There was something about the way she looked at him when she was about to leave that should have alerted him but he didn’t want to read meaning into anything at that point.
She’d made it clear earlier that she was upset when she called. He had acknowledged her feelings and told her they would talk about it the next day after he dealt with the sensitive work “thing” that presently occupied his mind. She’d hung up.
But he was still too busy to worry about that. She’d acted irrationally and even overly anxious in the past and he was getting tired of having to assuage her every time something – anything – happened.
So he’d picked up his phone and called the irate client asking that his money be paid back into his account right away.
“Mr Charles, I understand that you’re upset but–“
“But nothing!” Mr Charles had said, almost screaming. “Did you hear me? But nothing! The only thing I want to hear from you is, ‘I’ll send your money back right now’. That’s all”.
He knew that was not going to happen. His supervisor knew that as well but Mr Charles hadn’t quite understood that bit. It was his job to pass the message across without losing Mr Charles as a client. However it turned out would have a significant impact on his position at the company, good or bad.
So when there was a sudden urgent knock at his door, he almost snapped at the distraction. He asked to call Mr Charles back and went to the door. Seeing her at the door was confusing.
“What are you doing here?” He asked letting her in.
She sat down. “We are talking about this now,” she said calmly.
“What? No, we are not. I said we’ll talk about it tomorrow. I can’t deal with this now.”
“I want to talk about it now.” She said again calmly.
His phone rang then. It was his supervisor. He answered.
“Why is Mr Charles calling me again? Have you settled it?”
“No sir, I had to attend to something–“
“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?”
“No sir, I’ll call him back right away.”
He started to dial Mr Charles’s number when she spoke.
“I’m still here and I am not going to wait forever.”
He’d almost forgotten she was there. That was when he went to the door, opened it and asked her to please leave, he really couldn’t deal with whatever it was right now.
“I won’t come back if I leave,” she said.
“Okay,” was all he said.
She got up, went to the door, looked at him intently and then walked out.
He was too tired to even turn off the light or his laptop when he finally finished with Mr Charles and the paperwork that followed.
He thought he heard the door open as hr crawled into bed but he was too tired ti care. By the time the smell of something burning reached his nostrils, his brain was asleep.
About an hour later, he would be dragged out of the house barely alive as it collapsed, roof caving in. By morning all that would be left would be cinders.
She would be carried out, too, but with a sheet over her face.
She wouldn’t be coming back.
