Snow Job Read online

  Forgoing the dressy slacks and top she’d set out for dinner, Elyce opted for a pair of well-worn gray sweats. Then she picked the phone up again and spent a moment steeling herself for the call to Andrew before dialing with a sigh.

  “Andrew Barron.” He sounded distracted, hurried, and Elyce felt a flicker of guilt over cancelling at such a late hour. Perhaps he’d been rushing at work to finish on time, just to see her.

  “Hey, it’s Elyce. I’m really glad I caught you before you left the office.”

  “Why, what’s up?” From his tone, he was already picking up on her guilt.

  “Well, how would you feel about a slight change of plan? You could come here, I could make dinner for us? Maybe watch a DVD or something?”

  After a moment of silence Elyce couldn’t interpret, Andrew replied, “Sure. I mean, I guess so. I thought you were standing me up or something.” He sounded relieved.

  “No,” Elyce said instantly. “It’s only standing up if you get to the date and the other person doesn’t show up, and hasn’t called to tell you or anything.”

  “Oh,” he chuckled. “I didn’t realize there was actually a specific rule about that. What if she leaves a message and I don’t get it in time?”

  “It’s like a postmark deadline. As long as she called before the date was supposed to start, it doesn’t count as a standing-up. Although there does have to be a legitimate reason for the cancellation. As far as the guy knows.” She laughed.

  “Maybe I shouldn’t ask what constitutes a legitimate reason.”

  “Yeah, probably best not to go there,” Elyce agreed.

  “So why the change of plans, anyway? Are you just tired of seafood or…?”

  Elyce was relieved to know he was aware of the potential problem there. “No, no. Actually I just found out I’m going to have my dog here tonight, and I can’t leave him alone in the house. He has a separation anxiety thing. If he feels abandoned he’ll try to chew his way out. He’s actually broken windows before, stuff like that.”

  “A separation anxiety thing? Is that like actually having separation anxiety?”

  “Um, yes. He has actual separation anxiety. Severe, actually.”

  “I got it. Well, tempting as it sounds, and I hope there’s a rain check involved here, I’m afraid I can’t. I’m about as allergic to dogs as I am to cats, is the thing. And you know what I had to pay to get a cat that doesn’t make me wheeze. Seems a shame to blow all that expense to spend the evening hanging out with a dog.”

  “I hope you mean—”

  “I mean your dog. Not you. I mean, I’d be hanging out with you, and of course you’re not a dog. Far from it, very far from it—”

  “That’s okay. Really, I understand. I don’t think I’d be a very good hostess if I invited you here knowing you were going to have an asthma attack for the evening’s entertainment.” She had giggled a little at Andrew’s endearing attempts to explain himself and felt a surge of fondness for him.

  At the same time, though, she felt strangely relieved. Possibly she was just tired from the week at work, and more recently from all the shopping, but a quiet evening alone at home curled on the loveseat with Astro sounded like heaven. “I’m really sorry, though. And of course there’s a rain check. This was just unexpected. My ex couldn’t get a spot at the kennel, and it is actually sort of my dog.” Elyce stopped, puzzled at herself. Why the white lie? Astro was their dog, hers and Karl’s, a joint acquisition from that very first day at the pound when they hadn’t even had to ask one another which puppy they’d be taking home. They always said that Astro had chosen them, not the other way around.

  “I understand too, really. Not a problem. So maybe tomorrow night?”

  “I’ll have him all weekend, I’m afraid.”

  Andrew’s disappointment was evident in his voice, and Elyce couldn’t help but be flattered. “He gets to spend the weekend? Lucky boy.”

  She giggled again, which was only slightly out of character. “Don’t envy him too much. It’s a very small house and I think I probably snore.”

  They laughed together, although it hadn’t been all that funny, and made a tentative plan for the rain check to be cashed the following Friday evening instead. “No seafood. Maybe even a movie,” Andrew suggested, and Elyce readily agreed.

