Moving Day

"No, no," Antonio said. "It's crooked. Turn it to the left."

"I am," Nicole said firmly.

"Your left."

They were trying to fit Antonio's sofa through Nicole's front door. When she agreed to let him move in to her house it took them days to decide the best way to merge their belongings. He wanted the house to look more like a man lived there, and she didn't want his old bachelor furniture in her living or family rooms. They finally reached a settlement she agreed to get rid of some of her "girly" things, and he agreed to get rid of some his old stuff. As part of the compromise he got to bring his couch—after he had it cleaned, and she exchanged the covers on the bed for ones of more unisex colors.

"I told you," she said, "we should have hired movers."

They finally got the beige sofa to the wood-floored family room, and let it drop right in the middle of it.

"Okay," Nicole said trying to catch her breath as she let her body fall on the couch. "That's the last of the heavy stuff."

"You wanna finish up or rest for a while?"

"How many more things do we have out there?"

"A dresser, a night stand, a few boxes of clothes, my-"

"I wanna rest for a while."

He looked out the window at the rented moving truck in the driveway. He wasn't in any more of a mood to go back out there than she was, so he sat down by her.

"I am so glad we're finally doing this," he said.

"Me too," she said with a smile.

At first the idea of moving in together made her very uneasy. She wasn't sure exactly what she was afraid of, but something about that kind of commitment worried her a lot, and she wasn't going to let him move in until it didn't. That happened three weeks after he asked. That day they were moving some of his stuff in her house she was in a place where she truly felt good about sharing her home with him. Putting aside the fact that it was ten in the morning—and they had been working for three hours—Nicole was happy about the next step she was taking with a man she loved.

"So how is this going to work?"

"What?"

"The expenses. Which bills do you want me to be responsible for?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Okay. How bout I'll take the electric, the cable, and half of the mortgage?"

"That's fair." She leaned closer to him. "Let's not think about bills now."

"Wasn't your mom supposed to come and help us?"

"She had to work."

"I thought she got another nurse at the hospital to cover her shift."

"She backed out, but she'll be here at four. She can help us arrange the furniture."

"Okay…Wow this is great."

"You are really happy about this."

"Well yeah. I mean this is all new for us. Living together we're going to get to know each other."

"We know each other."

"I mean better. You know what they say you never know someone until you live with them or go on vacation with them."

"Okay wise guy, tell me one thing about you that I don't already know."

Antonio thought back on all their conversations about their pasts. He was able to remember them because there were so few.

"Did you know I wasn't born here?"

"I know. You're from South Carolina."

"Not originally. I lived in Cuba until I was five. My parents, me, and my sister ran away in the seventies."

"You never told me that. I thought your family went to Cuba after you grew up. What happened?"

"My parents decided to go to America after I was born. They talked about it for years before they dared to try it. The only thing I really remember about the trip though is one night they woke me and my sister up, and said we're going to America. I remember wondering why they seemed so happy, and so scared at the same time. And then we went down to the ocean, and got into a big ship with a few other families. And I just cried through that whole trip. I was so scared."

"Why?" she said with sympathy in her voice that he had never heard before.

Nicole vowed to herself to show her feelings more—especially with Antonio—and that was a small part of it coming to light. Ordinarily she wouldn't have thought about him as a little child afraid and in tears, and even if she had she wouldn't have felt that kind of empathy, and she certainly wouldn't have shown it if she did.

"Because the waters were so bad that night and the next day," he said smiling at his childish fear that he would later see foolish. "I was convinced we were all going to drown. But we didn't, and soon we got to Florida. As soon as my parents saved up the money, we moved to South Carolina. I don't know why they chose Carolina. All I know is they wanted us to grow up with snow."

"So when did your parents decide to go back to Cuba?"

"Right after I got into a college here in the U.S. They just wanted to be sure Mariela and I had a chance to be something. They really missed the rest of the family, and our old home, so they went back. They missed it so much that they almost went back when I was ten, but then my mom got pregnant with Elias, and they couldn't stand to bring a baby back there."

It was pushing ten o'clock that morning when Jess strolled into the office. She knew ahead of time that Nicole and Antonio would be calling in "sick" that day, and she was not looking forward to doubling her work load, and solving any cases that came through on her own.

"Hello," she said to Thomas who was in her office waiting to present her the assignment he was sent.

"It's ten," he said, but not with too much irritation because he knew where she probably had been. "Were you with your son?"

"Yes," she answered taking the file out of his hand.

"How is he?"

"Getting better all the time." She looked up momentarily while saying that, then back at the file she was opening. "Where am I going?"

