The Silver Thread (28 page)

“Oh my god, I can just see it now,” he said, instructing them with animated hand movements. “Seriously, I need you four to be very naughty office boys! Give me some guilty looks, but not too guilty. You’ve been caught doing something wrong, and she’s threatening to fire one of you, but she doesn’t know which one to choose.”

“Caught doing what?” Heath asked. “I don’t know how guilty to look.”

“Stealing office supplies?” Jerry suggested, making the other three handsome men snicker. Lars rolled his eyes at Jerry, but then James spoke up.

“No one wants to see guilty office boys stealing pens. Lars has put some serious work into their wardrobe; they have to look serious. And Annika is a serious musician,” James pondered out loud, and his brown eyes twinkled a little.

“Max, weren’t you saying that she and I need some publicity? What if we want to hire a PR company to promote the band? What if these fellas are new interns at the firm, and they’re all trying to convince her why they’re the best man for the job?”

“That’s perfect!” exclaimed Lars and Robbie simultaneously, and Max instructed the men to do their darnedest at getting that position while he snapped photos. Her interns all gathered around some poor executive’s desk and began to make their pitches to her. She took Jerry’s tie in her hand and admonished him as the camera shutters clicked and snapped nonstop.

“Hey, this is kinda fun!” Annika said, and raised an eyebrow at Chip. She turned one way, and then the other, as the men pleaded around her, “Pick me, Annika! Pick me!”

When she turned her head back to Jerry, his nose was inches from hers.

“I’ll get your foot in the door if you make sure James calls me,” he hissed, shooting her a salacious smirk. She thumbed the soft silk necktie as she wondered about his Italian business trip with James. Surely he must have had some redeeming qualities if James had fallen so hard for the guy. She gripped his tie a little tighter.

“What’s your business plan?” she demanded, making Jerry grin even wider.

“You know how good James is at pushing people’s buttons?”

“Yeah?” she asked. “I’m listening.”

“Well, I am even better at pulling strings.”

“Then you’re hired,” she said, and let go of his tie.

When Annika and James finally returned home a couple hours later, she looked out the living room window to see her husband in the backyard, soaking wet. Freshly cut grass was stuck to his wet jeans and wet skin, and he was dragging the garden hose over to one side of the garage. She saw Patti walking around the other side of the garage with a massive water gun in her hands. She tip toed over to the corner and shot him in the side of his head, and he lifted the hose, placing his thumb over the water to drench her shorts and t-shirt. She turned to run, but slipped on the wet lawn. He was at her side instantly, and he put one bare foot over the gun before she could lift it, holding the hose away from her. He appeared to ask her something, and she shook her head. He sprayed her again and as she scrambled to get up, he swiftly tackled her. He gathered a handful of grass and tried stuffing it in her mouth, but she struggled and kicked. With one arm, she grabbed the hose and sprayed him in the face until his hair was soaking and dripping.

“I surrender!” he yelled, and she stopped shooting him with water just long enough for him to snatch the hose away from her and cover her with more grass. “Sorry, Patti Cake, my fingers were crossed!”

Annika watched them frolic for a little longer, and came outside after taking off her red-feathered shoes and leaving them in a safe place.

“Hey, you’re home!” Patti cried from under Talvi as she narrowly escaped another mouthful of grass. “Did you have fun with all those hot models?”

“Yeah, but it looks like you’re having just as much fun,” she said, trying not to look as pissed as she felt seeing her husband crouched on top of her best friend in the back yard.

“You missed out on a good time,” he said, looking up at her with an aloof expression. He ran his hands through his hair to rid it of excess water and finally climbed off of Patti.

“Well I didn’t forget that pie you wanted,” she said with a little smile, but Talvi merely shrugged.

“You may as well just put it in the icebox. I’m not in the mood for it anymore,” he said, turning his attention to the gangly girl beside him. “Patti Cake, do you mind rinsing me off? I wouldn’t want to see James’s face if we came inside as filthy as we are.” Annika watched as Patti ran the water over his tan shoulders and down his chest while he turned around in a slow circle. It seemed that a month and a half of him being fed Annika’s omelets, Patti’s pancakes, and Chivanni’s cheesy potato soup had finally started to fill him out to his normal weight. His cheeks were no longer hollow, his face no longer gaunt, and his muscles were lean and strong from all the climbing around on the roof and carrying around buckets of plaster and packages of shingles. Annika sat there like a third wheel as Patti gently rinsed his arms and hands, and then handed him the hose so he could do the same to her.

