"Hi. You're early," Walter remarked.
"Not really!"
"How was your dinner?"
"It was nice. The food was delicious!"
"What did you guys talk about?"
"Ah, the usual gossip." Louise replied. "Jo's always stressing out over Mr. Wrong, and Terri has to beat the men away with a stick."
"Good old Terri!" Walter exclaimed.
"Hey, don't start with that again!" Louise insisted. "You made me upset last night."
"I'm sorry." Walter was genuine this time. "Did you talk about me?"
"We talked a lot about you, and how much I like you."
"I don't believe that."
"Well, believe it," Louise reassured him. "It's true."
"Well, that's a nice compliment - IF it's true."
"Very true," she said, moving in closer to him.
They hugged and stayed in each other's arms for longer than usual. Louise took a deep breath and relished the feeling of being in Walter's embrace. He was trim and athletic, but he knew how to hold her softly.
Louise realized that she was very lucky to be with Walter. He was fun, and spontaneous, successful - 'and rather sexy for an engineer,' she thought with a mental chuckle. She had been lucky after the infidelity. She wasn't going to make another mistake. Her friends would have to accept that.
She gave him a kiss and went over to look through the day's mail.
"I called the Ferrari dealership today," Walter mentioned, "to ask if we could order replicas directly from the company. The receptionist said that she remembered talking to us."
Louise's heart sank. "That's strange!"
"It IS strange. She said that she remembered a man and a woman asking about toy cars. Were you with someone when you were there?"
"No, I was alone!" Louise insisted.
"That's funny," Walter reasoned, "because they probably don't get that many people asking about toys."
"Oh, crap!"
"What?" he demanded.
"I know what it is," she said. "There was this guy in the showroom. I asked about the toy cars, and he started laughing out loud, like it was some stupid idea. I got mad, and I told the guy off. He must have been surprised, because he apologized."
"And that was it?"
"That was it! I left."
"He didn't invite you out to lunch or for a ride in his Ferrari."
"No! Nothing like that." She paused to calculate his response. "Actually, he gave me his business card, but I threw it away."
"He gave you his business card?"
"Yes. Men do that sometimes - especially when they're desperate losers who insult women in public places."
Walter looked incredulous.
"Look, I'm telling you the truth. Not only did I throw the card away, I was so angry with the jerk that I shredded it. The honest truth!"
"What did your friends say when you told them?" Walter concluded correctly that this incident would be a topic for discussion.
"There were mad at me. They said that they wanted a ride in a Ferrari, and I blew their chances by telling the bozo off. - Look, I am telling you the absolute truth. The guy was a jerk, I told him off, he tried to play nice and gave me his card, and I shredded it. End of story."
"Except you pissed off your friends."
"My friends will get over it," she said, kissing him on the cheek.
Louise felt a sense of relief in discussing the incident with Walter even if it meant complicating the plan that Terri and Jo were hatching. Maybe this offered her a graceful way out of calling Frank.
"Okay, now it's my turn to take a shower. Do you want to join me, Mr. Adventurous?"
"I would love to, but I need to make some serious progress on this presentation. Rain check?"
"Okay."
"See, you should have joined me last night!" Walter protested. "An opportunity lost."
"Not lost," Louise said calmly. "We'll catch up when you finish your work."
'The Horse Farm'
Copyright © 2013 Daniel R. South
All Rights Reserved
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