Second Chances

Chapter 34

“Hi Alex. What’s up?”

Since Jesse had left his mobile phone at Alex’s the evening prior, Alex decided to call Jesse at his work number, something he generally frowned upon. Now that he’d reached Jesse, however, Alex suddenly found himself grasping for words.

“Uh, uh, hey Jesse. You left your phone at my place again last night.”

“I know. I’m not as addicted to my phone as you are, Alex. And they say millennials and gen Z are the ones who can’t live without mobile phones.” Alex could almost hear the smile he knew was on Jesse’s face.

Alex suddenly felt that what he wanted to discuss with Jesse should not be something done over the phone. “Yeah, uh, so, do you think you could stop by here before we go to the Y?” Alex asked.

“Uh, sure, Alex. Any reason you don’t just want to just meet at the Y like we normally do?”

“I want to talk to you about something first.”

“Okay,” said Jesse. “How about I try to leave a little early today. Would that work?”

“Yes, Jesse, I’d appreciate that,” replied Alex.

“Is there anything wrong?” Jesse enquired.

“Maybe.”

“Okay, then, I’ll see you a little later. If I get out of here by 4:30, I should be to your place a little before 5:00.”

“Thanks, Jesse. I’ll see you then.”

As expected, Jesse pulled into Alex’s driveway a few minutes before 5:00 pm. Alex, whose stomach had been tied in knots all afternoon, was waiting at the door when Jesse stepped out of his car. The two said hello, then Jesse gave Alex a quick peck on the lips as he entered the house. It was then that Jesse noted that Alex seemed pale. And Alex appeared to be trembling. Concerned, Jesse asked, “Alex, what’s the matter?”

Alex suddenly discovered that a frog was stuck in his trachea. He cleared his throat before asking, “Can we sit down first?”

Jesse nodded. Alex closed the door behind him, then joined Jesse on the couch.

Jesse took Alex’s left hand in his right before speaking. “Okay, Alex, you’re kind of scaring me. What’s wrong?”

Alex again felt the need to clear his throat before speaking. “I had a visitor this afternoon,” he finally managed to say.

“A visitor?” asked Jesse. “Who?”

“A man named Ryan showed up at my door. He was looking for you.”

Jesse’s eyes suddenly widened. After a brief silence, he finally managed to squeak, “Ryan?”

Alex squeezed Jesse’s hand, then simply nodded.

“You know who Ryan is, don’t you?”

Again, Alex responded with a nod.

“What on earth would Ryan want?” Jesse finally managed to ask.

Alex suddenly was able to find his voice. “No, that’s not the question to ask, Jesse. The question you should be asking is, ‘How did Ryan know to look for you here?’”

“Yeah, that too.”

“It took a bit of pondering this afternoon, but I think I realized why he came here. The answer is sitting on the end table next to you.”

Jesse glanced to his left, where he saw his mobile phone. He then looked back to Alex but remained silent.

“I didn’t go snooping in your phone, Jesse. I don’t know your passcode, so I couldn’t if I wanted to. But here’s what I think happened. Despite him disappearing from your life, what, three years ago? Four? Despite that, you’re still sharing your mobile phone location with Ry Ry, aren’t you? Unless he’s been following you, you know, physically stalking you, the only way he’d know to come here to find you is if he was cyber stalking you.”

“Man, I totally forgot about that.”

“About what, Jesse? About letting the man who nearly destroyed you to still keep tabs on you? It was bad enough that you still have his number in your phonebook. But sharing your location with him, after what he did to you?”

“Now, Alex, you know that there’s nothing going on between him and me.”

“Jesse, do you remember what we talked about in that park in Pratt back before Christmas?”

“Yes,” replied Jesse. “I told you about the time I tried to kill myself.”

“You also told me that, even after all the things he did to hurt you, you didn’t know if you could refuse him if he returned into your life,” Alex spat.

