Loving the Ice Queen

Chapter 2

Barbara

I liked to think that in case of my death, at least two people would attend my funeral.

One was Eleanora, a girl with whom I had spent the worst times of my life. The other was Max, a friend of my late grandmother.

So when Max showed up one evening to the company without a prior appointment, I immediately let him up to my office.

My assistant, Amanda, opened the glass door for him. He walked in, slow and steady on his cane. The lines of life etched on his face deepened with his smile. "Dear Barbara, you look more like Agnes every time I see you."

"I hope you're referring to my grandmother's youthful face and not the one she left us with," I replied with a straight face, ushering the old man to the white sofa set in the center of the office.

Amanda looked surprised for a moment. Maybe because of my insolent joke, or because I had even joked in the first place.

Max let out a booming laugh as he lowered himself to the couch. "Oh, I keep forgetting how much I love your sense of humor."

"Would you like something to drink, Mr. Sydney?" Amanda asked after composing herself.

"Coffee would be lovely, my dear."

"Make it decaf, Amanda," I said. "For me too."

Amanda left after a nod. Max sighed, his face still smiling. I had never seen the man scowling or sad, except in my grandmother's funeral.

"Decaf just doesn't taste the same." He removed his gray beret hat and set it on his lap, revealing a head of thinning white hair.

"I'm sure. But your blood pressure will thank you for it."

Max looked around the office. It was the first time he saw it, I realized.

"It's very unlike you," Max said.

"I found it this way. It'll only take time to have it redone."

Max stared at me with drooping blue eyes that saw too much. I clasped my hands in my lap and straightened my back. I forgot to fog up the glass wall separating us from the eyes of the secretariat staff.

"Mhm." Max nodded. "Let's get to the point, since I know you don't like running around in circles. Do you know what your grandmother's last wish was?"

Grandmother Agnes' death had been very sudden. She simply did not wake up one day. But of course Max would know her last wish. They had been great friends.

I shook my head.

"She wanted to see you smile."

I blinked, pushing down the knot in my throat. Glancing away, I polished my hand over my dress pants.

"She wanted to see you happy."

"I'm happy," I replied. The words sounded foreign to my own ears. Max gave a heavy sigh.

"One could be happy on their own. It is true," Max said. "But there's something to be said about the joy we derive from other people's company."

He nodded to himself and stared straight ahead, his eyes on something no one could see but him. I knew to give him time to find the right words.

Amanda's knock interrupted the silence. She came in with two cups of coffee and two bottles of water, leaving as quietly as she came.

Max took a sip of his coffee. "Ah, it warms the chest."