“And what exactly do you foresee happening here? You think she’s going to leave him for you?”
“I don’t feel comfortable talking to you about this.”
“I knew you had an agenda the minute you showed up.”
I laughed at that. “I don’t have an agenda.”
“What happened to all that drivel about not knowing who she was and keeping to yourself? It doesn’t look like you’ve been keeping to yourself.”
I didn’t want to argue with her, and under the circumstances I didn’t really know how to defend myself. Though I did get a small kick out of the fact that Rae thought I was capable of premeditated seduction, because nothing was more outside the realm of my skill set than that.
I walked toward the door and Rae said, “Normally, a person would get fired for sleeping with their boss.”
“Is that a threat?”
“No. It’s a statement about how unprofessional your behavior is.”
“Well, October is my boss. And if she wants to fire me, I suppose she will. What’s it to you?”
“Part of my job is to look out for her. Shield her from the wrong kinds of people. You suddenly look like the wrong kind of person.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“She’s just lonely. This will end when Christopher gets home, yeah? She’ll forget all about you.”
“Have a nice day, Rae.”
I went back to the studio, straightened up a bit, and then spent the rest of the afternoon—wait for it—playing my guitar until one of my fingers started to bleed. I hadn’t taken the guitar out of its case in a long time; it took me a while to clean it up and get it in tune, but once I did it sounded as warm and as beautiful as ever. And besides lacking the necessary calluses on my fingertips, I wasn’t nearly as rusty as I thought I’d be. It’s astounding how the body remembers what to do if it’s spent thousands of hours doing it, even if it hasn’t done it in years.
I tried not to think too hard about what Rae had said, but I figured she was right. I probably was nothing more than a distraction. Furthermore, October was my boss, and my behavior was unprofessional. Throughout the day I found myself wondering why Rae could see what a shit I was but October couldn’t.
What did that say about either of them, I wondered?
October didn’t get home until late that night, and it was all I could do not to call and ask her if I could come over. It should be noted that throughout my entire adult life, I had only entered into relationships with women I could live without. That was my modus operandi: Stay safe. Don’t care too much. So I was anxious about the way I was feeling. I had a hard time falling asleep, and by the time I woke up the next morning, it was already after nine.
I showered and dressed in a hurry. On my way out the door, I grabbed my phone and noticed a couple of texts from October, but I was seconds away from her house and didn’t bother to read them.
The front door was unlocked, and I strolled into the kitchen. October was at the sink filling Diego’s water bowl, and she looked startled when she saw me.
“Joe,” she said quietly, looking over her shoulder. “You didn’t get my texts?”
I shook my head. “I slept in. Came straight over.”
I heard a voice coming from the back of the house. A man’s voice. Talking in an animated tone that led me to believe he was speaking to the dog.
October leaned in and whispered, “Chris came home this morning. He wasn’t supposed to be back until the end of the month. He just showed up. To surprise me.”
“Ah.” I hadn’t had coffee yet and couldn’t process this information in a swift or proficient way. I didn’t know if I was supposed to run from the house or act like nothing out of the ordinary was happening. “What should I do?”
“I don’t know.” October bit at her thumbnail. “He wants to meet you.”
“Now?” I rubbed my eyes and tried to focus. “What did you tell him?”
“Nothing. I mean, I told him you were my assistant and that you were great. That’s all. He caught me off guard.”
The confidence I’d had the day before was waning fast. Now that her boyfriend was real, now that he was here, I didn’t think for one second that I would be