“Come on now,” said Jesse. “You understand that you mean the world to me, right? There’s no way I’d give up what I have with you to return to him.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really,” Jesse said he as grabbed his phone off the end table. “Look, I’d completely forgotten that I’d allowed him to find my location. After he left, I was in no frame of mind to even think about such things.” He took his right hand from Alex’s, then quickly went to ‘settings’ on his phone. As he did so, he continued, “You do believe me, don’t you?” After a few seconds silence, he added, “there. I’ve removed him from being able to find my phone.”

“You still have him in your address book, you know.”

“Alex, I can take him out of there if you wish. But to be honest, I still have his number memorized. I can’t erase that.”

Alex remained quiet in response.

Jesse then commented, “I will give you my PIN number so you can look in my phone whenever you’d like. It’s…”

Alex held up his right hand. “No, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. I want to trust you, not spy on you by looking through your phone. If I feel the need to spy on you, then our relationship isn’t solid.”

“Okay,” Jesse commented.

“Our relationship is solid, isn’t it?”

“Of course it is, Alex.”

“You know my self-esteem isn’t the greatest. I mean, what do you think I’m going to think? I hear what a smooth talker he is. I hear how you can’t resist him. Then I see him. He’s everything I’m not. He’s young. He’s beautiful. I mean, smoking hot beautiful. So, yeah, I’m pretty shook right about now.”

“Alex, listen to me,” said Jesse as he put his hand on Alex’s shoulder, a hint of exasperation in his voice. “You have nothing to worry about. So, what if he’s beautiful? He’s not beautiful on the inside. You are. And what’s on the inside is what counts, Alex. I would hope you’d know by now that I’m not so immature that I’d let someone’s outside appearance trump the content of their character.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” admitted Alex. “You’re dating me, after all.”

“Damn it, Alex! Stop it!” exclaimed Jesse. Lowering his voice again, he added, “I am dating you because of who you are on the inside. Because you’re everything he’s not. But you’re not an ugly duckling, either, Alex. Not by a long shot.”

Alex exhaled loudly but was otherwise silent.

“You do understand I love you, right, Alex?”

Alex nodded in reply. Again, several seconds of silence hung between the two. Alex finally spoke. “I love you, too. It’s…it’s just that I’m a little scared, that’s all,” he admitted softly.

“Alex, you needn’t be,” replied Jesse. “I have no plans of going anywhere.”

Again, Alex exhaled loudly before replying. “I know, but that doesn't mean I’m not nervous about the whole situation.” Jesse nodded in understanding.

“And,” continued Alex, “what’s with paraphrasing Martin Luther King?” Alex then managed to muster a smile.

Jesse smiled in return. “I figured you’d picked up on that. I really wasn’t trying to, but the thought did cross my mind as the words came out of my mouth.”

Jesse then pulled Alex close, giving him a kiss on the cheek as he did so.

“So, are we good?” asked Jesse.

Alex nodded, then said, “I think so.”

“Well,” said Jesse, “I know so.”

They were silent again for several seconds before Jesse’s phone made a buzzing sound. He picked it up off the arm of the couch. “It’s Rhys,” Jesse noted. “He wants to know where we are.”

Alex glanced at his watch. “Crap! It’s later than I realized.”

“Well, do we want to work out tonight, or do we just want to skip it?”

Alex thought for a few seconds before responding. “Let Rhys know we’re on our way. I’m going to California for the rest of the week, so I’ll likely end up skipping working out at least one night.”

“Okay, I’ll let him know.”

Alex rose from the couch and went upstairs to retrieve his workout bag. Jesse was opening the door by the time Alex returned to the living room.

“So, when is your flight tomorrow?" Jesse asked as they stepped outside.

As he pulled the door closed, Alex replied, “Early. I’m connecting through Denver, not my favorite airport.”

“Why not?”

