13 ANOTHER USE OF THE PARK

Mary saw no reason to beat about the bush.

"I didn't save his number this time and didn't answer his message. Please don't look at me like that..." She pleaded with Daniel.

"Then blacklist him, here and now." There was anger rising in his voice.

"I'll do it. Don't be angry…" Mary took her phone and added Jim's number to blacklist. Now she would not receive any calls or messages from him. "See, he won't be able to write to me now." She tried to soothe Daniel's feelings.

"Yes, I see." Daniel stood up and headed to his cabinet without finishing his meal.

Mary was alone in the kitchen staring at her phone and silently cursing Jim for all the troubles that he brought on her head.

Jim was throwing glances at his phone as well waiting at least for some answer but it never came. In his last message he just asked her whether she was alright, and now he did not know what to think of it. He tried to call her but the call never reached its target.

Daniel stayed in his study till late in the night, at first Mary planned to wait for him but then decided that he would probably be in a bad mood in any case so she just went to bed alone.

In the morning she cooked breakfast and they ate together as usual, he showed no signs that yesterday events bothered him still.

Mary cancelled her running that morning in order to have breakfast with Daniel, and she had nothing to do after he left. Just when she was starting to plan her day the doorbell rang. She tiptoed to the door and looked into the eyehole; there was another delivery guy at the other side of the door.

"Damn!" She whispered, then tiptoed back to the kitchen and pretended she was not home until the ringing ceased.

Then her phone rang, the call was from Daniel.

"Hello."

"Are you not home?" he asked a bit irritated.

"I am home."

"Then open the door. I sent a delivery guy to you."

"What did he bring?"

"A new SIM card. Please make sure that this number does not get leaked. Have a good day." At that he hung up, but at least his mood seemed to be much better.

Mary took the SIM card and pondered on the whole situation. He didn't even ask whether she minded changing her number! This number was known to all of her friends and acquaintances, now she would need to inform them all about the change. And really was there such a need for it? Yes, Jim wrote to her a couple of times, but she blocked him now. What happened to mutual trust and all?

She sighed, changed the SIM card and started informing her contacts about it. When all was done she called Marcus and asked to come to pick her up as soon as possible.

When she sat down in the car she remained silent. He waited for a couple of minutes, then asked at last, "Where to?"

Mary awakened from her thoughts and looked at him unsure, "I don't know. I planned to go to a food store, but now I really don't know..."

She was silent for a while, and then continued, "I feel like I desperately need a drink. Like if I don't have it now the world will cease to exist! Do you know a bar that works this early?"

"I don't," Marcus answered in his usual reserved manner. What Mary learned to appreciate in him the most was complete absence of judgy vibes, he was totally impartial.

"Then we don't need a car. Let's get out of it." When she saw that he was not moving, she repeated, "We are getting out of the car." Marcus shrugged and did what she told him to do.

Outside of the car she scanned the yard and found a 24/7 supermarket, "Let's go there!" And she led the way while he followed her silently.

In the supermarket she chose one of the most expensive bottles of red wine, a vacuum package of sliced cheese, a can of olives, a pack of plastic cups, a pack of plastic forks and a corkscrew.

When they were already outside of the store she ordered a taxi through a mobile app. When the taxi arrived and stopped in front of them she saw Marcus surprised for the first time. "So it's possible to surprise him after all..." she thought to herself and smiled.

"Why can't we go in our car?" was all he asked.

"You'll find out later..." she sat down in the taxi and beckoned him to join her. "Oh, come on, just get in, or I'll leave without you." He followed her, afraid that she would fulfill her threat.

The taxi stopped at the nearby park where they went running the other day, they got out and Mary led Marcus to the riverbank. It was a very cozy place, the road was not paved and the bank was covered with thick grass. When she found a good spot under a big tree with a spreading crown she sat down on the grass and suggested him to join her, unsure he sat down beside her.

She held out the bottle to him, "Open it!"

While he was opening the bottle she opened the cheese and olives. She took out two cups from the package and passed them to Marcus.

He raised his eyebrows questioningly, "Why two?"

"For the two of us! You're drinking with me." She said very strictly to make sure he understood that it was not a question.

"Mam, I can't," he was holding out one of the cups back to her. "If I do, Mr. Melrose will fire me."

"If you don't, I will have to drink the whole bottle alone and then I will pay a visit to Mr. Melrose in his office or better to Mr. Jim Scott in his, the same one whom Mr. Melrose probably told you to keep as far away from me as possible." Mary added. "Let's see how happy Mr. Melrose will be then..." She pushed the cup back to Marcus. Seeing that he almost yielded under her pressure, she whispered slyly, "We won't tell him you drank with me..."

"But the car?"

"You surely can ask someone to take the car back to your house..."

He took the second cup at last and poured the wine.

"Cheers," Mary said touching his cup with hers.

"What are we drinking to?"

"To the jobless life of mine, of course..." Mary said flatly and took a sip.

They drank in silence just watching the river and looking at the sky. After a second cup of wine Mary's mood greatly improved and she already could not understand what made her so irritated in the morning. The day was nice, she didn't need to hurry anywhere, and she could just enjoy herself. And on top of that she was living with the man whom she not just liked but already fell in love with. What else was there to wish for? She smiled and held out her cup for the last refill.

Jim was working in his office when his phone vibrated. He received a message from one of his hired men, opened it and let out a surprised laugh. In the messenger there were several photos of Mary drinking on the riverbank together the man who was supposed to be guarding her. Jim was glad she was alright, today he tried to call her several times and even borrowed his assistant's phone to do it, but her number was not available.

But was she really alright if she was drinking together with her bodyguard?

"Oh, honey… Already in need for a drink?" He let the question hang in the air. "But it's a bit too soon for that. It hasn't even started yet…" He sighed, shrugged and returned to his work still smiling a little.

When the sun already passed zenith and started its decline in the west Mary stood up at last ready to go.

"Marcus, can you cook?" she asked suddenly.

"Very poorly."

"Alas, I'll have to manage it alone then."

She felt tipsy and was worried that her cooking might take an unpleasant turn somewhere on its way to readiness, and Marcus looked very much sober in her opinion; unfortunately his sobriety was of no use to her.

To her surprise the supper she managed to cook was alright, and she happily waited for Daniel's return. When he got back home she tiptoed to kiss him on his cheek and he sensed a lingering smell of alcohol in her breath.

"Have you been drinking?" he looked very attentively at her face.

"I was stewing the meet and added a little wine, so I took a sip or two. Supper is ready." She smiled charmingly.

It seemed he believed her but he still watched a little suspiciously from the corner of his eye how she marched to the kitchen with an unsteady gait.