  Karl must have wasted no time packing Astro into the SUV and heading out. Roughly forty-five minutes later, he knocked on the door to drop off the pup. Astro was as thrilled to see Elyce as if it had been a year since his last visit, and he tore off to investigate the house and its smells like it was some entirely new place. Karl was apologetic and appreciative, but barely had time to hand over the bag containing Astro’s blanket, treats and food dishes before zipping off into the night to get to the airport.

  Sighing, Elyce flipped through her modest collection of DVDs, pulled out a few possibilities and an hour later, fell asleep on the couch to the sound of Astro’s snores over the familiar dialogue and music of Singin’ in the Rain.

  * * * * *

  Karl’s sister Emily rarely took “no” for an answer. His sister-in-law Kelly was cut from much the same cloth. So when Elyce tried to beg off their planned girls’ night out that Saturday on the basis of having to watch Astro, Emily immediately volunteered her dog-friendly home for the event.

  “Scott can just take the girls over to Will and Kelly’s and they can all do something over there for the evening. A little Daddy time.”

  “But it seems silly to rearrange everybody’s plans because of the dog. I mean, what if Scott and Will don’t really want to do the whole Daddy thing?” Elyce protested.

  “They’re a little too late to change their minds on that,” Emily pointed out. “Besides, it’ll be good for them. And if it’s at my place, we don’t have to dress up. We can just order pizza and drink wine and wear our fat clothes. It’ll be great. We’ll watch girlie TV and make fun of the people getting makeovers.”

  “How can I resist?” Elyce joked. “Are you sure Kelly’s up for that?”

  Emily snorted. “A chance to get Will to watch the kids while she drinks wine and critiques baffling fashion choices?”

  “Okay, you have a point there.”

  Just as Emily had predicted, nobody objected too strongly. By that evening, Elyce found herself firmly sandwiched on the couch between Karl’s sister and sister-in-law, enjoying the show but spending each commercial break getting a third degree that would have had a hardened criminal singing like a canary.

  “You can’t really be doing this just because of Mom, there must be something else going on,” insisted Emily.

  “Are you pregnant?” Kelly asked bluntly.

  “Kelly!” Elyce felt herself blushing at the scrutiny. “No! It’s been nearly a year since we even… No. No.”

  “He was at your place the other day,” said Emily. “It was the day after we saw you with that guy at dinner.”

  “Is it just me or is that guy a little bit jerky?” Kelly asked Emily around a mouthful of pizza.

  “It isn’t just you. Anyway, Karl said he talked you into the Christmas thing but he had this look, like there had been more than talk.”

  Elyce hadn’t been quite sure how to take Emily’s bluntness when she first met Karl’s family, but she had come to appreciate how straightforward her sister-in-law could be. Say what one might about Emily, at least she never hid her agenda.

  “We are not getting back together, Em. I’m sorry, you know I love you guys, but that really isn’t what’s going on. I just didn’t want to be the girl who ruined Christmas. I still don’t understand how nobody has told your grandparents about the separation. I mean, it’s been eleven months. In all that time, nobody spilled the beans?”

  For the first time that evening, Emily looked slightly uncomfortable. “I think, to be perfectly honest, we’ve all sort of let ourselves think that things were going to work out if, you know…if we all just backed off. That you two would work it out. Mom still thinks that. She said she
isn’t even going to mention this whole Christmas arrangement, she’s just going to pretend everything’s back to normal and hope it rubs off on you, so you come to your senses.”

  Elyce mulled that over in silence for a moment while Emily rose with the newly emptied pizza box to take it into the kitchen.

  “Is that true?” Elyce asked Kelly, who still sat eating her pizza and staring at the resumed show on the television. “Is that what you’ve all been thinking this whole time?”

  Kelly nodded, not especially happily, and wound an unruly strand of cheese back down to the pizza slice. “You guys were just always such a great couple. I still can’t really figure it out. I mean, you like each other still. I don’t get it. But I know I’m not the one in the middle of the situation, so I try not to judge.”

