Second Chances

A New Man In Reality

As I got ready for work, I couldn't help but wonder what I'd be teaching if I was in my classroom. The students' pieces inspired by Van Gogh's Starry Night are due Friday, and I found myself wondering how they were doing.

I walked into my office and saw Abigail sorting through the files. She looked up when she heard me come in.

"Morning, Abigail," I said. Usually, Abigial greets me first in the morning. By me greeting her first, she looked up at me confused.

"Good morning, sir," she said slowly.

"What cases are we working on today?" I asked her. She grabbed her notes like she was ready to follow me, but froze when I didn't walk into my office like usual.

"Well," she said, clearing her throat. "You have Wilson and Anderson both coming in today. They are coming in at 1."

"Great," I nodded. "Do we have anyone else that afternoon?"

"I knew that Wilson and Anderson would be arguing until we kicked them out, so I rescheduled your one-on-one with Hanson."

I surprised Abigail by laughing. "That was smart, Abigail. Quick thinking."

"Thanks," she stuttered as she reached up and cupped a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Here is the file on Wilson and Anderson," she said as she handed me the folder. "The notes from last week should be. . ."

We were both holding the folder when she stopped talking. "Are you okay?" I asked, neither one of us letting go of the folder.

"You have something on your hand," she said. She looked up at me, her eyes slightly widening when she met my eyes. She quickly let go of the file and cleared her throat.

"I have some wipes that might help." She cleared her throat again as she put her notebook down and grabbed some wipes from her bottom desk drawer.

"Here," she said, handing them to me.

"Thanks," I smiled at her. I grabbed a wipe and started cleaning the paint from last night off my hands.

"What is that?" She said slowly like she wasn't sure how'd I react to her question.

"It's paint," I said with a small chuckle.

"You paint?"

I looked up to see her genuinely surprised. "Yeah," I smiled. "I do. Mostly oil, but I use acrylic when it's absolutely necessary."

"Wow," she said under her breath. "Do you have any of your work with you?"

Her eyes widened like she realized what she said. "Never mind," she started to nervously stutter. "You don't have to show me anything. I was just curious."

"I don't mind," I shrugged. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and searched through my photos. "This is the mural I did for my neighbor's son. It was from a picture the photographer took at the wedding, but my neighbor wanted me to paint it."

"Wow," she said again. "This is incredible. I had no idea. . ."

She stopped talking when she looked up at me. Her cheeks turned red when she noticed how close we were. She cleared her throat and handed me back my phone.

"Wilson and Anderson will be here at one," she said, going back to her business-as-usual demeanor. "Until then, Mr. Taylor was wondering if you could be his co-council on a big merger. He wanted you to stop by his office once you got in."

"I'll head over there now," I nodded.

I stared at her for a second before she turned around and sat at her desk. I headed into my office, dropping my bag on the ground. I looked up and watched as Abigail went back to work like nothing happened.

Was she always this shy around me?

* * * * *

"Mr. Efron seems different."

I stopped when I heard Lily, Mr. Taylor's assistant, talking to Abigail in the copier room.

"What do you mean?" Abigail asked almost hesitantly.

"Come on," Lily chuckled. "He's totally changed how he treats you, Abby. Haven't you noticed him apologizing more and thanking you more? When was the last time he asked you to get him an Uber?"

"It's been a few days," Abigail admitted slowly.

"See?" Lily giggled. "Mr. Efron has been completely different. He's even nicer about how he asks you to do things. He's not barking orders at you anymore."

"He's never. . . Mr. Efron doesn't bark orders at me."

"Yeah, he did," Lilly said oddly. "He never used to say please."

"Lily," Abigail sighed. "Come on. He's not that bad."

"Is it true that you've actually known each other since elementary school?"

I heard Abigail clear her throat as she hesitated. "We did," she finally said. "But I don't think he remembers me."

"How could he not remember you?"

"It's just. . ." Abigail sighed, quickly clearing her throat when her breath got caught in her throat. "I don't know. When he first hired me, he didn't acknowledge that we knew each other. He started calling me Abigail and acted like we'd never met."

"See? No one calls you by your full name except for Mr. Efron." I heard Lily sigh, scoffing slightly. "I can't believe he doesn't remember you. And if he does, pretending not to is worse."