Page 48 of The Man I Hate

“An hour?” I tried to hide my disappointment. “Oh. I’ve been…” I paused, not knowing whether to reveal the entire truth of what I did with my time or give an abbreviated not-so-true version. I decided the truth wasn’t anything I wanted to share. “I’ve been picking up the house,” I said, smiling as I spoke. “The afternoon almost got away from me. It was just by a stroke of luck that I happened to notice what time it was.”

“It seems that time stands still anymore.” She walked to the end of her yard and stepped into the edge of the street. “It’s not that I did all that much before any of this started, but now all I do is watch the news. I can’t stop.”

I was relieved that I wasn’t alone.

“I can’t, either,” I admitted. “Everything they say is frustrating, but I’m fascinated with it at the same time.”

“I don’t think I’m fascinated too awful much.” She lowered herself to the curb and sat down. “I feel like I need to know everything they know. I’m afraid they don’t know too much, though. At least not yet. They sure seem to contradict themselves a lot.”

“I don’t think they know, either,” I said in agreement. “One day it’s this, the next day it’s that.”

She gazed in my direction, not seeming to focus on much of anything. I wondered if she heard me. I walked across my yard, paused, and then sauntered the width of Braxton’s lot. I sat down at the near edge of his drive. Instead of being two hundred feet apart, we were now within talking distance.

“I like your outfit,” I said.

“Thank you.” She smiled and nodded in my direction. “Yours looks comfortable.”

“Thanks.”

“Do you have family here?”

“No,” I replied. “My parents came here on a whim after my father retired. We lived in Oklahoma.”

“You’re married? Or, no?”

“No.”

“Do you work? Back home?”

“I own a car dealership,” I replied in a pride-filled tone. “It’s a small one, but it’s all mine. I really like it.”

“That sounds like fun. Was your father a car guy? Raymond was.” She grinned. “Corvettes.”

“My father loved cars. He rebuilt them. He owned a body shop. He loved to make old cars look new again. Better than new. That’s what he always said.”

She smiled. “That’s fascinating.”

“I always thought so.”

She nodded toward Braxton’s home, which was right behind me. “Have you met him yet? Braxton?”

I didn’t know what to say, so I said very little.

I forced a smile. “I have.”

“He’s easy on the eyes, isn’t he?”

I laughed just a little. “He is.”

“He works with the movie stars. Did he tell you that?”

“He mentioned it.”

The corners of her mouth curled up. “I’d sure like to see him end up with someone nice. A nice loyal woman.”

I almost laughed out loud at the irony of her statement. I didn’t want to say anything to change her opinion of Braxton, so I refrained from making snide comments about loyalty.

“I think he’s married to his work,” I said, giving Braxton the benefit of the doubt. “He probably doesn’t have time for a woman in his life.”