Three Alarm Tenant. Christa Maurice

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СКАЧАТЬ dropping them into their place in her desk drawer. If she was going to dinner with a friend, she should get dressed.

      She went into her bedroom and looked over her closet. Her clothing choices went straight from school clothes to weekend sweats with no lengthy stops in between. Her school wardrobe would be too dressy for fast food, even on Valentine’s Day. What would Jack think if she turned up in a dress for this not-date? She hadn’t bothered to keep a decent casual wardrobe since Gary died. As things wore out, she got rid of them. It didn’t seem important when she never went out.

      In the end, she chose a black chenille turtleneck and the least worn jeans she owned. This was as dressed up as she was willing to get for fast food. Running a comb through her hair, she cast a longing glance at her makeup. No, no makeup. Not for a non-date with a potential tenant. Even though the magazine she'd just gotten out of the library claimed that a little definition to her eyes would change her whole look. She reached for the eye liner.

      At that moment she heard a knock at the door. Katherine glanced at the clock beside the bed. He was prompt, too. She picked up her purse and coat and headed down the stairs.

      “Hey! We match.” Jack announced as soon as she opened the door.

      The soft navy jacket was back over a pair of excellently fitted black jeans. The V of the jacket revealed the round neck of a gray knit shirt, making her wonder how much time he'd spent on his wardrobe. Shrugging into her black wool coat, she said, “It must be the season. I bring out the black in my wardrobe.”

      “Here, I’ll get the door.” He hurried to the passenger side of the truck while she locked up the house. “So where do you want to go? We’ve got every fast food joint known to man within fifteen minutes of here.”

      “Wendy’s is fine with me.” Katherine climbed in. The truck smelled Armor All clean and the dashboard gleamed in the cab light. She didn’t even see dog hair on the seat. Did it always smell that way, or had he taken the time to clean it out? And if he had, what did that mean? That she probably should have put on eyeliner.

      “East or west?” He closed the door and spoke through the open window.

      “West.” From that side of town, she reasoned, it would be easy to get a bus home if she needed one. She wanted to be prepared for anything.

      “West.” He went around the front of the truck and climbed in the other side. “There are two out that way.”

      Katherine sighed, biting back frustration. None of his references had mentioned this facet of his personality. “There are? Are you an aficionado of fast food locations?”

      “I did some overtime out there, so I paid attention to what was around in case it caught fire.” He turned to her in the dark cab. “So, which one? The one that’s further away is newer and seems to have better service, but the one that’s closer is quieter. That I did learn from eating too much fast food.” He winked.

      Katherine's breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t remember why his incessant questioning had annoyed her. He sat an arm’s length away. The last time she’d been in this position, she’d leaned over and kissed the driver. She bit her lip and leaned back against the door to check the impulse.

      “I don’t care. Either one.”

      As soon as the words were out she regretted them. She didn’t know how far out this other restaurant was, or if the buses ran there. At worst, she decided she could get a taxi, but she didn’t know how much it would cost. Assuming he would, for some reason, abandon her. Then he certainly wouldn’t get the apartment.

      “So,” Jack said.

      She turned to him. He sat looking at her for a minute. His hair caught the light of the street lamp. A lock of it lay oddly and Katherine had to concentrate on not reaching over to brush it back into place. She smiled tightly.

      He smiled back and involved himself with backing the truck onto the street.

      She sighed and waited. It wasn’t a date, she told herself. They were new friends commiserating about being alone on Valentine’s Day. But if that was the case, why were they sitting in an awkward, first date silence? Katherine shifted and tried to think of something to say before her jaw locked up and she couldn’t say anything at all. “So how was your afternoon in the park with Archer?”

      “Great. He gets pretty wound up when I’m on duty. I work twenty-four hour shifts and he’s cooped up in the apartment the whole time.”

      “Twenty-four hour shifts. That must be difficult.” Katherine folded her hands in her lap before she forgot herself and laid the left on the seat between them where he could lay his over it. As if he would want to.

      “It’s not so bad. We’re really just waiting most of the time.”

      “Waiting?”

      “Waiting for runs. We usually get three or four a shift, but it’s not always an emergency. Occasionally it’s a prank, sometimes it’s only somebody overreacting. Sometimes they decide they don’t need us after all. In between, we do maintenance, physical training, and white board sessions.” He shrugged. “What about you? What do you do? Besides rent an apartment.”

      “I teach high school English.”

      “Oh. I guess I better watch my language.”

      Katherine grimaced. Every time someone asked her what she did, and at least once every parent-teacher conference day, she heard that joke. They never seemed to understand it wasn’t funny after the first dozen times. Of course, she reminded herself, it wasn’t old to them. “Well, I promise not to grade you too hard,” she answered by rote.

      He chuckled, and the sound of it banished any annoyance she'd felt. It went straight to her knees, turning them to rubber and making her glad she was sitting down. “I bet you get that a lot,” he said.

      “Yes.” Katherine hoped she didn’t sound as breathless as she felt. What happened to friends? No one reacts to their friends like this. Maybe Pam was right, and she’d lost all her one-on-one people skills.

      “Well, I promise not to say it again if you promise not to say ‘where’s the fire.’”

      “I think I can manage that.” She opened her purse and started digging through it for Chapstick. Suddenly she felt as if she needed to occupy herself, particularly her hands. Out the window, familiar landscape slid past. It felt reassuring. Traffic seemed light for a Saturday, but then everyone probably had some place to go, and had gone before now.

      “So do you like teaching?” he asked, a little too loud.

      “Sometimes. It has its rewards and its challenges.” She found the tube rolling around in the bottom. Without flipping down the visor, she applied it. It gave her a moment to gather herself. And then he chuckled again.

      “You probably have a bunch of students like I was. Bad kids who sit in the back of the room and don’t finish their homework.”

      “I tend to move them up front and ask them questions. Sometimes they start doing their homework to keep from being humiliated in front of the class, and then sometimes they decide they like knowing the answers and getting good grades. Sometimes they hate me more.” Katherine closed her purse, folded her hands together and wished she’d stayed home tonight. She really didn’t know how to СКАЧАТЬ