Starting Over – Chapter Three

Chapter 3

I felt someone staring at me but when I looked behind the receptionist, there was no one there, just an empty Engineering meeting room. As I left the building, I almost slipped on the snow but someone caught me.

“Where’s your car parked?” Tony barked. I was too sick to be offended by his tone.

“In the back parking lot.”

He took my arm and walked quickly, his long legs taking giant strides. I felt so sick and I could barely keep up with him but he didn’t seem to notice. With the wind whipping my face, I really felt like crying now.

“Car keys,” he growled. I just handed them over. “Get in the car Julie, I’ll get you home.”

By this time I was so weak and exhausted, I gave no resistance. I just gave a complete stranger the keys to my car and he was taking me home. It seemed like forever while I was sitting there and he cleaned off the car. He had the heat going so I wasn’t totally freezing.

“OK, where to?” Tony asked.

I gave him my address, which was 45 minutes away, and off we went. The nausea distracted me from the deafening silence during the whole ride. I just kept holding my stomach hoping we would arrive quickly.

When we got to my home, Tony helped me trudge through the snow and into the house. My dog Jake, a jack russell terrier, was thrilled to see us. He jumped all over Tony and started licking him. Some people get annoyed when animals jump on them but Tony seemed to soften up as he petted him.

Tony told me that his friend was going to pick him up and bring him back to Sterling so he could get his car and go home. At that moment his cell phone rang. Tony looked embarrassed. His friend wouldn’t be able to pick him up because the roads were treacherous.

As Tony was explaining this to me, I started heaving and had to run to the bathroom to finish throwing up.

When I was able to show my face again, I told Tony he could sleep in the spare bedroom. I was too sick to talk to him and I just wanted to go to bed. I had plenty of food in the house, so I told him to help himself. I didn’t even take my clothes off but just pulled the covers over me. As I lay there shivering, I was hoping that I would fall asleep.

Later on, I heard some clanging in the kitchen and then the TV in the living room. Tony must have made himself something to eat and then watched some TV. About an hour later there was a knock on my door. It was Tony with dry toast and tea. By this time I must have looked a sight. My hair was sticking straight up and I had vomit breath. I didn’t care. I ate the toast and tea so I would have something in my stomach if I needed to throw up again. I thanked Tony and his expression seemed to have softened. Did I detect some sympathy? Oh God, to the bathroom again.

The next morning I was in no condition to go to work. Tony told me he was the Vice President of Engineering and Security and there was a building emergency at Sterling so he had to be there. The roads were still pretty bad but I gallantly said, “Tony, you can take my car.” The practical voice in my head was screaming, “What are you crazy, you’re giving a total stranger your car keys.”

I was surprised when Tony asked, “will you be all right here by yourself?”

My God, was that compassion?

“I’ll be fine as long as I’m next to a bathroom.” When he extended his hand to me I wasn’t quite sure what was coming next. “My full name is Tony Raniere by the way. I report to your boss. See you later”.

“OK,” I said as I tried not to react to his touch.

When Tony left, I washed my face, brushed my teeth, didn’t comb my hair, changed into PJs and went right back to bed. It was the same routine for the whole day – vomiting and diahhrea every hour on the hour. Death would have been merciful at this point.

I was so exhausted by the end of the day I didn’t hear Tony pull up the driveway. The dog started barking and then I saw Tony in the doorway.

“Feeling any better?”

My eyes were at half mast, “no not really. This must be a wicked case of the flu.” (Although I still questioned Manny’s salad.)

“Did you eat anything today?”

“No, I just couldn’t.”

His face got angry and he yelled, “how do you expect to get better if you’re not eating anything. You’ll dehydrate.”

He must have noticed the shocked look on my face – maybe because I was expecting an ax to come out – after all, who was this man?

“Julie,” Tony said in a bemused voice, “I’m sorry if I yelled, but you need to take care of yourself. I’ll make some more tea and toast.”

As he walked away, I noticed his shoulders were shaking, as if he was laughing at me. Maybe that look on my face was worse than I thought. He should know I keep a hammer under the bed for such emergencies.

After the tea and toast, I felt better. Maybe I would have a night of solid sleep. I couldn’t help but think what am I doing? A strange man is sleeping in my guest room, driving my car to work, and it seems normal to me. I felt a strange connection to Tony.

The next morning, Tony said goodbye before he left for work. He brought me some more tea and toast. He bent over as if to kiss me on the forehead, but quickly caught himself and turned away. Tony’s usually somber expression was replaced with a smile, “see you tonight Julie.”

What a time for Joannie to be travelling on business in Europe. I could have emailed her, but I didn’t want to answer a thousand questions.

The phone rang and it was my oldest son, Tommy. “Hey Mom, how is the new job going?” I told him my tale of woe (of course I didn’t mention Tony), and having inherited my sense of humor, he laughed at the bathroom part.

“Want me to bring some food over?” Tommy asked.

