Twice Over

Chapter 108 - Melancholy

melancholy
noun
1. a feeling of pensive sadness, typically with no obvious cause.
adjective
1. having a feeling of melancholy; sad and pensive.

Over a week of fretting and worrying then finally hearing that my mum was safe and sound in Wallace's care, I finally realised how hollowed out I felt. After repeatedly verifying with Patricia and Grant that I was perfectly fine, happy because of the good news and that I only needed time to myself, I finally convinced them to leave me alone in my apartment for some much needed time out.

I left them, my bag and crutch at the closed and locked apartment door and wandered my way through my large, high ceilinged apartment. I ran my fingers over the entrance way side tables, the painted bare walls, the Italian lounge settees with its velvety touch. I hobbled over to the standing lamp with its glass bulbous stem, touching the smooth surface of each ball.

I brushed against the hanging drapery that hid a third of the large windows under the down stairs archway. Lace tickled with a soft touch. Leaves of the indoor topiary were slightly waxy and prickled my palms. My ceramic baby blue elephant family stood on the low wall divider beside the indoor gas fire place. Each elephant had that slightly rough, egg shell texture that gated on my finger nails. The large dining table and chairs all glass topped chrome, contoured edges with its organic look, they each felt cold and fresh.

I pulled a chair out from under the table and turned it around so I could sit, watching the city view below. I stayed that way, watching the vehicles on the streets that came and went. As the long sun dyed the surrounding buildings in a wash of dusky pinks and oranges, the city turned into a silhouetted concrete jungle against a stunning sunset backdrop.

Long after the sun went down, I finally stretched my arms and legs and got up to find something in the kitchen to eat. I settled on a tub of pad Thai leftovers from two nights ago, heated it again in the microwave and ate it at the kitchen counter.

As I washed up the dishes, I noticed a bottle of wine that was given to me for my recent birthday. I opened it, smelled its gentle oak aroma and decided this was exactly what I needed.

Filling my bath tub, wine in hand, I gave myself a bubble bath, luxuriating in a very grown up sensual thing to do. One bottle of wine later and I began to understand why one should never drink alcohol alone while bathing. I was so tired. Before I fully fell unconscious, I pulled myself out of the tub, dragged on a silky wrap robe, and plodded my way to bed. I almost made it there before I tripped and fell halfway on the edge of the bed, giggling.

Then a little angel Furbutt visited me in my half awake dreams with a high pitched ruff ruff ruff. I giggled again, picked him up, exchanged kisses and cuddles and tucked us both into bed.

The licks and whining of a frantic Yorkie woke me up the next morning, two minutes prior to the arrival of my assistant, and it took me some time to realise that I wasn't dreaming. I sat straight up in bed as Patricia's voice reached through my open bedroom door, reminding me that I had an early visit to the airport with Grandpa Overmeyer to pick up the parental units.

She stepped into the room and paused, mid sentence, then quickly walked to my wardrobe to pick out an outfit for me to wear today. She completely ignored the little Furbutt in my hands as I tried to come to terms with the fact that he spent the night with me in my bed.

"Ms Morisse..." I spoke urgently as I stared at the cutie little puppy in my hands.

"I have text both Peter and Bob. Get up, you have fifteen minutes until your car arrives." She laid down on the bed a dark blue tank sleeveless body suit with long tights, then a see through silver crochet maxi dress with a hankie hemline. Glassy sequins were sewn into the neckline and onto each cross section of the lace work. I handed her the puppy dog after a final last kiss, then carried the change of clothing into the bathroom.

I loved the dark sleeveless under layer with the silver lace dress over top. The shoulder seams lined up perfectly, giving further highlight to my still sporty frame. I turned sideways in the mirror to check out the bust line, and was satisfied that my stomach was still flat. But I noticed that my butt was now a bit larger than it used to be. I sighed. I have to stop eating so many carbs and get back into jogging again.

I looked down at my knee that was hidden under the lace. Soon, very soon I should be back to top physical condition.

"Five minutes!" Patricia walked back into the bedroom sans Furbutt, and wrote something out on her phone. She then picked up all the clothing I'd left on the floor from yesterday, making her way into the bathroom where she drained the cold water out of the tub and cleaned up after me.

I quickly picked up towels and wash cloths and threw them into the laundry hamper in the corner. When I turned to the mirror to begin my hair and makeup, a strangled cry escaped my lips. My hair! It was a rats nest of global proportions.

Curly hair must never be brushed dry, and wet hair must never be left unbrushed.

"Ahhh, what to do, what to do?" I squealed. I quickly pulled the tied out of the frizzy bun that I'd tied it up in for my bath, but the whole mess just stayed up like a frozen soft serve ice cream. "Arg! What a mess." I pulled it to the side, then gave up, instead worked on applying light makeup and lip gloss.

I was still combing with a wide toothed afro comb when we left the apartment. When the lift hit the down stairs main reception lobby, I managed to wrangle hair serum through to the ends and pulled it into a loose, low bun. Fuzzy tendrils fell around my face, but there wasn't much else I could do with it.

Bob, my building manager, met us at the lift doors with a good morning and a smile.

"Ms Twice, our apologies for the late night mishap. I've notified the dog's owner and she will give compensation for the intrusion..." I interrupted his words before he promised anything further.

"Bob, please let Ms Morisse know that there was no problems with having Puppy visit in the night. I am just sorry that I wasn't aware of his intrusion and I apologise that I couldn't get him home to her sooner than this morning. Please ask her to organise with security for a micro chip to be installed on his collar that the security team can track for future puppy adventures."

I quickly followed Patricia to the back entrance of Liberty Building where our car was waiting. Grandpa Overmeyer politely stepped out of the vehicle to help me in while Bob and Patricia confirmed my instructions.

It was a good idea having the little Yorkie puppy have a security location GPS tag attached so that they can find him inside the large building.

"Also, Ms Twice, I've arranged with your assistant a meeting time for us to go over the building's fire safety and compliance report that came from Mr Anginelli and his team. We will see you later today at the scheduled time."

I turned just before stepping into the car where my step siblings waited for me and held up a hand.

"Can we please reschedule that for tomorrow? I have family matters to attend to today. Email Patricia and I the report and I'll read through everything before then." I smiled at my building manager, he was doing a great job.

"Yes, Ms Twice. That will be arranged." He said, waited for Grandpa and I to get into the car then watched us drive away.