Before responding, Alex and Jesse opened the doors of Jesse’s Corolla. Once seated and whilst putting on their seatbelts, Alex continued, “Well, the last time I was there I was returning from Billings, Montana. It was a prop plane, and you got out of the airplane on the tarmac rather than walking through a jet bridge.”

“Is that the thing that connects the building to the plane?”

“Yes,” continued Alex. “So, I had to wait for my gate-checked suitcase to be taken out of the plane before entering the terminal. Of course, my suitcase was the last one removed from the belly of the plane. Then, as I walked into the terminal, I heard my name being paged. It’s never a good thing to be paged at the airport.

“So, I get upstairs and find a display that shows the arrivals and departures. The plane I’d arrived on was parked at the far end of the terminal. My connecting flight was at the exact opposite end of the terminal. Literally. The gates could not have been farther apart and still been in the same airport. So, I take off running. Remember, Denver is a mile above sea level, so my lungs weren’t adjusted to the elevation. I thought I was going to die. And I keep hearing my name paged. “Alex Kimball, you have two minutes before the doors close…Alex Kimball, you have one minute… When they reached 30 seconds, it was clear that I was not going to make it. And it was pretty late in the evening, so my flight was the last chance to get home the same day. I stopped at the nearest counter where gate agents were located. I said, ‘that’s me they’re paging. Could you please call that gate and tell them I’m on my way?’

“So, they held the plane until I made it to the gate. It was only like an additional minute, two at most. I got on the plane, sweating profusely, gasping for breath, and my heart beating I don’t know how many beats per minute. I felt sorry for the woman sitting next to me. Anyway, it felt like my heart was beating super-fast the entire flight back. I kept checking my pulse, and it dropped back to normal pretty quickly, but it didn’t feel that way until I was back in Des Moines. That’s one of my less pleasant travel memories.”

“But you didn’t get stranded overnight in Denver.”

“That is true. It could’ve been worse.” Alex mused for a few seconds before adding, “When stuff like that happens, I’ve got to remember it’s a first-world problem, you know?”

Jesse nodded in understanding.

-----

On Tuesday, Alex passed through Denver International Airport with ample time to make his connection. The flight into Burbank was delayed, but only about 20 minutes. After picking up his rental car, he checked into his hotel, freshened up, and relaxed a bit before meeting Phil and Donna Bowers for dinner. He arrived at dinner a few minutes early, then waited under the restaurant’s porte-cochère until Phil and Donna arrived.

He suddenly realized that he was not nervous or apprehensive about meeting a client and his wife. Alex thought that, perhaps, he’d spoken with Mr. Bowers on the phone so often that it didn’t really feel like he was meeting someone new. Or could it be that his decision to ‘get out and meet some new people’ back in September had been the catalyst needed for Alex to shed some of his social insecurities? Perhaps a mixture of both.

Though he’d not met Mr. Bowers previously, Alex knew immediately who he was when he saw him, hand in hand with his wife, as the couple walked toward the restaurant. After introductions, the three made their way into the restaurant and were seated, making small talk until their beverages arrived and they’d ordered their meals. Mr. Bowers then began to discuss business in earnest. Donna Bowers was used to this; she frequently attended business lunches and dinners with her husband. Phil had attended his share of business lunches and dinners with her, after all, at least until her retirement two years prior.

“So, Alex, anything new with your office scandal?” asked Phil.

Alex took a sip of his drink, shaking his head as he did so before replying. “No, unless something big happened today. I think you know as much as I do about the, uh, office scandal, as you put it. Peter has me essentially on vacation, as he doesn’t want to take a chance that Judy or Jenny find out I’m still working for Scribner. Of course, I can’t go back to the office yet as I’ve not yet been cleared of sexual harassment charge. He suggested I head out here to visit with you, and a couple other clients in the meantime. A rather unusual, and unexpected, perk of the job, I guess.”

Phil laughed, then continued, “Have you thought more at all about coming to work for me?”

