he also didn’t seem to have any qualms about stealing several of the cookies Eva brought for her mother. Eva’s mother just wrinkled her brow with resignation. Using hand signals, Eva tried to explain to her mother, who just smiled and nodded. Eva would explain the whole thing to her later.

When they returned from the hospital, Eva’s father lay down again in the living room and turned on the TV. She sat down on the terrace to refine the designs. She also needed to come up with a decent product name.

After an early dinner, Eva’s father lay right in front of the TV again, apparently with no desire to move a muscle for the rest of the day. It was already six but still very hot outside, so Eva decided to go for a swim at the lake to cool off.

She threw on a breezy little summer dress over her bikini and grabbed a towel. Then she drove the Polo to the lake less than four miles away. At this hour, there were few people on the shore. Eva put her towel down, took off her dress, and threw it over her car keys.

She stuck her big toe into the water to test the temperature before wading all the way in. She swam out, her strokes smooth and powerful. The water was beautiful. Eva swam toward a platform anchored in the middle. As a teenager, she had loved to lie on it. She reached the platform, then pushed herself up.

While pulling herself up, she stopped and stared.

There was a young couple making out. Eva didn’t have to look twice to see what was going on. She had seen enough. She slipped back into the water unnoticed and swam back toward the shore. She got out of the lake, lay on her towel, and watched the pair from afar.

Leonie and Jonas. She wondered whether Kati knew. Eva had already guessed they were a couple but had no idea the relationship had advanced this far. She would have to speak with Leonie. Maybe she would wait for her here on the shore.

The sun dried her hair. She watched through her sunglasses as Leonie dove into the water and headed back to shore. Jonas sat on the platform with his legs dangling in the water.

When Leonie reached the shore, Eva stood up and walked over. “Hi.”

“Oh. Hi, Aunt Eva. Have you been here long?” Leonie asked, throwing a glance back at the platform.

“Long enough, I would say.” Eva smiled. “And that’s what I would like to talk to you about.”

Leonie inhaled and exhaled deeply. “If you must.”

“I would say it’s an absolute must.” Eva pointed to her towel. “Have a seat and we’ll chat a bit.” Eva noticed her niece’s expression. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to talk to you about the birds and the bees.”