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Craig awoke to find Mandie had already left for work. He could have kicked himself for sleeping right through it. He got up and poured himself a cup of the coffee that Mandie left him and sat down at the table to find a note from her. He read it through filmy, tired eyes.
"Craig, make sure you go today to New York. To start with, my sister will come and stay with me, secondly Drew will have your ass if you don't go, he told me so himself. I love you, Me." He sighed and set down the note. He was unsure about what to do. He knew that Drew would not accept any kind of excuse he could give about not wanting to go. He stared out the sliding glass door that lead to the balcony. How could he go and not worry his head off about Mandie's safety? She said she would get her sister to come over and stay but that didn't satisfy him. Two females against one weirdo, wouldn't work. He glanced at the phone and thought about calling Drew. He just wanted to feel him out, see how he would react. As if on cue, the phone rang. Craig stared at it as the answering machine picked up and then heard Drew's voice coming through .... "Pick up the phone shithead, I know you're there." Craig snatched the receiver up and held it to his ear.
"Hey Drew." He said.
"Make sure you're ready right at 2. I'll be waiting outside." Drew said matter-of-fact.
"Drew, I was wondering about that flight ..." He heard Drew sigh on the other end.
"Don't start some shit Craig. Nothing is being changed, we are going today and you are going with us. You got that?" Craig made a face and sighed himself.
"Ok, then. See you at 2." Drew said no more and then hung up. Craig hung up the phone feeling depressed. He didn't even get to say goodbye to Mandie this morning. Of course, he didn't think he would have to say goodbye, he had convinced himself he wasn't going to go. Drew left him no room to change plans. He went into the bedroom to pack.
At around ten, Mandie called her sister and asked if she would stay with her for a few days. She said she would and then, before hanging up, they made dinner plans. Craig called her right after she hung up with Susan. He sounded sullen.
"Mandie, I have to go. Drew is absolutely insisting."
"I told you! Don't worry, Craig. I will be just fine. Susan is coming over after work and we are going to go out to eat and then she's staying until Saturday." He was quiet. She knew that wasn't a good sign. He usually expressed his feelings quite well but when he didn't speak, that's when she worried. "I'll be fine!" She said strongly. She wasn't sure who she was trying to convince more, Craig or herself. Ever since the phone calls started she had a sinking feeling she knew who was behind them and it had MARCUS written all over it. It was just the stupid, childish thing he would do. She wasn't afraid of the hang-up calls, she was afraid of who was behind them, watching her, waiting ...
"Ok, I'm sorry." He said finally. "I am going to call you constantly."
"That would be just fine!" She said. "And, I'm popping in at lunch time since we didn't get to see each other this morning. You were out like a light!!" He clicked his tongue.
"You should have woken me up." He said, dejected. She smiled.
"Well, don't worry sugar, you'll see me in a little while." They hung up. Mandie tried to keep her mind on her work but Marcus kept creeping into her mind. He was annoying and would get worse until he got what he wanted. Well, he wasn't going to get what he wanted if it meant fooling around with her. At a quarter to twelve Mandie snuck out and headed home. Craig was waiting for her with lunch prepared. They sat down at the table and scarfed down the soup and chicken salad sandwiches he'd made and then went into the bedroom and made love. Mandie couldn't believe how sweet sex in the middle of a workday was ... She had to force herself to leave - but not after they said proper goodbyes. By the time Craig was getting on an airplane and heading for New York, Mandie spied a shadow out of the corner of her eye and who should be standing in the doorway of her office but Marcus. He was dressed all in black and leaning on the doorjamb with both forearms, staring at her. She jumped and then frowned at him.
"You are something else ..." He said entering the room. "I love to watch you work." He sat down in a chair. She dropped the pen she was holding onto the blotter and gritted her teeth.
"How long were you standing there?" She asked.
"Long enough." She sighed.
"Look, Marcus, I know you've been pranking my house. I want you to stop or I'm going to call the police." His eyebrows furrowed together.
"I'm not doing anything to you darling." He said innocently. She pounded her fist on the desk.
"Dammit, you've been calling my house and hanging up when we answer and I'm sick of it, now stop it." She spat at him. He held up his hands.
"Mandie, I swear to you it isn't me." She searched his face for any trace of the truth. If Marcus was one thing, he was a terrible liar. She saw no signs that he was lying. Then she was very disturbed. Well, if it wasn't Marcus, then who was it? She got up from around the desk to face him. She leaned down and looked him in the eye.
"If it is you, Marcus, and I find out you are lying to me you are going to jail. I will not hesitate to do that, do you understand me?" He leaned forward and, catching her off guard, kissed her. She jerked back and fell into the desk. She felt a sharp, shooting pain in her hip. "Knock it off!" She said sternly. He got up and moved close to her.
"Listen, if I want to 'prank' you I could think of a whole lot better things than calling your house and hanging up. Hey, maybe I should call your house, I haven't talked to Craig in a while. Ever since he was fucking that red haired beaut." Mandie turned away from him. She almost blurted out that Craig wasn't there for him to talk to, thought better of it and bit her tongue.
"Please go away, Marcus, you're giving me a headache." He smiled at her.
"I was always the cure for your headaches, Mandie. Remember?" He sat down on the edge of the desk where she'd just whacked herself. "I would sit and rub your neck and shoulders for as long as it took." She did remember that but the memory was clouded by lies, deceit, and infidelity. She pretended he was gone and went back to her work. He grabbed her arm and squeezed. "Don't ignore me Mandie, I don't like it when you do that. I thought we discussed this before." She yanked her arm out of his grasp and glared at him.
"Get out of here before I call security. And don't ever come up here again." He stuck his finger in her face, went to say something, thought better of it, got up and walked out. When he was gone she quickly called the front desk and made it clear that he was never, again to be let into the building. She followed it up by calling security and alerting them as well. By the time he walked out of the building she hoped he'd walked out of her life, forever. She sat there, alone at her desk, shaking and crying. Her arm hurt where he'd grabbed her, she had a bruise from the other time he grabbed her. She'd certainly have another. And her hip, it was throbbing as well. She put her head down and sobbed into her sleeve. She was angry at Marcus and sad that Craig was gone when she needed him the most.
