Chapter 3: The Unintentional Slip
Wilhelmina awoke to the sound of pots banging in her kitchen. It took her a moment to remember that Daniel was in her house and that she didn't need the gun she was reaching for-probably. She slid it back into the drawer and made her way toward the kitchen. She walked in and noticed he was struggling to reach the knob on her stove. She rolled her eyes and batted his hand out of the way, turning it on for him.
"Thanks, did I wake you? Sorry" he said as he poured the eggs he'd beaten together into the pan.
"No, I came out here just to see you" she said sarcastically, making her way toward the fridge and pulling out a bottle of orange juice. She took a glass from the cupboard and filled it.
"Well, can I at least make you something?" he offered gently.
"Daniel, do I look like someone who eats breakfast?"
He looked at her. Her face was completely free of make up, the first time he'd ever seen it that way. He liked it better than her usual glamour, but he had to admit she did look tired.
"You look tired" he shrugged.
"Gee, thanks" she said, placing the orange juice bottle back in the fridge.
"I didn't mean it like that, Wilhelmina, I-"
"I couldn't sleep last night, Daniel. I stayed awake all night watching 'The September Issue' and thanking God I don't look like Anna Wintour."
He furrowed his brow. "Do you always have sleep trouble?"
She turned to look at him for the first time since she'd entered the kitchen. She made her way to the other side of the counter and sat down on a metal stool.
"It's gotten worse since Connor jacked all our money."
He was surprised that she'd answered his question. He nodded and quietly said, "Yeah that was rough." He turned back to the stove and put his eggs onto a plate. He grabbed a fork and put his food on the counter, slowly standing up from his wheelchair and sitting on one of the stools so he could see it for the first time that morning. Everything in her house was too big or tall for someone who was without usage of one leg.
She noticed that they were actually sitting down together and thought to get up and leave, but decided she was too lazy. So she sat there, lightly twirling her finger around the rim of her glass.
"Are you gonna get a Christmas tree?" Daniel asked, breaking the silence. Dumb question.
"This isn't Wal-Mart, Daniel."
"You actually know there's a Wal-Mart?"
"All your clothes have to come from somewhere" she snorted sarcastically. "I don't do Christmas trees."
"Not even when you were a kid?"
"Boarding school."
"Oh" was all Daniel could think to reply.
She got up from the counter and put her glass into the sink. "I'm going to the office" she said, turning to leave.
"Wilhelmina, you know it's closed right?"
"Yeah, and so was Saks on Christmas, but I made them open the doors for me so I buy stuff for myself." And with that, she left him alone in the kitchen. An hour later, he was watching her living room TV when he heard her leave.
Wilhelmina returned 5 hours later. She'd really only gone to make Daniel believe that she had important things to do, and spent the whole time at her desk, clicking away at various high-end department store websites. She noticed something bright was sitting on the coffee table. She looked and saw that Daniel was sitting on the sofa fiddling with a small, Charlie Brown-sized fake tree.
"What is that?" she asked, narrowing her eyes as she stepped into the living room.
He looked at her, not knowing that she'd come back. "Oh, this? It was mine when I was a kid. My mom got it for me, I guess to make up for the Christmas's she knew she and dad weren't gonna be there. I've kind of hung onto it ever since."
Wilhelmina stared intently at the little tree. It was pretty, she had to admit, with its tiny glowing lights and glass ornaments.
"Well, just as long as you don't expect to find anything under there come Christmas morning we'll be good." She paused, then tossed her bags onto the floor and seated herself in an armchair adjacent to the sofa. "Claire didn't spend Christmas with you?" she asked, staring at the tree.
He was surprised she'd sat down and asked him anything, and it took a moment for him to realize she was waiting for a reply.
"No. Actually, she did once when I was five, but she drank too much and ended up knocking the tree over."
Wilhelmina nodded, pulling at her skirt.
"You spend all yours alone?" he asked, leaning back and resting his head against the back of the sofa.
She hesitated a moment before replying. "Before boarding school, my nanny usually woke me up and took me into the living room and left me there by myself to rip open every present to my heart's content."
"And how'd that go?" he asked quietly.
"Not so well."
There was an uncomfortable silence as they both digested the fact that they were having another one of their spur-of-the-moment honest talks. Before anything else was said, Wilhelmina got up and gathered her things, leaving the living room. Daniel made no attempt to stop her or call her back. He'd figured out by now that this was her way of withdrawing before he got too close, and decided not to do anything to make her more uncomfortable and wary of him.