“I have, Phil. But I don’t think that would be the right move for me at this time. I’ve got a few other irons in the fire, so to speak, in Des Moines. My son will be in his last year of university this fall, and my daughter will be beginning her junior year. I need to be around for them, you know? I know they’re adults, but I think they may need some backup support, even if only for the time transitioning from college to their first job after graduation. And I’ve started seeing someone as well. I hope you understand.”

“Again, Alex, I am so very sorry about your wife’s passing. I am happy to hear that you’ve been able to move on, though.”

“Thank you again, Phil. I was so surprised when I saw the flowers you sent, it was so thoughtful and kind of you. They were lovely, by the way.”

“Well, thank Donna. She’s the one who takes care of things like that. I don’t know a rose from a…a…a begonia.”

Alex laughed. “Did you just have trouble coming up with the names of two different flowers, Phil?”

“I think you know me too well.” All three laughed.

“Thank you, Donna. The flowers were beautiful.”

“You’re quite welcome, dear,” replied Donna. “Our sympathies to you and your family.”

Phil then spoke the words that Alex was dreading he was going to hear. “So, tell me about the woman you’re seeing.”

‘Shit. Shit, shit, shit,’ thought Alex as he felt the color drain from his face. ‘Man, I hope Phil and Donna aren’t homophobes. I’d hate to lose a client for Scribner based how I answer a personal question. I knew this situation would arise sooner or later, though I’d been hoping for later. Much later. I have to be honest, though. And I don’t feel ashamed of who I am or who I love. But still…’

“Alex, are you okay?” he heard Phil ask, though the question seemed muffled, almost as though he was underwater. Alex shook his head before responding.

“Sorry, sir. Umm, I’m actually seeing another man.” Alex then clenched his teeth together and pinched his eyes closed, waiting to hear Phil’s response. But the response never came. Nervously, he slowly opened his eyes, only to see Phil looking at him over the top of his glasses. A grin was on Phil’s face.

Alex then received a response, though it came from Donna and not Phil.

“Good for you, dear. Don’t be embarrassed about who you date. We’re just as happy for you dating a man as we would be if you were dating a woman. That you’re dating is the important part.”

Alex exhaled a breath he was unaware he was even holding.

Phil chuckled. “Yes, one of our two daughters is married to a woman. And yes, it took us awhile to get used to the idea, I’ll admit. But Jessica’s wife is an absolute sweetheart. Jessica and Susan are really made for one another.”

-----

Peter Scribner had suggested he play tourist during his free time in California, so Alex decided to take up Peter’s offer. Having never been to Santa Monica before, he spent Wednesday enjoying what the city had to offer. He went to Santa Monica Pier, then walked along the beaches that Santa Monica is known for. In the afternoon, he worked his way south towards Los Angeles, taking in the beaches of Venice and Marina del Rey. Mid-afternoon, as he walked back to his rental car, he couldn’t help but recall a George Strait song of his youth.

Alex made a quick stop to see the La Brea Tar Pits on Thursday morning, before heading to the offices of Western Restaurant Group in Rosemead. Following lunch, Alex spent an hour or so on a short hike in Eagle Rock Canyon, followed by a quick tour of the Mount Wilson Observatory. As he stood on the hill looking westward over America’s second-largest city, he was again reminded of a song. A song that had been mentioned, among several others, about California when Jesse and Rhys tried to pry, without luck, the name of the song he’d be singing that evening for karaoke. Despite the lyrics, the thought of that evening in early November brought a smile to his face.

Thinking back on that evening, Alex marveled how, on one hand, it seemed like it had happened the week prior. As Alex got older, he discovered that time seemed to be moving faster. Summers that seemed nearly endless as a child now seemed to fly past like a speeding vehicle, over almost before they’d even begun. Yet, at the same time, that evening seemed to have occurred in some distant past which he barely even recognized. So much had happened since that Friday night. The change in Alex’s life was drastic. From being alone, seemingly friendless, and in denial about who he was, to someone who had a partner to share his life with, a bevy of new friends, and a personal acceptance of his own identity. Acceptance of who, at the core, he was. Little did he know that more change was waiting in the wings, about to move onto center stage.

