Dirty Little Secrets(51)
She reached up on a storage shelf, which I could see was filled with all sorts of bric-a-brac. “Vince is a bit of a computer nerd, never throwing anything away if there’s a memory card or anything like that. Anyway, Kade sprung for upgrades to all of the office computers last year, so I’m sure his old one is still here. Hold on . . . here we are!”
Monica handed me a laptop, along with a power cord. “The battery is for sure dead, so you’ll need to run off the cord for a while, but everything should still be setup to connect to the office systems. What are you using it for?”
“Some research,” I replied, “then I have to get to cracking the books.”
I showed her my book bag, which was full of the study guides Kade had bought for me the night before, causing Monica to grin. “Thinking of going back to school? Good for you. If you need any help, ask Vince, he’s still in law school so he’ll probably have the best outlook on how to do things. Any idea what you’re going to start with?”
I nodded. “I was going to do one of the ACT practice tests, and see how that turns out. From there I guess I’ll see where I’m doing the worst and jump in on that.”
The conference room was cozy, at least as cozy as you could get with a room that had a table designed for eight people to sit around. I plugged in the computer and turned it on. Monica left once she was sure I was all set up, closing the door behind her. I launched Google and started looking around at shopping sites, thinking what Rita might appreciate. I wanted to get her something for what she’d done for me. The problem was, I didn’t know a lot about her. I’d spent a total of maybe two hours with the woman in my entire life, with most of it talking about Kade. So what do you send someone in this sort of situation anyway? I wanted to thank her for her generosity in sharing what she knew about Kade, and in guiding me. But how to do that?
I surfed around to a bunch of different sites for a while, but in each I kept drawing a blank. Finally, an hour into the morning, I sighed and took out my phone, dialing Rita’s number. She picked up after two rings, sounding chipper as ever. “Mornin’ Alix. How have you been?”
“I’m great. I’m up here in Portland, and loving every second of it.”
“Really?” Rita said with a big smile. “Just how loving?”
“Let’s just say that my backside is a little sore.”
“How many?” Rita asked, laughing.
“Twenty-one,” I said. “Eleven right, ten left.”
Rita sounded impressed. “I stand corrected. You’re stronger than I first thought.”
“Well, if it wasn’t for you, I don’t know if I’d be in the place I am now. Kade and I both know that. Which is kind of why I called.”
“You don’t need to do anything, it was my service to Kade,” Rita said. “Sometimes the greatest way to serve is to let him go.”
I nodded, listening intently. “Rita, I’m going to ask you something very strange, but please answer me honestly.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Well, if you could have any gift in the world, what would you want and why?”
Rita thought for a moment, then spoke up. “I could use a new top of the line tower for my work,” she said after a moment.
Not what I expected, but that was fine, I could add in something personal from me too. “Email me what you want. Kade’s in a giving mood.”
“I’ll make sure to not ding his generosity too much. On that note, do you think there might be space for me to come up to visit any time soon? Hanging out with him last week was fun. And I do mean just hang out.”
“I’ll ask him. In the meantime, thanks. I have to get to work myself,” I told her. “I’m going to try the whole college thing, see how it works out.”
“You can do it,” Rita said. “I’ll send you some advice on that along with my computer specs. Thanks, Alix.”
“Thank you, Rita. See you later.”
Chapter 18
Kade
I was surprised when I finished work, and I hadn’t seen Alix since lunch that day. Vince had left early to go to a bar exam study session, and I found Monica still at her desk, putting things into her purse for the end of the day. “Hey, Kade.”
“Have you seen Alix?” I asked. “I haven’t seen her since lunch.”
“She’s still at it in the conference room,” Monica told me, pointing. “She brought out an answer form and asked me to double check that she had scored it right just after two. I double checked her numbers for her, and since then she’s been quiet in there. The one time I checked on her, I brought her a cup of tea, but she barely acknowledged me other than to say thank you.”