Amulet, p.22
Amulet, page 22
“Take your time getting ready on Monday morning, and don’t come here before your interview. Just promise you’ll come by and let me know how it went, after you get back from lunch with them.”
She smiled again. “Thanks. And I promise, I’ll let you know how it goes.”
Driving home from work that night, Val was determined not to spend the weekend alone. Very briefly, he considered giving one of his ex-girlfriends a call, but going through the list of women in his head made him remember why he broke up with each of them, and he quickly decided there were other ways to avoid loneliness.
By the time he pulled into the parking garage of his condo, Val had settled on inviting a few guys over on Sunday to watch football. There were at least two good games he wouldn’t mind watching, and with football playing in the background, he wouldn’t need to engage in too much conversation. People would just be there, filling the space around him with motion and sound. And, really, that was all Val needed.
Later that evening, Val made calls to four guys he knew, and each of them accepted without hesitation. Val was certain at least a couple of them already had plans, but an invitation to the luxury condo of one of the most successful men in the city took priority over all other engagements, at least in their minds.
Val went grocery shopping on Saturday morning, against his housekeeper’s wishes, and bought some food and supplies he thought he might need for the next day. Then he spent the earlier part of the evening rearranging the furniture in the oversized living room at least twice to get the right configuration for the event.
Val’s housekeeper arrived to start preparing hors d’oeuvres for the party around nine-thirty on Sunday morning, and by noon all the guests had arrived and were sampling the wonderful cheese and vegetable dips Val’s housekeeper had made.
Everyone seemed to be having a good time, and the food his housekeeper kept bringing out was amazing. Val was pleased he had succeeded in filling the space around him, but it had brought him no peace. He still felt lacking, restless, and empty. His “friends,” if that’s what he could call them, knew nothing about Val, really. Oh, they knew where he worked, his high position, his annual income, and who he was or wasn’t dating at any given time, but they didn’t know who he was. And it wasn’t that Val wanted to keep who he was a mystery or hide his soul from anyone. It was just that they’d never cared to ask.
Val stood in the doorway to the kitchen, looking into the living room at the four men gathered around the large coffee table laden with food in front of the even larger wall-mounted, curved screen television. His friends were talking over each other—this one about how his wife and kids were coming back in a few days from spending a month in France over the holiday break; that one about the car he just bought. Another one was talking about a charity auction he would be organizing over Valentine’s Day weekend, and the one pretending to be listening chimed in with a story about how he met his supermodel girlfriend at a charity auction.
In the end, it was all just noise, and Val realized he was just as lonely in the noise as he was in the silence of his own solitude. He felt it so acutely now, this loneliness he had lived with all his life, and he knew exactly why: Alex.
She had cut through his loneliness from the moment he first set eyes on her. She knew him, saw him, and cared for him.
Yes, Alex cared for him, she felt something for him. That had to be true, regardless of her boyfriend, regardless of what she told him after their kiss.
That kiss—Val remembered every detail. The softness of her lips, the warmth of her mouth, the feel of her body in his hands. She wouldn’t have felt that way in his arms if there was nothing in her heart for him, would she?
At work the following day, he spent all morning glancing at the clock. He had spent a restless night, tossing and turning, willing the sun to rise so that he could leave for work—so that he could see Alex.
She had said she would tell him how her interview had gone, and she kept her word. After an excruciatingly long morning, just as Val was checking the time again at two o’clock, Alex appeared in his doorway.
Almost sensing her presence, Val looked up to see her radiant face, her hand raised in a fist, about to knock on the open door. And he knew just by looking at her how the interview had gone. Standing up, he motioned her in.
“I gather by the look on your face that the interview went well?” Alex stepped into his office and closed the door, her smile widening.
“They called me as I was driving back over here to offer me the job—Val, they liked me!”
“Of course they liked you,” he replied softly, his words full of meaning. “How could they not?”
“Oh, Val,” she said, coming toward him. Had Val not been standing behind a huge oak desk, he would certainly not have been able to resist taking her in his arms. He sat back down in his chair, gripping the armrests as a precautionary measure.
Alex stopped between the two leather chairs, then sat down rather abruptly in one. Leaning forward in her seat, she continued, “I really don’t know how this happened, Val. Last week I couldn’t get a firm to even respond to my application, and today I get an on-the-spot offer—from a firm I hadn’t even contacted. It’s just so hard to believe.”
“So, does that mean you’ve accepted?”
“No,” she replied quickly. “I wanted to talk to you first.”
“Oh? Why? Is there something wrong with the offer? What’s the starting salary?”
“No, no,” she replied, “it has nothing to do with that. I just, well, I don’t want to leave you hanging. You hired me to do a job, and I don’t want to leave before it’s done, you know?”
“When are they asking you to start?”
She paused before answering. “Next Monday.”
Monday—that was only a week away. The imminence of Alex’s departure struck him with an immediate sense of loss.
