have both Taylor’s and Dave Witherspoon’s phone numbers? I think I’d like to talk with Taylor’s roommate, and definitely with Witherspoon.”
“They should be right here,” he said, opening a side drawer in his desk and bringing out a small metal box filled with 3x5 cards. Flipping through them expertly, he paused at two cards long enough to write something on the notepad in front of him, then tore off the top sheet of the pad, tapped the tops of the 3x5 cards to get them all even, closed the lid of the box, and slid the torn-off piece of paper across the desk to me. “Here you are,” he said.
I folded the paper and put it in my shirt pocket. “Well, thank you again for your time and your help,” I said. “I’ll let you get back to work now.”
He gave me a small smile. “Yes, there is a lot to do.”
We shook hands, and I left.
*
When I got home from work, Jonathan seemed to be in a particularly happy mood. He and Joshua were just finishing up their feeding-of-the-fish ritual. I hadn’t really expected Joshua’s two little fish to have survived as long as they had, due to Joshua’s firm belief that if a little food was good for them, a lot was better. But Jonathan had gotten him slowly used to the idea that goldfish do not require quite the same amount of food as a great white shark.
After our group hug, Joshua went running off in pursuit of whatever it is four-year-old boys always seem to find to pursue, and I followed Jonathan into the kitchen to fix my evening Manhattan.
“So what’s up?” I asked him as I took a glass from the cupboard and he opened the refrigerator for his Coke and some ice cubes.
“Guess what happened today?” he asked, answering a question with a question.
“Something good, obviously,” I said, and he grinned broadly.
“Yeah! I was out on a job, and when I got back, my boss told me he’d gotten a call from Evan Knight, who wants his whole yard landscaped, and he mentioned that I had referred him to Evergreen! The boss was really impressed.”
I doubted the boss had any idea who Evan Knight was, but the prospect of a full yard-landscaping project in the Briarwood area would undoubtedly be profitable.
I was happy for Jonathan’s boss. I was happy for Jonathan getting the credit for bringing in new business. I was not, however, particularly happy with the possibility of Jonathan being drawn any closer to Evan Knight’s little web.
“That’s great, Babe,” I said. “Will you be working on the job?”
I realized that last question was my Scorpio side raising its ugly head.
“I hope so,” Jonathan said. “I’d really like to see where Mr. Knight lives. My boss is going over there tomorrow morning to talk to him about what he’ll want done, and to give him an estimate. I hope we get the job.”
Oh, I’m pretty sure you will, my Scorpio said. Damn it, why the hell was I being jealous? I had no reason to be. Except that I’d met people like Evan Knight before, and I know the games they like to play with people like Jonathan, who tend to take everyone at face value and are sometimes way too trusting. But I realized at the same time that I had too strong a tendency, sometimes, to treat Jonathan too much like a kid who needed constant protection. He was an adult, and he didn’t need me hovering over him all the time.
Yeah, a mind-voice reluctantly agreed. Still….
*
I was a few minutes late getting to work the next morning, thanks to Joshua somehow managing to slosh an entire bowl of cereal and milk over himself at breakfast. So while Jonathan cleaned up Joshua and changed his clothes, I cleaned up the kitchen. Kids can be a real joy sometimes. This was not one of them.
Once at work, I waited until I’d gone through my morning coffee/newspaper/crossword puzzle ritual before calling Dave Witherspoon. I hoped to get a little better idea of what kind of guy Taylor Cates really was, even though I was quite sure that under the circumstances what he had
“They should be right here,” he said, opening a side drawer in his desk and bringing out a small metal box filled with 3x5 cards. Flipping through them expertly, he paused at two cards long enough to write something on the notepad in front of him, then tore off the top sheet of the pad, tapped the tops of the 3x5 cards to get them all even, closed the lid of the box, and slid the torn-off piece of paper across the desk to me. “Here you are,” he said.
I folded the paper and put it in my shirt pocket. “Well, thank you again for your time and your help,” I said. “I’ll let you get back to work now.”
He gave me a small smile. “Yes, there is a lot to do.”
We shook hands, and I left.
*
When I got home from work, Jonathan seemed to be in a particularly happy mood. He and Joshua were just finishing up their feeding-of-the-fish ritual. I hadn’t really expected Joshua’s two little fish to have survived as long as they had, due to Joshua’s firm belief that if a little food was good for them, a lot was better. But Jonathan had gotten him slowly used to the idea that goldfish do not require quite the same amount of food as a great white shark.
After our group hug, Joshua went running off in pursuit of whatever it is four-year-old boys always seem to find to pursue, and I followed Jonathan into the kitchen to fix my evening Manhattan.
“So what’s up?” I asked him as I took a glass from the cupboard and he opened the refrigerator for his Coke and some ice cubes.
“Guess what happened today?” he asked, answering a question with a question.
“Something good, obviously,” I said, and he grinned broadly.
“Yeah! I was out on a job, and when I got back, my boss told me he’d gotten a call from Evan Knight, who wants his whole yard landscaped, and he mentioned that I had referred him to Evergreen! The boss was really impressed.”
I doubted the boss had any idea who Evan Knight was, but the prospect of a full yard-landscaping project in the Briarwood area would undoubtedly be profitable.
I was happy for Jonathan’s boss. I was happy for Jonathan getting the credit for bringing in new business. I was not, however, particularly happy with the possibility of Jonathan being drawn any closer to Evan Knight’s little web.
“That’s great, Babe,” I said. “Will you be working on the job?”
I realized that last question was my Scorpio side raising its ugly head.
“I hope so,” Jonathan said. “I’d really like to see where Mr. Knight lives. My boss is going over there tomorrow morning to talk to him about what he’ll want done, and to give him an estimate. I hope we get the job.”
Oh, I’m pretty sure you will, my Scorpio said. Damn it, why the hell was I being jealous? I had no reason to be. Except that I’d met people like Evan Knight before, and I know the games they like to play with people like Jonathan, who tend to take everyone at face value and are sometimes way too trusting. But I realized at the same time that I had too strong a tendency, sometimes, to treat Jonathan too much like a kid who needed constant protection. He was an adult, and he didn’t need me hovering over him all the time.
Yeah, a mind-voice reluctantly agreed. Still….
*
I was a few minutes late getting to work the next morning, thanks to Joshua somehow managing to slosh an entire bowl of cereal and milk over himself at breakfast. So while Jonathan cleaned up Joshua and changed his clothes, I cleaned up the kitchen. Kids can be a real joy sometimes. This was not one of them.
Once at work, I waited until I’d gone through my morning coffee/newspaper/crossword puzzle ritual before calling Dave Witherspoon. I hoped to get a little better idea of what kind of guy Taylor Cates really was, even though I was quite sure that under the circumstances what he had
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