A Stranger

“What year are you in school?” the lady with the tortoiseshell glasses asks.

“Oh, I actually graduated from undergrad last month.” Alyssa responds, brushing a lock of honey-colored hair away from her face.

“From where?”

“Um, Harvard.”

“Humph.” The lady looks down at her desk, breaking eye contact.

Bravely, Alyssa ventures “Wait, what’s wrong with that?”

“Did I say anything was wrong?” Mrs. Lawson shoots back, with a stern glare peering through her oversize glasses. 

“Well, no. But it just sounded like you disapproved…” Alyssa trails off.

“Did I say that I disapprove?”

“No, but –” Alyssa cuts herself off before saying something she’d regret. Well, this is going well, Alyssa thinks to herself. Gathering her courage again, she asks “Mrs. Lawson, where did you go to school?”

Those cat-like eyes flick up, as if suddenly remembering there was someone else in the room. “I went to Harvard. Graduated in ’88 as top of my class.”

“But then why did you –” 

“Ah, and here’s my son George,” Mrs. Lawson declares as a lanky young man with sand-colored hair cautiously opens the door to the office. “Come on in George. Did you stop by the grocery store this morning?”

“Yes, but they were out of –”

“Never mind, George. This is Alyssa. She’s interning at the law firm this summer. She’s a budding young lawyer, just needs a lot of … polish.” Her eyes scan Alyssa up and down as though looking at her with X-ray vision. “Yes, polish.”

“You know, Alyssa, George went to Harvard too, class of 2021. Also graduated top of his class. I’d ask if you knew him but you two clearly lived in different … circles,” she says while straitening George’s tie.

“Well, actually Mom, Alyssa and I do –”

“Never mind for that George. Did you grab my coffee?”

Mutely, he hands her the boiling cup of black coffee while fluttering his gaze towards Alyssa with a nod.

“It’s been a while,” she whispers, her eyes scanning his outfit. “A button-up and a jacket, now that’s a new look for you.”

“Alyssa, dear,” Mrs. Lawson says. “Did you look over my schedule for the day?”

“Uh, right.” Alyssa breaths out, racking her memory for the schedule she tried to burn into her mind this morning while stuffing a croissant in her mouth – late for her first day.

“You have a meeting with Mr. Abbott at 11, a call with Mr. and Mrs. Forster at 12:30, and another meeting with Mr. Matthews at 3.” She recites almost instantly.

“Very good,” Mrs. Lawson responds with a hint of approval as she scribbles in her planner.

Turning her gaze back towards George, Alyssa whispers “I never thought I’d see you again after … what happened.”

“Me neither. Or well, I didn’t think you would want to see me.”

“No, it’s not that I didn’t want to see you, it’s just that –”

“Alyssa, tell me more about your law experience,” Mrs. Lawson barks out, making George jump. “I want to figure out where you could best be of use to me.”

Tearing her eyes away from George, she responds “Yes, of course. I worked at a corporate law firm in Boston during the summer after my sophomore year, but that’s really all the law experience I have.”

“I see. Let me just check one thing,” she says while bustling out of the room.

When she’s gone, George turns back towards Alyssa. “I didn’t mean for things to end like they did, you know.”

Her emerald eyes gaze back at him, as if trying to decide whether he’s telling the truth. After a seemingly infinite pause, she breaths out “I believe you,” so quietly that he almost thinks he imagines it. But the smile at the edges of her lips proves that she’s telling the truth. That was always her tell. 

Before he has a chance to respond, his mother saunters back into the room. “Okay, Alyssa, so I talked to –” seeing the look between her and George, she can’t help but say “What is it? Did someone die?”

George clears his throat and takes a step back from Alyssa, slamming his back into the wall and causing a picture frame to fall. “Oh, for dear God, George, have some class, will you? Now fix that and hang it back up,” she says while motioning to the framed diploma lying haphazardly at his feet.

“Yeah… sorry I will fix it,” George mumbles as he shuffles out of the room with the dented frame.

Mrs. Lawson’s hawk-eyes turn back towards Alyssa. “Do you and my son know each other?” she blurts out. “Because this is a workplace and all your relationships here should be strictly professional.”

“No, Mrs. Lawson, we don’t know each other. I’ve seen him around at Harvard, but we’ve never spoken.” The lie slips from her lips before she has a chance to process what she’s saying. Why was that so easy to say? It could have been true, like an alternate reality if their paths had never crossed.

Finally, meeting her gaze, Alyssa adds, “He’s a stranger to me.” At least that part is true now. She barely recognizes him now.

“Humph,” Mrs. Lawson grunts. “Well, anyways Alyssa, what I was trying to say earlier before I was so rudely interrupted,” she glowers at George as he shuffles back into the room with a rusty hammer and nails sticking out of his pocket, “was that we have a position for you with the legal research team this summer. It’s on the same team that George works on.” 

She looks towards Alyssa to see if she has any reaction to this last part. But Alyssa remains stoic, her heels digging into the ground. “That sounds great, Mrs. Lawson,” she responds flatly, trying to keep her voice from betraying her inner feelings. 

Thud. Thud. Alyssa and Mrs. Lawson both recoil as the room shakes while George pounds the nail into the wall. “Good, as new,” he adds cheerily. He takes a step back and releases the picture frame, letting it settle in a crooked position. “Well, sort of…” he frowns. 

“Oh, George. Just go and do something else. Anything else.” His mother sinks into her faded leather office chair with a sigh. “Alyssa, have George show you around the office and introduce you to the legal research team.” She locks eyes with Alyssa. “As long as that’s not going to be an issue.”

“Nope, Mrs. Lawson. No issue at all. Come on George, why don’t you show me around,” she says to the last guy in the world she wants to speak with.