Lined With Silver (9 page)

“We were skiing on a fresh slope and an
avalanche hit.”

“Were you all there?” This time, her voice
held horror.

Zack nodded. “Jade and Dad haven’t been able
to ski since, but I feel closer to Mom on the slopes. I always felt
like it was her time to go. She had fulfilled her mission and was
needed on the other side.”

Sondra stared at him a moment. “How have you
been able to see it that way?”

“When I was serving in Afghanistan, I saw too
many miracles not to believe that there are angels with us every
moment of every day. There is a protection afforded to each of us
until our mission is fulfilled. When it is, there are no powers on
earth that will keep us here.”

“That perspective must give you a lot of
peace.”

“It does, and given the amount of nightmare
scenes I lived through, I need the peace I’ve been given.”

“I believe that.” She reached out to clasp
Zack’s hand as the hostess came to lead them to a table. She
dropped his fingers and fisted her hands at her side, trying to
hide the tremor that ran through her as she touched him.

They spent the meal discussing their jobs and
the weather, safe topics for their last evening together. Sondra
was especially careful to keep things light. She didn’t want Zack
to imagine she had any other motive than the one she gave for their
sham.

Since they had both booked the early flight
the next morning, they didn’t stay out late. Sondra couldn’t meet
Zack’s eyes when they stopped at her door. A lump settled in her
throat, and she didn’t trust herself to speak.

The past couple of days had been busy enough
to stuff her feelings, but this good-bye at the fake honeymoon
suite felt final. This would be the only vacation time she would
share with him. The thought weighed heavily. She fumbled with her
card and managed to slide it through, hoping Zack wouldn’t notice
her shaking fingers.

The door closed behind her with a solid thud.
She dressed quickly, not wanting to spend any time in front of the
mirror. Seeing her own reflection would only magnify her sorrow.
She piled her pillows up as back support and climbed into bed,
determined to spend a few minutes checking the email she’d
neglected. She glanced through the messages on the first page,
relieved to see there wasn’t anything urgent. At the top of the
second page was an announcement for the Firm’s annual Christmas
social.

Sondra stared at the wall a moment, her heart
speeding up with anticipation. Maybe this didn’t have to be the
only time they spent together. The party was the Friday evening a
week before Christmas. She forwarded the message with a short note.
“This would be a perfect opportunity to introduce you to our
clients. Can you attend?”

She chewed nervously on a nail, then stopped
and drummed her fingers instead. She was meeting with Mr.
Wellingford on Monday. It wouldn’t do to have her nails bitten
down. That wouldn’t fit with her professional image, and she didn’t
have time to have her nails repaired before her meeting.

After fifteen minutes of waiting, she decided
Zack must’ve turned off his phone. Either that or her message had
gone to the junk pile. She sighed, flipped off the lights, and
arranged her pillows. She’d talk to him in the morning.

* * *

Three days hadn’t been long enough to adjust.
Jet lag made the five am wake up feel like three. Sondra yanked the
brush through her hair. Not hearing from Zack had disturbed her
sleep more than she’d like to admit. A successful attorney
shouldn’t be so affected by this complicated relationship. Tears
surfaced. She wanted to blame it on the snarl she hadn’t worked
out, but that would be a lie, and another lie piled on top of the
others didn’t fix them.

A soft knock at her door let her know Zack
was ready. She opened the door and lost herself in his eyes. What
did he want? She closed her eyes and took a calming breath.

“Do you want to drive?” he asked.

She shook her head. She didn’t want to admit
it, but the traffic around DC was unnerving. She didn’t like to
travel the snarl around I-80 and I-15 unless she had to, and most
of the traffic here seemed to be just as bad. “No. You can do the
honors.”

He flipped the keys and caught them, his eyes
on her. He stepped over and grabbed the suitcase she’d bought
Thursday. The mechanical tree he’d bought peeked out from its
retail bag.

“That wouldn’t fit?” Zack asked.

“I didn’t have the heart to stuff him in with
my clothes. I thought he’d be good company in the cabin.”

“As long as he doesn’t break out in song.
That might slow us down at security.”

