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Joanna woke Monday morning, disoriented. She looked around, but her alarm clock was missing, as was the table upon which is rested. In fact, she wasn't in her own bed. But she was alone.
She sat up, looking around for her clothes. As she dressed, Hale opened the door and poked his head around. "You're awake? I wasn't sure when you needed to get get going to make it to work on time. It's only 7:30."
Relieved, she nodded absently as she finished dressing. She looked around to see if she had forgotten anything.
"Your bag is in the other room. Do you have time for breakfast?"
"Uh," Joanna thought quickly. She probably had time, but something was telling her not to, that she'd forgotten something important. "Not really. But thanks. It's been a great weekend."
"That is an understatement." Hale drew her into his arms and kissed her slowly and deeply, running his hand lightly over her hair. "Let's make it more than just a weekend, okay?" He looked her straight in the eye, waiting for her response.
Unsure what to say, she nodded. He let her go and watched her collect her bag and walk out the door.
Joanna's daze continued as she crossed the parking lot to her unit. She put some water in the tea kettle and bread in to toast while she took a quick shower. After dressing, she assembled a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and dropped a tea bag into a commuter mug. She could eat breakfast on the way in to work.
As she pulled out of the apartment parking lot, the warm fuzzy feeling that had made it so hard to think straight all morning, or, for that matter, for the last day and a half, evaporated. She hadn't run any of the errands she had planned for the weekend, including looking for a new apartment. Although she didn't think she was going to do that after all. She hadn't called her parents on Sunday evening, which she always did. Of course, her parents often teased her for not being busier on the weekends doing other things, and they were unlikely to worry. She'd meant to get a lightbulb to replace the one that was out in one of the living room lamps, and a toner cartridge for her printer. She hadn't cleaned the apartment in three weeks and was getting noticeably dusty.
She sipped her tea at a traffic light. She had gone from dopily happy to compulsive in just a few blocks. She sighed. What was wrong with her?
Images and sensations from the last two nights intruded on her thoughts. Lying curled up in Hale's arms, his breath warm at her neck. Straddling him, her hair falling across her face, his hands gripping her hips. Looking down her own body in the throes of orgasm, to see his eyes looking at her as his tongue brought her through a crashing series of peaks.
No wonder she'd forgotten her weekend plans. They weren't worth the trouble to think about, given the alternative. And it wasn't as if she'd done nothing during the weekend. There had been that appalling date. And she had read the classifieds and a few web sites looking for jobs and apartments in Seattle. She'd even looked at some of the houses for sale in Seattle, and fiddled with a mortgage calculator.
When she got into work, she checked Christene's office first. Christene had probably come in over the weekend to put in extra, uninterrupted time. She wasn't in yet, which didn't surprise Joanna. Taille's flex time was technically from 6 to 9 a.m., but Christene and a lot of the other programmers tended to stretch it to 10 a.m. and beyond. No one was prepared to enforce the rules, as long as the work was good, not when the job market was so tight.
The edge of Christene's desk was lined with empty cans of Diet Coke, stacked two high. It would have been cleared by janitorial staff some time Friday night, so not only had Christene come in over the weekend, she'd stayed for a while. There was a Toys R Us bag in the trash. Christene must have taken at least one break over the course of the weekend. Joanna wondered what she'd picked up.
Arriving in her own office, Joanna plugged her laptop in. She played her voicemail messages. The first one was from a groggy sounding Christene. "Hey, Jo. It Sunday, er, Monday, I guess, and I came in over the weekend. I'm kinda tired, so I'm going home now. I'm not sure when I'll make it in. I don't think there are any meetings, but if I forgot one, could you page me in time to get in? I'll need about an hour's warning." Joanna checked her calendar, but Christene was right. No scheduled meetings this morning. And almost certainly she wouldn't see Christene until this afternoon at the earliest. The next message was from her cousin, asking how the date had gone and leaving a work number. The third message was from her father.
"Hello, Joanna. No rush, but we didn't hear from you Sunday evening, from which your mother and I conclude you had an unexpectedly exciting weekend. We'd love to hear the details whenever you get the chance. We love you lots. Bye."
The last message was from Kathryn, "Drop by when you get a moment this morning." Nothing from the recruiters.
E-mail contained more messages, but less of interest. Registering at the job search sites had generated several automated messages. She looked around a little at the list of source code checkins from her team since Friday evening. There had been a few, but none from Christene that would suggest she had completed the project over the weekend. Time to check in with her boss. She walked over to Kathryn's office.
