Chapter 30
The rest of the afternoon was slow. Emily toured me around the city. We visited a few local parks she went to as a kid and perused a few local stores to pass the time. Around five thirty we got a call from Ms. Laura saying she was ready to be picked up. The high Emily and I were on most of the day wore off when we saw her.
Her face was drained of color and she looked even more exhausted than we have ever seen her. Emily offered her the keys, but she refused to tell her to drive to Marco's, an Italian place that was locally famous. Emily gave me a worried look before starting the vehicle again.
Emily knew the way and the car ride was dead quiet. Ms. Laura stared out the window most of the way clutching her purse in her lap.
"Is everything alright ma'am?" I asked rather timidly.
I was not exactly good at dealing with emotional issues. Ms. Laura looked at me as if she had the world to confess to me. Her eyes were just pools of sorrow.
"It's alright Johnny," she said clearly lying, "Just some personal things."
"Oh," I thought about what to say t that, "well if you ever need to talk, let me know."
"Same here Ms. Laura," Emily said keeping her eye on the road, "you've already helped me with so much. It's the least I can do."
Some of the sadness drained from her eyes and she smiled, "thank you, but for now I just need to have a good time. You two are so kind."
The topic dropped right there and we sunk back into awkward silence the rest of the ride.
We arrived at Marco's and found Ms. Laura had already reserved our seats so the wait was minimal despite the place being packed. Apparently, after cooking Christmas dinner yesterday most people were keen on having someone else do the cooking today.
We sat at a corner booth again. Emily and I sat opposite Ms. Laura. The table was decorated with a red and green tablecloth and pine garlands. The lights were low and soft seasonal music played in the background.
"So what have you two been up to today?" Ms. Laura said lightened from her earlier mood.
We both looked at each other to see who would go explain. I went first.
"Well we found out Emily wasn't the only one who got the same gift as her and that these remotes will control any of them," I smiled pulling the little device out of my pocket and putting it on the table to show Ms. Laura.
Ms. Laura laughed out loud, "oh? Did you give someone an unexpected buzz? Or did someone buzz Emily?"
"He buzzed our waitress at the place we had lunch," Emily answered for me, "and ended up getting doused with ice water."
Ms. Laura looked me up and down and saw the extra wrinkles in my shirt. After a second she burst out in uncontrollable laughter. Eventually, all three of us were going.
"I certainly hope it didn't get you guys into trouble," Ms. Laura said still smirking.
"Oh no," I assured her, "we left a good tip though."
"I hope that tip was in cash and not the other kind," Ms. Laura winked.
"If I had my way I would have left the other kind," Emily said, "that waitress was pretty good-looking."