"No one who looked at you would ever be shocked."
She smiled. "That's sweet."
"It's true," he continued. "You're not the type to inspire shock. You're more… plain."
"Plain?!" she shouted.
"Bad choice of words?"
"Not unless I'm a bagel."
Harry winced. "Go on with the date."
"Anyway, we talked. He didn't spit food, stutter, check out all the better looking girls in the bar, or make any inappropriate jokes. He has a job, doesn't live with his mother, and is not allergic to cats."
"He hasn't met your cats yet."
Sally stuck her tongue out at him. "See, I know what you are doing. You are trying to bring me down. But the fact that I didn't get the spinster cat grimace was a major step forward."
"I'm sorry, back up, the spinster cat grimace?"
"It's been a phenomenon I've discovered over my last few dates."
"Even with Alex?"
"No, Alex was gay. Remember? They typically don't have a problem with cats."
Harry didn't bother to ask what being gay had to do with cats, but since she was on a ramble, he didn't stop to ask. It was best during times like these to just let her get it all out of her system.
"But everyone else, as soon as you mention cats, plural, they get that look. That uh-oh-she's-got-cats look."
"What does the look look like?"
Sally scrunched up her face, squinted her eyes, and pursed her lips.
"That's some look," Harry noted, though he doubted any sane man would be caught dead looking at a woman like that.
"I mean it's not like I have a hundred cats."
"Of course not."
"Just two."
"That's all," Harry agreed.
"To keep each other company while I'm at work all day."
"See that's where I lose you. Do cats get lonely?" Harry wondered aloud.
"Of course they get lonely. They're human, aren't they?"
"No," he drawled. "Actually they're not."
"You know what I mean," Sally huffed.
"I don't think I do."
"You're just like the rest of those man cat-haters," she accused him.
"Unlike Kent," Harry quipped.
Sally pointed a finger at him. "Yes, exactly unlike Kent! He didn't have a problem with my pets. He thinks cats are wonderful companions. He is the perfect man. Did I mention that I'm in love?"
Harry tried not to roll his eyes. "So when is you're next date?"
Sally shifted slightly in her chair. "I don't know. Now we begin the waiting phase."
"I really have been out of it for too long," he muttered. "The waiting phase?"
"You go out, you have a nice time, and then you wait for him to call."
"You don't call him?"
She huffed. "Excuse me! I'm old-fashioned."
"Old fashioned? On our last business trip together you tried to seduce the bartender at the hotel bar by getting on top of the bar and dancing to the song You Can Leave Your Hat On."
"Completely different. I was intoxicated. You can't be old fashioned and intoxicated at the same time," she said, trying not recall the hangover she'd had the morning after that little incident. "The rules of dating are clear. Boys are supposed to call girls."
"That's insecurity speaking. But, fine. Why didn't you both just make plans that night after the date was over?"
Sally snorted. "Please. That would be way too desperate. You've got to play it cool. Casual. This was nice. We should do it again…"
"I'll call you sometime," Harry added, remembering back to his early twenties and the things he used to say. God, that was such a long time ago. He often wondered how he got from there to here.
"No, not that. Never that."
"Why not that?"
"I'll call you, is fine. I'll call you sometime, is a brush off."
"It is?" No wonder he didn't date. Dating was too hard.
"Sure," Sally explained. "Sometime implies some vague time in the future, which really means never. I'll call you, implies two days."
"Two days?"
"Absolutely, one is too soon and smacks of desperation. But if you go longer than two days without a call, then forget it."
"But what if that person is busy?"
"Busy? For two days straight?"
She made it seem so ridiculous, but Harry could site times when he'd kept her here at the office for two long nights in a row. "It happens."
"If a person wanted to see another person again they would make time. Two days is more than enough time, three at the absolute max." She paused for a moment considering this. "Unless of course day two or three falls on a Saturday."
"Is there a book or something I can read that explains all these rules?"
"Sure. It's called the … The Book of Looooove."
"I can't believe you just said that."
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Sally laughed, but continued her explanation. "It's all very simple. You want to wait at least two days to play it cool, but you don't want to wait too long or the person you want to see again might lose interest and find someone else. You don't want to call on Saturday because you can't ask a person out for Saturday on Saturday. If you do that you're subtly implying that she wouldn't have already had plans for Saturday, in which case you are indirectly calling her a loser."
"My head hurts."
"The point is…I'm in the waiting phase."
"So you should know something by Thursday."
"Yes. I should definitely know something by Thursday," she stated.
But even as she said it she could feel all her earlier confidence draining from her body like water draining out of a sink. What if he didn't call?
No, she couldn't think like that. They had fun. They talked for hours. Sure, it wasn't love at first sight. But it was nice. It was comfortable. He would call. She was sure of it.
Almost sure of it.
A little sure.
Nope, not really sure at all.
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My March Release, Calculated Risk!
Calculated Risk
March 2005
Silhouette Bombshell™
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