Seer (21 page)

“All right,” she replied. “Let me rephrase my question. Did you enjoy hosting here as much as you do at home?”

“It was different,” I said. “Everything was great.” But then I explained about the kitchen. At the end, I shrugged. “It’s a tradeoff. It’s worth it to be able to include everyone.” I looked at Dolores. “I liked sharing a kitchen with Dolores. We couldn’t have done the same in my house.”

“Dinner was
fabulous,” Aubree said. “You are both excellent cooks.”

“If I’m going to continue to eat her desserts,” I added, “I’m going to need to step up the bike riding.”

“Solange doesn’t see to it you get plenty of exercise every night?” Dolores asked.

I blushed furiously.

* * * *

Solange treated me exceedingly well, and I enjoyed her company immensely. When we were together, she treated me like I was the center of her universe. Her intensity was actually a little unnerving, but it was intoxicating at the same time. She was brilliant and witty, although her humor was typically dry, and she expressed it carefully. It was a reflection of how she was at work far more than her carefree enjoyment of life when away from work.

I had expected our time together to be limited by both our jobs, but she surprised me, finding a great deal of time to give me, fitting around my career but rarely expecting me to fit around hers. I asked her about that.

“It won’t always be like this,” she said. “I have done my duty as a 90-hours-a-week lawyer. Now the only time I do that is when my clients have a desperate need, or to wrap something up quickly
..”

“Like when we went to Green Gulch?”

“Exactly. You haven’t met Cadence yet. She runs the firm for me, and I am able to delegate all the day-to-day activities to her. I get a status update every morning, either in person or via telephone, and rarely are there decisions she wishes to defer to me.” She smiled. “So, I am able to adjust my schedule to fit yours. I still work a great deal, and it would be more obvious to you if you would accept my offer to move in, or if you worked fewer hours and wished more of my time.”

I thought about what she had said. “You arrange your schedule for me.”

“Of course I do,” she said. She cocked her head. “I believe that was obvious.”

“It was,” I agreed, “but the implications just settled in. You arrange your schedule
for me
.” I stressed the last two words.

“Yes,” she said. “We have established that. Why does it suddenly surprise you?”

“Because…” I paused. “I haven’t done the same for you.”

“Sidney, I haven’t asked you to.”

“But-” She placed two fingers across my lips.

“Are we spending the time together that you would like to spend?” she asked.

“Well, yes, but-” And she replaced her fingers on my lips.

“If our schedules were having problems meshing, would you make rearrangements to spend time with me?”

“I suppose, but-”

Again her fingers brushed my lips. “I like touching you this way, Sidney, and if you are say
ing ‘but’ only so I will do so, I understand.”

I smiled around her fingers.

“However, I would like to know why you have not accepted my request for you to move in with me.”

I hadn’t wanted that conversation.

“I-”

“The truth, Sidney. I cannot fix it if you don’t tell me.”

“I’m not ready to tell you all the reasons,” I said. “But I’ll tell you two of them right now.”

“And the remaining reasons?”

“All right. I’ll tell you three of the reasons, and any others will disappear if you remain patient.”

“Tell me these three, and we will see if I am satisfied. If not, you will tell me the other reasons.”

“The third: while I do a lot of work from home, I have to visit clients, and most of them are in Eden Prairie or Eagan. We’re a little isolated here.”

She pursed her lips. “Is this a permanent impediment?”

“No. And reasons one and two: Chaos and Destruction.”

“Excuse me?”

“My cats.”

“You
know? I forgot about your cats. I have never seen them.”

“I know. For some reason, they don’t like you and refuse to come out when you are over. Maybe if they were around you more, that would change.”

“Your cats are called Chaos and Destruction?”

“Des for short,” I said. “And their names are apt. I can’t imagine setting them loose in this place. Have you noticed I don’t have any fragile knick-knacks? I don’t want to think about how many priceless family heirlooms they would knock to the floor. They go everywhere, Solange. We could try locking them into a single room, but frankly, I don’t want to treat them as if they are unwanted creatures. They sleep with me the nights you don’t, and if we share a house, assuming they get over their fear of you, they would sleep with us. But scared cats can develop bad habits.”

“Biting?”

“Far worse than biting,” I said.

“I think you should stop dancing around this explanation,” she said.

“Marking the walls and furniture.”

“They have claws?”

“They do, but that’s not what they use.” I paused. “Um. They develop unhealthy bathroom habits.”

It took her a moment to understand. “They wouldn’t dare.”

I laughed. Loudly. “You really don’t know cats, do you? They dare whatever they dare, and nothing you do changes that.” But then I sobered and looked away from her. I said in a small voice, “I’m going to eventually have to decide between moving in with you and giving the cats away.” I felt tears crawl into my eyes.

“Oh Sidney,” she said. She brushed one of my tears away. “I believe you do not fully appreciate the combination of my stubbornness, determination, and problem solving abilities.”

“I don’t know what you can do about this one.”

“If I solve this, will you remove your other objections?”

I thought about it. “Yes.”

She smiled broadly and kissed me. I clung to her for a while after that.

She felt so amazingly good.

Up until that conversation, other than the first weekend, we hadn’t spent a single night in my house. We went bike riding from my house, although she bought a bike rack for one of her cars, and we also spent Saturdays biking further away. And she came to dinner from time to time in the middle of the week.

But if we stayed overnight, it had always been at her place
after that very first weekend.

