At twenty ’til two, Carole Lee Davison arrives. We organize a monthly activity for them here and she always is the first to arrive. Today, it’s even before the instructor gets here.
She knocks on my office doorway and smiles at me as her long, grey hair cascades down over her shoulder. She reminds me of a hippie, in some ways. The retired accountant is a willowy five-seven, but she’s always dressed to the nines when out and about.
“We should have a full house today,” she says. “Terry heavily promoted it on the station yesterday and today.”
My back pops and creaks as I sit back in my chair. “How much did that cost you?”
She playfully smiles as she shrugs. “I’ve started handling his taxes for him in exchange for free promos for us. Doesn’t take that long. He’s pretty organized.”
“Smart.”
She steps in and drops her voice. “So Desiderio’s back, hmm? Will we be seeing more of him?”
It literally takes me a moment to process what she said. “I…what?”
Confusion fills her face. “He’s back in town, isn’t he? Herb mentioned to Ellinor he spoke with him this morning. Didn’t recognize his car, at first. Herb saw him on the side of the road this morning when he was out mowing one of his pastures and thought Desiderio was broke down, but he’d just pulled over to make a phone call.”
She starts to say something else when Ellinor Sanctum appears in the doorway behind her. “Make sure to tell Desiderio I said hi! It’ll be so nice having him around again.” She scowls. “Or is it just a visit?”
I’m not one usually stunned into silence. I must also be wearing “a look,” because both women tip their heads to the side as they stare at me.
“Tomas, what’s wrong?” Carole Lee asks.
Slowly sucking in a deep breath buys me a moment to force back the chill growing inside me. “Herb…saw Desiderio? You’re sure it was him? He’s sure?”
My heart wants to leap at the thought my guy’s in town…only to be immediately slaughtered by the thought that he hasn’t bother to, oh, contact me and let me know that fact.
Ellinor nods. “He didn’t recognize him at first because he’s driving a different car, and…” Her voice trails off. “Wait. He hasn’t contacted you?”
I stand and realize my hands are shaking. I tap the screen of my personal cell, just to make sure I haven’t missed any calls or texts, but there aren’t any.
Not from Desiderio.
Carole Lee’s expression darkens and she lays a hand on Ellinor’s arm. “You know, maybe he just looked like Desiderio to Herb.”
I’ll give Ellinor credit for being fast on the uptake. “He did say the guy didn’t seem to recognize him,” Ellinor adds. “And he said the guy had an accent. I mean, Herb could’ve been mistaken. I’ve been on him that he needs to get new glasses. He’s like a year overdue for a new prescription. But he thought with the Florida license plate—”
She falls silent when Carole Lee pokes her in the arm.
I pocket my personal cell and force a smile. “Ladies, I hope you enjoy today’s program. Sorry, I just remembered I need to do something downstairs.” They move out of my way as I quickly slip past them.
The last place I want to be is up here with the entire Methodist women’s group hypothesizing whether or not it was Desi, and the implications if it is him and he hasn’t contacted me.
I turn. “I’m sure it wasn’t him,” I say. “If it was, he would’ve let me know he was coming, and he hasn’t. If that was this morning, he would’ve been here by now. I went home for lunch—he would’ve stopped by.”
Carole Lee and Ellinor are both nodding now and I sense their barely bottled energy. They both want to talk about this with each other and simultaneously let me have my pride. “You’re right, hon,” Carole Lee says. “I’m certain Herb was wrong.”
But I head downstairs quickly, taking the long way around via the outer aisles so I can avoid anyone heading down the center aisle and to the stairwell. I let everyone know I need to run some errands and I quickly head out at a brisk walk toward home. Across the street, at Alacea’s Diner, I spot several of the women from the group emerging and crossing the street toward my store.
Now I’m wishing I drove to work today.
It takes every last ounce of self-control I have not to break into a sprint and call more attention to myself. Part of me wants to call Desi right now and find out for sure. Except that means I’m still torturing myself.
That was hours ago. There’s no way he’d be in town for hours and not come find me, right? Not like I’m hard to find. He obviously knows where the house is—heck, he’s still got keys. And he knows dang well where the store is. Can’t miss it.
No, he wouldn’t do that. Especially if he made contact with a local who’d know him.
Itcannotbe him. Logic and reason tell me that.
