Chapter 3

Dust danced along the shaft of light, filtering through the blinds, into the small bedroom. It slowly warmed the t-shirted back of the sleeper and soon drowsy eyes pried open to face the bright green, digital lights staring back at her. Seven, zero, zero exactly. Even though it was Sunday and Jamie allowed herself an extra hour of sleep, her internal time clock kept its perfect record.

She kicked off the light cover and padded into the bathroom where she took care of personal business, including brushing both teeth and hair. Having switched her sleeping attire, which consisted of her favorite, blue Sylvester and Tweety T-shirt and blue plaid sleep shorts, for her workout clothes, she went to the kitchen for her morning fuel.

Her spare bedroom barely held the three pieces of equipment that she deemed necessary to maintain her good physical condition. The treadmill and stationary bike had to be passed up for the last month due to her busted appendage, so the weight bench got overtime. As Jamie moved the heavy barbell from mid-air to her chest and back again, she kept her thoughts far away from the previous evening.

The clock on the wall read 8:45. She wanted to go fifteen more minutes, but less than twenty seconds later the phone rang. Her first thought was to let the machine get it, but she hated talking to those things and decided to give the caller a break. Still lying down on the bench she grabbed the cordless, on the floor next to her. "Hello."

"Hi Jamie, it’s Erin Casey."

Jamie shot up, narrowly missing hitting her head on the bar above her. She squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to control the conflicting emotions firing inside her brain.

"I hope I’m not bothering you," said Erin. "I didn’t wake you did I?" she added with alarm.

"No. I’ve been awake for a while and of course you’re not bothering me. What can I do for you?"

"Actually... I wanted to invite you to lunch. Brig was going to drive me home, but she wants to go shopping and I’m not in the mood for that. I thought instead, she could drop me off at DeeJay’s Cafe’ and you could meet me there." She hesitated then added. "It is close to your building isn’t it?"

"Yeah, it’s only a couple of from blocks from here."

But with no further comment, Erin asked, "Unless you have other plans?" Her disappointment was evident.

Jamie wiped the sweat at her temple. Whether it was from the exercise or the fear, she didn’t know. Say yes, you have plans, say yes, yes, her mind yelled. But other parts of her body told the truth. "No, I don’t have any plans."

"Well, would you like to have lunch? I’d really like to get to know you better."

"Okay, that sounds nice."

"Great!" Erin practically jumped through the phone with her answer. "How about 11:30?"

"That’s fine."

"See you then, bye."

Jamie heard the smile on the other end of the line, but as she disconnected, her face held a heavy frown. She scolded herself. Why did you do that? Jamie used the white, terry cloth towel and vigorously rubbed her damp face. I thought we had this settled last night. Several more minutes of internal contemplation followed. "What’s one more lunch," she shrugged and finished up her fifteen minutes.

The sun was nearing its highest point as Jamie rounded the corner onto Rosewood Avenue and approached the busy café. She stopped on the sidewalk and scanned the outdoor tables for the familiar face. She found it, sitting at a small table in the back corner, reminiscent of her first glimpse the night before. I could leave, she’d never know. But that would hurt her. We just met though; it couldn’t hurt that much. She debated with herself. I could make up a good excuse. Just then something startling happened. Erin turned in her direction, as if she were looking right at her. Jamie didn’t know what that meant, but she knew she couldn’t leave then.

She slowly maneuvered through the close set tables and stopped right in front of the author without a word.

"Jamie?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

Erin smiled. "I heard the heavy fall of your cast on the cement."

"Oh, that’s good. I never would have thought of that." Jamie pulled out the chair and sat down. "Have you been waiting long?"

"Only about five minutes. I’m hungry. How about you?"

Jamie glanced over the many lunch selections on the menu. "I thought sure I’d still be full from all the food I ate last night, but yeah, I am a little hungry."

The waitress soon took their orders to the kitchen and returned with their drinks.

"So how did you break your ankle?" Erin asked, jumping right into conversation. "You did say you’d tell me sometime."

Jamie started grinning again. Boy, am I in trouble. She took a long sip of her coke.

Erin waited a few seconds, but the ensuing silence was to long. "You don’t have to tell me. I’m being to nosey."

"No, it’s not that. I told you it was a silly accident. And it’s kind of embarrassing."

Erin smiled deviously. "Now I know I want to hear it." She crossed her heart with her right hand. "I promise not to tell another soul."

"Especially your sister," said Jamie, adamantly. She twisted in her seat, but continued. "Okay my short, but dirty little tale goes like this. I pulled my limo into the drive..."

"Wait!" Erin blurted out. "You own a limo?"

"No! No, I drive a limo. It’s my second job."

"Oh. Okay. Sorry I interrupted."

Jamie went on. "The lot was all wet, where they’d been washing the cars. My boss is a real tight wad. He won’t use automatic washes. We have to do it ourselves. Any way it wasn’t just wet, there were standing puddles everywhere. I didn’t want to get my new, eighty-five dollar shoes, wet." She paused to take a drink. "There’s a small grassy area next to the building and it’s slightly uphill. I pulled the car up there and got out, so proud of myself for staying dry. I took three steps and my left foot went one way and I went the other."

Erin cringed. "Ow, that hurt."

"Yeah."

"But, I don’t understand what’s so embarrassing about that?"

Jamie blushed, even though her companion couldn’t see it. "Well, the grass wasn’t totally clear of its own obstacles. It had been recently visited by one of our canine friends…or for me, enemy." She shook her head. "Ruined my shoes anyway."

Erin put a hand to her mouth as her shoulders and head slightly bounced.

Jamie bit back her own smile at the cute woman, trying so hard not to laugh. "You’re going to bust if you don’t let that laugh out," Jamie told her.

"I’m sorry," Erin said, through the chuckles. "I’m just glad Artemis wasn’t here to hear that." She heard Jamie begin laughing with her and that sound sent warmth over her lonely heart.

The waitress delivered the food to the two friends sharing merriment and Jamie started in on her chicken salad and fries. The conversation stayed away from anything long and complicated, although there were still many things that each wanted to know about the other. But Erin was certain there was time for that. Jamie had even relaxed enough in the woman’s company that her fears had momentarily dissipated.

Erin finished the last of her drink and dabbed the corners of her mouth with her napkin. She leaned forward. "I don’t suppose the waitress left a dessert menu, did she?"

Jamie looked down to the brightly colored piece of cardboard. "As a matter of fact, she did. You still have room for something else?"

Erin giggled. "I always have room for dessert and I don’t mean Jell-O."

"Well…"

"Come on, we can split something," urged the blonde.

Jamie was learning that it was going to be almost impossible to refuse that smile anything. "Okay, you talked me into it. But I don’t think anything on this list will come close to your cake."

Erin was startled by the compliment. She knew the night before, Jamie had been teasing her about touting her own cooking, but this was a genuine comment. "It’s to bad they don’t have ice cream."

"You like ice cream do you?"

"Ice cream is my worst weakness." The Irish face filled with decadence. "I would do anything…well almost anything for ice cream."

Jamie felt guilty about being able to observe this woman unnoticed, but she couldn’t help herself. "How about turtle brownie?" she finally asked.

"Ooo, that sounds good." Erin motioned the waitress and gave her the order. "You know, I was wrong."

"About what?"

"The ice cream. If you add hot fudge, whipped cream and nuts I would do anything."