But after that conversation, she started spending some nights at my house. She invited herself, and there just wasn’t a question. She moved some of her things into my house, using the closet and dresser in the spare room, and our two or three nights together a week turned into five.

I hated the other two.

I think if I had asked, she’d have spent them at my house, too, but I also think she was putting subtle pressure on me to move in with her full time, and so the nights apart were a reminder to me that she wasn’t moving into my house.

At first, the cats hid from her, but one morning I saw her with Des. She was holding my cat in both hands, the cat’s rear feet in her lap. She was clasping him around his front legs and shoulders and staring into his eyes. She was speaking quietly to him, but it was in French.

I stepped into the room. “I’m pretty sure he doesn’t speak French.”

“He has accepted lessons,” Solange said. “Unlike his mother.” There was a little bitterness in her voice, which surprised me.

“You’re mad at me about that?” I asked, surprised.

She looked over at me. “No.”

“We can start this fall,” I said. Autumn wasn’t that far away.

She nodded and turned her attention back to the cat.

I was actually surprised. Des wasn’t even trying to get away from her. Des didn’t like being confined, and his tolerance for being held was short. He didn’t let me carry him around the house, although Chaos would. He’d curl up in a lap, but when it was time to leave, he gave one chance before he’d scratch the hell out of a hand or arm.

“He has claws,” I warned her.

“We are coming to an agreement,” Solange said.

“I do not believe cats understand that word.”

“He understands about tuna,” Solange said.

I laughed. “Good luck.” I left her alone with him.

She appeared in the kitchen ten minutes later.

“Did you come to an agreement?” I asked her, smirking.

“I believe further negotiations will be necessary,” was all she said.

* * * *

Other than the living arrangements, everything was wonderful. Business was good. My clients were happy, and things were going better for Dolores. Her increased confidence was paying off at work, and I found the staff there was marginally less dismissive.

I continued to have my dreams. Most of them were about inconsequential things, but a few of them were about Solange. I didn’t have any more where she was a vampire, which relieved me.

I did have one that saved her life.

In the dream, we were biking on the trails. I knew immediately it was a real dream. Solange was in the lead this time, looking over her shoulder to tell me a story while we biked. We were coming to a place where the secluded trailed crossed a quiet road.

The dream changed perspective. It was as if I left my body and flew ahead, and there was a car coming. The car had the right-of-way; the bicyclists were supposed to stop.

But Solange wasn’t paying attention, and she was about to run the stop sign.

I woke up screaming
, “Stop!”

The ride was three days later, our normal Saturday morning ride. I was nervous for the entire ride, and I’d given Solange a speech about stopping for every stop sign.

But sure enough, we were coming up to intersection, and I just knew the car was coming, and she wasn’t looking.

“Car!” I screamed. “Car! Stop!”

She didn’t hesitate but came to a quick stop, nearly dumping the bike in the process. A car sped past, driving along.

I jumped off my bike, dropping it right on the trail, and threw myself into her arms, sobbing.

I couldn’t calm down. “I’m fine,” she said. “I’m fine.” But I continued to clutch at her and sob. In my mind, over and over, I kept seeing what almost happened. Eventually she pulled out her phone and made a call.

“I need you to come get us. We’re on the bike trail at an intersection with a road. I don’t know the name.” She read off the GPS coordinates.

Then Solange drew me to the side of the trail. There was a patch of grass, and we sat down together. I continued to clutch and sob.

A group of bikers rode past. They stopped. “Is everything all right?”

“Close call,” Solange said. “She’s upset. We’re fine.”

“Do you need us to stay?”

“I’ve got a ride coming,” Solange said. “But thank you.”

Still, the bikers got off their bikes. One of them picked up my bike and moved it off the trail. Another saw to
Solange’s. One of them grabbed my water bottle from my bike and came over, crouching down. She held it out to me, but I simply clutched at Solange, so Solange took it from the woman.

“What happened?”

“I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t even see the road. There was a car. She saw it. I didn’t. I barely stopped in time.”

The woman looked back and forth. “She saw it from back there?” The trail was tree-lined. No, I hadn’t seen the car. Solange looked back and forth then looked at me. “Maybe she heard it.”

“You’re lucky,” the woman said. “Stop means stop.”

“Yeah, I know. She even gave me a safety lecture at the start of the ride.”

The woman put a hand on my shoulder. “Your friend is lucky,” she said. “Do you need us to stay?”

I shook my head.

“Remember to hydrate,” she said. She stood up and turned away.

Solange said, “Do you know the name of this road?”

“Brookmore,” the woman replied. I didn’t recognize the name.

“Thank you,” Solange said. A minute later, the four riders were back on their bikes. Solange pulled out her phone again and relayed the name of the street to
whomever was coming. She hung up and said, “Five more minutes.”

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“Shh,” she said. “You had a fright. I will take it as a compliment that you care this much for my well-being.”

I didn’t respond to that.

I had quieted down by the time I heard a car door. A moment later, Aubree was kneeling beside me. “Is she all right?”

“Just frightened,” Solange said. “Can you see to the bikes, then help me get her to the car?”

They took me to Solange’s house. I was quiet and mostly numb by the time we arrived. Aubree made sure I was fine, and then Solange took me to her bedroom. She pulled my clothes off of me, then her own, and led me to the shower. We showered together. Or more exactly, I stood there while she bathed me, then herself. I then let her treat me like a little girl, drying me and getting me dressed. Then she led me downstairs and set me in a sofa before retrieving more water for both of us.