May I: What It Is

“Tell me again why we’re the ones doing this?” Eli asked Ria as they walked along the side of a ride bricked building. It was nearly ten thirty and Ria was dressed in a shiny purple dress; Eli in black slacks and a white dress shirt.

Ria shrugged, rolling her eyes over to him. “Lightman said something about old acquaintances—and not to interrupt.”  

“And you actually believed him when he said that?” Eli inquired, pulling open the first set of doors open. She didn't answer him directly; instead it sounded as if they were having a couple’s discussion—or similar to if they were in the middle of a disagreement.

“No, I told the man that I would find out about it later. And well here we are.”  Putting on a smile, they both greeted a woman and man who walked through the doors quickly.

Stopping to go through her purse, she noticed a couple who turned away from the front desk towards the door.  An older man, maybe in his mid sixties, clearly interested. His wife was walking next to him on the right and noticed her husband’s interest before slapping his arm. “Ralph, it’s not polite to stare.”

Eli and Ria shared an amused smile, and she finished digging through her purse; found a small mirror and put on some lipstick.  After the door had closed and the couple was walking down the sidewalk, she put the lipstick back in and zipped her purse back up.  

Opening the door, he gestured to her to go in first. Eli followed closely behind and she locked her arm around his as they walked up to the front desk. “I’ll be right with you.” A woman with short curly red hair offered, typing something quickly into the computer.

“Okay.” Ria pressed her purse into Eli’s hand. She read the name on her name tag when the woman turned slightly. Karen. “Where’s your bathroom at? We’ve had a bit of a ride getting here.”

Karen nodded in understanding, pointing to the nearest hall. “Go to the end of that hall and just past the elevators. The bathroom s will be on your right.”

Nodding, Ria turned to him. “I’ll meet you by the elevators.” She kissed his lips softly; her hand intertwined with his and breaking free as she crossed the room, departing out of sight.

Eli looked quite smitten. Of course they were supposed to be playing a couple who were going ballroom dancing, but these undercover gigs were always surprising. Anything could happen.

Karen smiled knowingly. “I know that look. I swear I got that same look from my husband when I married him twenty years ago. May I ask how long the two of you been married?”

“Three years.”  Eli answered the question. She turned back towards the computer, typed something else into the computer.

“And I assume that you’re both here for the ballroom dancing, up in Coringer Hall?”

“Yes, ma’am.” The phrase even surprised Eli, not being typical Eli language, but since they were undercover right now, he had reason to reinvent himself. He gave her a boyish smile, and then pointed over to the same way that she had pointed to before.

She looked quite pleased at his politeness. In fact, if he had to guess, today had been a rough day for her. “Take the elevator up to the fifth floor, walk all the way down the hall and Coringer Hall will be on the left.”

“Thanks.” He nodded appreciatively, heading in the direction that Ria had gone about five minutes prior. Ria was there already, leaning against the wall, arms crossed lightly over her chest; her eyes rose in greeting, almost seeking information.

“Fifth floor.” He offered the information. Pressing the up button on the elevator, Ria looked around to make sure that they were alone. “And we’re sure that he’ll be here.”

“I picked up this flier on the way over here, and it says that he’s hosting the event.” Showing her the paper, they watched the elevator come down each level. Consequently, it had been on the twelfth level.

“Jake Donovan.” Ria stated the name of the man that they were looking for. “Since you won’t come to us—looks like we’re coming to you.” They had found out that Jake Donovan had also been working with Frank and Brent up until a couple months ago, but he had just suddenly quit for no apparent reason.

Pressing the button that would take them to the fifth floor, Eli asked the question. “Do we even know what this guy looks like?”

“According to the file: mid forties; black hair, blue eyes, wears glasses and can be quite the charmer.” They exchanged a glance and then waited as the gravitational pull of the elevator doors to slow down.

----

Locking the door behind her, she put her purse down on the coffee table and walked towards the couch. She was absolutely exhausted and all she wanted to do was curl up and fall asleep.

For a moment, she let her head lie on the arm of the couch and she felt herself falling in and out of sleep before she opened her eyes again and stare out the window, until she couldn’t keep them open any longer and then they slid closed.

On the other side of town, Cal was sitting across a booth from his daughter, stirring his coffee that he had yet to drink. Emily was watching him intently. They had hardly had a conversation on the way over, but she too had seen Gillian walk out of the building and get into the taxi cab and that left a lot of unanswered questions, in her own mind.

                                                  

“I talked to Gillian this morning.” That got a response as he tilted his head up. He took a sip of coffee and leaned back in his seat.

“I heard that in your message, love.”

“No, I only said that I was with her.” She took a sip of her own glass of water. “Is there something going on between you and Gillian that you don’t want me to know about?”

“There are a lot of things that I don’t want you to know about.” Raising his brow absently, he took another sip of coffee, like it was nothing.

Emily thought about it, almost pausing to study his expression. His almost calm expression—the wild look in his eyes is almost missed, but its there. Despite him looking over the menu again, she can see the wheels turning in his head.

It wasn’t hard to pick up on this. He was her father; even though he always seemed to have one on her, she wasn’t so bad at picking up on things either.

 Then she thought about Gillian who looked broken, but tried not to be. Whoever that woman was that Emily had seen walking—almost running out—she could tell by the uncomfortable, far-away look in Gillian’s eye that it was something she didn’t wanted her to see.

The whole conversation from beginning to end with her just seemed rather awkward. She knew Gillian, and this wasn’t like her. When she had said that they would catch up later, Emily realized that her words seemed rather forced, not willing.

“Are you ready to order?” The waitress with red curly hair, broad shoulders and a huge grin had suddenly appeared; making Emily jump slightly at her presence.  Picking up the menu, she scanned it to find what she wanted, while her dad gave his order.

As soon as she found it, Emily pressed her finger to the menu and gave her order. Hastily, the waitress scribbled the orders down and was gone in a flash, with the promise to be back soon.  

Stirring her drink with her straw, Emily watched the ice swirl with a façade of fascination. She could tell that he was staring at her. “Water doesn’t drink itself, love.” He reminded her. Like she didn’t already know that; so she leaned forward and took a sip.

                                                                        

“I saw Gillian talking to a woman today while I was waiting for you at the office.” That caught his attention, as he gazed over at her. Of course! He had left there pretty quickly after seeing Sophie’s mom there. He knew by the tone of her voice as he spoke to her that she would come—but day after day she didn’t show up; days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months—and then she suddenly appeared.

There were times when Cal wanted to call her, but he knew that would be going over the line. In fact, he was pretty sure that even though it wasn’t the first thing on her mind right now, Gillian was probably thinking somewhere in the back of his mind that he had.

He knew that she needed an explanation. In the meantime, Emily was watching him intently— hoping for her own explanation to what she had seen earlier.

Cal licked at his lips, trying to decide what part of it to tell her. He decided the short version would be best. “It was someone Gillian knew a long time ago, love. Someone that she wasn’t expecting to see, but did.” He added, so only she could hear him—as if that line would explain everything. Never had he been at a loss of words, like he was now.

He saw it all over her face, each and every time he looked at Gillian. He hated that bloody line with a passion: the one she stood behind every single day—and even more so now that she had been hurt.