Not making eye contact, Meka sipped her own five-dollar soda and stalled.
Warning, warning. Red alert. Tameka!
Look, its nothing big, just that Ty isnt coming straight from work, hes coming from a squash match with a co-worker. And hes bringing the co-worker with him.
You set me up on a blind date? You set me up on a blind date and didnt tell me! Ouch, Sheryl thought, rubbing one hand against her ear. When had she turned into such a shrill soprano?
Dont think of it as a date so much as four people who all wanted to see this movie. Coincidentally at the same time and location.
I cant believe this. I should leave right now on sheer principle.
With Ty and Jonathan already on their way? Besides, I know how much you like the lead actor. Youre not going anywhere after youve already bought your ticket.
Sheryl drummed her fingers on the purple plastic armrest between her and her supposed best friend. I suppose you or Tyler told the guywhats his name?
Jonathan Spencer. Hes an accountant at the firm with Ty.
So you guys have briefed Jonathan on me?
Absolutely.
Yet you didnt bother to mention any of this to your own roommate, Sheryl grumbled.
If it makes you less mad at me, we made you sound terrific. I wanted to date you by the time we finished describing you.
Sheryl laughed grudgingly. As long as neither of you described me as having a good personality.
Never! Meka grinned, obviously knowing she was safely away from the edge of the thin ice. We told him the truth, that youre sarcastic and opinionated on a good day, and downright unbearable if you havent had enough coffee.
Grabbing her purse, Sheryl rummaged for something small to throw at her friend. Although bigger would work, too.
Relax, Meka said, we told him you had great legs and an impressive job. Men secretly yearn for powerful women. And weve still got time before the guys get here for me to fill you in on Jonathans vital statistics.
Well, okay then. But youre never going to blind-side me like this again, right?
I wont need to, now that you know The Plan.
The Plan? Oh, boy. You dont just mean Jonathan, do you?
Only if Jonathan miraculously turns out to be The One. But itll probably take more than one guy
Meka! How many men do you and Tyler have lined up and waiting in the wings? You cant just trot them all out and ask me to pick one.
Clearly you dont watch reality TV. The networks seem to think thats exactly how people pair up. Her friend made a disdainful noise. Look, I know love happens in its own time, but to fall in love with a guy, you gotta actually spend some time with a few.
Since Sheryl wasnt convinced she wanted to fall in love, she said nothing.
Meka wisely switched tactics. Okay, even if you dont find your Ty, youll have a selection of potential escorts for holiday parties and stuff like that. Besides, wouldnt it be fun to double date occasionally? Between the time I spend with Ty and your working late, I hardly see you anymore. I know you want your own place, but I dont want us to completely drift apart!
Sighing, Sheryl conceded defeat. Oh, all right, so Ill agree to a few harmless double dates. Put like that, it didnt seem she had anything to get riled up about.
Besides, maybe thered be some chemistry between her and one of these bachelors, a spark that would prove she could have a powerful reaction to someone besides Nathan Hall.
3
WHY DIDNT SHE HAVE one of those headsets like the one Denise had, Sheryl wondered on Friday. It had to beat scrunching the phone between your shoulder and ear while you tried to get some work done. By eleven, Sheryl felt as if shed already talked to a hundred people.
Of course, shed had three calls in the past hour from Mom alone. First, she wanted to remind Sheryl about the family dinner the weekend before Christmas in addition to the actual gathering on Christmas Day, then she called back to ask if Sheryl had made any headway in her shopping, or if her mother should pick up gifts for the kids in the family and put Sheryls name on the tags. Feeling somewhat diminished by the suggestion she couldnt be trusted to shop for her nieces and nephew, Sheryl had of course lied and said her holiday shopping was well under control.
Then Mom called one final time because shed forgotten to ask what Sheryl herself wanted for Christmas. So, ha, obviously Sheryl wasnt the only one not quite finished with shopping. Not quite finished, hadnt bought so much as the first present or the paper to wrap it inall depended on how you looked at it.
Too bad Mom knew her direct extension, or Sheryl could instruct Denise to run interference at the main switchboard and claim Sheryl had left for the day.
Luckily, most of the other calls had been pleasant and productive. Two years ago, with Brads wholehearted approval and their accountants assurance of tax write-offs, Sheryl had organized a community Christmas festival that helped to raise money for area families in need. Other sponsors had joined in with HGS, and the event had become an annual tradition. School counselors had been calling all morning with this years updated list of needy families.
