A Room With A View

Chapter Fifty-Nine - David

December 8, Friday

David sat slumped forward in his chair. The main character of his new novel—who he had named Jamie Boyd—was stuck in a mine shaft, and David didn't know the first thing about getting someone out of a mine shaft. He'd had Jamie use a pick and an axe, but neither of them had made much of a dent in the stone wall.

It was a nice metaphor, really. Both protagonists seemed to be trapped behind a block.

The hidden code within Jamie Boyd's accountant spreadsheet had led him onto a helipad in the middle of an island off the coast of Chile. The helicopter had brought Jamie Boyd to the ski slopes of the Alps, which had led him into a forgotten diamond mine. All the while thinly-clad women seemed to appear out of nowhere in utter distress.

It was all great fun, but only at 30 pages of typed script.

David reached out a hand to grab his red foam ball, but his fingers collided with something rough and leathery instead. He looked up. His violin case was still resting in the same spot on his desk where he'd left it two weeks ago. He hadn't had the heart to move it. He'd kept thinking that perhaps if he left it where it was, Alice would appear and push him toward it.

But Alice had gone back to California, and David's violin had done nothing but collect dust.

"Hey Dave? Are you in here?" Tanya asked, coming around the corner and into David's office.

He sat up fully and slammed his laptop shut.

Tanya leaned against the doorframe. "Watching anything interesting?" she asked, inclining her head toward the laptop.

"No," David said quickly.

Tanya raised an eyebrow.

David sighed and reopened his laptop. "I'm not watching anything," he said, "I'm just working on my novel."

"Ah yes," Tanya said, coming closer, "your magnum opus. May I read it?"

David chewed the inside of his lip. It wasn't anywhere near ready. The writing was rough and the scenes split off into others without any sense of rhyme or reason.

"Sure," he said reluctantly. Tanya had always been the one to edit Alice's school papers, so she might be a good beta reader for David's story.

"Do you mind if I read it tonight? I thought we could go Christmas shopping before Macy's closes," Tanya said.

David leaned back in his chair. "Why do we have to go to Macy's?"

"Because you need a new suit, Alice asked for a leather jacket, and we need to find Sam a gift too. And perhaps something for his parents as well." Tanya folded her arms across her chest.

"His parents? Why do we need to get a gift for his parents?" David asked.

Tanya's hands moved to her hips. "Because they're the in-laws, David, that's what you do."

"They're not married yet," David grumbled.

Tanya sighed and turned to leave. "Well I'm heading out," she said. "I would appreciate it if you joined me but maybe it would be best if you stayed here."

David half-rose from his chair, but he could already hear Tanya's heels clicking away down the hallway. He sank back into his seat. There was a clinking sound as Tanya fished around in the bowl by the door for the key, then the creak of the door's rusty hinges, and then silence.

A small part of David knew he should have followed his wife. There was a florist around the corner, he could nip out for a bouquet and have it waiting for her when she returned.