“I made sure he was turned off.” Sondra
huffed, insulted that Zack would assume she wouldn’t remember
something so basic.

He held up his hands defensively. “I was just
making conversation. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Sondra reached down and patted the soft felt
tree. “Don’t insult my buddy.”

“Okay. Okay. I didn’t know you were so
attached.”

They stopped at a drive through and ate in
silence. Sondra didn’t feel eloquent so early in the morning, and
it appeared Zack suffered the same malady.

They had a few minutes to spare at the gate.
After they found a spot to wait in, Zack excused himself and talked
to the clerk.

Sondra was feeling like a zombie. Some
distant part of her awareness reminded her that she should be
wondering what Zack was discussing with her, but it was only a
whisper of an idea. The rest of her brain wanted to be in bed. The
only pillow available was her dancing Christmas Tree. She
positioned the bag on her lap and promptly fell asleep, her head on
top of the tree.

Sondra’s foggy brain was just beginning to
register a strange mechanical version of “Jingle Bell Rock”
accompanied by jerky motion on her chin when her pillow was
unceremoniously removed.

“Where’s the off switch?” Zack’s voice was a
hiss.

Sondra blinked uncomprehending eyes for a
moment, and then the angry glares of the other waiting passengers
broke through her fog. “It’s on his back.” She groped her way to
the small switch. The abrupt end of noise almost gave sound to the
glares she was getting. “Ooops. Sorry.”

Zack’s lips twitched as he fought back a
laugh.

His humorous response brought up a bubble of
laughter from Sondra. Soon they were laughing so hard tears were
streaming down their faces. The other passengers had given up
trying to quiet the annoying couple and instead moved to give them
some room.

After they’d had a chance to catch their
breath, he said, “It’s probably a good thing I found us seats
together in the back of the plane.” His glance took in the other
passengers moving to board. “We don’t seem to be anyone’s favorite
at the moment.”

“I’d promise to be good the rest of the
flight, but,” and she giggled again, “I don’t know if I can.”

He grinned and grabbed her hand as they
followed the last of the passengers to board the flight. They
ignored any glares directed their way as they moved to the back of
the plane.

Their shared laughter had changed their mood,
and they talked in whispers through the flight as they discussed
everything from what they had done during the past sixteen years to
life plans to politics and religion. By the end of the flight, they
felt like they’d been able to span the years.

After they landed, Zack and Sondra settled
into the shuttle and continued their animated discussion until
Sondra’s stop. For a moment, Sondra reflected on how different this
ride was from the one a few days before when her only company was a
person too interested in his virtual conversation to even bother
with any kind of interaction. Zack made sure she was safely in her
car and watched her drive off before he went back to wait for the
next shuttle to carry him back to the rental agency. As he normally
did, he’d left his Humvee in Park City.

* * *

Sondra crawled into bed and rolled over,
exhausted from her long weekend. Her cell phone jangled from the
dresser. She peeked at her clock. Nine on a Sunday night was an
unusual time for a call. Hesitating a moment, she reached for her
phone. “Hello?”

“Hey. This is Zack.”

“Oh. Hi.” She couldn’t stop the warm feeling
that swept over her at the sound of his voice.

She tried to concentrate on what he was
saying as he continued, “I could’ve texted, but I wanted to be sure
we connected before you went back to work tomorrow. I just found
your message from yesterday. How come you didn’t mention it
today?”

“I’m afraid Mr. Jingles threw me off.” Sondra
admitted.

“He did have a way of commanding attention,
didn’t he?”

She nodded and then realized he couldn’t see
through the phone. “Yes, he did.” She laughed. “So I’m assuming
this is in regards to the annual Christmas party?”

“It is. I’d like to come. How are you going
to announce our marriage?”

“I confess I’m not very creative. What do you
suggest?” she asked.

“Well, I don’t think my black eye will be
gone by then, so I thought we’d say you punched me and threw me
over your shoulder and dragged me to the nearest courthouse.”

“That will never do. Cari, my administrative
assistant, would know I wouldn’t want to ruin my nails by punching
you out. I’ll say I found you in a gutter and you begged me to take
you in.”

“She’d believe that?”

