Dating Can Be Deadly

I didn’t reply. Kitty snaked between my ankles purring his thanks for the tuna and marking me with his scent. I bent down and stroked his fur that was quickly drying to black fluff.

“So are you going to try that thing, then?” He nodded toward the package.

“No, of course not.” I wondered if my voice sounded as unsure about that answer as I felt. I went to drink more of my beer and discovered it disappointingly empty and his looked the same.

“Can I get you another?”

He got to his feet.

“No, that’s all right, I should go anyway. I only came inside because…” He seemed to grasp to finish his sentence as if he wasn’t sure himself what he was doing here. Well, I certainly couldn’t help him because I was still trying to figure that out myself.

“I guess I just wanted to make sure you weren’t planning on returning to that vacant building. It’s not a good idea to be stomping all over a crime scene.”

I walked him the four baby steps from my living room-bedroom over to my apartment door.

“Thanks for seeing me home and I apologize for spoiling your date. Let Candy know that I’m sorry that she had to take a cab just because you felt obligated to take me home.”

“I don’t think I’ll be telling Candy that I was in your apartment.”

“Why not? It’s perfectly innocent and—”

“Perfectly innocent except for this.”

He bent his head and his lips brushed mine tentatively. I was in a bewildered daze as he nibbled my lower lip. Before it occurred to me to respond, he ended the kiss and wordlessly slipped out of my apartment.

I remained leaning against the wall in a state of complete shock for at least a few minutes, afraid I’d collapse. He kissed me. Huh.

I awoke Sunday morning bleary-eyed from dreams that ranged from a woman bathed in blood to Clay bathed with my tongue. The latter actually caused me to call an emergency brunch meeting. We ducked out of the tapering drizzle and gathered inside Michael’s Diner at ten-thirty in the a.m. Michael’s is a quaint narrow restaurant with a terrific long counter where you can spin on stools while you eat. It wasn’t exactly dinner theater but it was reasonably priced.

First things first, we ordered food and coffee and dug into the serious conversation once both had been received.

“Was there tongue, or no tongue?” Jenny inquired from the stool on my right.

“No tongue,” I replied drinking deeply from my coffee cup.

“What about breast?” Lara asked from the stool on my left. “Did he go for a grope?”

“Nope, no grope.”

We were silent while my friends absorbed the news that the lawyer I’d craved and pined for over the last two years had surprised me with a late-night, passionate kiss.

“So the guy kissed you? He kissed you in your apartment?” Jenny shook her head slowly. “I don’t get it, why didn’t you just drag him into bed?”

“Because she’s not a slut, that’s why,” Lara reasoned dipping a corner of her toast into egg yolk.

“Well, maybe I would’ve tried harder to at least return the kiss if I’d known it was coming,” I explained. “I was frozen in shock. I just stood there like an idiot.”

“Did you put your arms around him, or anything?” Jenny asked slathering cream cheese on a bagel.

“No. Nothing. I was a statue. He’ll probably take that as a rejection, right? He’ll think I’m either not attracted to him or that I’m frigid as a Popsicle.”

Jenny and Lara leaned forward across the counter to look at each other; then they looked back at me and shrugged in unison.

“Nobody knows how the male mind works,” Lara breathed. “It’s a mystery.”

“So, are you keeping the cat?” Jen asked.

“I don’t know, if Mole Man finds out he’ll have a fit but Inky is such a cute little furball.”

“Inky, huh? You’re keeping him,” Lara pointed out.

“Yep,” Jenny added. “If you’ve named him, you’re definitely keeping him.”

I decided they were right. I did want to keep Inky. I guess that meant a trip to the store for a litter box and cat toys.

“I wish we could have a cat.” Lara sighed. “But I’m allergic.”

“What about Lucien?” Jenny prompted. “Are you going to call him?”

“What for?”

“You need to at least thank him for the gift.”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess I should.” I downed the rest of my coffee.

“And he’ll probably ask you out again,” Jenny added. She leaned forward to talk to Lara. “You should see this guy, tall, dark and yummy from head to toe.”

“You must be giving off some kind of sex vibrations,” Lara said to me, obviously impressed. “Two interested men in one weekend. That must be some kind of record.”

“Hell, two in one year would be a record,” I agreed.

“By the way,” Jenny began around a mouthful of bagel. “I talked to Doug last night and convinced him to let you have your car if you can come up with half the cash.”

“That’s great news!” I beamed. “Payday’s tomorrow, right? I could pay him half as soon as I cash my check!”

“Yeah, but you gotta promise to pay him the other half by mid-November. He won’t carry you longer than a month.”

“With the extra cash I’m making at the Megaplex it won’t be a problem.”

“Just make sure you don’t quit without giving proper notice once you earn your car repair cash,” Lara warned. “Harold’ll kill me if you’re a no-show one night.”