Unfurling

The Watcher

He’s up and by the window hoping to catch a glimpse of her as she walks into the office. Deciding to brew coffee he waits for that to finish while watching other people heading to work. Hearing the coffee machine sputtering, he knows that the coffee is finished and walks back to the kitchen to pour a mug full then returns to the window to wait and watch.

During her workout this morning, Paige decides she is just going to work from home again. Neesy had emailed her at the end of yesterday advising her office was clean but still had a lingering odor which was the deciding factor for staying home. She emails her boss to share everything.

Leaning against the window, he sips his coffee and waits. He sees the couple from her building on the sixth floor of the parking garage and the woman is in tears. He watches the man comfort her.

Looks like things may be crumbling on the home front for one of those two, he thinks.

The woman is vigorously shaking her head as the man strokes her back. He wishes he could hear what is being said to provide comfort. Noticing that the woman is calming down and seems to be pulling herself together. It isn’t long before the couple head towards the elevator and then they are walking down the sidewalk towards the office building.

Where is she this morning? he wonders.

He surveys all the floors in the parking garage and sees no little white car so he knows he didn’t miss her arrival. His gaze travels back to the office building and he sees the maintenance man smoking out front. Watching and continuing to sip his coffee he sees that the man is now on his cell phone.

That one is up to no good, he thinks.

The sidewalks are empty for the most part since it is now after nine. There are a few people still heading to their respective offices and others heading for the coffee houses or shopping locations but there isn’t the heavy traffic like he sees from eight to nine.

He watches as the maintenance man walks down the entrance to the office building with his head swiveling as he looks up and down the street. A car pulls up to the building which the maintenance man meets sticking his head in the car. After a few minutes, he pulls his head out and heads back to the building but now he has a bag in his hand.

He moves away from the window since he knows he won’t be seeing her today. Guessing he should make something to eat, he busies himself in the kitchen preparing breakfast and thinking about her.
At some point, he needs to introduce himself to her but he is not sure how to do that. He still remembers the look of horror when he approached Alyssa and then she had her whistle out blowing as well as hollering fire.

I wasn’t going to hurt her, he thinks. But I couldn’t tell her anything after the whistle came out.

Everyone on the street had stopped and turned to stare at them. He remembers the feeling of embarrassment and ultimately, he walked away from the scene and his apartment. He was concerned he would have the police visiting him after that incident but no one had approached him. He hadn’t seen Alyssa on the sidewalks after that.