Alex would have one more evening to himself in Southern California. He’d return to Bob Hope International Airport in the morning for an 11 o’clock flight, connecting this time in Las Vegas rather than Denver. That made him happy if for no other reason than the knowledge that a mad dash to a far-off gate in Las Vegas would be significantly less taxing on both his heart and lungs than it would be in Denver.

-----

The weekend passed with little fanfare. Alex and Jesse spent some time together on Saturday, beginning to place price tags on the things they planned on selling at the rummage sale, which would be held in the Kimball driveway and garage in a few weeks’ time. The two went to church on Sunday morning, then met their friends for brunch, once again at what was now known as Tuddy’s Tavern, the place where Alex’s new life had begun. Jesse stayed with Alex on Friday and Saturday nights but chose to sleep at his apartment on Sunday night. It wouldn’t be his apartment for much longer. The weekend he’d be moving in with Alex was also rapidly approaching.

Alex was unloading the dishwasher on Monday morning a little before 10:00 am when he heard the doorbell ring. He was surprised when he opened the front door to find Peter Scribner on his doorstep.

“Peter! I certainly didn’t expect to find you at my door! Come in and tell me what on earth you’re doing here.”

Peter stepped over the threshold as Alex held the door open for him.

“Please, make yourself comfortable. Would you like something to drink?”

As Peter sat down on the sofa, he said, “Thank you, but no. I’ve actually stopped to pick you up.”

“Pick me up? What on earth are you talking about?”

“Well, you and I have an appointment at 11:00 am.”

“We do?” asked Alex.

“Yes,” replied Peter. “We’re heading to the office to witness the big spectacle.”

Alex simply cocked his head in reply.

“You still don’t get it, do you?” Peter asked, a slight grin on his face.

Alex simply replied, “No,” shaking his head as he did so.

“Well, I’m going to the office to see your nemeses get arrested. I kind of thought you might also want to enjoy the show.”

“Really? Judy, Jenny, or both?”

“Both,” said Peter. “Jenny and Judy will be heading downtown in the back of police cars. I have a feeling that that’s something you’d like to see.”

“We’ve got time for me to change first, though, right?” asked Alex. “I don’t want to show up in the office in athletic shorts and a t-shirt. You know, my normal attire of late.”

Peter laughed. “You know I’ve become much more welcoming of casual dress in the office, but I’d agree that’s a little more casual than I’d like.”

Alex went to his room, where he tugged off his uber-casual clothes and replaced them with khaki pants and a polo shirt. Something else crossed his mind as he changed, and he asked Peter as soon as he descended the stairs to the living room. “Peter,” he said, “I’m not supposed to return to work until the investigation into my sexual harassment accusation has been completed. Does this mean that I’ve been cleared?”

“Oh, yes,” laughed Peter. “That slipped my mind. Our investigation quickly identified an e-mail exchange between Judy and Jenny which spelled out quite clearly that the accusation was made up.”

“Thank God that’s behind me,” responded Alex with a smile, as he sat to pull on his shoes. Peter returned Alex’s grin with a smile of his own.

A few moments later, Peter and Alex were seated in Peter’s Lexus, backing out of Alex’s driveway. Once underway, Peter glanced over at Alex. After a brief hesitation, he asked, “Alex, since Judy will be losing her job in less than an hour, the position of branch manager will become available. The job is yours if you want it. Take some time to think about it.”

Alex turned to Peter as he made a right turn on to Oralabor Road. “Peter, my mind hasn’t changed on the position. I like what I do now, Peter, and I at least like to think I do it well. I know the job would be an advancement with an increase in salary, but I really don’t think being a branch manager is for me. It’s not really what I want to do, and to be honest, I really don’t think I’d be good at it, either. Now, I’m more than willing to take up the helm on a temporary basis, just like I did before Judy came to Scribner. Thank you, but I would like to respectfully decline your offer.”

