Page 57 of The Seven Rings
Since Yoda and Pye followed Cleo down, Sonya figured she’d let them out, and back in after she’d had her coffee.
She broke about noon for a Coke boost, a peach that tasted like summer, and some peanut butter crackers that tasted of childhood.
As she went back upstairs, she peeked out front. Cleo sat at her easel with Yoda napping nearby. The cat sunned herself on the seawall.
“And all’s right with the world.”
Seconds later, the doorbell bonged. Though Sonya’s stomach jumped, she faked a yawn. “Boring.”
Now banging joined the bonging, and she ignored it and walked back to the library.
“Getting under your skin, Hester?”
She considered that a small victory.
The little tantrums took energy, she thought, and she had no problem with Dobbs wasting hers.
She sat down at her desk to Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It.”
“That’s right, we’re not.”
Her defiance meant ignoring the noise, and barely noticing when it stopped. She worked through the rumble of thunder, realizing she’d missed her afternoon walk.
She heard Cleo come in, and shortly after come up the steps.
“I’m in my studio for a while. Dinner’s salmon with rice and candied carrots.”
Eyes on her screen, Sonya shot up a thumb.
Before long, as the rain drummed, she heard the sound of the ball bouncing downstairs and Yoda scrambling after it.
Smiling, she thought again: And all’s right with the world.
It stayed right through the evening, into the next day and the next. Sonya considered the routine a blessing, and broke it only when the Ryder wardrobe arrived.
“Oh boy, oh boy!”
With Cleo out running errands, Sonya carried box after box to the library, and considered that made up for the workout she’d skipped that morning.
She opened, unboxed, considered, admired. Then sorted by names on the labels.
By the time she’d finished, she thought her office space looked like a high-end sporting goods store.
When she heard Cleo, she jogged down the stairs again.
“The Ryder stuff’s here.”
“Oh boy, oh boy.”
“That’s what I said!”
They carried groceries and flowers inside, put groceries away.
Then Cleo looked at the armloads of flowers. “Molly, would you please take care of these?”
Clover answered for her with the Beatles and “With a Little Help from My Friends.”
“Yes!” Cleo rubbed her hands together. “Let’s go! I’m dying to see my yoga outfit.”