"Good morning," she said as walked in. Kathryn looked up with a grin, waving her hand to close the door behind her. Joanna did, then sat down across from her boss. "I got your e-mail about that bone of contention between Christene and Anthony. Good thinking on your part."
"Thanks," said Joanna. "I'm not sure how it's going, because Christene's not in yet today. I think she spent most of the weekend working on it, though."
"You saw the pile of cans, too?" Kathryn asked with a chuckle. "I'll be shocked if we see her before noon. She might have it done, though. You never know."
"True. She hasn't checked it in yet."
"You never know. You read her out pretty good the last time she checked in code at the end of a long weekend."
"True. She'd forgotten a header file and I swear everyone on technical staff either called or sent flaming e-mail that Monday. That was painful. You're right. She might be done, and just waiting until she's alert before she checks everything in, in case she misses something."
"Enough about work, though. Didn't you have a hot date this weekend?" asked Kathryn, now less a boss and more an avidly curious friend.
Joanna groaned. "Not a hot date. A blind date. I don't think Jacki has my best interests in mind. Even her taste isn't usually that bad. But I can't complain; the weekend turned out really well in the end."
"What happened?" asked Kathryn. "Did he bring friends along and one of them turned out to be cool?"
"Oh no. In fact, his car wasn't running, so I had to drive. Then he stuck me with the bill at dinner, because he had no cash, and the restaurant didn't take the only card he had with him. When I drove back to my place and told him to find his own way home, he got nasty, and the new manager at my complex intervened before I was too tempted to take more drastic measures."
Kathryn raised her brows at this, but didn't interrupt.
"I went down to the hot tub to soak for a while and forget about my date, and Hale kept me company. After a while, we went back to my place for a drink and. . ."
"And?" Kathryn demanded.
"And I made him breakfast the next morning."
Kathryn's mouth dropped open. She was all in favor of women having a good time, and Joanna had always struck her as both a little too serious and a little bit lonely, so who better to have a good time. On the other hand, it was very unlike her.
"Was it fun?"
"It was more than fun. And it's been far too long since I've done that, too. I don't know why," she shrugged, "but I just don't seem to meet people."
"You go, girl! We all deserve a little uncommitted fun once in a while."
"Uh, yeah," replied Joanna, not sure whether she should mention that they'd spent the a lot of the next day and last night together, as well.
Kathryn looked at Joanna, troubled, and not sure whether their relationship was close enough to withstand additional prying. She decided to risk it. She sure hated to see women who didn't date much get their hearts crushed by assuming a one night stand was more than it was. "Did he call you back?" she asked quietly.
"Um, sort of," Joanna replied, panicking slightly. Describing it out loud, her very fun, very satisfying weekend now looked like a bizarre impulse.
"Did you call him?" Kathryn asked gently.
"Oh no," Joanna replied quickly, realizing Kathryn had jumped to a completely different conclusion. "We spent most of the weekend together -- it wasn't one of those wam-bam-thank-you-ma'am things where you never hear from them again. It's just that he seems to be getting very serious, very quickly, and that's never happened to me before."
"Ah," replied Kathryn, now entirely at sea.
Joanna tried to figure out how to explain. She knew Hale was serious, but if they got into one of those what-does-he-do-for-a-living conversations, Kathryn was going to be sure she'd lost it. For that matter, Joanna had doubts of her own, but not ones she felt like sharing yet. "He invited me to a barbecue over at a friend's place next weekend. One of those meet the friends, their wives and kids things."
"Oh," said Kathryn, taken aback. First it had sounded like Joanna had misinterpreted sex to mean love. Then it had sounded like Hale had proposed marriage. Now it just sounded like an accelerated, but otherwise normal, relationship. Her head was spinning. Maybe if she had a better idea what this guy was like it would make sense. "What does he do for a living?"
Joanna wanted to put her head in her hands and give up. She had not wanted to have to answer this question. "Uh. . ."
"Oh, stupid me. You already told me. He's the manager at your apartment complex. I'm still trying to catch up here. Does he have some other job on the side?"
Joanna suddenly realized she had a reasonable answer after all. "He just moved to the area recently. He may go work for a friend who has a small martial arts school."
That sounded a little weird, but probably it meant the guy was in good shape, which never hurt, especially for a short term fling. "Are you going to go to the barbecue, do you think?"
"I think I will. Maybe I'll meet some new people. I feel like I haven't met anyone new in a long time. Although I guess that might change real soon, hunh?" asked Joanna with a grin.
