6. A surprise visitor

The next three weeks are busy. I have a new case to work on, and I'm out of the office nearly every day. I don't like the client very much, but the case is an interesting one.

On Saturday morning I'm in the office again. I have a lot of emails to write, so I'm not pleased when my doorbell rings.

The computer screen shows me a man at the door. Well, well, well, what a surprise! I hit the 'open door' button, and the man comes in.

Mr Williams, good morning. How are you?' I say. What does he want?

Morning, Ms Homes.' He's not friendly, he's not unfriendly. He looks around my little room.

Nice office,' he says. 'Can you see the river from your window?' He walks to the window, looks out. What does he want? Does he just want to talk about my office? Maybe the weather's next...

It's colder today,' he says. 'Autumn's coming.'

I wait.

He comes away from the window. 'Can I sit down? Just for a minute.'

Of course. Please,' I say.

Now he looks at me. 'I just wanted to say... Well, you were right about Tomas Varnas. He's a fine young man. I like him a lot.'

I hit the 'open door' button, and the man comes in.

Well, that's great, Mr Williams. I'm very pleased. So, tell me. What happened?'

He smiles, and gets comfortable in my best chair. He wants to tell me all about it.

We asked him to Sunday lunch. Like you said. And he and Carrie came to lunch, and stayed all day. Lots to talk about.' He laughs. 'Me and Carrie have an argument, of course, but we always do. Tom – I call him Tom now, you see – is very good for Carrie. He doesn't get excited, and angry, like Carrie does. And Carrie listens to him.' He laughs again. 'She never listens to me!'

I smile, and say something about the father–daughter thing.

So Carrie's back home with us now. Tom comes round every evening, of course. And weekends. He's out with Darren now, playing football. Darren thinks he's wonderful!'

Tomas is a big brother for Darren,' I say.

That's right,' says Mr Williams. 'Oh, and Carrie's back at school too. She wants to do business studies, then she can help Tom with his linen business. She's got a good head for business, you know.' He laughs. 'My little Carrie – a businesswoman!'

He stands up. 'Well, you're busy, I can see that. I just wanted to tell you about Tom.'

I like good news, Mr Williams,' I say. 'And it was good of you to come.' I walk with him to the door.

We asked Tomas to Sunday lunch.'

At the door, he says, 'You helped my family a lot. Maybe one day you need help. Just call me.' He gives me his business card. 'Anything. Who knows?'

Who knows? I'm going to remember those words...

6. 不速之客

接下来的三个星期我都很忙。我忙着处理一个新案子，几乎每天都在办公室外奔波。我不太喜欢那个客户，可是这个案子本身很吸引我。

一个星期六的早晨，我又回到了办公室。我要写一大堆邮件，所以当门铃响起时，我有些不快。

通过电脑屏幕，我看到一个男人站在门口。哇、哇、哇，真是太意外了！我敲了一下“开门”按钮，那个男人走了进来。

“威廉斯先生，早上好！你好吗？”我说。他想要干什么？

“早上好，霍姆斯小姐。”他看起来不是很可亲，但也不能说不友善。他四下打量着我的小办公室。

“办公室不错，”他开口说道，“从窗户这儿能看到河吗？”他走到窗边，望着窗外。他想干什么？难道他只是想谈谈我的办公室？也许接下来会聊聊天气……

“今天降温了，”他接着说道，“秋天到了。”

我等待着。

他离开窗户。“我能坐下吗？就一会儿。”

“当然可以，请坐。”我说。

这时，他直视着我。“我只是想说……嗯，你介绍的托马斯·瓦纳斯的情况没错。他是个优秀的青年。我非常喜欢他。”

“噢，好极了，威廉斯先生。我非常高兴。那么，告诉我，发生什么事了？”

他露出笑容，坐在我最好的椅子上，放松下来。他想把一切都告诉我。

“我们邀请他来吃星期天午餐，就像你说的那样。他和卡丽都来了，呆了一天。我们谈了很多。”他笑着说，“当然了，我和卡丽又争吵起来，不过我们一向如此。汤姆——你瞧，现在我叫他汤姆——很适合卡丽。他不像卡丽那样容易激动或生气，而且卡丽又听他的。”他又笑起来。“她从来不听我的！”

我笑了，跟他说了些父女关系的事。

“所以现在卡丽搬回家跟我们一起住了。汤姆自然每天晚上都会来。还有周末。他现在带着达伦出去了，在踢足球。达伦觉得他非常好。”

“托马斯对达伦来说是个大哥哥。”我说。

“的确如此。”威廉斯先生说，“对了，卡丽也回学校上学了。她想读商科，那样她就可以帮助汤姆经营亚麻布生意了。你知道，她很有经商的头脑。”他脸上露出笑容，“我的小卡丽——一个女商人！”

他站起来。“好了，我能看出来你很忙。我只是想跟你说说汤姆。”

“我喜欢好消息，威廉斯先生。”我说，“你能来告诉我这些真是太好了。”我陪他一起走到门边。

站在门口，他说：“你给我们家帮了大忙。说不定哪天你也需要帮助，那就只管给我打电话。”他递给我他的名片，“任何事都可以给我电话。谁知道呢？”

谁知道呢？我会记住这句话的……