Skating Around The Law by Joelle Charbonneau Page B

holiday episode of The Twilight Zone .
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    â€œPop?” I peeked cautiously inside the living room. It was empty. Automatically, my eyes drifted toward the stairs. No way was I going up there, at least not until I knew my grandfather was alone. I dropped my purse on the floor, flipped on the television, and plopped onto the sofa.
    At three thirty in the afternoon there wasn’t much on besides bad talk shows and soap operas. I surfed until I found the Food Network and watched a woman stuff root vegetables up a chicken’s butt. Cooking was a hobby of mine, and the show made me homesick for my Chicago kitchen.
    I fell asleep as the show’s host put the chicken in the oven. The sound of my cell phone ringing made my eyes snap back open. Half comatose, my hand dangled over the couch, I felt around in my purse and came up with the phone.
    â€œHello?” I said, trying to clear away the haze of sleep.
    â€œRebecca?”
    I bolted upright.
    â€œRebecca, where in the hell are you and why haven’t you called?”
    It was my boss, Neil Capezio, and wow, did he sound unhappy.
    â€œHi, Neil. How are you doing?” I did my best to sound professional.
    â€œHow do you think I’m doing?” I held the phone away from my head to prevent hearing loss as his voice boomed, “You left a note on my desk telling me you had a family emergency. It said you’d be gone a week. It’s been eleven days. As your boss, I deserve to know what you’re doing and when you’re coming back.”
    At the word “boss,” I let out the breath I’d been holding. A couple of weeks ago, I ran into Neil just after he’d been stood up by his date. He asked me to join him for dinner, and I felt sorry enough for him to say yes. Since then he’d been hounding me for another date and hinting around the office that I was his girlfriend. Eek.
    Oozing sweetness, I said, “I shouldn’t have left a note like that, but your cell phone was off.” A convenient circumstance since at the time I hadn’t wanted to talk to him.
    â€œAnd yours has been off since you disappeared.”
    â€œSorry,” I said. “I had to come to Indian Falls to handle some family problems. I was hoping they’d only take a couple of days to fix. Only I’ve run into a snag and I need to extend my vacation time.”
    â€œWhat you need is to come back to Chicago. Look, I understand family is important to you. It’s important to me too. My brother…well, things have been complicated here, too.” His voice quavered for a second, then took on its normal barking tone. “Regardless, I need you at your desk handling files.” His voice lowered and got all whispery. “Eleven days is too long without seeing your smile. I need you here. Things have been really hard for me lately.”
    Neil’s attempt at romance made my skin crawl, but the genuine panic at the end made me ask, “What’s wrong? Did something happen at the office?”
    â€œNo. I’d like to talk to you about it, but not over the phone. It’s complicated.”
    If there was one thing I understood it was complicated. “I don’t know when I’ll be back. Things here are a little more complicated than I thought they would be. I hope you can understand and maybe”—I crossed my fingers—“allow me to take a leave of absence for a while. I would hate to come back to Chicago and not have a job waiting for me.”
    Silence.
    I bit my bottom lip and waited as Neil breathed heavily on the other end.
    Finally, he said, “I’ll think about it and give you my answer in a day or two. Until then, good luck with everything. I’ll be thinking about you.”
    My mouth started to form a protest, but before I could say anything, I heard a click and the line went dead. Damn! I was pretty certain I hadn’t just lost my signal. Something told me I’d also lost