It was almost 6:00 before she ventured back out into the living room. He'd heard her periodically throughout the day, exiting her bedroom every once in a while to enter another one located in the hallway, always out of site. He wondered what she could possibly have done for the past five hours. He, on the other hand, had flipped back and forth between sports channels and tried hobbling his way around the apartment, testing his ability to leave the chair. When she reappeared, he was once again in the kitchen, fixing dinner.
"God," she thought as she made her way to where he was, "does he ever stop eating?" She stepped into the kitchen and found him, back turned to her, standing in front of the stove stirring what looked like vegetable soup.
"Aren't you supposed to take it easy?" she asked, causing him to whirl around and nearly drop the wooden spoon he was holding.
"It was either I got out of that damn chair and did this myself or wait till you did it for me" he replied, turning back to his meal.
"So then your mommy won't kill me for letting you hobble like a chicken all over the place?"
"Nah. She meant don't let me get carried away at the office or the gym, but since they're both closed it looks like I've got no choice but to rest easy." He took the pot off the stove and poured some soup into a bowl. "You want some?" he offered. She looked down into the pot and saw that it was full of vegetables. She hadn't eaten all day and decided to chance it.
"Fine" she replied, sitting down at the counter along with him. She slowly dragged the spoon in a wide circle in the bowl, letting it cool down. She looked up at him; he was busy spooning his soup hungrily like a little kid at lunch and didn't notice she was watching him.
"So there's no real reason you need to be here then?"
He looked up from his meal. She was staring back at him, that same indecipherable expression on her face.
"I guess not" he said, realizing that he should've realized that sooner and pointed it out to his mom when she was busy laying down the law. He was waiting for her to kick him out, but instead she simply lowered her gaze back to her bowl and muttered "Hmm." He looked back down too, still waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"This isn't bad" she said, breaking the silence. He looked back up and saw that she was looking at her bowl of soup.
"So it meets your culinary standards?" he said, a small smirk forming on his face.
"I said it wasn't bad, Daniel, I never said it was good" she said, smirking back at him.
"Well why'd you eat it then?"
She straightened on her stool, narrowing her eyes. "That smart mouth can introduce your hand to the hot plate."
"It already did" he said, looking down sheepishly.
"Serves you right" she said, continuing to eat.
The phone rang, and Wilhelmina jumped to answer it. "Hello?" she asked, sounding oddly hopeful. Daniel watched her face fall in disappointment. "Yes, he's still here; yes, he's still alive." She sighed in annoyance. "Goodbye" she said, firmly, clicking off the phone.
"Let me guess, my mom?"
"No, that was Marc. He wanted to know if I'd disposed of you yet."
"Well, I must be doing okay if I lived through the night" he laughed.
When she didn't reply, Daniel realized her mind was somewhere else. He looked at her for a few moments, her head hanging over her soup, her face drawn into an almost sullen expression.
He took a deep breath before he said anything. "You were expecting Connor, weren't you?"
"He's not the only thing I am capable of thinking about, Daniel."
"No; but he is the one you think about the most."
Wilhelmina stared at Daniel, the expression on her face suggesting that she was surprised he had actually dared to say that to her; few were brave enough to contradict what she said, so she wasn't prepared to handle this sudden spike in bravado.
"And you dream about Molly, Daniel, what's your point?"
"I'm not too brave to admit it."
Wilhelmina jumped from her seat. "Oh really; because it seems to me that your joining that little cult was a perfect way of hiding from the fact that you didn't know how to deal with her death!" she yelled.
Daniel blanched white. He stared at Wilhelmina a few moments, then stormed-as best he could on one leg-out of the kitchen. Wilhelmina stood frozen in the spot where he'd left her. In spite of the fact that she did enjoy saying whatever she wished, and barely bothered to censor herself, she hadn't meant to say exactly that. Sure, she enjoyed picking at people's weak spots and saying things that made their eyes pop; but that remark had sort of slipped out without her consent.
"Most people would probably apologize right now" she thought, almost involuntarily. Wilhelmina sucked in a breath, shrugged her shoulders, and twisted her lips into an annoyed pout.
"Thank God I'm not most people" she thought, and then turned and sauntered out of the kitchen and passed the living room, where Daniel was sulking on the couch. It had taken him a couple seconds to realize that one's chances of storming off are considerably low when one is a) crippled, and b) not allowed into rooms with doors.