Saving Sandy

Chapter 4 - Heated Dinner Among Friends

My legs gave out on me after I came into Evalyn and Amelia's room after my shift. My aching feet throbbed after I sat down on my little bed on the carpet. I groaned as Evalyn turned around as she sat in her desk chair. She had on a prim cream-colored dress that had a collar, and her hair was tied back with a ribbon of the same color.

"I take it you had quite the eventful day," she commented.

"Yes, I did. It was crazy, let me tell you. First of all, I met Marjory, and not in the most pleasant of ways. I came across her and Sandy kissing under a stairwell in one of the main buildings at Merton."

She made a face. "Oh my, how dreadful. So, you have seen how possessive she is. She would show her possession to Sandy with even me around, and I am his sister! That woman, golly..."

"I agree, but..." I rubbed my feet after taking off the 20's style shoes that Evalyn let me borrow. Miraculously, we had the same size of feet. I very well couldn't wear my modern sneakers around in 1923. "Well... they seem to be... in love. I thought it was just a wild infatuation for the both of them, but I could see it in their eyes, mainly Sandy's. It's going to be hard to break them up. I don't think I even want to, regardless of the fact that she's still technically married, but getting a divorce soon, and regardless of the fact that I don't like her at all."

Evalyn nodded, her mouth a flat line. "You and I both. Honestly, she is obsessed with him. Did you know that she followed him to Spitsbergen a last summer?"

"Yeah, I do."

"The nerve of that woman. Well, Sandy is leaving for Everest in January, so there is still time."

"He's going to be on a trip in Switzerland for three weeks, though, and then he'll be leaving almost right after that. I think all this should happen before he leaves on that trip."

"Then he wouldn't feel the need to even go on that trip if he decides not to go to Everest."

"Exactly, but... he told me today that he's so sick and tired people telling him not to do things he doesn't want to do... I feel so bad, mainly because I really desperately want him to not die on Everest."

She let out a breath. "I do, too... He's my brother. I don't want him to get hurt."

I nodded as I sat there on the blankets. "He's going to Everest and he's staying with Marjory, I think whether we like it or not. There's nothing we can do about it, but... maybe there's something we can do about his relationship with you."

She perked up like an interested cat. "What? Tell me."

"Well... I got a job at the library at Merton, and..."

"Wait a moment, you got a job at the library there? As a woman?"

"Yeah..." I told her about the whole ordeal, and about all those guys. Her mouth dropped open, and her blue eyes widened.

"Oh, good Lord, and you accepted under that pretense? Are you mad?"

"How else would I be able to be close to your brother? If I want to do something about saving his life, that I have to be near him. We made plans to meet tomorrow to talk about my father's expedition to Everest. Sandy invited his friend Allan and his fiancée, and... I invited you. It's going to be a dinner."

Evalyn's features sagged. "You invited me? But... if Sandy is there, it wouldn't go well. He doesn't want to even look at me."

"He thinks the same of you. Evalyn, he wants to make up with you. He said it was about time that you two do, as well as Dick. How about you bring him along, too?"

She pursed her lips.

"I think it's a good idea," I urged.

We held gazes for a moment, hers apprehensive. Her and Sandy's relationship really did turn rocky after she got engaged to Dick. It was worse than what I thought.