WASHINGTON, D.C.
Animated cries ranging from joyous greetings to exclamations of surprise brought Madison Swift out of her office.
“Loni!” she exclaimed, stunned along with the rest of her staff. She ran forward, and the two embraced like teenage girlfriends.
“Hi, Maddy . . . I’m home,” said Loni.
“I see that!” rejoined Maddy, stepping back and gazing up and down at her tall assistant. “What a surprise. The last time I heard from you it was all about monkey wrenches in the works and having to stay indefinitely and asking me about that obnoxious Texan—which, by the way, I got the lowdown on. Now, suddenly you’re here! Come and fill me in.”
Loni followed her boss into the familiar office.
“Why the change in plans?” asked Maddy.
“Let’s just say,” replied Loni as she eased into her usual chair opposite Maddy’s desk, “that an unforeseen new monkey wrench made a hasty departure imperative.”
“By the way, how do you know that Jimmy Joe McLeod is obnoxious?” asked Loni.
“He was here. He walked straight into my office without knocking and started throwing his weight around looking for you.”
“And he eventually found me,” rejoined Loni. “He showed up at my door on Whales Reef. All six-and-a-half feet of him, boots and hat and twang to match.”
“Well, I have the goods on him. It’s all there in that tube in the corner waiting for you. You won’t believe what I dug up.”
“I don’t want to think about him right now. Just put me to work. What’s on the agenda? What new deals are cooking?”
“Hey, not so fast. When did you get in? What about jet lag?”
“An hour ago.”
“An hour? Did you even go home?”
“Just to drop off my bags and change.”
“Then you need some downtime.”
“All I want is to get back to my routine.”
“It’s Friday. I’m not about to plunge you into something new on the last day of the week. Plenty of time for that on Monday.”
Maddy paused, staring across her desk with a puzzled expression. Her eyes narrowed.
“What?” laughed Loni. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m not sure. Something’s different about you.”
“I’m just tired.”
“No, it’s a good different. Something . . . I don’t know, a light in your eyes I’ve never seen before. You’re happy, more exuberant, even tired.”
“It must be finding out I own an island,” said Loni. “Believe it or not, the solicitor over there told me—”
Loni glanced back at the open office door, rose to close it, and returned to the chair.
“He said I was a millionaire,” she added.
“Whoa! That would put a sparkle into anyone’s eyes. Congratulations, Loni!”
“Thanks . . . I guess. I’m still in a daze. That’s what you see in my eyes—the deer-in-the-headlights look.”
“I don’t think so. Are you sure there isn’t something you’re not telling me?”
A serious expression came over Loni’s face. “I do feel different,” she admitted. “Knowing who I am, where I came from, the connection to roots, you can’t know what a difference it makes. I can tell that changes are taking place inside me. And—”
Loni hesitated, her lips quivered, and she looked away. It was enough. Maddy pounced.
“I knew it! There’s something more.”
Whatever Loni’s boss had expected, it was not for Loni to burst into tears.
“Oh, Maddy,” she said, “I got myself into a terrible pickle.”
Maddy jumped out of her chair and hurried around the desk. She laid a gentle hand on Loni’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”
“No, actually it feels good to cry,” said Loni, “though I’ve been crying on and off for two days.”
“Care to tell a friend what’s going on?”
“I’m not sure I’m ready.”
“It has to do with a man, doesn’t it?”
Tears filled Loni’s eyes again. “I can’t think about it. What am I saying? I can’t think of anything else.”
“One thing’s sure, you are definitely in no shape for work.” Maddy glanced at her watch. “Okay, here’s the plan,” she said. “I’m taking the rest of the day off. It’s about lunchtime. I am going to treat you to something I discovered while you were gone—a genuine high tea right here in D.C. My treat. We will take all afternoon.”
Loni could not help but laugh at Maddy’s enthusiasm.
“After lunch,” Maddy continued, “we’ll go to a park, then have a salad or something for supper, and then catch a movie. I think Da Vinci Code is still playing. Do you like Tom Hanks?”
“He’s okay,” replied Loni, still smiling.
“Or,” Maddy went on, “in keeping with my management philosophy of giving clients choices so they make the final decisions themselves, if you are too jet-lagged for a night out—Option Two: after our high tea I will buy you some chocolate, then you go home, take a hot bath, make yourself a big bowl of popcorn, put on your pajamas, and watch While You Were Sleeping. If you aren’t sound asleep by then, I don’t know jet lag when I see it.”
“Chocolate and popcorn!” laughed Loni. “You sound like my grandparents.”
“They are the two essential ingredients in the Madison Swift blues-relief regimen!”