“Alex, I was sure that’s what you were going to say. But I had to ask, anyway. After all, you might’ve changed your mind.” After a brief silence, Peter added, “Thank you for stepping up to the plate to help out temporarily. And this time, I want you and Carrie to both evaluate the top candidate for the job before the person is hired.”

“Thank you for that, Peter. I don’t think Carrie or I would’ve recommended hiring Judy if we’d been given the opportunity to evaluate her.”

“I know, Alex, I know. That was a huge blunder on my part, and I’m sorry that I didn’t ask for your input or Carrie’s.”

The two men walked into the front door of Scribner and Associates’ Des Moines office shortly before 11:00 am. They were promptly greeted by Carrie.

“Alex!” she exclaimed. “Welcome back! Hi, Mr. Scribner!”

Peter quickly signaled to Carrie that she shouldn’t speak too loudly. “Sorry,” she said softly as she rose from her chair. She stepped around the reception desk to give Alex a hug.

“Are both Judy and Jenny here?” Peter quietly asked Carrie. She nodded in reply.

“Excellent, excellent,” replied Peter, sounding a bit like a mad scientist. He turned to Alex as Carrie returned to her seat. “Carrie’s in on the whole thing,” Peter informed Alex. “I called her and brought her up to speed last night. Well, I’ll just signal for the police to come in, then we can sit back and enjoy the show.”

As Peter stepped into the foyer, Carrie exclaimed, “Damn! And I was going to pop some popcorn for the main feature, too, but I was just too busy with the phones this morning.”

Just then, Judy’s office door swung open.

“Carrie,” Judy said rather loudly and in an unfriendly tone, “Did you get…”

Before she could complete her sentence, Judy noticed Alex standing behind Carrie. Judy came to a halt a few steps outside her office door.

“Alex, what the hell are…” Judy again was unable to complete the sentence when she noticed that Peter Scribner was standing in the office foyer.

Judy stood up straighter and smoothed out her skirt before attempting a third sentence. She quickly put on a nervous smile and said, “Mr. Scribner, how nice to see you! What brings you to Des…”

Another sentence was left uncompleted when Judy noticed four sheriff’s deputies enter the building.

“What’s going on, Mr. Scrib…” Yet another sentence went unfinished as two of the four deputies walked directly up to her.

“Judy Stills?” one of the deputies asked.

Judy swallowed hard, quickly glanced at Alex and Peter, then simply replied with one word, spoken more as a question than a statement. “Yes?”

“Please place your hands behind your back,” said the taller of the two deputies. “You’re under arrest.”

The stockier of the deputies then spoke. “You have the right to remain silent…”

Judy wisely remained silent as she listened to her Miranda rights. She said not another word as she was led to one of the waiting police cars by the two sheriff’s deputies.

The two remaining deputies then turned to Peter, who said, “Let me guess. You’d like me to take you to Judy’s co-conspirator, wouldn’t you?”

Alex quickly volunteered for the job. “Follow me, officers!” he said, grinning. Carrie returned his smile but remained silent.

Alex led the two sheriff’s deputies into the rear office area, with Peter Scribner following. Carrie trailed a few steps behind Peter.

Two of Alex’s coworkers were standing by a workstation near their offices, discussing an ongoing project. Their conversation was quickly forgotten as they watched a small parade, with Alex acting as grand marshal, march its way to an office in the rear corner of the building. Another coworker noticed the quiet commotion and, forgetting he was on the telephone, slowly stood from his desk to watch the brief parade. Remembering he was on the phone only when he pulled the phone off his desk and it crashed onto the floor, he managed to mutter into the receiver, “I’ll have to call you back.”

