True North

Chapter 39

Stormy somehow got roped in to working two more shifts at the diner, breakfast on Thursday and lunch on Friday. Since Peggy could run circles around her when it came to waitressing, Stormy doubted that her services were needed at the diner any more than they were at her father's house lately, but it broke up the day and kept her mind occupied. Not to mention that it left her with a fairly decent chunk of change in her pocket, which was a relief after living off of her savings for the better part of a month.

She was up with the sun on Saturday and spent most of the day catching up on household chores. By lunchtime, she had scrubbed both bathrooms, done two loads of laundry, stripped and remade the beds, and dusted all of the woodwork in the house. Walter came in from the garage just as she was setting his lunch plate on the table.

"You're not eating?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder as he washed his hands at the sink.

"No, I'm not really hungry," Stormy said as she placed the mustard back in the refrigerator. She poured herself a glass of water, sat down at the table, and then stood back up again to fold the towel that Walter had just used, smoothing it neatly as she laid it on the counter. Walter took his seat at the table, watching her curiously as she sat down and then stood up again.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" he barked. "You're jumpier than a cat in a room full of rocking chairs!"

"Nothing," Stormy insisted, although he did have a point. "I'm just... I guess I just have extra energy today, that's all."

"Well, put it to good use and go mow the lawn!" Walter grumbled, and then disappeared behind the newspaper.

Stormy glanced at the clock. It was still only twelve-thirty, and the lawn would take maybe an hour, two if she did the trimming.

That still leaves me plenty of time to get ready for—   Her thoughts stopped short as she realized what had been nagging at her all day: The Practice Date was tonight. Dammit, she had done such a good job of convincing herself that Brian would forget all about it that she had forgotten about it herself!

But what if she was the only one to forget? What if Brian was at home right now, assuming that they were still on for tonight? Should she call? But then if he had forgotten, her call would only serve to remind him, and then what? Stormy screamed silently in her mind.

This is already complicating things, and it hasn't even happened yet!

She had agreed to it on a whim, as a lark, because the idea had sounded so ridiculously preposterous that it couldn't possibly be anything but fun. Plus, she liked getting dressed up and going out on occasion, and the lure of being able to do so without the ensuing romantic hassles was too tempting to ignore. But now that the time had come, she was actually nervous, and she couldn't escape the distinct feeling that she was jumping in to something that was way, way over her head. No, there was no way she was going through with this! She was reaching for the phone when it rang.

"Hello?"

"Hi."

Brian. "Oh, hey," Stormy said, ducking out of the kitchen and lowering her voice. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to see if we're still on for tonight," he said.

"Oh..." she said hesitantly. "Yeah, um... I was just getting ready to call you..."

"You're not cancelling on me, are you?" he asked.

"Well, I..."

"I knew you'd chicken out," he razzed.