DISCONTINUED

Chapter 13

Garreth spent the rest of the day basically hiding in his office, doing nothing of significance. Mostly he just tried to survive his first - and what he sure hoped would be his worst - day back at work. This seemed to suit everyone else just fine since as far as he could tell no one had so much as looked through the glass wall of his office all day. Apparently, they were all more than content to settle back into the whole grief and mortality reality avoidance thing.

It was well past lunch, which Garreth skipped, when he heard a tentative knocking on his door. He took a long, deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"Come in" he said with more than a little hesitation in his voice. He couldn't care less about work right now, and he certainly wasn't feeling social, but was he actually "allowed" to say "go away"? He figured probably not.

The door slowly opened. It was Julia's intern... what was her name again? Darn. He should know this. She'd been at Julia's service where he'd spoken to her briefly. She'd even been by their house once he thought, a while ago. Back before... back when Jules...

What was her name? Carrie? Cami? As he stared blankly at her, trying to remember her name, he realized that she was speaking.

"...and I know that you probably just want to be left alone right now, and I tried, I really did. I must have walked by your office like 10 times already but I just couldn't do it again. I couldn't. I just had to tell you how much your wife... how much Julia... how much she meant to me."

At that she - whatever her name was - broke down, unable to continue. The awkwardness of the situation kept Garreth from crying with her, but he motioned her to sit down across from him as he slid her his almost depleted box of tissues.

"Thanks" she said as she wiped her eyes and nose and gradually started to gather herself. Garreth fidgeted with his pen and visualized her leaving his office. Soon. Please.

She took a deep breath.

"I know we spoke briefly at her service, which by the way was beautiful, but there were so many people there... and everyone wanted to talk to you. Plus, you had to be there for your daughter. What's her name again? Oh yea, Luna. So, anyway, I just had to tell you how much your wife meant to me. Julia was an amazing person and I know that you know that, but I just had to tell you anyway. She, you know, she gave me a chance as her intern when no one else would, because, well... I'm a little different, I guess. But she took a chance on me and I'll always be thankful for that."

Garreth's emotions threatened to get the better of him but he was determined not to fall apart in from of someone whose name he still couldn't for the life of him remember. Yes, "different" would be a word to describe Ms. Intern with her jet black and royal blue streaked hair, her lip, tongue, nose and eyebrow piercings and the cartoon character tattoos on her arms. Julia had always been so open and accepting of others... so slow to judge. He'd always admired her for that.

"Thanks. You should know that she always spoke highly of you", which he knew was true despite his continued inability to put a name to the face.

She sniffed and dabbed her nose again. "Thanks Mr. Timmons. Thanks for telling me. That really means a lot to me."

She paused and stared down at the floor. Clearly she had something else to say. Garreth gently tapped his fingers on his desk and grimaced when she wasn't looking. You'd think he'd appreciate people saying nice things about his wife, and he did, but he also just sort of needed her to go away right now.

She started talking again before looking up from the floor. "I just wish... one of the last times I spoke with Julia I sort of accused her of something. Something, as it turned out, she didn't do. I was wrong and I apologized but still. I was sort of, well, mean to her. I just wish that I hadn't been mean to her like that. I just wish that I'd acted differently. Nicer. She didn't deserve that."