Kathryn grinned back, happy that Joanna was seriously considering following her to Abracadabra. "So, tell me all the details. What's he look like?" Again, she noticed Joanna hesitating before answering.
"Well, he's tall, and he's strong, but not that every-muscle-separately-defined look from spending his entire life in the gym. He's got a great laugh and he listens well. And when I told him a few stories about my mom, he did not freak out."
"Why would someone freak out about my mom?" asked Kathryn. She'd never heard Joanna talk about her family. She didn't even know if she had any brothers and sisters.
"She's got an unusual job, and she can be a little intimidating."
"I know intimidating. My mother doesn't just get in people's face. She lives there. She was a fundraiser for a while and incredibly good at it. She just never stopped asking. It's like the word no doesn't exist in her vocabulary. She's selling real estate now. What's yours do for a living?"
"She's a security consultant."
"I'm not sure what that means, but I bet business has been great for her the last few months."
"Too right."
They both paused, awkwardly unsure on how to continue the conversation. Joanna never liked to volunteer details about her parents' jobs. Kathryn was trying to remember where they were in the Tale of the Date. "What's this manager's name, anyway?"
"Hale."
"As in hearty and healthy?"
"Yup."
"Hunh. And how old is he?"
"Thirty-something, I think."
"You think? Does that mean he might be older than thirty or younger than thirty?"
"Uh, older."
"Isn't that a little old for you?"
Joanna rolled her eyes. "Come on. It was a fun night that rambled through the rest of the weekend, made up for a horrific date with someone else, and might introduce me to a new set of people. He's not going to drop of a heart attach while we're having sex, and it's been over a decade since I've been jailbait so does it really matter?"
"Guess not," admitted Kathryn, surprised at Joanna's vehemence. "Good in bed, then?"
"Very."
"Lucky you. Let me know if you meet any of his single friends who are decent looking. And I'll expect regular updates!", she added with a wink.
Joanna sketched a salute. "Yes, ma'am! How was your weekend?"
"Not nearly as exciting as yours, more's the pity. I spent most of it working in the yard. Oh my aching back." Kathryn waved to Christene, who was peering in the window by the office door. Christene opened the door and poked her head in.
"Hi Kathryn. I was just looking for Joanna." Shifting her attention to Joanna, she added, "Could you stop by my office when you're done here? I wanted to talk to you about where I am on The Project."
"I'll be there in just a minute. I think we're almost done here?" Kathryn nodded, so Joanna added, "In fact, I'll walk back with you."
Joanna didn't notice any obvious black circles under Christene's eyes. Hopefully she'd gotten some sleep during the weekend. Christene was silent until they were back in her office with the door closed. "It was even easier than I thought," she said. "I ran all the tests Amy gave me on Friday, and I caught one small problem, but I got that fixed, too. I almost checked it in, but it was one a.m., and I decided I didn't want to risk it. Then I wondered if I should check it in at all, or if you need to clear it with anyone."
Joanna was stunned. "Wow. It really only took one weekend?"
"Less. I had time to go get this and put it together while I was running the full compile with my changes." Christene picked a large lego model up from her desk and handed it to Joanna. It had a couple of figures in it that she recognized from the latest Star Wars movie, the bounty hunters. There were doors that opened, guns that swiveled. It looked like it would have taken a while to assemble. "Cool. It's a spaceship, right? From the Star Wars movie?"
"Yeah. I wondered if you'd recognize it. It's Jango Fett's ship. It was fun to do. This bit's a little flimsy," Christene pointed to something that Joanna didn't recognize, but decided not to ask about, "but otherwise it's not bad. And I got a full night's sleep. Did I miss any meetings?"
"No. There weren't any this morning. I'm glad to hear things worked out so well."
"You look a little distracted," commented Christene. "How was your weekend? Did you have a hot date?" Surprised, Joanna looked at Christene, to see if she had somehow heard already. It didn't seem possible. "Hey, no big thing. I'm just kidding. Wait, you did have a hot date? How'd it go? Inquiring minds want to know."
What the hell, thought Joanna. "Well, I actually had a couple of dates this weekend. A cousin of mine set me up with someone she works with, who was a compete and total ass. He was late, and he didn't have any money with him, just a card that the restaurant he chose didn't even take. And then he drank. A lot. Too much. He got ugly when I drove home and told him to find his own way home."
"You should have ditched him at the restaurant. Who knows what he might have tried outside your door."
"True. It was an impulse thing, but I shouldn't have done it. Anyway, a guy I've been seeing in the hot tub at my apartment complex, Hale, interrupted my obnoxious date and sent him on his way."
