CHAPTER 18
1518 Words
CHAPTER 18
Juliette held up a sheet of paper. “Does this order from Liberty Press go in this month’s file or last’s?”
Roger glanced at the letterhead. “This month’s.” He bent down over the shredder.
“What about this one?” She held up an unopened envelope.
“That’s just trash. Pass it here.” After feeding the junk mail through the shredder, Roger straightened up and stretched his back. He ran his hand over his head, fingering his small bald spot. Last year it was the size of a penny. Now it was at least as large as a quarter. “Think you’ll be ready for some lunch soon?”
Juliette straightened a stack of papers on his desk. “Whatever.”
“Well, don’t sound so excited.”
She shrugged one shoulder but didn’t look up. “I’m not really hungry.”
Roger was about to joke about how rare it was for his wife to turn down food of any kind, but his twenty-two years of experience suggested it wouldn’t go over very well. He walked over to Juliette and placed his hand over hers. “You’ve been working all morning. Why don’t we at least take a break? We can go for a walk or something.”
“Actually, I should get home before too long. Eve might have made lunch already.” She shifted some papers around on the desk. It wasn’t nearly as cluttered as it had been this morning, but there were still foot-tall stacks waiting to be sorted.
Roger frowned. “Baby Cakes, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just thought that once I was done here I’d go home and have lunch with Eve. She’s been all by herself all morning, and she’s probably gotten lonely.”
“You know Eve’s old enough to take care of herself, don’t you? She did just fine when you spent eight hours a day in the den with the Secret Seminary students.”
Juliette glared up at Roger. “It was less than a week ago. Did you think I’d forgotten?”
Roger threw his hands to his side. “Of course not. I was only trying to say that Eve’s a big girl. She can be on her own for a few hours. That’s all.”
Juliette dropped a file of papers onto the table and spun around without looking at the strewn contents. “I think I know more about my housekeeper than you.”
Roger rolled his eyes. Juliette flung the door wide open and huffed out. Roger reached for his coat to follow after her, changed his mind, and went back to the shredder.
***
In Pyongyang’s Office 341, Special Agent Chun-Hee leaned back and stared at the director. “So the information from Yanji was solid?
The director took a sip of his coffee. “Rock solid.”
Chun-Hee raised an eyebrow.
“You don’t need to act so startled,” the director commented. “You know Agent Ko is top quality.”
Chun-Hee let out a huff of air.
The director scowled. “The two of you will have to put your differences behind you. Once Ko’s out of Yanji, you’ll be working together on your next assignment.”
Chun-Hee’s thoughts trailed back to the Academy. “Can’t wait.”
***
“I’ve been thinking about trying to rescue a few more girls like you.” Juliette watched Eve closely to gauge her reaction. The girl betrayed no emotion as she cracked the egg into the mixing bowl.
“Has Mr. Stern decided to go back to the hotel district?”
Juliette took a deep breath. “Not exactly.” She grabbed the spoon from Eve and stirred the batter. Roger had not only flat-out refused, but at one point he mentioned something about cleansing the house from all trace of chocolate and sweets if Juliette happened to broach the subject again.
Eve dumped the oil into the bowl. “How do you plan to help the girls there, then?”
Juliette stuck her finger in and tasted the batter. “I haven’t figured that part out yet.” She thought about the refugee they hired as their security guard. “I guess we could see if Benjamin wanted to.”
Eve’s head shot up. “Not Benjamin.”
Juliette peered down at Eve from over the top of her glasses. “Why not?”
Eve glanced out the window to the garden. “No girl’s going to trust a man who’s using her.”
“What’s that got to do with Benjamin?”
Eve stared into the dark batter. “Just because someone says he’s a Christian, that doesn’t mean they always act like it.” Her face was so low her nose almost touched the mix.
Juliette smoothed out the back of her hair. “So you don’t think Benjamin is sincere?” Eve fidgeted with the mixing spoon, and her face turned red. Juliette sighed. “Never mind. You don’t have to answer that. I guess we’ll just have to find someone else who can go in for us.”
