October
MIA HADN’T REALIZED how big a task it would be to clean out her desk. She shouldn’t have left it until her last day at work. Between the phone interruptions and educating Chris’s new office manager, Donna Caro, on the idiosyncracies of the fax machine, she would never get it done.
It was nearly noon when she started sorting through her file drawer. Donna and Chris were at lunch, and Mia was alone in the office when the phone rang for the twentieth time that morning. She groaned and picked it up.
“Mayor’s office,” she said.
For a moment, there was silence on the line. Then, a male voice asked, “Is the wood sprite out of her jar today?”
She caught her breath, then burst into tears. “Are you all right?” she asked.
“I’m okay. I’m fine. Better than I have been in a long time.”
She wasn’t certain how to tell him that the phone might be tapped. She couldn’t bear the thought of him hanging up on her, abruptly, in fear. But she had to say something. “They might try to trace this call,” she said.
“Doesn’t matter,” he answered. “We’ll make it short. I can’t say too much, anyway. I’ve made a decision about what I have to do, and I feel good about it, but first I wanted to thank you for all you did for me.”
“All I did for you?” He had it completely reversed.
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “You gave me back something I’d lost, Mia. Valle Rosa gave me something back. I felt worthwhile again. I helped a few people out of a mess.”
“You helped a lot of people who were on the brink of disaster,” she corrected him.
“Mmm,” he said, and she could hear his smile. “It’s still raining there, right?”
Mia glanced out the window at the chaparral flourishing on a distant hillside. “One day a week,” she said. “It’s perfect.”
He hesitated a moment, then said, “I’m not a total screw-up after all, I guess. I’m not totally inept.”
“Jeff…” She frowned. “Of course you’re not.”
“And I’m capable of loving someone. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do that again.”
She suddenly understood why he felt grateful to her. To Valle Rosa. She knew his past now. The time for hiding the truth—any and all truths—was over.
“Carmen had a videotape of the fire,” she said. “She showed it to Chris and me before she destroyed it. She destroyed all her tapes and notes about you.” All three of them had cried, watching the tape, Carmen most of all. That very evening, despite her refusal to share the rest of Jeff’s story with her audience, she had been asked to host Sunrise again. Not only did she turn down the offer, but she quit News Nine altogether. Having no idea what lay ahead, she’d been frightened that night. But new offers came pouring in the instant word was out that she was a free agent. She now had her own morning show—a very different sort of show—on a competing station.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Jeff said.
“I’m sorry, Jeff. I’m so sorry. Your children. I can’t imagine how—”
“Shh,” he said. “Don’t try.”
She chewed on her lower lip, wondering how much she should say over the phone. “At first I was hoping you’d come back,” she said, “that somehow you’d learn Carmen hadn’t revealed anything more about you on the news. Did you know that?”
“Yes. And I realize what a sacrifice she made for me.”
“Well, I was hoping you’d think it was safe. I wanted you to come back so badly, but I’m glad you didn’t. The FBI was here.”
“I’m not surprised. I knew they couldn’t be too far behind me.” He sighed. “Did they hound you?”
“I was glad I didn’t know where you were.” They had questioned her for two full days, and she’d been grateful to Jeff for telling her so little. She understood then why he hadn’t wanted Rick to know exactly what made the rain machine work. The agents were quick to realize that Rick genuinely had no idea what he was doing, and they left him alone.
“Today’s my last day as Chris’s office manager,” she said. “I sold a few pieces of my work after the Lesser Gallery show, and I can afford to sculpt full-time for a while.”
“Fantastic, Mia! Just don’t become more of a hermit than you already are,” he said. “And how’s the cat?”
“Fine. I named him Blackwell.”
He laughed. “That’s a pretty weird name for a cat.”
“Better than no name at all.” She ran her fingers over the files in her drawer. “Where are you, Jeff?” she asked. “I mean, where have you been? Can you say?”
“Wandering.” He sighed again. “Trying to savor my freedom, but freedom is not much fun by yourself.” A second or two of silence filled the line. “I miss you, Mia,” he said. “I love you. I wish—”
He suddenly fell quiet, and when he began speaking again, he sounded rushed. “I’ve got to get off now,” he said. “I’ll try to get in touch again, but I’m not sure what’s going to happen next.”
“Jeff, I—”
He was gone. She heard the click of the phone being hung up. After a few minutes of staring at the overcast sky out her window, she resumed sifting through her files, the emptiness building inside her once again.