Val swallowed down the lump forming in his throat. “That should be fine, I would think. I saw the email you sent on Friday with the last of the summaries. The other side hasn’t come back with any other questions on the due diligence that I’ve seen. Is that right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Then I would say your work here is done, wouldn’t you?” His words came out more tersely than Val had intended, so he quickly added, “What I mean is that according to Gideon, the Board of FiberTech is having their big meeting to take the final vote on the acquisition on Sunday morning their time, and the end of their workweek is Thursday, around ten a.m. our time. So really, as long as you stay until lunchtime on Thursday, we’ll be able to answer any last-minute questions they might have.”
When Alex didn’t say anything, Val spoke again. “Alex, this is your time now. Your turn. Your job.”
She smiled a dazzlingly happy smile. “That’s how I felt when I was there interviewing. I felt like I belonged there.”
Yes, she belonged there. Not here. Not with him.
“You’ll be bored here this week with nothing to do. You don’t really have to finish out the week here if you don’t want to. I can call or email you if the other side comes back with questions.” Even as he made the offer, Val hoped she wouldn’t take him up on it.
“No. If you don’t mind, I would like to finish my week here.”
“Of course,” he nodded, relieved. “Whatever you want to do.”
She smiled, a little hesitantly, and he realized how callous his response must have sounded.
Val stood up, the lump in his throat growing larger. “Then that’s that. I’ll let your agency know that you will have completed your work here by Friday, but I’ll let you tell them about your new employment. Big things are going to happen for you, Alex. I can just feel it.”
She nodded, her eyes bright. “I hope you’re right.”
Alex stood up and leaned across the desk to shake hands with him. The touch of her hand in his brought him back to that kiss in front of her hotel room, and he closed his eyes, then quickly opened them, hoping she hadn’t noticed.
“Thank you, Val, for everything,” said Alex, smiling sweetly, her hand still in Val’s.
“No,” he said quickly. “Thank you. In fact, I’d like to thank you properly by taking you out to lunch on Friday. As a show of the company’s appreciation for all you’ve done. Would you let me do that?”
“Of course,” she replied, gently withdrawing her hand from his.
“Great, I’ll have Judy set something up and put it on our calendars.”
As Alex turned to leave the office, she looked back at Val with a cheerful grin. “I still don’t really understand how this is happening. I mean, it’s like you’re my lucky charm or something!”
She let out a breathy chuckle, then added, “Now if only there was something to be done to get the rest of my life in order.” Her eyes lingered on him, the curve of her brow heavy with something bordering on melancholy, and his face felt warm under her gaze. Val searched for something to say and was about to utter her name, just to make her stay a moment longer, when she quickly turned around and walked away.
Alex had called him her lucky charm. Her amulet. But that last look she had given him left Val wondering. He had gotten her an interview, which had led to a job. But there was still sadness behind her smile. Her joy was not complete. He knew she still didn’t have what her heart wanted most of all. She was still Billy’s girlfriend—not his wife.
No, he was not her amulet, but at that moment Val realized that more than anything else, that was exactly what he wanted to be. He wanted to do everything in his power to see that Alex got the one thing she desired most, the one thing she had always wanted but could never have. Val wanted to fill the void in her life, see her happy—truly happy—as the wife of the man she loved. It was not just because Val loved her that he wanted to do this, but because he knew it would help him fill the void in his own life.
And the only way Alex would get the thing she wanted most was to give her the amulet.
Val had to admit, the timing wasn’t great. He was less than a week away from hearing FiberTech’s answer on the acquisition, and he knew without a doubt that if he gave away the amulet, the deal would not go through. But in that moment, the thought of losing the deal, losing his company, losing everything he had worked hard to get, meant less than nothing to him. When compared to the thought of Alex never knowing the joy of having the one thing she wanted more than anything else, living the rest of his life in peaceful squalor seemed the much more desirable fate.
Val walked over to the door and shut it. Then he started pacing, walking from the door to the wall of windows on the opposite side, then back to the door again.
He thought about his grandmother then, about getting the amulet from her. He was eighteen years old when she gave him the amulet, eighteen years ago. Val thought he knew what he wanted back then. He was sure of it. Would he have made the same decision if he received the amulet today? Would he ask the amulet for success? Or was there something else that was his heart’s true desire, something more important than all the money he had, all the people who knew him, all the things he had accomplished?
He knew the answer, of course. It was easy. It was love. He wanted to be loved, to be with the woman he loved. Knowing that Alex’s love could have made him complete made Val stronger in his resolve that Billy’s love, as her husband, would complete her. And that made Val want, more than anything else, for Alex to be happy. With or without him.
He would give Alex the amulet; that much was settled. Now the question was how to do it. How would Val give her the amulet and have her make the wish? He only had until Friday with her, and that wasn’t enough time to ease her into the whole story of the amulet and have her believe it. Even if, somehow, Val did have the time to tell Alex the story and present the evidence, it would be hard for her to believe. Liza had heard the story her whole life, apparently, and even she didn’t really believe it.
No, it was better to find another way to get Alex to make the wish. Maybe all he had to do was ask her to make the wish. She would do it if Val asked, he knew she would. That was her nature.
