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“Borrow your ornaments?”she says, incredulous.
“Yeah, I got him a little Christmas tree.”I immediately regret saying it.
“You bought the guy aChristmas tree?”she repeats, dumbfounded.
I brace myself for the inevitable.“Yeah.”
“Hon, that sounds kind of desperate.”
I sigh loudly.“It’s not desperate.It’s neighborly.He didn’t have one.Nicholas wanted him to have one.So I bought one.No big deal.It’s a freaking tiny tree.”
“Well, it really does look—”
“Look, can we move on from the tree here?Because he’s coming by for the ornaments at six, and I have no clue what he meant by dinner.”
“And you didn’t ask?”
“No, Char, I didn’t ask,” I bite back, aggravated.“If I had thought to ask, I wouldn’t be calling you.”
“Well, I really don’t know.Get you some dinner.That’s like, what I say to my kids when they’re sick and can’t make it down to the kitchen to eat.Let me get you some dinner.Does he think you’re sick?”
“No.”
“Then I don’t know.I’m married.I’m not up on date-speak.You’d get a better answer from my daughter,” she adds with a laugh.
“Then ask her.”
There’s a pause.“You want me to ask my seventeen-year-old daughter adatequestion?”
“Well, whoelseam I supposed to ask?”
“Okay,” she sighs.
I hear her call her daughter downstairs and explain the situation.It takes a while since her teenager seems to be more interested in the news that there’s a hot Navy officer living next to me.
I have a feeling she’ll be hanging out on my street a lot over the next few days.
I hear Charlisa’s voice again.
“So, she wants to know if he said he wanted totakeyou to dinner.Becausetakesounds more like a date.Getsounds more like he’s going to the store, picking up a sandwich and dropping it off to you.”
“Right?I know.He saidget.That’s why I’m confused.”
I hear her repeat what I said to her daughter.
“She says, he’s probably just bringing over a pizza,” Charlisa eventually comes back on the line to say.
I frown.“I figured.And more like friends then?Right?Not a date.”
“Yeah.That’s gotta be it.I mean, look at the guy.He can haveanyone.”
“So why would he choose me?”I finish for her, a little bite in my tone.
“I wasn’t going to say that.I just mean that guys who have options like that… they just don’t normally want so much…”
“Baggage?”I finish again for her.
“Stop putting words in my mouth.I’m just trying to make sure you don’t get hurt.And well, if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.”
She’s right, I consider as I end the call a couple minutes later.
Just the same, I’m putting on some lipstick.