"And then?"
"And then we went to the hot tub so I could calm down a little."
"Who wants to calm down if there's a nice, cute guy around. I assume Hale is nice and cute, right?"
"Right."
"So?"
"So, what?"
"After the hot tub, then what?"
"Who says there was anything after the hot tub?" Joanna parried.
"Come on, you wouldn't have looked shocked and guilty when I joked about a hot date if there hadn't been anything after the hot tub. Give!"
"He came back to my place for a drink."
"And then?"
"And then none of your business!" said Joanna, laughing.
"Aw, come on. I tell you my good stories. The least you can do is share when you've got one. Did you make him breakfast?"
"Yes."
"Good for you. Did he call?"
"Sort of."
"Men don't 'sort of' call, Joanna. What, did you call him?"
"No! That's what Kathryn said, too. Besides, what's so bad about a woman calling a man."
"There's nothing wrong with a woman calling a man, although we do worry because it's much too soon, and it puts you in his power. And wouldn't you rather have him in your power instead?"
"That is so manipulative."
"As if this isn't a game both sides play. You know that. If you didn't call him, and he 'sort of' called you, what's the situation now?"
"We spent the weekend together at his place."
"Which would be another apartment in the same building? Convenient having on call booty."
"Different building." Joanna paused. "But in the same complex."
"Ah. So a visible walk of shame for someone."
"Where's the shame? We're both adults. Neither one of us is married or anything."
"I'm sure no one who sees you two walking back and forth would even think of saying something about it. Would they." Christene's voice dripped with sarcasm. "I take it he was pretty good?"
"Very attentive."
"Attentive is good. You think it'll just be one friendly weekend, or do you plan on taking further advantage of your neighborly, er, neighbor?"
"I think so. I don't know. He's invited me to a barbecue at a friend's place next weekend. Married friends with kids kind of party. Do you think I should go?"
Christene raised her eyebrows at this. "Wait a minute. I thought this was just a jump-back-on-the-horse thing. He's serious? Are you serious? Who is this guy anyway? How old is he? Does he have a job? What does he do? Do you know anything about him? I guess I should quit asking questions and let you answer. Feel free to choose your own order," she finished with a zip-her-own-lip gesture.
"Hmmm. Like I said, I've talked to him before. I like him a lot. He's the manager at the apartment complex." Christene looked surprised, but pressed her lips together even more firmly, determined not to interrupt. "He might start working at a friend's martial arts school part time. He just moved into the area and isn't sure whether he'll stay or try somewhere else. I don't know a lot about him, other than that he's still in the military and apparently can't talk about it much, but he's on some kind of leave and thinking about retiring."
Christene let the pause continue until she was sure Joanna was done. "How old is he?"
"Thirty-something?"
"By which I assume you mean he might be forty-something, instead. Isn't that a little old for you? Don't answer that," Christene said, holding her hand out in front of her when she saw Joanna's mouth open. "I'm not your mom, I don't care what you do, and sometimes older guys are a lot more willing to put in the time in bed than younger guys. I don't give a flying fuck how old he is anyway. I'm a little more worried about the can't-talk-about-it-military thing. Are you sure he's military, and not some out of town thug lying low to evade the cops or something equally appalling?"
"God I hope not," said Joanna fervently. "I think he is what he says he is, but I'm betting if I go to that barbecue and meet his friends, I'll find out for sure."
"The weird thing about you telling this story is, you seem so innocent in a lot of ways, but you've got no energy going about the older-secretive-military-guy thing. Most women would have lost it completely over that mystique. You're all blase, a little worried, but not at all excited. How come?"
"He reminds me a lot of some of my parents' friends. I mean, he's younger than their friends, obviously, but otherwise very similar. Some of them told the worst stories. 'I was in this place, with some people', was how we used to describe them, because half the time they couldn't tell you where it happened, or who was involved. And then of course the funny part that they could tell wasn't nearly as funny out of context." Joanna shrugged. "He's comfortable."
Christene give Joanna an odd look. "Okay. Some time, I want to get you all liquored up and ask you about your parents. Or maybe get me all liquored up and ask you about your parents. It sounds like a long story." Joanna nodded, with a melancholy expression. "But in the meantime, I think you should go to this party, and see what you think. If you're worried, you should drive, so you can leave when you want to. And then you should run right back to my office and tell me all the juicy details. Also, if there are any gloriously hunky guys on leave, tell me that, too, because I'd like to express my gratitude to the people putting their lives on the line for us, too."