Later that afternoon, Juliette sat alone in the den in front of a half-filled Scrabble board. She had been trying all afternoon to think about something besides the hotel district. She rested her chin on her knuckles and stared absently at the wall. If she was quiet enough, beneath the ticking of the grandfather clock she could almost hear the hymns of the Secret Seminary students echoing against the bookshelves. There was Hannah with her quivering little bird-like voice, and Simon with his out-of-tune confidence. Juliette closed her eyes and let out a deep breath.
With a frown, she moved a few tiles around with her finger. “Well you’re really racking up the points,” she muttered into the loneliness. She hadn’t laid a new word down in ten minutes or more. She never bothered keeping score when playing by herself, but the sum of her three- and four-letter words probably wouldn’t even break a hundred.
Besides one granola bar and the brownies she and Eve baked, Juliette hadn’t eaten all day, which would worry Roger if he found out. Juliette hadn’t completely lost her appetite like this since her mom died, and back then it had taken almost a month until she could even consider the taste of chocolate. She took a sip of unsweetened tea. The herbal concoction was bitter and already tepid.
“Do you need anything?” Eve’s voice from the doorway drowned out the sacred echoes in Juliette’s memory.
She didn’t turn around. “No, I’m fine.” The housekeeper left without saying anything.
Juliette still hadn’t played another word by the time Roger walked in. She straightened her back and smoothed her hair as her husband sat down on the opposite side of the game table and eyed her board. “This all you got?”
She shrugged and tried to smile. The last thing she needed was for Roger to pester her about her mood. “Yeah, it is pretty pathetic, isn’t it?”
“Not if you were Eve and didn’t know how to read English.”
Her laugh sounded forced, even to her own ears. “Let’s just pretend this was an English lesson for Eve, then.”
“So, you want to play a game for real?”
Juliette considered for a minute. “I’m actually getting pretty tired. I spent all morning slaving in some American executive’s office.”
“I hope he paid you well.”
Juliette adjusted her glasses. “He keeps a running tab.”
Roger chuckled and sat down. “So did you have a good afternoon with Eve?”
Juliette played with her hair. “Mmm-hmm.”
“What’d you make this time? Chocolate fondue? Grandma Sherry’s no-bakes?”
“Ordinary brownies.” She noted Roger’s slight grin.
“Tell me the truth. How many did you eat?”
“Just two.”
“Uh-huh.” Roger sounded unconvinced, but Juliette didn’t have the energy to defend herself. “So, are you going to clear the board so I can beat you or what?”
She yawned. “Actually, I wasn’t joking about being tired. I don’t know why that kind of office work always feels so draining. I think I might just take a bath and go to bed.”
“Have you had dinner yet?”
She laughed. “Oh, yeah. Bath, dinner, and then bed.”
Roger watched Juliette. With his head c****d to the side like that, he reminded her of the parakeet they bought their daughter when they first arrived in Yanji. “Don’t tell me you’ve lost your appetite.”
“Never,” Juliette lied. “You know me.”
“Of course I know you. That’s why I got you this.” Beaming like a schoolboy, Roger reached into his coat and pulled out a candy bar. “It’s not Godiva, but it’s a step up from plain generic, right?”
She took the gift. “Two steps up.”
“So now I figure you owe me at least one chance to beat you at Scrabble. A real game this time.”
Juliette didn’t even glance at the chocolate in her hand. “If that’s what you want.”
“Don’t look so excited, Baby Cakes.”
She forced herself to look at him. “I guess I’m a whole lot hungrier than I thought. Sorry. Being hungry makes me forget my manners.”
Roger gave her playful pat on her backside when she stood up. He always claimed to love her shape and size, but considering the extra sixty pounds she carried, she was pretty sure he was either lying or delusional. Her husband winked. “I won’t tell Eve if you eat it all up before dinner.”
She made a show of opening the wrapper. “You know me too well.”
“Go take your bath.” He eyed her flirtatiously. “I’ll ask Eve to serve us dinner in here, and I’ll play you a proper game of Scrabble while we eat. Deal?”
“Deal.” After she locked herself in the master bathroom and started the water running in the hot tub, Juliette looked for a place to hide Roger’s gift.
- Writer
