Unexpected Guest

The recent late May mornings in western New York had been nearly perfect, and this one was no exception. As he poured coffee, Nathan inhaled the fragrant blooms of spring through the open window over his kitchen sink and listened to the calls of the exuberant birds that raced about above his backyard. With his cup of coffee and his microwaved blueberry muffin, he led his dog, Sophie, out onto the wraparound porch. He put his tray on the table between the two matching wicker chairs and picked up his newspaper from the floor of the porch. He removed his cell phone from his pocket and placed it on the tray too. This was his office. From here he waved morning greetings to neighbors and observed goings-on on his street. Time passed quickly as he read his newspaper, emptied and refilled his coffee cup and shared friendly words with a few of the passing neighbors. By ten fifteen, when the phone rang, he was up to date on the recent local news, Sophie was napping next to him and he'd reached his caffeine limit for the day, or perhaps the morning. He sat what remained of his muffin down and flipped the phone open.

“Hello,”

“Nate, this is Stan. Just called to say congratulations. You did great.”

“Oh, hey Stan, I don't know about great. I was terrified the whole time. How'd you guys do fishing?”

“Look, you know how I love giving you a good shot. If I say you did great, then you did great.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, great, let's just never mind that for now. I want to know about the fishing.”

“We did alright. We got a dozen bass and three pike.”

“That's great. I wish I could have gone. Maybe next time.”

“Yeah, I'll be sure and let you know when we're going again.”

“Great.”

“Look Nate, the other reason I called was to see if you still have the number of that lawyer who set up the trust for your daughter. I want to do something like that for my niece.”

“Yeah, I have that inside in my file cabinet. I gotta put the phone down for just a minute or two to go get it. Okay?”

“Okay I'll hang on.”

Nate put the still open cell phone on the table, limped past Sophie and inside and rooted through his filing cabinet for a couple of minutes. Just about the time he found the right folder, he thought he heard a car pull up out front. When Sophie started barking and he heard the car door close, there wasn't much question as to what was going on out front. He had company. When he returned to the front door, the look on his face was a mix of shock and anger.

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh thanks. It's nice to see you too.”

She was beautiful, a few inches past five feet tall and petite, she had searing red hair that rested nicely on her shoulders. He opened the screen door, took a few steps to his right and picked up the cell phone.

“Stan, you still there?”

“Yeah. What's going on? Who are you talking to?”

“I got that number for you. It's Doug Englehart and he's at 555-1212, Okay??”

“Uh, yeah. Thanks. Hey what's up? Who are you talking to? It sound's like a woman.”

“I'll talk to you later.”

He flipped his phone shut, even as Stan continued to inquire, he put it back on the tray and returned his attention to his unexpected, and apparently unwanted visitor.

“So, what do you want?”

“How many times did I tell you that I'd surprise you one day and visit you?”

“And how many times did I tell you that I hate pop-in visits.”

“You told me I was an exception to that. You said I could pop in any time I wanted. You're not being a very gracious host. Aren't you going to invite me to sit down?”

He motioned to the far chair.

“No one is stopping you.”

For just an instant, her soft, friendly smile vanished in response to his gruff 'invitation', but she gathered herself and walked up onto the porch. Strangely, Sophie allowed her to do so without protest. Though she wasn't much of a biter, she didn't often allow people she didn't know onto her porch unchallenged.

“Congratulations on your interview on CNN,” she said, sitting down on the matching wicker chair, “that should really help your sales.”

“That remains to be seen,” he said while taking his laptop from a backpack next to his chair and setting it up.

That was an out and out lie. He'd checked his sales on Amazon and Barnes & Noble the instant he'd woke up and every hour after that. The results were beyond his wildest hopes. He pressed the power button and then began foraging through the pack taking out his eyeglass case, a notebook and several pens. He put everything on the table, took a sip of his coffee, took his glasses from the case and put them on. It was obvious to everyone on the porch, probably even Sophie, that he was trying to look busy in an effort to avoid talking to her.

“Aren't you going to offer me coffee?”

“I just poured the last from the pot,” he answered, not bothering to look up from his notebook.

“Tea would do just as well.”

“Look, what do you want?”

“I want to talk to you.”

“You've been doing that for years on the computer. Why, all of the sudden, must you come here to do that?”

“You don't answer any of my messages.”

“I've been a little busy.”

“Oh now that you're Mr. big time author, you're too busy to talk to me?”

“Don't even try it. You stopped talking to me way before I was anybody.”

“I did not. I never stopped talking to you.”

“Yeah, you gave me an occasional syllable in reply to my repeated efforts to talk to you.”

“I was busy.”

“Oh, I see. You're allowed to be busy, but not me.”

“But you don't look very busy to me right now. You're having a relaxing day at home!”

“I gotta tell you, I'm not very relaxed at the moment. And just because I don't go to an office, doesn't mean I don't work. That book didn't write itself you know.”

“Are you going to make me a cup of tea or not?”

It was becoming obvious that he wasn't going to be rid of her quite as easily as he'd thought. He sighed, packed his laptop, notes and papers back into the back pack and stood up with the tray.

“Come on Sophie,” he said, heading for the door. He spoke to the woman over his shoulder, “I'll buy you coffee or tea.”

She reached toward his back pack and started to get up.

“I'll bring your pack inside.”

“I'm going to take it with me. It goes where I go.”

In reality, this was a defensive move. He wasn't crazy about having her inside and it was the first thing he could think of. He stepped back onto the porch and muttered something to himself as he locked the front door. She stood up and followed him off the porch. From behind him she noticed a limp that he had worked hard to suppress for years.

“Get in,” she said as the neared they end of his sidewalk, “I'll drive.”

Without slowing down or looking back, he turned right and headed up the sidewalk towards town.

“I walk every day. It's about the only exercise I get.”

She narrowed her eyes, locked her car with the remote on her key chain and scrambled to catch up to him. In the few seconds that she jogged to catch him, they both began to question their choices. She wondered why she was working so hard to gain the favor of some fifty something man who didn't feel nearly as funny, witty or sweet as he always seemed from the other end of the computer. Meanwhile, a few feet ahead of her, Nate was wondering if he should be so gruff with her. He was remembering the hundreds, perhaps thousands of times that he'd wished he could sit and have coffee with her. Now here she was and he was treating her like a stray dog he couldn't shake himself free of. It wasn't conscious, but his stride slowed just a bit.

Reviews

[Riding the Rainbow]

Very interesting plot..
So they met in internet and chatted over the years, right??
Now, I'm very curious to know why she decided to pop-in..