“Would you be a good little wife and at least fetch us some dry towels, or is that too much to ask of you?” he asked Annika. Taken aback by his coldness, she turned around and discovered Charlie and Chivanni had beaten her to the task. They came outside with their hair still wet and two towels in each of their arms.

“Man, you guys missed out!” Charlie said, smiling hugely at his sister and James. “That was one awesome water fight!”

“I think the only one who missed out on anything today was me,” James lamented, watching from the doorstep. “Mrs. Marinossian was so busy playing dress up with an office full of beautiful boys, that I didn’t even get a chance to tell Jerry where he can stick the business card I gave him.”

“Who’s Jerry?” Chivanni asked, and handed Talvi a towel.

“Who’s Jerry?” Charlie repeated. “You’ve been living here how long and you haven’t heard about—”

“Shut up Charlie,” James said quickly. “He’s not worth the breath it takes to say his name.”

“Do you know when the magazine comes out?” Patti asked. “I wanna see what all the fuss was over!”

“Yes, I’m quite curious myself,” Talvi said with a curious look. “I’d like to see just what it was that held your attention so enrapt this afternoon.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t come home when I said I would, sweetie,” Annika said, forcing a smile. “I didn’t think it would be a big deal. I mean, we do live together and all.”

“No, I understand very well,” he said nonchalantly. “I sincerely hope you enjoyed yourself.”

One morning after Talvi had dropped Annika off at work, Patti approached him where he lay on the couch with a cigarette, blowing smoke rings.

“Any big plans today, Talvi?”

“Hmmm…” he hummed in response. “I believe I’m officially out of things to repair in this house. Perhaps I’ll take a nap after I take you to campus. Or I might take my bow to the park across the street. I’m terribly out of practice.”

“Do you, um, do you feel like keeping me awake in art history class today?” she stammered. “I’m going to fail the course if I don’t stop falling asleep during the lectures.” He looked up from the sofa, deeply interested in the prospect of leaving the house to do something new and different and above all, fun.

“And, um, if you wanted, I have figure drawing class afterwards, if you wanted to hang out and do some sketching.”

“Your professors won’t mind me sitting in on your classes?” he asked. He didn’t want her to get into any trouble, but he was greatly intrigued at Patti’s proposition.

“No, art history’s a huge lecture class; I doubt anyone would even notice you, let alone care that you were there,” Patti said with a hopeful smile. “It’s barely light enough in the room to take notes. I guess that’s why I keep dozing off.” She now had Talvi’s full attention.

“Your drawing class is likely much smaller though, isn’t it? Surely your professor would notice me there.”

“Well, yeah, but um, I sorta already asked her if it would be okay if you came with me, and she said it was,” she said, her cheeks growing slightly warmer and rosier. “I know you’re an artist too, so I thought you’d like coming to school with me.”

Talvi was on his feet in an instant, and together, he and Patti hurried to pack themselves lunch and headed out the door.

They got to class early, although Patti couldn’t have been more wrong about no one noticing Talvi joining her in the huge lecture hall. While the burnt-out professor seemed completely unaware of the new student as he dimmed the lights and pulled down a projector screen, there were whispers and constant glances from other students in the lecture hall, all generated by this very tall and handsome man that Patti Kaeke had brought with her. Normally she sat alone in the back, but Talvi had insisted that if she wanted to learn anything, sitting towards the front was the only way to go. Patti listened astutely and took numerous notes. He didn’t have to jab her in the ribs once to keep her from falling asleep, and afterwards he carried her backpack for her while she clutched her oversized pads of drawing paper against her chest, strolling leisurely with her as they walked to a different building.

