The Moose, the Tree, and the Irish Writer

She had cried herself to sleep there against the door, clutching the little gold cross she wore around her neck. She awoke to the phone ringing...the phone...Viggo broke the phone...no...the OTHER phone in the studio.

She jumped up and flipped on the light and then winced and cursed because it hurt her eyes. She raced to the studio and picked up the phone. "Hello!" She practically yelled.

"Tabby?" Viggo asked. "Are you alright?" "Ye"Yes, yes, I was, I fell asleep." She said trying to catch her breath. "How, how is Mike?" She asked worrying about the response. "I.."I...I got here in time to say goodbye. They are going to have the funeral the day after tomorrow. Melanie doesn't want a long drawn out affair for the kids sakes." Viggo said trying to keep the tremor out of his voice.

"God I am so sorry Viggo." Tabby said trying not to cry again.

"I wish you were with me. I could use some of your strength right now." Viggo said softly as he leaned his forehead against the hotel window.

"I wish I were too, in so shortime ime I have come to care about you Viggo...I wish I was there to support you but well you will have to do with long distance support." She said trying to keep her voice from wavering.

He laughed softly, barely a laugh at all really. "Sean always says that."

"Then I like him already. You better get some sleep isn't it late?” She asked trying to spy the clock.

"Yeah...I just, I wanted to hear your voice. Conaím thú.” He said softly.

“I miss you too. Oíche mhaith, codladh sámh.” She responded in Gaelic.

“Goodnight, and sleep well to you too.” Viggo said smiling into the phone.

She went back to the living room and noticed the answering machine had messages. The phone was shattered upstairs in Viggo's room...but the machine was still taking calls. She would take care of that in the morning. Then she thought...Sean and Orlando are coming Sunday...they will need rooms. Hopefully Viggo doesn't mind but I am moving into his room and his bed, tonight.

She went back up stairs and grabbed her nightgown and went to his room. She crawled under his covers and could smell him all around her. Her last thoughts before she fell asleep were of his smile and his blue gray eyes staring into hers and scent of sandalwood.

She awoke in the morning as sunlight was pouring through the window. She sat up and looked around her. Viggo's bed was warm and she wanted to stay but she had to feed the horses. So she got up and went back to her room...grabbed her things and brought them to Viggo's room where she dressed and stole another one of his soft sweatshirts. It smelled like Viggo.

She went downstairs and grabbed juice and toast and then grabbed one of Viggo's baseball caps and his gloves in the mudroom on the way out.

Once she was done with the horses she went back to the house and called Kate from the studio phone. Kate came over and the two women worked around the house...getting it ready for Viggo and his guests. Kate didn't say anything when she noticed that Tabby had moved her things into Viggo's room.

Then once they were done in the house Kate went with Tabby to the barn...they saddled both the horses and took them out for exercise.

When they rode back to the house Bob's truck was in the yard.

"Looks like your husband came looking for you." Tabby commented as they went in the barn.

Bob stepped in. "Hey there beautiful." He said kissing Kate's cheek. "Hi, Tabby."

"Hello, Bob...afraid Viggo and I won't make dinner tonight as you might have guessed." Tabby stated as she pulled the saddle off Brego.

"Yeah...I uh...I brought a new phone and hooked it up. Also Sally sent a casserole." Bob said smiling at her.

"Thanks...how much do I owe you for the phone?" Tabby asked.

"No, it's ok. Consider it a gift or something." Bob said smiling at her.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yeah."

Later after they had the horses settled in they went back to the house and the three of them had tea. "You miss him don't you?" Kate asked.

"Well yes...it's his home after all...I feel like a house sitter just taking care of things until he gets home." Tabby said toying with a frayed sleeve.

"Well don't feel that way Tabby...Viggo really likes you. He doesn't normally take to people this quickly." Kate said seriously.

"Christ Kate, you make him sound like a dog." Bob said nearly snorting.

"Well you remember when he first moved here Bob...how long it took for him to warm up to anyone around here?" Kate said softly.

"That's true." Bob admitted.

Tabby just smiled. So Viggo wasn't as open with everyone as he is with her. Then the phone rang...the new one.

Tabby ran in and answered it. "Hello?"

"Tabby, it's Viggo. How are things at home?" He asked. She smiled at that.

"Everything is fine...we uh I mean you have a new phone...Kate and I took Brego and Sky out for some exercise, and we cleaned house a little bit to get ready for Sean and Orlando's arrival." She told him.

"Oh. Great." He said...he had heard the "we uh I mean you" that she had said...he realized then that he preferred we in that sentence.

"I think I might leave before the funeral...I at sut sure if I can handle being here through it all." Viggo admitted.

"Do what you feel is best, Viggo." Tabby advised.

"All right. Tabby?" He asked.

"Aye?"

"I uh..thanks again." He said leaning against the window again like last night...he wanted to tell her so much more but he was so far away and still they had only known each other less than a week. He couldn't tell her yet...that he loved her; she might think he had lost his mind. He wasn’t even sure he hadn’t lost his mind.

"Anytime...goodbye." She said softly and then hung up and closed her eyes.

"Everything alright? Or at least is Viggo holding up ok?" Kate asked.

"Aye...he's holding up." Tabby responded setting the phone back down.

The next day Tabby got up and took care of the horses and then wrote the entire day. Late that night after writing for hours on end it seemed Tabby crawled into Viggo's bed and closed her eyes.