“ Then let’s be bored together,” he said.
“ What a marvelous idea. Would you like some coffee?” She rose and walked behind the counter, without waiting for his answer, and poured two cups.
“ Black.”
“ Two black coffees coming up.” She carried the cups back to the table and set them down.
“ Thanks,” he said.
“ My name is Judy Donovan.” She held out her hand.
“ Sam Storm,” the handsome gray-eyed man said, taking her hand.
Judy hung up the phone with a smile. It had been a long time since she’d been out with a man. She was looking forward to dinner. The dinner didn’t really seem like a date, more like extending the long conversation that was interrupted when the Seawolf docked. She checked the wall clock, 4:30. An hour and a half and she had much to do.
She waltzed out of the kitchen and danced up the stairs. She was acting like a girl on her first date and it felt good. Sam Storm might be closing on sixty, but he was still a head turner, and he was a charmer. The way he looked at her made her feel wanted. Of course, she told herself, she was probably imagining it. Men didn’t go out of their way to meet a small town woman with a child.
At the top of the stairs, she entered the bathroom, whirling in front of the full length mirror, keeping her eyes on her reflection as she spun around. Her new figure looked good. She had been without sex for so long, she wondered what it would be like.
She unbuttoned her shirt and slid it off with a fluid motion. Her jeans and panties followed. She kicked them out of the bathroom and shivered into the shower. It wasn’t cold, but goosebumps ran up, down and around her body. The hot shower failed to calm her. She was excited.
She shampooed her hair and rinsed. Conditioned her hair and rinsed. Added more conditioner, shaved her legs, rinsed again. Changed blades, shaved again. Shut off the water, toweled off. Dried her hair, smiled at the mirror. She was ready.
Ready but naked, she laughed to herself.
She padded out of the bathroom to her bedroom. She thought for an instant about what to wear, then selected a lavender silk blouse and tight CK jeans. She decided against bra, panties or panty hose.
She slid her bare feet into a beige pair of low heels and dashed down the stairs. Only thirty minutes had passed since she’d hung up the phone. An hour to go. Forever.
“ Wait a minute,” she told herself out loud. “What am I doing? I’m not that kind of woman!” Never had she planned on sex before a date. And this wasn’t a real date. It was dinner, nothing more.
She marched back upstairs, unbuttoning the silk blouse as she took the steps. She shucked it off as she entered the bedroom. Then she dropped the CKs. Moving toward her dresser, she thought that maybe she was going a little crazy. A year and a half without a man was a long time. From her top drawer she found a frilly bra and matching cotton panties. The next drawer down yielded a cotton Hawaiian print dress. She put it on, then plucked an elastic out of a box on top of the dresser and pulled her hair back into a ponytail.
A horn honked. He was early. Grabbing her purse on her way to the door, she hoped she wasn’t doing something stupid. All thoughts of a smooth prince vanished when she saw the dusty Ford. She put on a brave smile and jumped in the car. He honked the horn, she thought, he didn’t even come to the door.
“ Hi,” he said, “I’m a little early.”
“ That’s okay, I was ready.”
“ I didn’t see any sense pacing the motel room waiting, so I grabbed the bull by the horns and here I am.”
“ I’m glad you did. I was a little anxious myself.”
“ Anxious? I wasn’t anxious, I was sweating. I haven’t been on a date since my wife died fifteen years ago.”
“ Really, Sam? It’s been eighteen months for me. Eighteen months since my divorce, but you can’t expect me to believe that you haven’t been with a woman in fifteen years.”
“ I didn’t say I hadn’t been with a woman. I said I hadn’t been on a date.”
“ You have been with a woman then?”
“ Well sure, a woman here and there that I might have met in a bar, but when you wake up next to someone you don’t know, who couldn’t care less if you were alive or dead, it hardly qualifies as a date.”
“ And when was the last time you met a woman in a bar, here or there?” Judy laughed. She was beginning to like Sam Storm. His honesty was refreshing.
“ So long ago I can’t remember.” He laughed back.
He drove straight to the Tampico Diner, taking the alley shortcut off Kennedy, like he’d lived all his life in Tampico.
“ How did you know about the short cut?”
“ Whenever I come to a new town I make a habit of getting the lay of the land. I like to know my way around.”
He parallel parked in front of the diner and jumped out of the car. He had her door open before she started to reach for the handle. A very interesting contradiction, she thought. He honks me out of the house, but he springs out to open the door. Mr. Storm was consistently inconsistent.
They spent the next three hours eating, drinking and talking about everything under the sun. He told her about his hopes and dreams, his successes and failures, his beliefs and fears, but he also listened. It was a two way conversation.
“ This has been one of the nicest evenings I’ve had in a long time,” she told him as they were getting ready to go.
“ I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.”
“ I don’t eat out often, in fact, I don’t eat out at all. This was a real treat for me.”
“ I still think we should have brought your son,” he said.
“ I tried, but he didn’t want to come.” Judy was impressed with this man. Not many men would want a seven-year-old boy along on a dinner date.
“ Why not?”
“ He’s staying at a friend’s in town. It had been planned for a long time.” She wondered why she’d told him that. Was she unconsciously trying to tell him that nobody was home at her house.
“ Would you like another drink before we leave?”
“ I don’t think so. I’m ready if you are.”
“ I’m ready.” He signaled the waiter and paid the bill with a credit card. Then he got up from the table, came around to her chair and eased it back as she rose.
“ Very gallant,” she said.
“ Your arm, my lady,” he said, offering his. She took it and they made their way out of the diner to the parking lot and his brown Ford Granada.
“ You know, from our conversation on the boat, I would have pictured you in a flashy sports car,” she said as he unlocked the passenger door for her.
“ Why is that?” He seemed amused.
“ You seem so independent, in control, a sports car kind of guy.”
“ Well, I guess I like all this pig iron around me. No question if I get in an accident with one of those little Jap cars who the winner is going to be.”
For a second she felt a twinge. Was that a racist statement? She hoped not, he was such a caring man, she couldn’t imagine that it was.
As if answering her thoughts he said, “I hope I didn’t sound like I have a problem with the Japanese, I don’t. I just don’t like tiny, tinny cars. I spent a good deal of my Army time in Germany in a tank and I guess it rubbed off. I feel safer in a big heavy clunker.”
“ I can understand that,” she said, getting into the car. She leaned back into the worn Naugahyde and closed her eyes. She couldn’t remember when she’d felt so good.
“ We’re here,” he said.
“ What?” she opened her eyes.
“ You fell asleep.”
“ I’m sorry.”
“ Don’t be. You don’t snore.”
“ Would you like to come in for a drink?”
“ I was hoping you’d ask.” He seemed tense to her.
“ What are you thinking about?” she asked.
“ Happier times,” Sam Storm said.
“ And times aren’t happy now?”
“ They’re getting there.” He smiled, getting out of the car. He walked around to her side and opened the passenger door.
“ I don’t think I’ve ever known a man that’s done that for me,” she said.