She led him down a hallway on the second floor to a large classroom filled with twenty or so drawing tables. The room was already half full with other students, but they managed to find two desks beside each other, and Patti opened a box with many different colored charcoals and conté crayons, and handed him one of the large tablets of paper. The rest of the class filed in quickly after that, and then in walked a short, round woman with wiry hair pulled into a loose bun on top of her head. She plopped a notebook on a table in the corner and waddled over to Patti, and all the other eyes in the classroom followed right along as she stepped up beside the newcomer.

“This must be that friend of yours from out of town,” she said cheerfully, craning her chubby face upwards at him. “That’s great that you came in today…”

“His name’s Talvi,” Patti piped up.

“Talvi, eh?” The woman repeated, sounding the name out slowly. “Is that Finnish?”

“Why yes, yes it is,” he replied, flashing his most charming smile while he ran his fingers through his wild hair. “I do appreciate you allowing me to sit in on your class.”

“Well, I’m glad you could make it, Talvi. I’m Professor De la Chauvignerie,” she said, emphasizing her last name with an exaggerated French accent, “but we’re pretty informal here…just call me Dee.”

“
Parlez-vous la langue, ou seulement votre français de nom est
?” he asked.

Professor Dee’s already squinty eyes became even tinier slits in her face as she clapped her hands in gleeful approval. “Oh, you are just too much, Talvi! I don’t speak a lick of French.”

The very rotund professor barely squeezed between their two tables before scuttling over to a large podium in the center of the room. She hoisted up one foot with great effort, even though the podium was only raised perhaps one foot from the floor. She addressed the class for a few minutes, instructing them to look at their paper as little as possible, and to draw as large as possible, and to think in circles rather than lines.

“What are we drawing?” Talvi hissed to Patti, as he realized no one had picked up their pencils and charcoals yet. Just then the door opened one more time and a dark blonde woman in a robe and flip flops stepped in, shutting the door tightly behind her.

“Alright, everyone,” Professor Dee said to the blonde as they traded places on the podium. “Let’s start with the usual warm up. Ten one minute drawings…and begin!” The woman slipped off her shoes and robe and she went right into a pose, arching her body beautifully. While Patti set straight to work trying to accurately draw their model, the girls in the room kept sneaking glances at her handsome guest, whispering under the quiet music that came from the radio on Professor Dee’s desk. The corner of Talvi’s mouth twitched slightly as he tried to ignore them and instead followed the curves of the model’s body, transferring them into simple contours with his bit of charcoal. The time passed by leisurely, and after the warm up, they worked on an hour long pose. At the end of that hour, Professor Dee had the class pin up their drawings for critiquing.

“Have you had formal instruction, Talvi?” she asked, after examining his drawings. “These are simply lovely!”

“Not at university level, but I have years of experience capturing the female form,” he replied dauntlessly. He spoke with such a confidence that the men in the room envied him, and the women in the room envied Patti. There was a universal hum of approval, however, when Professor Dee invited him to join her class for the rest of the semester.

After class, he found a sunny spot in the grass to have lunch while Patti stayed after to talk to Professor Dee about her grades. When she came back outside to meet Talvi, he had been joined by a few of her female classmates. They looked up at her, and smiled.

“We’re in the same art history class, aren’t we, Patti?” one girl asked.

“We started a study group a few weeks ago so that none of us have to sit through a repeat next semester,” said another.

“Maybe you’d like to join?” asked the first girl.

“Um…” Patti said, wondering why they were asking her, especially when she had little to offer. She didn’t have decent notes to study from because she was indeed asleep at the back of the class. And the only reason she knew half of their names was from paying attention during roll call. But then she looked down at Talvi’s grin and understood immediately.

“When are you meeting next?” he asked.

“We’re getting together Wednesday night at seven, at the coffee shop down the street.”

“That sounds lovely. We’ll see you then, ladies,” Talvi answered for Patti. She watched as the small group of girls drifted away. After they were out of earshot, Talvi reached into his pocket, pulling out a few slips of paper, each with a string of numbers and corresponding names.

“I got you their phone numbers,” he winked, unable to hide his egotistical smile. “You have no excuse not to meet with them Wednesday evening.”

“I don’t think that’s why they gave you their phone numbers,” Patti said as she took a bite of peanut butter and banana sandwich. “Did you see how soon they left when I showed up? I chased them away with my geekiness. They only asked me to join their stupid group because they wanna see more of you.”