As I walked to the doors, I put my hands into a prayer position, mouthing the word “Please”.
She opened the doors.
“Jet! I haven’t seen you al week.”
“Car problems,” I explained, sliding in beside her. “I’ve got a week’s worth of tips that need depositing.”
“No problemo, I haven’t counted my drawer yet.”
“Thanks, you’re an absolute gem,” I said.
I looked across the room, smiled and nodded to Jody.
Jody had close-cropped, straw-blonde hair and glasses.
Jody had been at Arapahoe Credit Union since time began. As far as I knew, Jody had smiled once in her entire life and that was when a long disliked customer had his car repoed.
Her eyes were at the door and Amy’s eyes moved to the door too.
“We’re closed,” Jody said, al guard-dog-at-the-gate.
“I’l do him,” Amy breathed, too enthral ed to realize her wording was not exactly tactful.
I didn’t have to look to know that Eddie had walked in behind me.
“I’m with Jet,” I heard him say.
Both Amy and Jody stared at me like I’d just won the three hundred bazil ion dol ar lottery.
See what I mean? People were going to wonder what Eddie was doing with me. Even my friends and acquaintances stared at me with wonder.
I snatched a deposit slip and walked up to Amy’s station.
Jody left her drawer, partial y to lock us in the building but mostly to lock everyone else out.
I pul ed out my wads of cash and Lavonne’s check and began counting expertly; my mind on my task, my hands sifting through the bil s quickly, automatical y placing the money in piles of hundreds. Eddie positioned himself beside me, his elbow on the counter, his eyes watching my hands.
“How’s your Mom?” Amy asked, picking up a pile and counting it to double check.
“She did a couple loads of laundry and emptied the dishwasher yesterday and she’s walking around a lot more.” I lifted my head and Amy and I smiled at each other.
I’d been giving her a bi-weekly update on Mom for months, we both knew how important this was.
Then I went back to counting.
“When she gets back on her feet, are you gonna come back to work for us? It hasn’t been the same since you’ve been gone,” Amy told me.
It took superhuman effort to keep my eyes off Eddie.
He didn’t know anything about my past life and I didn’t want him to.
Some way, somehow, by the end of the day, I was going to have to let Eddie know where I stood, which was far away from him once this al blew over.
I hadn’t figured out how to do that yet, but I’d find a way.
I’d decided in the shower that what happened that morning couldn’t happen again. Ever again. It al had to stop, and soon, or I’d likely lose my mind (not to mention my heart).
“Maybe,” I said to Amy. The answer was more like