#37-Casual Day
I’d barely fallen asleep when Darryl’s effing cell phone set up a bleeping racket.
“Wha?” I mumbled. Darryl stretched.
“Shhh, sugar. Go back to sleep.” He fumbled on the nightstand. “Where’s my phone?”
“Livin’ room.”
His feet hit the floor. I shivered as cold air attacked the part of me he’d been keeping warm. Out in the living room, Darryl found his phone and turned off the alarm. I heard a clink, followed by the sound of something falling.
“If you’re looking for your glasses, try the hall bathroom,” I called. A few minutes later, I heard the toilet flush. Wearing his glasses, Darryl roamed back in the bedroom to throw on sweats, socks and a new pair of trainers.
“What are you doing? What time is it?” I groaned.
Darryl leaned over to give me a kiss. “I’m going for a run, sugar. Go back to sleep. It’s four a.m.”
“Why so early?” I whined.
“Leaving for the office at six. Shhh, sugar, go back to sleep. You don’t have to come.”
As the door to the apartment closed behind him, Paul Hixson moved to occupy the warm spot in the bed Darryl had vacated. He smelled of river water and the disinfectant they used in the morgue.
“It’s not fair,” he complained.
“No one told you to ignore the ‘Road Closed’ sign. No one else moved the sawhorse. You chose to drive across a broken bridge. This is the result.” I propped myself up on one elbow.
“You don’t understand! I had to get back to Washington!”
“And how’d that work out for you?”
Paul turned from me. Similar in feature to Darryl, his squarer face had been more conventionally handsome. He’d been broader than Darryl, built like a football player.
“I don’t want to hurt my baby brother,” said Paul, “What’s on the other side of that thing?” He nodded at the spirit gate.
“The spirit realm. A place of many gates: to heavens, to hells, to alternate worlds. The gate to rebirth is there.”
“I have to think about it.” He vanished. I felt mildly encouraged. It’s progress when the patient shows empathy and starts to come to grips with reality. Paul’s spirit might be salvageable in time but for right now, he’d destroyed any chance of me going back to sleep. I got up and dressed. I picked out a tie and a dress shirt for Darryl to save him time.
When Darryl returned, he eyed my magnificence: I was combining the silky grey jacket with the silky black pants. White blouse and an emerald green scarf tied around my neck completed the ensemble.
“You look lovely, Dr. Deweese. But I guess I forgot to tell you that I’d declared today to be a casual day. I’m meeting Tamika at six thirty to open the office and will be running extended hours with the section teams to finalize content. The dress code is no suits, no ties, no shaving.”
I’d worn my casual clothes all weekend and adored the feel of the slinky new suits against my skin. “Thank you, boss man. I’ll wear this anyway, because my boyfriend says it’s lovely.”
Darryl grinned and dragged out his favorite sweater. It’s a dingy yellow, a color that looks hideous on all skin types. I meant to groan inwardly but I must have made some noise because Darryl looked at me and said, “What?”