“No, I really have everything I need in the house. I also don’t want you to catch what I have.”

As the day wore on, my other children called. First Robby, then Richie. I told them all the same story but I didn’t mention Tony. I was afraid they would think I was being foolish. Please God, don’t let them pop over tonight.

That evening I felt much better. I was able to shower in the afternoon, finally wash and comb my hair, put on clean pajamas.

How on earth did two strangers get into this predicament? I thought it was appropriate for me to thank him and let him know he didn’t have to stay over anymore. After all, tonight would make three nights. Whatever happened to his friend following him to return my car and then bringing him back?

Maybe I should cook some dinner to thank him. Then I could ask him some questions about himself. I wondered how he would react to my questions. I waited and waited but no Tony. I wasn’t in the mood to eat the dinner I made anyway, so I just watched some TV and went to bed. Maybe this tall, dark stranger with the handsome face was a figment of my imagination in my flu delirium. No, he was real.

Around midnight I heard my car coming up the driveway. I was drowsy but I managed to get myself out of bed. Tony looked surprised when I greeted him at the door. He looked me over and a smile erupted from his generally serious face. “Nice PJ’s,” he laughed.

I then realized that I had my oldest pajamas on, ones the kids gave me years ago as a joke – the pink fleece ones with little doggies on them. I wasn’t daunted – exhausted but not daunted.

“So Tony, we need to talk. I really appreciate your getting me home and staying here while I was sick. It’s Friday, I’m feeling a whole lot better, and I plan to go to work on Monday. Would you like me to drive you back to your car tomorrow so you can get back to your normal life?”

Something in me regretted these words even before I said them – this meant I wouldn’t be seeing him every day.

Tony stiffened, and said, “This was crazy Julie. I just wanted to help you out – you being new and all. I should have called from work to tell you I’d be late and now I have to stay another night. It would be great if you could drive me back to my car tomorrow. I’m sure you want to get back to your normal routine.”

My normal lonely routine, yuk!

“Tony, I made some dinner if you’re hungry.”

“Sure Julie, that would be great.” Tony seemed to inhale the meatloaf and mash potatoes I had made. I was about to put up some coffee when Tony held his stomach. I looked at the panic in his eyes, the same panic I felt that day at the office when I needed to find a bathroom.

He jumped up and I knew to get out of his way. As he ran into the bathroom I heard the familiar explosion and vomiting. Poor guy was going to have a lousy couple of days. Why did this make me feel like laughing?

It felt good to be the one on tea and toast duty, not the one needing the tea and toast. The first two days he was as incoherent as I had been – just running back and forth to the bathroom. When Monday rolled around, I had to go to work. He looked pathetic and I felt bad leaving him but I had to go.

I asked teasingly, “will you be all right alone?” I couldn’t help but snicker.

Tony mumbled something under his breath and pulled the covers over his head. Jake jumped on the bed and lay close to Tony as he did with me when I was sick. I saw an arm come out from under the covers and pet Jake, to which Jake sighed, as dogs do when they’re happy.

No more excuses at work. Andrea had two meetings this morning and one global teleconference this afternoon. I needed to get the meeting materials ready and put together the minutes of last month’s senior management meeting.

Great, the president needs to reschedule so I’ll have to reschedule all 40 meeting participants for the three meetings. I need to have this accomplished in 25 minutes – that’s when the first meeting would have started.

Not only do I do this by calendaring online but I need to call these people directly in case they are not online at the time. Because of the time difference, some of the global participants would be on this call well into the evening. Once I took care of that, I needed to contact the cafeteria and reschedule the refreshments associated with these meetings. Mayhem for everyone.

Of course, while I was doing all this, the phones kept ringing and they had to be answered and the constant interruptions by people who needed to see my boss had to be addressed.

When I had a minute to breathe, I wondered how Tony was doing. I could call the house but would he pick up my phone. I had a strange feeling that I forgot something today – what was it?

The kids…Oh no, Tommy and Robby were going to take some of their stuff out of the basement today. They were going to come over in the morning. My phone was ringing now, and Tom Ramao was on the display.

“Hi Tommy.”

“Mom, is there something you want to tell me?” Tommy demanded. “Well…when I was ill this nice man from work brought me home…and then he got ill…and now he’s still there, and I don’t know what to say.”

“Well Mom, let’s just say that I literally scared the shit out of your friend. We didn’t know anyone was home so we just barged in. Your friend Tony explained the situation. All I can say is that if we’d done anything like this as kids, you would have come down on us hard. What have you got to say for yourself?”

“Well…it’s the craziest thing…oh I have to pick up this call…I’ll explain to you another time. Love you. Bye.”

Great, now the kids know. Well I guess that will keep me honest.

I’m so attracted to Tony – like a moth being drawn into the flame. I sense danger but I can’t pull away. That intense face, those eyes – I say I want him to go but really I want him to stay. Now that the kids know, he’ll just have to go.