Upon reaching Jenny’s corner office, Alex poked his head through the door. “Good morning, Jenny!” he said in the happiest, sunniest voice he could.

He saw Jenny roll her eyes before her mind registered that the over-the-top greeting was uttered by someone who should not be in the office. She turned toward her office door, only to see her nemesis standing in the doorway with a huge grin on his face.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” she yelled. “You were fired. Get out, or I’ll call the police!”

“Sorry, Jenny, but I beat you to it,” said Alex as he stepped aside to allow the remaining two sheriff’s deputies to enter Jenny’s office, but not before he saw a look of panic cross Jenny’s face.

The two officers recreated the scene of Judy’s arrest not a minute before. Unlike Judy, however, Jenny couldn’t remain silent, though her words were largely unintelligible, a mixture of gibberish and profanities.

As she was led out of her office with handcuffs around her wrists, Alex again stepped up to Jenny, glaring at her through scrunched eyes. The officers and Jenny stopped just long enough for Alex to speak one sentence. “I told you that you fucked with the wrong man,” he snarled.

Jenny’s reply wasn’t verbal, though it did come from her mouth. She spat in Alex’s face, with much of the spittle landing on his glasses. This action did not earn her any points with Polk County’s finest, however. The officers, who’d been handling Jenny in a respectful manner, roughly forced her to march towards the front door and the squad car parked just outside. As Alex took off his glasses and wiped his face with his left arm, Jenny turned her head back towards Alex to hurl epithets at him. Then, quite stupidly, she threatened Alex. The officer’s treatment of Jenny became rougher still as she was frog-marched through the front door.

Alex, his coworkers, Carrie, and Peter stood in silence for several seconds, staring at the door through which Judy and Jenny had been unceremoniously marched. Alex was the first to break the silence, his glasses still in his right hand. “God, she doesn’t know when to shut her big mouth, does she?”

“Well, that went quicker than I’d have liked,” commented Carrie. “Maybe it’s good I didn’t make popcorn. We wouldn’t have managed to eat very much before the show was over.”

At this point, Alex and Carrie’s coworkers all began to speak at once, each asking questions about the spectacle that they’d just witnessed. Eventually, Peter Scribner held up his hand. Silence rapidly returned. Peter then said, “Carrie, forward the phones to Minneapolis. We are all going out to lunch, and I will explain to all what just happened, at least as much as I can tell.”

Just then, Josh entered the office from the rear garage and storage area, lugging a large cooler, likely full of samples of some sort. After two steps, he came to a halt, unsure why everyone was standing in the office’s lobby. Seeing him, Alex waved, then walked rapidly to Josh, who was rooted in place in the rear of the office. Alex gave Josh a one-armed hug, the cooler still in Josh’s hands. Alex had not seen much of Josh over the previous few weeks. Things for Josh were relatively quiet at home, for which Josh and Alex were both thankful. He’d been commuting the hour each way from Marshalltown daily.

His arm still around Josh, Alex guided him in the direction of the reception area. As they reached the front of the office, Alex exclaimed to Peter, “Here’s the man who kicked this whole thing off.” Josh, still confused, set the cooler down next to the reception desk.

Peter and Carrie both chuckled, but Alex’s remaining co-workers looked at one another, even more confused about what was going on.

After Alex introduced Peter and Josh, Peter turned to Alex and said, “Well, Alex, you got your wish. But you know you need to be careful what you wish for.”

Alex gave Peter a strange look. “Do I dare ask what you mean by that?”

“Well, Alex, you’re back on the clock as of, well, after lunch. I pretty much knew you were going to turn down the branch manager position, and I’ve got a rush job from a new client that just came in and I think it’s perfect for you. How’d you like to go to West Virginia? It’s a quick hitter. If you head out tomorrow morning you should be able to head back Wednesday afternoon.”

“From the frying pan right into the fire, eh, Peter?”

“You love it and you know it, Alex.”

“You could say that.”

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