And that gave Val an idea.
He stopped pacing. Dashing to the door, Val opened it and stepped out of his office.
Seeing that his secretary had returned from lunch, Val immediately walked over to her desk.
“Judy, I need your help.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Val got the package Judy ordered for him on Wednesday. He took it home that night and opened it, careful not to destroy the box. The box was the whole reason he had ordered the Tenth Anniversary watch from Span Global’s supplier of branded products. It was a silver cardboard box with the words Span Global printed on the lid, and inside was a black velvet box with a matching cushion, around which was positioned the watch.
Sitting at the marble island in the kitchen, Val took the watch out and placed it aside. Then he reached for the amulet and carefully arranged the chain around the cushion, making sure the stone was prominently displayed at the top as he closed the velvet box and placed it back into the bigger silver one, finally covering it with the Span Global imprinted lid.
He was looking forward to having lunch with Alex on Friday. Ever since they had parted ways at the hospital the week before, Val had only talked to her twice, when she had come to his office to tell him about the interview and then later, when she told him about the job offer. Other than that, he had only seen her in passing.
Each time they met, Val would smile and ask her how Billy was doing. Her response would be short, he would nod in acknowledgement, and they would go about their business.
Val would focus his gaze on something nearby as she walked away, like the Exit sign overhead, or the coffee maker, studying it intently until she was out of sight. It was the only way he could keep himself from touching her arm, drawing her close, bringing his cheek to rest against hers, telling her—showing her—how he felt.
When Friday came, he was relieved and afraid at the same time. Val knew that when the day was over he would never see her again. The logical part of his brain knew that the pain of being so close to her and yet unable to be with her as he was in Israel would go away eventually. That persistent longing would fade with time, but knowledge was a poor consolation. The thought that did console him was that Alex would have his amulet, and with it, she would finally get what she wanted. Perhaps more importantly, in Val’s mind, at least, was that the amulet carried a part of him now, and by having the amulet with her always, Alex would have him with her, always. Even when she married another man, bore his children, and grew old with him, Val would still be with her in some small way.
They had agreed to meet for lunch a quarter before noon, and Alex appeared at Val’s open door right on time. At the sight of her, his heart caught in his throat. He was sure she looked more beautiful that day than on any other day he had seen her. Did she have to wear her hair down, today of all days, with that shade of green in her blouse that made the specks in her eyes sparkle, and that particular skirt that accentuated all her curves?
He collected himself, stood up, and smiled graciously. “Are you ready to go?”
“I am if you are,” she replied, smiling in return, and for a moment, it felt as though they were back in Israel.
He took her to a Thai restaurant a couple of blocks away, and they were seated at a table by the front windows overlooking the main thoroughfare. They were both quiet as they looked over their menus, but once the waiter had taken their orders and menus, they had no choice but to look at each other and try to make conversation.
Val asked about her new job and if she had seen her new office. Alex asked if Val had heard anything from FiberTech. Reluctantly, Val asked Alex how Billy was doing. Even more reluctantly, Val sat there and listened as Alex told him.
By the time their meals were set before them, though, they had started to settle into a comfortable back-and-forth. Val made Alex laugh just as she was taking a swallow of her water, almost causing her to spit it out all over her food. After that, they forgot how awkward they were being and started enjoying each other’s company. It was not exactly the same as it had been when they were together in Israel, but it was close enough.
When the waiter brought the check forty minutes later, Val remembered the purpose of their lunch. He paid for the meal, then reached into his coat pocket to find the box with the amulet.
Alex was thanking him for lunch when she stopped mid-sentence and stared at the package he was placing on the table in front of her. He had wrapped the silver box in white wrapping paper and used some leftover silver ribbon from Christmas to tie a neat bow around it.
“Is that for me?” Alex asked, pointing to the box.
“It is,” he replied.
“You’ve done so much for me—I can’t possibly take more from you.”
“I’m not asking you to take anything from me,” he replied, too quickly. “This is a present from the company, from Span Global. It’s a ‘thank you’ for traveling with me to visit FiberTech and for working around the clock to finish the due diligence.” Seeing the skeptical look on her face, he added, “All employees get something when they leave. Here, please open it. And then I’ll tell you what you have to do with it.”
The lines of doubt around her eyes relaxed somewhat, and she reached for the package. Carefully, she pulled off the ribbon and tore the wrapping at the seams to get to the silver box inside. She looked at him again, her eyebrows pulled together in a question.
“Go ahead, open it,” he replied, “so I can tell you about it.”
She lifted off the cover, then cracked open the velvet box inside. Seeing the necklace, Alex looked at Val again, her lips parted in surprise. She carefully picked up the small pillow, cradling it in her hands, and gently unwound the necklace. When she had succeeded, she placed the pillow back in the box and held the necklace in her palm, studying it.
“It’s beautiful,” said Alex finally, her eyes moving from the necklace to Val’s face once more. “I’ve never seen anything like this. Is this stone turquoise? I can’t believe your company gives all of its departing employees a necklace like this.”