  “He’s just… I can’t condone it. Land development? I don’t want to offend anyone…I don’t hold it against any of you. I know it’s just what the family has always done. But it isn’t even particularly green development either, or at least it hasn’t been in the past. He knew my stance on the environment long before we got married. It was one of the things we had in common. And I thought we were on the same page. This isn’t a negotiable issue with me.”

  “I think we all know that now. But you knew what the family business was before you got married too,” Kelly pointed out.

  “I respect everybody else’s opinion on the issue, Kelly. Really, I do. Even if I can’t agree, I do know that not everyone feels the same way about this. I know it’s their livelihood and it’s their tradition. But it wasn’t Karl’s livelihood. He had a job he enjoyed in another field and then deliberately, knowingly, chose to go to work in this business instead. It felt like a betrayal of trust, and that isn’t something I can just let go.”

  An awkward silence fell between the two until Emily returned from the kitchen and shooed Astro from her spot on the couch, which he’d occupied as soon as her back was turned. “Check out the capri pants on that one.” She gestured to the television, where a makeover victim was being scolded for her insistence on wearing comfortable clothes. “Seriously, what was she thinking? Those things make her look like a troll doll.”

  “Not to mention those nasty flip-flops,” Kelly agreed. “They look like overused shower shoes. They’re gonna rake her over the coals about those.”

  And so the rest of the evening passed more pleasantly than it had begun, in a haze of wine and wardrobe critique, and Elyce ended up sleeping on a couch for the second night in a row.

  She had to admit after she woke the next morning that Emily’s couch was more comfortable than her own, primarily because it was full-length rather than loveseat-size. She might have to abandon her plan to avoid spending money on new furniture and indulge in a couch that was a little more conducive to sleep. Astro, too, seemed to have passed a pleasant night. His morning stretch was particularly long and indulgent, and he shook himself out afterward with a lengthy wag at the end, as if he had slept especially well and felt even more vigorous than usual.

  Elyce felt better than she felt she deserved to, given the quantity of wine she’d consumed the night before. It had been too long, she realized, since she’d gotten together with a few girlfriends and just talked things through. Regardless of what happened over Christmas, she resolved to spend more time with Emily and Kelly in the future, even if it meant juggling schedules around to avoid seeing Karl in the process.

  * * * * *

  Through diligent time spent on the phone, Elyce had managed to secure Astro a spot in a trustworthy, nearby kennel starting Monday morning. It always tugged at Elyce’s heart to hear him whining when she left him somewhere unfamiliar, but with the pup safely secured she was able to get to work only an hour past her usual arrival time. And covered in only a fraction of the visible dog hair she remembered dealing with when she and Astro—and Karl—had shared a house full-time. She had made a preemptive strike, though a superficial one, by wearing a pantsuit of a silvery-gray wool-silk blend. Against the pale fabric, the fine white hairs were not nearly as noticeable as they would have been against the charcoal pinstripes, deep navy or plum tones that Elyce tended to favor.

  Fortunately, the small boutique law firm at which Elyce was a junior partner had a somewhat more casual attitude with respect to both time and attire than many workplaces did. As long as Elyce made an appearance at some point every day and got the job done, she really could have gotten away with jeans and t-shirts on days she wasn’t going to be appearing in court. On occasion, she did give in to temptation and show up at the office in jeans. Most of the time, however, she somehow liked the relative formality of a suit, as distinct from the extremely casual clothes she typically wore when not at work. Although she cared about her job, the stress of practicing law often tried to follow her home. She found that such little separations, symbolic differences between work and home, helped her to switch gears.

  Today, however, she was finding it difficult to concentrate on work despite such efforts. Home kept intruding in the shape of little white hairs that never brushed fully away. They wound into the fibers of her chair and floated onto the polished walnut surface of her desk, reminding her of how they had floated over the hardwood floor she and Karl had selected together when they first moved into their Russian Hill house and were having it renovated.

