God help her, she kept reading.
When she was finished, her knees were so weak, she had to sit on the bare floor.
***
In his office in Manhattan, Sean swiveled his chair around so that he faced the bank of windows behind his desk. Outside, a gorgeous September day was spilling sunshine all over the skyscrapers of Wall Street.
Exhausted, tense, in a nasty-bastard mood, he decided as a public service that he would leave a little early tonight and go for a run in Central Park.
Unfortunately, the plan made him think back to the last time he’d run around outside.
That glorious afternoon with Lizzie at the Esplanade.
Putting his hand under his tie, he felt for his cross through his shirt. As he traced the outline of the crucifix, he pictured her after she’d found it in the grass, a smile on her face, the gold necklace swinging from her fingertips, the holy pendant catching the sunlight.
God, he missed her. Even though he shouldn’t.
On some level, he still found it hard to believe she’d done what she had. But as a practical matter, it was difficult to repudiate what he’d seen with his own eyes.
As a finance guy, he knew that cashed checks didn’t lie.
“Mr. O’Banyon?”
He swung the chair back around and looked over his paper-riddled desk. Andrew Frick and Freddie Wilcox were standing in the door to his office, the two young guys looking tired, but very pleased with themselves.
“Hey, boys, what’s doing?” Sean said.
Andrew came forward and put a four-inch-thick file on the desk, all the while glowing like a kid who was turning an apple in to the teacher. “We’re finished with the analysis.”
Sean leafed through the documents a little. “Nice. Very nice. Must have kept you two up all night.”
“It did, but it’s like what you say, you can sleep when you’re dead.”
Sean closed the file. “Yeah. Right.”
Damn…All of a sudden, he wanted to give them a pep talk about the evils of sinking too much into your work. He wanted to warn them that long hours hardened you and relentless competition drained you and meanwhile life slipped by and you didn’t even notice how alone you were.#p#分页标题#e#
He wished he could give them a Frisbee and tell them to hit the park and run around barefoot and get dirty and then go home and have a few beers and call up a woman they liked and hang out.
Unfortunately, he had no credibility when it came to R & R. And besides, both of the guys had the glow of the converted in their eyes. They were clearly committed to fighting their way to the top and the over-caffeinated, messianic zeal with which they looked at him suggested he was their poster boy for success.
Man, he remembered having that burn, that drive, that need to win. And he knew what it meant. Nothing was going to derail them.
“Listen, boys, get some shut-eye tonight, if you can,” he said because it was the best he could do.
“As long as you don’t need anything else from us?”
“No, Andrew, this is what I wanted. I’ll check through it tonight, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a spotless numbers crunch. Glad you guys are on my team.”
The two positively walked on air as they left.
In their wake, Sean felt as old as a stone and just about as lively.
When his BlackBerry went off, he took it out and answered before checking caller ID. He knew who it was going to be. Had been waiting for the call all afternoon.
“What happened at the lawyer’s, Billy? Did you see her?”
Except the caller on the other end wasn’t his younger brother. “Sean?”
“Mac? Is that you?”
“Yeah.” His older brother’s voice was thin and raspy, no doubt because he was calling from the other side of the flipping planet. “It’s me.”
God…What to say? “You heard about Dad? You got my message?”
“You bury him yet?”
“Ashes have been interred.”
“Next to Mom?”
“Yeah.” There was a pause and the silence made Sean twitchy. Mac was not a big talker under the best of circumstances and it had been a long time since they’d had any contact. But Sean felt as if he had to milk the precious seconds for all they were worth. “So, you sound really far away.”
“You okay with him being gone?”
Sean swiveled his chair around so he could see the sky again. He wondered what part of the heavens his brother was under. “Yeah. Fine. Relieved, maybe.”
“What about Billy?”
“Same.” Sean cleared his throat. Knew he wasn’t going to get anything, but asked anyway, “And you?”