So far, it looked as though the turnout for the HGS Holiday Festival on the nineteenth would be even bigger than it had been the past two years, which meant more people would be assisted. It felt great to be Santa Claus, and the festival couldnt have come at a better time, publicity-wise. Sheryl and her assistant, Grace, had already lined up local performers and food vendors, and a volunteer committee of HGS employees was devising different contests for kids of varying ages. Brad himself would act as the final judge for all the competitions.
Pleased with her accomplishments, Sheryl consulted her to-do list of everything she wanted to achieve before lunch, and her mood took a sharp bah-humbug turn. Call Nathan Halls office and arrange appointment. She should do that immediately to give him the most advance notice of the Christmas party and increase his chances of being able to attend. Squirming in her seat, she admitted to herself that she should have called yesterday. But shed just been so busy
Her fingers reached for the phone with all the enthusiasm she usually reserved for doctors appointments that involved stirrups.
But the receptionist who answered was a cheerful woman who easily accommodated Sheryl with a meeting first thing Tuesday morning, so maybe Nathans schedule wasnt quite as jam-packed as hed insinuated. Which confirmed her suspicion that his refusal to talk with her had been a power movevery annoying, even if she had shown up unannounced for the same reason.
No sooner had Sheryl disconnected than the persistent red light for line one flashed again, a mere second before the distinct buzz that indicated a call was coming through. If its Mom again, Im asking Brad to authorize a new extension for me. Sheryl Dayton.
Ah, um, Sheryl, I hope you dont mind, but Tameka gave me your personal exoh, this is Jonathan Spencer. We, ah, met last night.
I remember, she assured him.
Theyd sat next to each other through the two-hour movie, then joined Tyler and Meka for a late snack at a local diner. Jonathan had seemed nice enough, though to be honest, not particularly memorable, which, judging from his nervous tone, he realized. But she was sure there was more to the man than shed glimpsed last night. He was probably a wonderful guy just waiting to be found by the right lucky woman.
He cleared his throat. I dont usually call women this soon after first meeting themdidnt want you to think I was desperate or, ah, you know, a stalkerbut this morning a client gave me two tickets to The Nutcracker tomorrow night. I thought if youre not already busy, you might like to go with me?
Well, since Meka wasnt available for that girls night out this weekend, Sheryl didnt really have plans. Besides, she needed to work on her holiday spirit this year, and she hadnt seen the ballet since she was a little girl. Maybe Nutcracker was just what she needed.
That sounds great Jonathan, thanks for thinking of me. What times the show?
He answered promptly, as though afraid shed change her mind if he didnt, and volunteered to pick her up. Would you like to have dinner beforehand?
Sheryl did a quick mental analysis. Hed been awfully quiet last night. Maybe just because he was too polite to talk during movies, and Meka and Ty had monopolized conversation afterwards. Still, if Jonathan were as silent Saturday evening, it could make for a long dinner.
I have a ton of shopping that Ill be doing tomorrow, she demurred, and it may run into the early evening. Why dont we just go to the show and maybe coffee afterwards?
A good compromise, she thought. And in case of a true dating emergency, like he belched to the melody of Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy or excused himself during intermission to call his wife, shed claim unforeseen exhaustion and ask to go straight home. Of course, she seriously doubted hed do either of those things, but a smart single gal didnt overlook a possible escape route on a first date.
THE DOORBELL RANG at seven sharp. Whatever else could be said about Jonathan Spencer, he was punctual. Sheryl opened the door with a welcoming smile.
You look nice, Jonathan said immediately, as though hed rehearsed his greeting.
Almost as an afterthought, he ran a quick glance down the forest-green, ankle-length velvet sheath she wore under a matching mock duster of green-and-black velvet. The long jacket was edged in black satin at the cuffs and lapels. Shed be plenty warm, the outfit just wasnt very water-resistant. Those weathermen whod promised a clear, starry night with a record-breaking lack of precipitation had better have known what they were talking about.
You, too, she said, taking in his blue suit and pinstripe tie.
