Package Deal (59 page)

“Why are you here, Marcus?”
Cecelia’s voice startled him
out of his snooze
.
She s
tood next to the fence,
looking at
him.

He
sat up straighter
and smiled. “
I like watching you and Skipper play—with the other dogs. And—
I
came to talk to you. I was hoping you would talk to me.”

“About what?”

Gotta go slow here.
“Well, about Skipper.
I miss him. We were becoming friends
.”

Cecelia looked at
Skipper
as
he
raced with the big D
oberman. “
He’s a good dog
.”

“
I miss not coming to see you at your house,” he
added
.“We used to read together. I miss doing that.”

“
You mad
e my mom cry.
That’s why—I—
I
don’t want you coming to our house.” She started to turn away
and then looked back at him
. “I miss reading with you, too, Marcus,”
she said, her voice softe
r, almost apologetic
. “B
ut it’s not ri
ght for you to see us anymore—even
after what
m
y mom said—”

“Cecelia! It’s time to go home,” Janet called.“Get Skipper. I prom
ised your mom you’d be home by five
.”

“What did your mom say, Cece
?”Marcus stood up and took a step toward her.

But
the child
was already halfway across the enclosure as she
ran
t
o where Janet was standing with Skipper’s leash.

He went home discouraged, wondering
when
he would be able to talk to Cecelia
again
.
Three days later,
when he returned to the dog park
,
the child
was
n’t
there
. After dinner, he
called
Amanda
and
had to settle for voice
mail
.
A letter.Evie said to write
Cecelia
a letter
. Perhaps n
ow was the time.
He
wrote
the letter
slowly
, the image of the
child
in his mind as he put his words on paper. He
fold
ed the letter and scrawled her name and address on the envelope. On his way to
campus
tomorrow
, he would
call Amanda and
mail
his letter to Cecelia
.

Then h
e
sat down in front of
his
laptop
, d
e
t
e
rmin
e
d
to imm
e
rs
e
hims
e
lf in th
e
E
rni
e
Pyl
e
manuscript.
When he called Amanda, she
told him she was trying to decide when to have him over for dinner.

“I want it to be when Cece isn’t tired from soccer practice or getting ready for her scout meetings.
I vowed I wouldn’t overschedule her, but I think that’s what’s happened
since she got out of her casts
. I’m sorry
.
”

“I understand.
”
He treasured their brief talks during the day and the few evenings when she had felt free to chat with him. She seemed to look forward to them, too, but he worried
as another day went by without an invitation to talk with Cece
.Only when he worked on his manuscript, concentrating on
what h
e
had b
ee
n m
e
aning to finish
e
arli
e
r in th
e
summ
e
r,
was he able to set aside his fears that Amanda might be having second thoughts. The afternoon he finished the manuscript, he
mad
e
two copi
e
s, and
stacked
on
e
s
e
t
of pages
in
a manuscript box
with Amanda’s nam
e
on it. On his way hom
e
from th
e
offic
e
, h
e
asked Beatrice to put it on Amanda’s desk. The note inside
r
e
qu
e
st
ed
that sh
e
t
e
ll him what sh
e
thought.
As a reminder of how he felt about her, he inserted another page with three whimsically-drawn cartoon characters, their arms entwined
, like ivy around three different-sized columns
.

Early the next week
,
his office
phon
e
rang.

“Marcus Dunbar h
e
r
e
,” h
e
r
e
pli
e
d
, bar
e
ly looking up from
a
l
e
tt
e
r of r
e
comm
e
ndation h
e
was trying to writ
e
for on
e
of his
senior
stud
e
nts.

“Marcus?”

“Amanda!”
He closed the lid of
his
laptop
, forgetting to save what he’d been working on
.

“I r
e
c
e
iv
e
d
your draft of thos
e
last
six
chapt
e
rs.”

H
e
nodd
e
d
.
“Y
e
s?”

“W
e
n
ee
d
to talk about th
e
m.”

H
e
grinn
e
d
and tri
e
d
to stay calm. “I’m for that.
”
He glanced at his watch.
“
Wh
e
r
e
would you lik
e
to m
ee
t
, my office
?”

“I hav
e
a b
e
tt
e
r id
e
a.”
What was that little shimmer in her voice? A smile?

“What’
s that?”

“
Your
hous
e
—
it’s quieter there and we’d be less likely to be interrupted
.”
He heard her sigh.

He grinned.
“
We could
talk
ov
e
r dinn
e
r.
”

“I’d like that. We haven’t had dinner together in so long.” That shimmer in her voice again.

“
Want me to
pick you up
?
”

“Not necessary. How about if I meet you there, around six?”
Her voice
, that smooth-as-
honey voice,
was balm to his soul.

“I’ll see you there.”
H
e
whirled his chair toward the window then
clapp
e
d
his hands tog
e
th
e
r and
tried to concentrate on the letter of recommendation
he’d promised to complete
.
Ten minutes later, he closed his laptop,
call
e
d
his favorit
e
d
e
li
,
ord
e
r
e
d
two dinn
e
rs to go, and stopp
e
d
at th
e
win
e
stor
e
b
e
for
e
picking up th
e
food and h
e
ading for hom
e
.

Wh
e
n Amanda arriv
e
d
, sh
e
hand
e
d
him th
e
manuscript copy h
e
had ask
e
d
h
e
r to r
e
ad and took a s
e
at on th
e
porch
swing. “
Jan
e
t says
I hav
e
to b
e
hom
e
no lat
e
r than ten
. Do you think w
e
—will w
e
b
e
don
e
with our discussion by th
e
n?”

“W
e
’ll mak
e
it happ
e
n
,
”
he assured her.

Th
e
y at
e
dinn
e
r,
e
ach watchful of th
e
oth
e
r
,
conc
e
ntrating on
innocuous pl
e
asantri
e
s. Th
e
y sp
e
nt th
e
n
e
xt hour r
e
vi
e
wing h
e
r comm
e
nts.
Marcus wrot
e
in th
e
margins of th
e
manuscript.
Wh
e
n th
e
y r
e
ach
e
d
th
e
e
nd of th
e
last chapt
e
r, sh
e
hand
e
d
him h
e
r
not
e
s
.

“Y
ou may want to go back ov
e
r th
e
s
e
as you r
e
vis
e
.”

“Your r
e
ading was v
e
ry h
e
lpful.
I kn
e
w it would b
e
.
Thank you.” H
e
r
e
ach
e
d
for h
e
r hand. “L
e
t’s go sit on th
e
swing
again
.”