"Virginia. Paul Walker, thirty-four years old. Missing twenty-seven and a half hours. He dropped his kids off at a home child care center, headed for work, but never showed up. His sitter called the police yesterday evening when he was two hours late and she couldn't get in touch with him. The cops investigated for fifteen hours, and found nothing."

"Marriage status?"

"Wife is deceased. B.O.L.O. is out on his gray Volvo. I'd say your best bet is to talk to the babysitter and his kids."

"Can do."

Jess reached her destination—a rural city in Virginia. She would spend her time there interviewing Paul's children, his boss, and his co-workers. Her first stop, the babysitter.

"Come in," the sitter said to the agent who just identified herself. "I can't say I blame him for taking off."

"Why not?"

"If his kids were mine I wouldn't have lasted this long. He is one of the saddest men I've ever met. I haven't seen him smile since his wife died two years ago."

"The children give you trouble?"

"To be honest they are some of the worst kids I ever cared for."

"The police say that you have been their babysitter for four years. You spend nine hours a day with them. Why do you continue to have them in your program if they are so difficult?"

"I guess I feel sorry for Paul. The girls were all right until their mom died, and then I just didn't have the heart to tell Paul he would have to make other arrangements. I reckon he wouldn't be able to keep another sitter for more than a few days."

"Do you have any idea where he might be?"

"No clue."

"And you still have the children?"

"They're in the backyard."

"How old are they?"

"Seven, six, and four."

Jess went out to the sandbox to talk to the child the babysitter pointed out as Paul's six year old Caitlyn.

"Hi, Caitlyn."

"Who are you?" she said with an angry tone.

"My name is Jess. I want to talk to you about your dad," she sat down on the edge of the sandbox, "is that okay?"

"No!"

"I'm in for a great day," she said under her breath.

Antonio finished telling his immigration story, and some things about his family's adjusting to American life he never shared with Nicole.

"I never knew any of that."

"Your turn."

"What?"

"I told you some things you never knew about me, now you tell me something about you that I don't know."

"I suppose my wild teen years wouldn't surprise you."

"It doesn't have to be a surprise. Just something about you I never heard."

"One time when I was fourteen I ran away. I was missing for a month before the cops tracked me down."

"Where did you go?"

"New Orleans."

"That far?"

"Yeah. That was right after my mom went back to jail, so I was pretty resentful. Kelly almost came with me…She wanted to, but I wouldn't let her. Even back then I knew it was stupid and dangerous."

"What happened?"

"Nothing really. I hooked up with a bunch of losers, and eventually the cops caught up with me, and I was back in my foster home in Illinois."

Jess finished wrestling answers from three bratty kids. After giving her card to the babysitter, and leaving the house she got a call from Kemyss as she was getting into her car.

"Paul's doctor put him on Prozac two weeks ago," he said.

"So now we're thinking suicide?"

"The police searched his medicine cabinet, he was on the medicine when he went missing."

"But it wasn't working. The sitter said Paul was miserable. And even if the medicine did work he left it behind which means he's not on it now."

"Exactly."

"All right. I'm on my way to talk to his boss, and then I'll be back."

"Paul Walker used to be our greatest employee," his boss said. "But his work has been deteriorating for a while now. He's here everyday, but it's like he's not. He is a zombie."

Questions to his co-workers didn't reveal anything more than what his boss and babysitter had to say about him. He was a miserable man, and everyone thought he ran away. What's more, no one was surprised.

Jess got into her car, and headed down a long serene road. She was about to call in to the office, and see if Thomas had any new information, but before she dialed the phone she saw a car that matched Paul's pass her going in the opposite direction.

She made a u-turn, and followed him. Agents' vehicles don't get sirens, so she had no way of getting him—if it was him—to pull over. She followed him for five miles to a gas station. When he stepped out of his mud-covered car she saw it was in fact Paul Walker.

"Paul Walker. Jess Mastriani, F.B.I. We've been looking for you."

He seemed disoriented.

"Are you hurt?"

He looked around at his surroundings. "Where am I?"

"You're in Virginia." She checked his pulse by his wrist. "Has something happened to you?"

"No. I was just stopping for gas. I have to pick up my girls from school."

"Your children are fine. You need to come with me."

His willingness to come with her so easily without ever even seeing identification, let alone his state of stupor, made it obvious something was very wrong with him.

Jess drove him to the first hospital she came to. All the way there she watched Paul go from jovial to depressed all the while never quiet losing his confusion.

Hours later Antonio and Nicole were still putting off going back out to the moving truck. They were still on the sofa talking. Nicole talked about the family she had heard of, but never got a chance to meet—her maternal and paternal grandparents. Antonio talked about his extended family in Cuba.

"Wow," Nicole said taking in what she heard—and partly already forgot. "That is a lot of family. I don't know how you remember all those names."

