I shook my head. “Can’t. Plans.”
Plans to brood alone in my house.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
No, I wasn’t. I was agitated, restless. Like all of a sudden, my skin didn’t fit. My assistant had plans for the holiday and I didn’t. My assistant knew what she would do with a free afternoon and I didn’t.
More importantly, she could do all those things on her own. Without me.
After I lost Allison, there was nothing I could do on my own.
Because you didn’t want to, or because you didn’t know how?
Fortunately, I was spared from having to answer her or my conscience as the bell to the front door of the office rang.
“That’s weird,” Flowers said. “We don’t have any appointments today. Unless you ordered something?”
I shook my head.
“It’s probably a package that needs a signature. I’ll handle it.”
She left and I turned back towards the window. It gave me a place to look, to think. What was the matter with me? Why did I have this feeling as if I was constantly being pushed off balance?
The sound of multiple voices registered first. Then one, specifically.
“Oh, you must be Anna! Oh my goodness, I didn’t expect you to be so young.”
No. It couldn’t be.
“How oldareyou?”
“Uh…”
I rushed out of my office into our small lobby and saw them all. My mom, dad and sister Rebecca, all of them pinning their eyes on Anna like she was some sort of lab specimen.
“What are you all doing here?” I asked them.
It was my sister who stepped forward.
“Surprise! You couldn’t come to us for Thanksgiving, so we brought Thanksgiving to you!”
This wasn’t happening.
“Surprise!” Anna added, then smiled at me.
“You knew about this?” I asked her.
“Uh huh,” she admitted. “I’ve talked to them all. We had to coordinate your schedule. That whole thing about getting out early today? A ruse. I knew they were coming.”
“You’ve spoken to them? To my family. Why? Why would you do that?”
My mother stepped forward to glare at me.
“Grant, honestly. Your tone.” She locked her arm through Anna’s and I thought my head was going to explode. “Anna has been a doll. Of course, we’ve spoken. The best way to guarantee you’ll answer your cell phone is if we plan for it ahead of time. Then when we had this idea of surprising you, she did all the local research for us.”
“Anyway, I should just head back to my office…” Flowers said, disengaging from my mother as she tried to get a gauge on my mood. “Mission accomplished. I’ll let you all catch up.”
“No!” Rebecca said and reached out to grab her hand. “We’ve finally got a face to match the name. You have to let us get to know you better.”