  The flaw in their choice was clear almost instantly—every fine fiber that flew from Astro’s body seemed to stand out starkly against the gleaming darkness, and they laughed about the many extra dogs they could have fashioned from all the hair they gathered up from the corners. Wads of it, skimming the polished planks in the air currents the broom created, and Elyce wondered if Karl was still keeping up with it or if the corners were now buried under drifts of soft, white fluff from Astro’s coat.

  Or if he had now found somebody else to do the housekeeping.

  Elyce pushed the loose pages of a summarized deposition into a tidy pile on the desk in front of her, trying and failing again to make sense of the words. She noticed that her computer screen had idled to blackness yet again, and she nudged her mouse to one side to wake it up. Some new email had appeared, and she wondered if perhaps that was the road to productivity. Elyce knew quite well that email was rarely, if ever, a route to productivity, but today she would take any type of work she could concentrate on. She glanced at the subject headings, scanning the senders’ names to see if any were worth interrupting her reverie for.

  One was from Andrew, with nothing written in the subject line, an etiquette breach about which Elyce usually had strong feelings but made a necessary exception in Andrew’s case. She couldn’t help it, she found Andrew cute, and even some of his more noticeable quirks had a somewhat charming quality most of the time.

  Dear Ms. Anderson,

  I was sorry we weren’t able to meet Friday evening. I was glad you seemed to understand that only the severity of my potential histamine response, and not any inherent unwillingness, motivated my refusal of your kind offer of dinner. Perhaps when we see one another tomorrow to discuss progress on the Superfund site and any new developments on the Nash issue, we can also arrange fulfillment of the “rain check” on which we agreed. Assuming of course that the threat of imminent anaphylaxis has been mitigated by removal of the canine in question, is an evening repast at your domicile still a viable option? I want to stress that I was extremely amenable to that proposal.

  On a lighter note, please see attached photographs of Ursula the ferocious kitten, stalking a catnip mouse on a string with startling speed and accuracy!

  Regards,

  A. Barron, Esq.

  Elyce chuckled at the deliberately verbose tone of the letter, Andrew’s usual mode of written communication since one of their earliest meetings when Elyce had teasingly asked if he talked and wrote like a lawyer all the time.

  “All the time,” he’d assured her with a disarmingly cheeky wink. “Even in my most unguarded moments.”

  Every email he had written her
since had been excruciatingly formal in tone, as had hers back to him, and she sometimes wondered if the little game between them had inadvertently slowed the development of their relationship.

  Dear Mr. Barron,

  With regard to your proposal, I agree that tomorrow’s meeting would be opportune for discussion of rescheduling our dinner engagement. I will no longer be in custodial possession of the canine in question on Friday of this week. However, I suggest we avail ourselves of the services of food service professionals rather than relying on my admittedly meager abilities in the area of meal preparation. I make this suggestion only out of concern for your gustatory well-being, and said suggestion should in no way be construed as an attempt to quell or deter your aforementioned amenability.

  I look forward to our next meeting.

  Regards,

  E. Anderson, Esq.

  The only other message that caught Elyce’s eye was, probably not by chance, from Karl. From [email protected], rather. It was still strange to see his new email address, rather than the old, familiar karl.nash@fgc_pc.net that had flashed into her inbox so many times over the preceding years.

  E, thanks again for watching ’Stro. I’ll pick him up from the kennel this afternoon on my way home from the airport. Hope he didn’t eat your house too badly—one good munch would about do it with that place.

  About Christmas… I want to get an early start Saturday (surprise, surprise) so my plan is to pick you up around six with coffee and donuts and we’ll eat on the way to the airport. If you’re home Friday night I could swing by and load up the skis and luggage. One less step for the morning. Reply or call my cell, let me know. See you Friday or Saturday. K.