Under the Elms

January 18th, 2008, 11 p.m.

‘Are you stalking me?’ she huffed, irritated that he knew her address as well as her cellphone number.

‘No, I drove by a few minutes ago and noticed the light on in your front room. It  was too dim to be a lamp, so I figured it was the fireplace, and that you were awake so I could call.’

‘Why were you-oh, never mind,’ she replied. She knew there could be a perfectly reasonable explanation, or he could be stalking her. With Prince, one never really knew. ‘I’m not doing breakfast now,’ she continued.

‘Fine, take the day off and spend it with me. We can have breakfast later.’

Pulling the afghan off the sofa and wrapping it around her now cold legs, she took a deep breath.

‘Come on, you know you want a day off. When was the last time you took one?’

‘This year? Not since school started,’ she admitted. Aarrgh! Why did I tell him that? That had always been her problem with him. She was too honest, and he could see through her attempts to deceive him. She’d never had that talent where he was concerned.

‘It’s already second semester. What are you waiting for?’ he replied.

‘All right, but I still need sleep. My all-nighter days ended long ago,’ she said. What could it hurt? Oh, you know what it could hurt, quit trying to kid yourself.

‘I knew you could do it. Good girl. I’ll be by at 1:30. We’ll do brunch.’

‘Where do you get brunch on a Friday?’ She countered.

‘How would you know? You’re a teacher,' he chuckled, pleased to have persuaded her. 'Just be ready by 1:30, okay mama?’

‘Don’t call me mama.’ her response came out more forcefully than she intended. Now he had another piece of ammunition to drive her crazy. Mistake number two of this phone call. She needed to get off the phone before she laid bare any other information. ‘I’m ending this call now to go to sleep.’

‘Don’t forget to turn off the fireplace, and sweet dreams,’ came the chipper reply, and the line went dead. Fuming at his accuracy where she was concerned, she followed his directions.

The next day, she stood in her closet, filled with uncertainty. What do you wear on a date with an old...boyfriend...soulmate...love of your life…’Sh*t,’ she murmured under her breath. She didn’t curse at all these days, it was too easy to slip in front of students and end up being reprimanded. The fact that she was dithering made her just as frustrated as the fact that she’d agreed to this brunch date. She hated that he still had a hold on her after all these years, and was afraid it wouldn’t take him long to realize it and use it to his advantage.

Settling on brown wool herringbone dress pants and a clinging v-neck cashmere sweater in coral, she ran a tiny bit of coconut oil through her hair to tame it a little in the dry winter air. She put on mascara, eyeliner, and reddish lip gloss, more makeup than she usually wore on a school day. She admired the results in the mirror. Maybe I should do this every-nah, I’d rather sleep the extra fifteen minutes.

As she slipped her feet into brown flat heeled booties, the doorbell rang. He’s on time. Either he’s matured, or he really wants to see me. Pursing her lips in thought as she grabbed an oversized bright orange handbag, she hurried to the door before he rang the bell again.

‘Hi-oh, why did I bother!’ was the greeting that made him laugh out loud.

‘You look beautiful, mama-no, don’t close the door, I’ll quit. You used to have more of a sense of humor!’ he replied, stepping into her home uninvited. His black cashmere overcoat hung perfectly on his frame, his fedora tilted at the precise angle to emphasize the adorable mole on his left cheek.