It's Only Temporary

Chapter 14: Handwriting (Part 2) - Multimedia

"Uh huh. Kind of like all the other cards I've left you?"

"So.... Not a chipmunk?"

"Not a chipmunk."

"Oh, I see." He'd pretended to be struck by a sudden burst of clarity. "That's your name."

"Yes, David. That's my name."

"Is that a phone number?"

"That's my Blackberry."

He'd looked up at her. "I have it in my phone."

"I know," she'd shrugged. "But just in case. I'll keep my ringer on all night."

"OK."

Her coat was fully buttoned. She slung a purse over her shoulder and looked back at him. "Do you need anything else before I go?"

"Nope."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep."

"You have enough water there?"

"Yep." He'd nodded. She'd stood still and met his eyes. He'd tried to smile to reassure her, but she hadn't smiled back. "You're not OK," she'd said.

"I'm fine."

"Should I stay?"

"I'm totally fine." He'd waved the pink notecard at her. "I'm all set."

She'd snatched the card out of his hand and laid it back down on his nightstand. Then she began to unbutton her coat. "I'm staying."

"Penny...." He hadn't worked up much of a sweat, trying to fight her.

"I'll just sleep on the couch," she'd said as she shrugged off her coat and draped it over one arm. She'd bent to straighten the covers tucked around his chest. "I'll be right on the other side of that door."

"You really don't need to-"

She'd taken his hand and squeezed it gently. "I'm here," she said softly. "I'll be right here if you need me."

David dug the heels of his hands into his eye sockets now as he remembered. She'd ended up camping out on his living room couch for weeks after that. At least she would start out the night on the living room couch. More nights than not, she'd wind up in a chair next to his bed, holding his hand and shushing him back to sleep. But at least she kept up the appearance of sleeping in the living room. And each night before she drew the blinds and switched off the lamps, she'd leave another little notecard by his bed. She'd kept it up with the notecards right until the end - right until that last evening before he headed back to work, and she'd left his living room couch once and for all.

He had a whole stack of them now, tucked away in the bottom drawer of his nightstand. Every once in a while, he would take them out and read through a few cards at random when he was having trouble sleeping.  He didn't need help with the handwriting. Not anymore. He probably could have recited those stupid little notes by heart if he put his mind to it.

"Hey, I drew you a picture of a Smurf to keep you company tonight. Or is it a chipmunk? You decide. Sweet dreams."

He kept them all there next to his bed - those handwriting samples. All except one, of course. The last one she'd left for him, that last night before he headed back to work. He'd folded that notecard in half after she'd gathered up her things and said goodnight. He'd stuffed it into the billfold of his wallet, and there it had remained.

With a sigh, David reached down now and took his wallet out of his pocket. He pulled the notecard free and looked at it, absent-mindedly straightening a dog-eared corner. She'd written her cell number once again, followed by those scrawled lines, sloppy to the point of illegibility. Those lines he'd run his thumb across, so many times the ink had bled:

"If you need me, you only have to pick up the phone, and I will be here right beside you. Anytime. Any reason. Day or night. Always."

The sound of his office door clicking open startled him out of his thoughts. David hastily stuffed the card back into his wallet as his boss entered the room.

Leo came to a stop on the other side of David's desk and looked at him in silence for a moment before he spoke. "You OK?"

"Fine." David shoved his wallet into his back pocket. "What's up?"

"I just found your secretary crying in the supply closet."

David winced. Ginger. He would have to make it up to her. Maybe he should give her the rest of the day off. "Sorry," he said to Leo. "I'll go talk to her." He started to stand, but Leo raised a hand to stop him.

"David, how long is this going to go on?"

"What?"

"Come on. Get it together."

David met Leo's eyes for a moment and then looked back down at the surface of his desk. "I'm working on it," he murmured.

"Well, let's show a little professionalism, shall we?"

"Yeah."

"This is about the other one? Penny?"

David pressed his lips together as he stared down at his desk. "I don't know. Maybe."

"She was more than just a temp?"

"She was a temp. She left. That's what temps do." He could feel Leo's eyes studying him. "I'll go talk to Ginger."

"Maybe Ginger isn't the one you need to talk to."

David shrugged. "I don't even have a phone number."

"How is that possible?" Leo asked.

"I just had her Blackberry. She sent it back when she quit." David looked up and met Leo's eyes. "I went by her place the other day, but she moved out. Her roommates didn't know where she went."

"You went by her place?"

"Yeah. Brooklyn." David sucked in the air between his teeth and faked a shudder. Leo didn't even crack a smile.

"You think she's in some kind of trouble?"

"Nah." David shook his head. "I'm sure she's fine."

"Sounds to me like she doesn't want to be found," Leo said.

"Guess not."

Leo stood still on the other side of the desk, studying him with a curious expression. David waited in silence for the scrutiny to pass. When Leo broke the silence at last, he spoke in a voice barely above a whisper. "You love her?" Leo asked.

It was strange to David, to hear the words spoken out loud. "You love her?" They were words he'd asked himself in private, at home, in the dead of night. Not words he had ever dared to utter aloud.

David swallowed hard to clear his throat before he answered. "Maybe," David said.

"Did she know?"

David shook his head. "No, I never--that's the thing, I guess. I never told her. It just kills me that I never told her."