A Room With A View

Chapter Thirteen - David

September 8th, Friday

Alice was gone. David looked out the darkened window onto the courtyard below. Apartment lights spilled out onto the stone decking, highlighting the flower pots. Joshua had mentioned something about Elena's help in the flowers when this whole project was first beginning. David hadn't wanted to be the bearer of bad news and tell them both that the sun would never touch the petals.

Alice had wanted to help, when she first saw the flowers growing thin with thirst, but she had left, skipping back to her life in California before anything could be done.

David sighed. He looked into the windows of 6J. The girl who lived there was just getting home and taking off her jacket. David sometimes liked to pretend that it was Alice, coming home to live in her tidy New York apartment.

"Hey," Tanya said softly. She came over to stand next to David.

David sniffed.

"She never did like the cold weather," Tanya said.

David leaned an arm against the glass and pressed his forehead to the window. He knew that. He had known that the first moment they had squeezed Alice kicking and screaming into a snowsuit and planted her outside.

"But Phineas," David began.

Tanya scoffed. "If you ask me I think Phineas might bat for the other team. I'm sure he has a crush on Alice, but I don't think his heart's in it. I think he just gets flustered."

David had never thought of that possibility. He had always thought that Phineas had trailed Alice around because he was desperately in love with her. But maybe Phineas had just wanted a friend, and Alice had shown him a shred of kindness.

David's breath fogged the glass. So that was it then.

He felt Tanya take a tentative hold of his hand. "Quit your job, David," she said, her voice hushed.

David blinked, surprised. "What?"

"You're miserable, I can see it. You're just biding time there. Life's too short, David. School's over in December, let's go somewhere."

"But Alice--"

"She's not coming back for Christmas," said Tanya. She squeezed David's hand. "This is the last year I have to teach until I can retire. We don't have to stay here. We can rent a villa in Italy for the summer, or go see your brother in Tennessee. We could do it all, David. I just want you to be happy."

They had planned on going to Italy for their honeymoon, but Alice unexpectedly arrived early and their travel funds had turned to hospital bills. David would have sold the apartment and lived in a shack if it had meant Alice would be okay. Italy was nothing to him, their new dream had become their daughter.

"Italy," David repeated. His fingers itched with the memory of violin strings. He had majored in music and Italian, falling in love with a strong-spirited woman in a smoky college bar, the first time he had brought his violin out to play.

Tanya smiled up at him, and David could almost smell the perfumed haze, see the red-covered lights, hear the jazzy tune he had picked to play. The hedge fund had been a means to an end, a way to make money for their small family.

"I'll think on it," David said gruffly. His fingers slackened, and Tanya's smile slipped.

"Okay," she said, letting go. "Just promise me you will."

David nodded, watching Tanya turn toward the bedroom in the reflection of the glass.

He hadn't played in years. He used to play for Alice when she was small, but he ended up having a knack for numbers and kept skipping up the ladder at the firm, the hours growing longer and longer. He had been with the company for so long now, he was almost scared to leave. It was who he was, David didn't know himself as anything other than David Finlay, Senior Vice-President of Capital Markets. Could he leave? Could he let go of that identity and form a new one? Or was it just too late?

Movement caught his eye. The girl in 6J was getting up from couch. David could see her feet answering the door. He sighed again and unstuck himself from the window. No matter how hard he pretended, the girl never really looked like Alice.

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What do you think of David so far? Madeline? Elena? Phineas and Brian? Even the elusive Mrs. Agatha Newman? If you're liking one character more than another, give their chapter a vote and I'll continue their story next!