“Hmm.” I looked her over once more and then smiled at her. “I want to have some fun and…flirt. Where are you going?”
“Out.”
“Out?”
“That’s what I said,” she said, grabbing her purse from the sofa where she probably left it after work yesterday.
A knock came at the door. We both turned to look at each other. Tension zapped between us before we both raced to answer it. We were shoving at each other, both trying to make it to the door first. I beat her.
“That’s from all the exercise,” I said as I pulled open the door.
The guard who had found Bambina and brought her back to me stood on the other side.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hi,” I said, not sure what else to say to that.
He nodded to Bambina, who was at the door, wagging her tail at him. He leaned down and started scratching her behind the ear. “She hasn’t gotten lost again.”
“No,” I said. “She’s rarely out of my sight. Someone let her out of my apartment that night. Something wrong?”
“Nah,” he said, standing up. “I’m here to pick up—”
Cilla went to shove out of the door, but I caught her by the arm before she did. Her outfit. The sudden rush to answer the door. It all suddenly made sense.
“Can you give us one second?” I said to him.
“The name’s Christopher,” he said, like I should have known that.
I shut the door so he wouldn’t hear.
“What are you doing?” I hiss-whispered.
“Going out,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“I got that part,” I said. “Are you going out withhim?” I stabbed my thumb toward the door.
“What if I am?”
“I’d want to know why.” I took a deep breath. “Why are you?”
“The wedding is getting closer.” She shrugged. “I want to have some fun before my funeral.”
I quelled the urge to smack her when she made those flippant comments about death. “Why him?”
“I’m not attached to this place. He asked. He’s cute. Why not?”
“That’s all it is? Just some fun?”
“Depends on what you mean by fun…” She opened the door and then pulled him toward the elevators.
“Cilla!” I said, stepping out, but she just laughed as she pulled him into the elevator and the doors closed behind them.
I must have muttered a dozen curse words as I made my way toward the outdoor gym on the property. It wasn’t used nearly as much as the one inside. I enjoyed walking with my earbuds in around the lake in the back. Cilla had created a playlist of “show tunes” for me. Then I’d utilize the different areas with different exercise equipment after I’d warmed up.
This time I was going without the earphones, even though the track was empty. I savored the quiet. Bambina did, too, as she stuck close to me, but was pretty much free to sniff until her heart was content. Then I decided since I needed a small break from my own problems, I was going to concentrate on hers until the walk and the scenery helped me get into a better state of mind.
If it could.
