Free Dust of Snow by Indra Vaughn Page A

and he simply thanked me, congratulated me on
a well-organized party, and proceeded as usual.
    “I need to talk to you,” I said after our
morning briefing.
    “Yes?” He quirked a curious eyebrow at
me.
    “Patricia is too smart for the job she’s
doing. We need someone to oversee the sales people when they’re
abroad. I don’t mean from a managerial aspect, but a personal one.
Too much of it is falling to Ash—Mr. Montgomery. Sometimes the
sales guys are in countries they’ve never been to before, and it
would help them greatly if someone could provide them with
information on the culture, the area, and even what restaurants to
go to or what parts of town to avoid. I think Patricia could take
on the extra work, and it would make her job far more interesting.
She’s an asset to the company, and if she’s not pushed more than
she is now, she’ll leave.”
    Carl stared at me with his unblinking cat
eyes. After a long pause, he said, “Noted.”
    That was it, my dismissal. I nodded and left
with my heart beating a mile a minute.
    That afternoon Patricia jumped me in the
kitchen, clinging to me like a barnacle and saying,
“Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” in my ear while I tried to spit out her
ponytail. “You’re the best, Greg.”
    I shrugged. “It was nothing.”
    “Not to me. And hey, I’m really sorry I
didn’t tell you right away that it was your ex leaving the
presents. He bribed the janitor to get here early. I thought it was
romantic, but I heard it didn’t go well at the party. Is it true
that Carl—”
    “It was nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
    She hugged me again, squeezing me tight.
“You’re the sweetest guy, you know that?”
    Of course this was how Ashley found me.
Patricia went bright red and tootled off.
    “Seems like everyone wants a piece of you
these days,” Ashley said.
    My turn to go red. I didn’t know why Patricia
blushed around Ashley, but when I saw him I felt maybe unfairly
resentful. He’d seen me unable to fend off a former boyfriend. He’d
seen my boss help me get dressed after a tiny baby puked on me. I
couldn’t take it.
    “Seems like it.” I grabbed my coffee, avoided
his eyes, and stepped past him.
    “That’s not how I meant it.” Ashley sounded
pained.
    “Sure.” I smiled blandly and walked away.
     

     
    On Thursday I had my hour-long massage after
work. As the large massage therapist hunted for kinks in my spine
as though her life depended on it, I wondered who had given me
this, if not David. He said the flowers had been his, and the
coffees. But then who had given me the ice scraper, the ugly little
tea cozy, and this voucher? The driveway clearing could have been
accidental. Probably wouldn’t be the first time those guys got an
address wrong.
    It became harder and harder to care about any
of it as the scent of spicy massage oil drove the thoughts from my
mind and the aches from my body. I decided to see this lady and her
magic fingers twice a month.
    I’d arranged to take Mother out to dinner
that night, and I felt as if I could breathe again after the
massage. The Christmas lights had been lit in Rochester, giving
Main Street a cozy, fairy-like glow. We went to a new all-organic
restaurant where we ate freshly made mushroom ravioli and drank
surprisingly good organic red wine.
    “Have you heard from Dad?” I asked as always
while I eyed the chocolate mocha cheesecake.
    “No,” Mother said. Her head was down, and she
played with a ring on her middle finger. I noticed the wedding ring
she’d never taken off in as long as I’d known her was nowhere to be
seen. The indent of it, as well as the paleness of years of missed
sunlight, was still starkly visible. “But there is something I
should tell you.”
    “Oh?” I refilled our wineglasses, afraid of
what had her shoulders so stiff, her mouth so pursed.
    “I’m seeing someone.”
    “Oh, thank fuck.” I knocked back the entire
wineglass in one go, coughing a little as it burned on the