Jonathan was good-looking, she realized absently. Average height, he had coloring reminiscent of the beachthick sandy hair and oceanic aquamarine eyes. So why was she only just now noticing he was attractive and even then in a detached, hed-make-a-good-date-for-my-sister, kind of way? Here stood a reasonably handsome man with a good job, acceptable table manners and cultured enough not to feel like a sissy attending the ballet. Frankly, after a few of the bad dates she and Meka had discussed in their collective pasts, the table manners alone put him ahead of some of the men out there. But there was no sense of anticipation or attraction, no flutter of first-date nerves.
Nonetheless, she smiled brightly and grabbed her black handbag off of a hook near the front door. Wheres the performance? I didnt think to ask when you called yesterday. The Paramount? Mercer Arts Center?
Actually, its at a place Im not familiar with, but I got the map off the Web. He retrieved two tickets from his jacket pocket, studying one quizzically. She just made out the word Nutcracker before he folded the tickets back into his pocket. The Backstage Pass?
Sheryl could feel her eyebrows zoom up and disappear beneath her bangs. The Backstage Pass, really?
How many theaters in Seattle could there be by that name? Shed been there twice, once as a requirement for a college elective, and once in the pre-Ty days when Meka had been dating a would-be actor. Tameka would roll on the floor laughing when Sheryl told her shed gone back.
The Backstage Pass specialized in bizarre, experimental performances, and while Sheryl wasnt a regular theater buff, she also wasnt a total neophyte to the Seattle arts scene. Shed seen a couple of truly wonderful alternative pieces in this city, but not at the Backstage Pass. The play shed seen in collegebilled as a romance consisted of a man and woman standing on stage for a solid hour quoting verses from obscure poems on love while playing Ping-Pong. In the nude.
The program explained that the nudity represented mens and womens desire for true intimacy and no barriers, while the indoor tennis table was a metaphor for the games that people play anyway, preventing that very intimacy. Sheryl got all that, but she figured that if you had to explain the symbolism, it probably wasnt working very well. Besides, though there was nothing at all vulgar about the tedious, vaguely pretentious one-act, some people just werent meant to be naked in front of an audience. Particularly if they were going to dive energetically to the left to volley an opponents serve.
The second time shed goneto support Tameka and watch the boyfriend whod generously and inaccurately called himself an actorthe play hadnt even aspired to something as lofty as symbolism. It had been simple shock theater, designed to offend audiences, and, if failing to raise that level of emotion, then at least gross them out.
What was a place like that doing with a traditional holiday ballet like Nutcracker?
Anything wrong? Jonathan asked, snapping her back to the present.
Um He already seemed nervous about tonight; she didnt want to say anything that might be construed as a complaint this early in the evening.
Maybe it wont be so bad.
For all she knew, the place was under new management. The shows title was at least the same, a good sign. If they were doing some sort of revisionist adaptation, didnt they normally alter the name? The Wiz, for example, had been a jazzed-up version of The Wizard of Oz. If Jonathan had said the show was called Crackin The Nut, then shed have reason to worry.
She kicked her smile up another notch, hoping she didnt look like some phony, cheerful early-morning news anchor. Nope, everything is just fine.
Of course, two hours later, she wished that instead of being polite shed advised Jonathan that they run, not walk, in the opposite direction of the theater to seek out other entertainment. Because entertaining certainly didnt describe the evening she was being subjected to.
When theyd arrived, Sheryl had noticed that she and Jonathan seemed overdressed compared to most of the other patrons. But it wasnt until they reached the ushers at the front of the auditorium that she noticed the billboard: Nutcracker! and then in much smaller print underneath, A dark, urbanized retelling of the original tale. Oh, good, just what Christmas neededdark urbanization.
As Jonathan followed her gaze, he began to look nervouseven more so than beforeand immediately retrieved the tickets from his pocket, squinting at the small print. I had no idea, he stammered. A client gaveI saw the first word and just assumed
Its all right, she told him, feeling guilty now for not having shared her misgivings about the Backstage. Maybe itll be She hadnt been able to think of a word, but it hadnt mattered because then it was their turn to hand over their tickets and find their seats.
Now, it was intermission, and Sheryl didnt know how much more she could take. The play had begun with slightly altered characters Claire and Franz giving disturbed soliloquies on their relationships with their parents. Due to a dysfunctional home life, they joined a gang led by an underworld figure known as the Rat King. Then followed several violent, badly choreographed street-fight/dance numbers accompanied by an overpowering electric guitar. The program promised that in the next half of the show, the traditional dance of sweets was being replaced by Claire hallucinating that different narcotics had come to life.