Three Alarm Tenant. Christa Maurice

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СКАЧАТЬ to study him out of the corner of her eye. He chatted with the cashier who, of course, glowed under his attentions. Then he started digging through his pockets for money. He pulled out a Swiss army knife, a set of keys, a dog whistle, two mangled Band-Aids and a handful of change. Frowning, he patted his other pockets.

      “It’s here some place. I had it when I left the apartment.” He started through his pockets again. “Ah ha. Here it is.” He pulled a battered wallet out of his fleece jacket and, grinning at Katherine and the cashier, sorted through his money.

      Katherine collected her tray. She stopped at the condiment station to survey the seating choices while Jack gathered up his belongings and joined her.

      “So, you have a firm idea on where you want to sit?” Jack raised an eyebrow.

      “Yes.” After the litany of questions on where to eat, she wasn’t leaving this to debate. She picked up her tray and headed for a corner table by the window.

      He followed, sitting across from her at the two person table. “Good choice. What do total strangers talk about over dinner?”

      Katherine unwrapped her sandwich. “I have no idea. This was your suggestion.”

      “Oh yeah. I forgot. Well, what did you do this afternoon?”

      “I called your references.” She focused on arranging her fries on her sandwich wrapper and getting her straw unwrapped and into her cup. She didn’t want to look up at him, because if she did, he might smile at her, and then she would lose her resolve to not be attracted to him. She felt like a moth telling itself ‘don’t look into the flame, don’t look into the flame.’

      “And they told you I’m a serial killer wanted in seventeen states?” He looked at her for a moment before leaning across the table. “It was a joke.”

      She cocked her head to one side and studied him. He had a faint smile on his face that almost enticed her more than the serious stare he’d been giving her when she showed him the apartment. As she watched, his expression turned a little uncertain, as if he'd realized he’d gone a tad too far. The longer she hesitated, the more uncertain his smile became and even that was endearing. “I know. I was trying to decide if it was funny enough to laugh at.”

      Jack cringed. “Ouch.”

      Katherine smiled. She’d forgotten how it felt to chat. “They were all complimentary. I want to contact your employer before I make any decision.”

      Jack shrugged. “Okay. I’ve worked for the department for twelve years. They know who I am. How long have you been a teacher?” He bit into his burger.

      “Five years. I was engaged for eight.” Katherine bit her tongue. She hadn’t meant to say that. Why wouldn’t Gary stay away?

      He nodded as if she hadn’t answered more than he asked. “Did you always want to be a teacher?”

      “Yes. It’s a very reliable, safe profession. Society will always need teachers.”

      “And it doesn’t involve burning buildings,” he added, dipping a French fry into her ketchup.

      “Most of the time, no. We frown on burning down the school. I think that would result in a lot of detention. Possibly expulsion.” She tried to remain serious and thoughtful, but part of her wanted to giggle over the fact that he’d stolen her ketchup. Pam was right. She had lost her one-on-one people skills.

      He laughed. “I bet. I don’t think I’d mind detention though.”

      “Why?”

      “If I got to stay after school with you.” His molten eyes turned very serious, sending a thrill down her spine.

      Katherine looked down at her fries to hide her blush. “You must want that apartment quite a bit.”

      He shrugged and didn’t answer.

      * * * *

      “That was stupid,” Kevin announced resting one hip against the bathroom counter.

      Jack leaned out from under the sink, wiping off the wrench. “Why?”

      “What were you trying to do? ‘If I got to stay after school with you.’ It looks like a line. It sounds like a line. It must be a duck. Have you ever been subtle in your life?” Kevin shook his head.

      “I like her.”

      “You like her, or you like her apartment?”

      “I like her,” Jack repeated. He’d spent most of last night dwelling on that question. He wanted to believe he loved the apartment and liked the landlady, but he hadn’t woken up in the middle of the night with the bright, airy foyer on his mind.

      Kevin brushed his hand through his dark hair. Jack knew that gesture usually indicated a lecture on the way. “Are you about done there?”

      “I've been done for fifteen minutes. You're the one who wanted to hang out in the bathroom.” Jack closed the tool box. He’d have preferred to have something else to work on, both to avoid the lecture and to keep his mind off Katherine Pelham. “Besides, it couldn’t have been that bad. We had a great time. She's really funny, and really smart. I don’t know. She runs hot and cold, though.”

      “What do you mean?”

      “When she found out I worked for the department she closed up, but then she went out with me, and we had a great time.”

      “But, she paid for herself. You didn’t exactly get a date with her.” Kevin walked out of the bathroom. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to be trying to date a woman who might end up as your landlord.”

      “Might save time. She’ll already have a key to my place.”

      “Ha ha. What if it ends badly? You’ll be out a girlfriend and a place to live. Your track record isn’t great. Remember Cynthia?”

      Jack shuddered. Cynthia had been fun and a little wild. He hadn’t realized her ‘little wild’ would turn into ‘little crazy’ on such short notice until too late.

      “You still have scars from the ashtray she threw at you.”

      “So I stopped dating smokers.” Jack fingered the crescent shaped scar on his chin.

      Kevin grumbled, leaning into the fridge to fish out two cans. “And Evelyn who kept ‘visiting’ you at the station.”

      “She was obsessed. I broke up with her because she was suffocating.”

      “And Maureen.”

      “Hey,” Jack shook his finger at Kevin. “Maureen dumped me.” Then he paused, realizing that might not be a selling point. Being dumped by Maureen had been awful. He’d thought she was the one, and she’d thought he was the one of the week. She had been the first and last time he’d thought he found true love. At least until yesterday. Evelyn hadn’t been the one even though she thought she had been. Cynthia just liked to fight and throw things. He couldn’t imagine Katherine screaming or pitching glassware at his head.

      Jack popped СКАЧАТЬ