The Evening Man

Chapter 4

Anne didn't seem very pleased to see me when she opened the door to her town house. In fact, the look she gave me was positively arctic.

 I flashed what I hoped was a winning smile at her, and leaned against the doorway. Have I mentioned before that Anne is ridiculously attractive? Well, she is. Anne possessed a little something I liked to call it. Nature had blessed her with a figure most women would have died for, hair so golden it could have been spun from straw, and a face so enticing, it would have made Liberace question his sexuality. When you combined that with her uncompromising punk rock aesthetics, a sharp mind that hated being bored, and a radically warped sense of humor, the end result was a woman you'd do anything to have.  Anything

 I think I was gradually winning her over. I had to be, right? I mean, we'd already gotten carnal on five separate occasions, and sleeping with someone casually, totally means they like you, right?

 Right?

 “Anne,” I drawled gently. I reached over and gently tilted her chin up, as I slowly leaned in. “Nice night, wouldn't you say?”

 Anne smiled back at me, and reached out a hand that I assumed was going to gently stroke my cheek. I assumed incorrectly. Instead, she flicked me on the tip of my nose.

 “Not in the mood, slick,” she said.

 She took a step back into her apartment, and still smiling, closed the door in my face.

Damn. I could only assume that canceling on Anne, and then showing up at her place much, much later, was something of a deal breaker in her mind. Well, that was a little inconvenient for me, now wasn't it? Hadn't I driven all the way out here? What about my good karma? Where was my reward?

 “You're not like, upset with me or anything, are you?” I asked. It was a rhetorical question. I ask those every now and then, because I enjoyed knowing what the word 'rhetorical' meant.

 “Go away, Danny,” Anne said through the door. “Not in the mood for your little games.”

 “Hey, there's no games being played. I told you in the text, it was a work thing.”

 “And I told you, not to keep me waiting. And guess what? You kept me waiting.”

 Wow, she was being obstinate. Or maybe she was  playing hard to get? I really couldn't tell. Was I supposed to leave? But she was talking to me through the door! Wasn't talking a good sign? Good god, this was confusing.

 “Hey, what matters now is that I'm here. Theoretically, shouldn't you be pleased?”

 “You're an idiot,” she said. The door reopened, and there she stood, giving me the sort of frank look I imagine a disappointed teacher would share with an underachieving student. It made me feel defensive. Just who was she to make me feel this way? At the same time, I couldn't look away. She was too beautiful.

 Sometimes, I wondered if I was a superficial man. I asked Megan once if I was, and she said if I had to ask, then the answer was evident. I told Megan she was a terrible person, and didn't speak to her for a while.

 “If I'm such an idiot, how did I end up with a woman like you?” I asked.

 “Mostly by cheating on my sister,” replied Anne.

 “She's your stepsister,” I said. “That hardly counts.”

 “It's close enough,” she said. “It was fun at first, running around with you behind Nicky's back, but it occurs to me that a man who'll cheat on one woman, wouldn't hesitate to cheat on another. Trust is important, isn't it?”