The Gadgeteer

Chapter 15

SLEEP WAS A FITFUL quest, and Arabeth woke groggy and momentarily confused, wondering if she had imagined Sam's visit. Rest hadn't helped, and today was going to be busy. She knew she'd better contact her lawyer and arrange a time to meet. Bernie's runners should be back this morning, meaning she had to stay in the house until at least lunchtime. That suited her. She really didn't want to face the world just yet.

She would stay in her sleeping clothes, she decided. And drink hot tea with her toast. And read the newspaper. It had been weeks since she'd done that. Suddenly she started laughing. It all sounded so normal, and her life couldn't even sort of be described as normal right now. As she walked around, she noticed Marble was missing. That wasn't unusual - there was a small creek about four blocks east that Marble liked to clean up in early in the day. An unusual habit for a fox, but they were normally fairly smelly animals.

Melanie gave her a strange look across the breakfast table.

"I haven't slept that well in weeks. Thank you."

"You're welcome, anytime. If you start to feel yourself unravelling, you need to hang on to something metal, something that's grounded at least ten feet into the ground. The hat only blocks a narrow range of frequencies, so it's not a ready-fix."

Melanie nodded and pulled the hat down tighter. "It may be a placebo, but I don't care."

Arabeth pulled out her cast-iron skillet and started making her usual breakfast of two fried eggs and a slice of toast with orange juice.

"Don't cook for me. I'm headed over to Donny's Grill to catch up on all the latest talk," Melanie said.

Arabeth turned. "You're all right to go out?"

Melanie patted the pilot's hat. "I'm sure I'll be fine. I'm not a stay-at-home kind of person. I remember your directions on how to find a grounded object. But I'll be back - I want to know what really happened last night. You two were in that room for a while."

"If anything interesting was going to happen, it would have happened years ago."

"No chance. He was too shy back then. He's a much different man now that he's been doing police work."

And his military work, Arabeth figured.

"If you ask me, he's never been more eligible, and yet so completely taken," Melanie sighed.

"You're over-inflating the irony, I think." Arabeth blinked a few times, trying to accept Melanie's words, but still feeling unsure.

"I'm pointing out the obvious. You haven't been available for quite a few years. He may be thinking this is a second chance."

"I'm worried things will get awkward."

"Awkward? He asked, and you said no?"

Arabeth shrugged. "Not exactly."

"Are you crazy? What if he changes his mind? He's devoted to you, but even Sam has his limits."

"I don't mean to hurt him; it's hard to think about marriage again, though. Who wants the kind of love that goes away?"

Melanie bit her lip, head tilted as though she was considering it. "He's waited at least five years while you were married, and longer before that when you were friends, then two more years while you were 'in mourning'. This is not infatuation. Your marriage hit him pretty hard."

"It hit me hard too...." Arabeth's heart slammed in her chest suddenly, unexpectedly. "Wait, what do you mean?"

Melanie fiddled with her hair a moment before talking. "At the station we call it his 'dark time' and none of us talk about it. I won't go into details. God forgive me, but your husband's death is the best thing that's happened to either of you."