“Well, I do have a soft spot for strays,” she
admitted.

“I didn’t know you had any pets.”

“I have some sort of mutt. I named him
Dewkiss, but my brother-in-law, Brad, thought that was too
insulting for a dog. I shortened it to Dewk. I think Dewk’s part
lab because he chews on everything. After he chewed through a couch
cushion, I decided to finish my fence so he could stay
outside.”

“Did he do any damage this time?”

“No. One of my neighbors, Scott Steele, had
taken him hunting with his dogs. It was a good weekend to be gone.
He’ll be back tomorrow.”

“
Winter
hunting?” Zack’s disbelief
sounded loud and clear.

“He has a friend who owns a ranch in southern
Utah. He provides chukars for year-round hunting,” she
explained.

“Aren’t those about the size of a quail?” he
asked.

“Yes, they are. Scott swears they’re the best
tasting bird alive, but I haven’t tried one yet. Knowing he had to
make the effort to kill it himself kind of ruins the dish for me.”
Sondra wrinkled her nose in distaste.

“I’ve tried chukar a couple of times. It
doesn’t taste quite like chicken, but it isn’t greasy like duck.”
He paused a moment and then continued. “I have to say taking Dewk
was generous of Scott. Are you sure he didn’t have a different
motive?”

“Well…” This time Sondra paused, trying to
think of a diplomatic way to finish the sentence, “he
has
proposed a couple of times.”

“Any reason you haven’t said ‘yes?’”

A vision of a lifetime with Scott left her
shuddering. “He’s not my type.”

“Why is that?”

“It’s more the way his looks make me feel.
And when he’s taken me out, he’s checking out the other women. It’s
not something I’d ever get used to, and my experience has been that
anything that irritates you before you get married gets worse
after.”

“Your work
would
lead you to that
conclusion.” His voice sounded wry.

They spent the next few minutes throwing
outlandish ideas at each other. Finally getting serious, Zack
suggested, “Why don’t we stick close to the truth? Then it’s not so
hard to remember.” He paused a moment, as if gathering his
thoughts. “How is this for a story? We met on a flight to
Washington, DC. After searching for years, we realized our perfect
match had been someone we already knew. Not wanting to waste any
more time, we rushed to the nearest available clerk, got our
license and got married. We plan on spending the rest of our lives
making up for lost time. How’s that?”

Sondra thought for a few seconds, trying to
see holes in the story and also wishing fervently that it was true,
and then agreed. “I think that will work. We’ll figure out the
divorce details later.” She rushed on, “I’ll let everyone at work
know tomorrow.”

“Do you want me to come in and meet
anyone?”

“No.” The thought made her cringe, so she
repeated, “
No
. I think the Christmas social will work fine.
If you came into the office before that, someone might think we
were trying to prove something.”

“Aren’t we?” Zack’s voice registered
surprise.

Sondra puffed out an exasperated breath.
“Yes, but we need to be strategic about it. If we’re too eager,
someone might get suspicious.”

“Save me from the conniving mind of a
lawyer.” This time, she could hear his amusement.

“I resent that.”

She could almost see his hands up again like
they’d been that morning. “I was only teasing.”

“You’re forgiven. Just watch the lawyer
jokes.”

“Okay. Okay.” She could hear the twinkle in
his eyes and pictured his adorable dimple.

“The event is semi-formal and we will be
mixing with our most important clients. Try not to say too much and
stick close to me. I want our stories to match, so I need to hear
what you’re saying.”

“You don’t need to worry if we’re sticking
close to the truth,” he protested.

“Yes, but the truth has a lot of fiction
mixed in.” Her voice took on a pleading tone. “Stay close,
please.”

“Well, we will be honeymooners still. That
shouldn’t be too hard.”

Sondra snickered. “Wouldn’t they be shocked
at the kind of honeymoon we’ve enjoyed?”

“We’ll have to convince them otherwise, won’t
we?”

That comment brought all kinds of unwelcome
images. This farce was going to be challenging enough without
fantasizing about how things might have been. Sondra cleared her
throat. “Well, umm, will you be picking me up or do you want me to
get you? We can’t come in separate vehicles.”