Page 15 of Polar Prank
She moves into me. “I love being with you and I’m afraid I’m going to miss you tonight.”
“Miss me or miss something else?”
A chuckle comes from her chest. “Well…”
I reach for her stomach and tickle her waist. She giggles harder and squirms, only making my body come alive.
Down boy. It’s time to get some sleep.
I take her by surprise and capture her lips in a slow kiss. She opens to invite me in and I kiss her like she deserves and when we part our quick breaths make me know how much I’ll miss her.
“I’ll miss you, too.” I kiss her nose. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
I gotall of the supplies and I’m on my way to work at… 4 a.m. Four in the morning. I mean, I’m there by 7 a.m. most days, but this is something else.
Iclyn gets there at 7:15 a.m. every… single… day. I don’t think she ever gets sick or at least she doesn’t act like it.
I drag six bags of supplies into the elevator, the security guard looking at me like I’m not the same person he’s known.
I’m not.
How one woman can have changed my life in a few days…
I’m just setting down the final bag in my office when my phone rings with a tone that makes my back stiffen. It’s the Darth Vader theme fromStar Wars.
“Hello, Father.”
“Brinker, I’m afraid your grandmother has taken ill.” He’s always so formal and before it just irritated me, now it’s downright annoying but that’s not what’s important now.
“Where is she?”
“At Everville General. It’s… it’s not good, son.” It’s the first time I’ve ever heard my father’s voice break. The man has a heart it’s just been buried behind the loss of my mother. I should’ve seen it, but I was just a boy and I was grieving too.
“I’ll be right there.”
10
ICLYN
I makeit to the office at 7:14 a.m., one minute before my normal arrival time. I wanted to be there earlier, but a neighbor’s cat got out and I spent half an hour trying to get Mr. Wiggles back to apartment 103. He’s known for being mischievous but I tried to explain to him that I was in a hurry to see someone. He did not think that was an urgent reason to come out from hiding behind the hallway credenza.
I walk in and the office is quiet. Really quiet.
My path will take me in front of his office, Brinker’s. I get close and my stomach drops. The light is off.
He’s not here?
I pull out my phone and start to send a message, but then that little inkling in my head talks.
You can’t make someone love you. You can’t keep them with you with love.
Brinker seemed to want to say the words last night. But loving how he feels when he’s with me, is not the same as loving me.
Or maybe he’s sick?
I have extra chicken noodle soup in the upright freezer in my hall closet. Just for when friends and family feel under the weather.
The day goes by so slowly. I keep one eye on my phone, one eye on his office, and one on the elevator. That’s too many eyes, but I make it work.
