Chasing Anne

At Your Side

Beep. Beep. Beep. Anne McCourtney groaned and rolled over, trying to slap her alarm clock so that the evil box would quiet down. But her hand only touched the smooth wood of her nightstand. She moaned and sat up, letting her feet fall to the floor where he black and gray slippers lay ready for her. She slipped her cold feet into the soft shoes and then stood. She walked over to where her alarm clock sat at the other end of the room and slapped it. The beeping came to a stop. She sighed in relief. She knew of course that she had put the alarm clock at the other end of the room on purpose so that she would get up on time, but still hated it. She grabbed her pile of laid out clothes and opened her bedroom door. Walking out into the hall, she headed for the bathroom. When had she decided that she should wake up at 5:30 every morning? She sighed and shook her head. It didn't matter, she was awake and she wasn't going back to bed. She showered, dressed, and then went back to her bedroom for her watch, ponytail, and the entire folder of her papers that she was going to need that day. She slipped the folder into her favorite black leather bag and then headed for the stairs. But as she made her way downward, she heard a voice and the gentle whining of Dawn. She slowed her pace and instead crept to the bottom of the stairs, clutching her bag close as if it were a weapon. She tiptoed to the doorway of the kitchen and there, she stopped, holding her bag to her chest and breathing deeply, trying to calm herself. She could smell sausage and eggs cooking, but who was cooking? She took a deep breath and then risked a peek into the kitchen. Dawn whined again, but when she saw her master, she trotted over happily and let out a small yap. The person standing at the stove cooking turned and smiled. Anne paled.

"Mark! What on earth-."

Mark help up a hand. "I'm not going to hurt you or your dog. You can put the purse down."

Anne looked at her hands and realized she had raised her bag over her head as if she were going to attack Mark with it. She reddened and lowered the purse, clearly embarrassed. "I-I'm sorry. I thought you were a robber or something."

Mark smiled. "Well, I did sort of get in like a robber. See, you left your door open last night. When I came this morning, I thought someone had broken in and so I went in after them. I quickly realized that you'd just been too sleepy to remember to shut the door and so I made breakfast."

"Were we really out that late?"

Mark shook his head. "I brought you home at nine-thirty. That's not that late."

Anne sighed and slung her bag over her shoulder. "Thanks for doing this."

Mark laughed. "It's not a problem. Though I did burn a few sausage links."

Anne thought about telling him that she'd burnt all of her sausage the last time she'd attempted to make them, but kept her mouth shut. She rather he didn't know about that story. She pulled her folder out of her purse and began to look through it, double-checking to make sure that all of the necessary papers were ready. Mark brought over the eggs and sausage and laid his hand on her shoulder, looking down at the papers with her.

"Are you sure you have everything?"

Anne nodded. "I think I do. Everything other than Dawn's papers. They're in my office under section D. Could you grab them for me?"

Mark smiled. "Absolutely." Then he trotted off down the hall, whistling. He wasn't gone long and soon returned with a small stack of papers. He set them on the table. "This is everything that you sectioned under Dawn's name."

Dawn whined and thumped her tail on the floor. Mark grabbed a sausage and tossed it to her. Anne was too preoccupied to notice. She took the papers he had given and paper clipped them together, sliding them into a folder pocket. "That's everything." She looked up at Mark who was once again standing beside her with his hand on her shoulder.