"It's hard. Especially since they are all out of the country. The only ones I've seen in the past five years are Mariela, her husband, and their kids…What about us? Are we going to have a family?"

"Someday…maybe if we ever get married."

"How many?" he pushed.

"Huh?"

"You know how many I want, and this house would be perfect for four kids."

"What brought you to that?"

"The huge backyard. It has five bedrooms. We have the master bedroom, and the other four-"

Nicole interjected, "one of those bedrooms should be a playroom, and at least one of the other rooms should be a guest room for one of your ten million distant relatives, so that leaves two left. And I think two kids is more than enough….But I don't really think about it."

Antonio laughed. "It sounds like you've thought about it a lot."

"Okay, so it has crossed my mine, but only because I know how important this is to you," she stopped, sighed, and continued, "I'm not exactly the most maternal in the world. I didn't grow up seeing what that looks like. I'm not saying I'll never have or want a baby, but without you it wouldn't be something I'd think about or see in my future."

Antonio didn't want to anger or make Nicole feel bad about not wanting to be a mom, so he changed the subject. "That's miles away in our relationship anyway. Come on we have to get the rest of those things out of the truck."

Nicole and Antonio left the sofa that they had occupied for several hours, and headed for the front door that Carla was coming through.

"You're early," Nicole said to her mother.

Antonio looked at his watch.

"I said I'd be here at four," Carla said.

"And it is four," Antonio said. "We spent five hours talking."

In all the years they were friends and more than friends they had never learned more about the other than they had on that day. That day they spent five consecutive hours talking about themselves, disclosing every fear, want, detail of their lives. It didn't bring them closer—they were already as in love as they could get—but the new knowledge they had about one another would help them understand—and in Antonio's case, be more patient with—their significant other.

Jess watched through the glass as a young doctor examined Paul. As far as anyone could see he was perfectly healthy, and no one knew what the cause of his bizarre behavior was.

The physician left the room, and out to Jess. "What's wrong with him," she asked. She knew from the look on his inexperienced face that he wouldn't be able to answer.

"I'm not sure. His tests came back negative for all the standard drugs we look for."

"And you don't think the antidepressants have anything to do with this?"

"Going off an antidepressant suddenly would cause minor withdrawal. It wouldn't cause disorientation," he said writing on his clipboard. "But we will admit him, and figure out what the problem is. It's probably neurological."

Jess went back to D.C., and wrote a report. Then she went back to the nicu, back to the stool next to Joseph's incubator that she'd been sitting in every evening after work and every morning before work for three weeks.

Carla and Antonio pushed the sofa in the middle of the family room up against the wall by the window, so it would face the fireplace. Nicole was upstairs redoing the master bedroom. She got sick of cleaning and moving things, so she lied on her bed, and pulled out the cell phone she had on her at all times.

As part of getting ready to go into the nicu Jess always turned her cell to vibrate, so any calls she may have got wouldn't disturb any baptisms or stories being read. When she felt her phone go off she looked around the room to make sure it was okay if she answered it without leaving the room. When she saw there was nothing to interrupt she did.

"Mastriani."

"Hello," Nicole said. "Are you busy?"

"No. What's up?"

"Didn't any cases come through?"

"Some guy dropped his kids off with a sitter, and vanished. I found him in Virginia. He was disoriented, so I took him to a hospital, and left him there. They called me a few minutes ago to tell me that he was having a bad reaction to an antidepressant he's been taking."

"What do you mean, like he was allergic to it?"

"No. It just made him flip. He just decided to get on the interstate, and drive. He had no idea where he was going or when he would come back. But it wore off, and he's fine now."

"Are you still in the office?"

"I'm in the nicu. They extubated Joe when I got here. I heard him cry for the first time. It was unbelievable."

"That is great, Jess."

"They think he will be ready to leave as early as the first week of November. So what are you doing? How did your merging go?"

"Certainly better than I expected. I was able to get him to throw out everything except that sofa and a dresser. But we actually spent more time talking than moving. We finally spoke about everything we've been keeping from the other; said things that we've avoided saying before. And I got to know him better. It was wonderful."

It wasn't common to hear words like that come from Nicole, and even rarer to hear that tone in her voice. She sounded so relieved.

"Sounds like you had a very productive day."

"You too. I'll see you tomorrow?" She had to ask because it was going to be a Saturday, and she didn't know if Jess was going to come in or spend the day with the baby.

"I don't know. You might. Or I might just stay here, and listen to him cry…y'know until I get sick of it."

They said their goodbyes, and Nicole went back downstairs to her boyfriend and mother who were bonding. Jess stayed in the nicu until eleven that night. Before she left she got to watch the doctors and nurses take Joseph off the feeding tube. She held him for the first time, and gave him his first bottle.