After the usual rigmarole of getting into the Pit, we found Carl and Liz both hard at work. I crossed my toes, hoping they had something for me.
"Your date sent a text this morning asking where you wanted to be picked up tomorrow night," Liz said, not looking up from her screen.
I was so tired the night I had to let Zuba know I was available, that I'd put the simple text I'd sent out of my mind the second I hit send. It seemed almost like a lifetime ago, and I truthfully couldn't remember how many days it had been.
"That's a good question. I don't want him to know where I live." I had enough troubles without someone involved in arms deals showing up at my doorstep.
"You can get ready in my hotel room," Nate suggested. "Don't worry, I'll vacate the room while you're getting all gussied up. He shouldn't have a backstory on you yet, so you can play the part of someone visiting from out-of-town. Tomorrow, before or after you get ready, we can sit down and practice a cover story for your life. I'd do it now, but it'd be best if it was fresh in your mind."
"Okay, as long as you're nowhere near the room when I'm undressed, that sounds like the most logical idea I can come up with. I don't have many friends' houses I could use and I really wouldn't want to for the same reason I'm staying away from my apartment."
"Great, I'll send him the information," Liz said, going to work. I didn't bother asking how she knew where Nate's hotel was.
I settled into my workstation. "So, since no one is jumping up to tell me who this stalker is, I'm guessing you guys are still working?"
"That's exactly what it means. I should have an answer before tomorrow night. This person was pretty good though. It seems they bounced it off a few towers outside the country before letting it hit your phone," Liz reported.
"On the email side of things there might be a dead end. I've traced the email to a public library terminal. The address is just a free one that they probably didn't use a real name for. Unless there really is a Joe Blow out there, and if that's the case, I want to find him and ask what his parents were thinking."
Carl's words didn't surprise me. It figured I'd have a brainy stalker. Why couldn't I have just a normal everyday average person sending me crap? Oh well, I had other work that needed to be done. I allowed my fingers to fly across the keyboard, doing what I did best, and tuned out the rest of the world.
Around eleven forty-five, I was shaken from my happy place by Nate literally shaking me.
"Avery!" he shouted.
"Why are you shouting?" I asked. "I'm pretty sure it's been determined I'm not deaf, so there's no reason to get loud and up in my face."
"Are you sure about that? I've been saying your name for the last five minutes and it hasn't gotten through. I was starting to think maybe you stuck some cotton in your ears."
"Fine. I was totally in my zone. I can't help it that when I'm working, I don't like to be disturbed. What's so earthshattering that you needed to interrupt?"
"I was wondering if you wanted to go grab some lunch." He just had to say lunch. My stomach made itself very noticeable by growling loudly.
Thinking that it wasn't a good idea for us to be seen out by ourselves, I replied, "How about we make it a group lunch. We've all been working really hard lately; let's take a break."
"Great idea," Liz enthusiastically said as she got up from her desk.
"Sure, I'm hungry," added Carl. He didn't sound as eager, but he was out of his chair without any extra prodding.
Nate didn't look too happy to have the tagalongs, but he'd deal with it. If nothing else, he could pretend they were cannon fodder. I was pretty sure that was the way his mind worked.
"Anyone have any particular cravings?" I asked as we all shuffled into the elevator.
"No preference for me." Carl had entered the elevator first, so his voice came from behind me.
Nate was glued to my side, which left Liz behind us with Carl. I imagined she was overjoyed by the positioning.
"I was thinking we could go to Chom Chom. They have a really nice lunch selection," Liz stated. Her annoyed tone let me know my assumptions about her mood were correct.
I looked to Nate for his opinion. "I'm visiting, so I'll leave it up to the experts."
"Chom Chom it is. I'd go just because the name sounds so cool."
It reminded me of all the photos online that say "Nom Nom Nom". I thought about making ones that said "chom chom chom" to see if I could get a new trend started.
We made the trek over and were seated in a very nice-looking restaurant. It was light and bright, which was more than most of the places I'd been in the recent days.
After reading the lunch menu, I wasn't too sure about the decision to eat there. I didn't think I'd ever eaten in a place that served Seaweed Salad. It sounded unappetizing to me and it was giving me little shivers thinking about eating it.
I decided to play it somewhat safe and asked for the chicken teriyaki box. When in doubt, always choose chicken. The others placed their orders and I noticed that only Liz was a bit daring, choosing to go with a few of the roll options. More power to her, you wouldn't catch me trying an eel roll though.
We sat waiting for our food in an oddly comfortable silence, sipping on our drinks. As was becoming my usual, I scanned the other diners to see if anyone was giving me more than casual stares. Satisfied no one was undressing me with their eyes, I tried to start up a conversation.
"We didn't really get a chance to talk yesterday, with me only being in the office a few minutes. How were your weekends?" I asked, directing the question to Carl and Liz.
"I stayed in the office most of the weekend. I finished up Nathaniel's trace and then worked a little on some jobs that were piling up."
"Oh Carl, we need to get you out more," Liz said, before immediately going into a long spiel. "I spent Friday night being dragged out to a dance club with some friends. We ended up having a great time and I even picked up a few phone numbers. I spent Saturday doing background checks on the guys to see if any of them were worth calling for a date.
"Turns out they were all slime balls. One is divorced and hasn't paid child support in three years and two of the others are actually married. Needless to say, those numbers were ripped to pieces and went straight in the trash. One of these days I'll find Mr. Right, but from that experience, I'm doubting it will be in a club."
"Or you could be like me and decide you never want to get married," I commented.
Since Nate had already heard it, he wasn't surprised, but the two other people at the table looked a little shell-shocked. They spent more time with me than anyone else, so it shouldn't have been that startling.
"But everyone dreams of growing up, getting married and raising a family," Liz kind of whined at me.
"I think your everyone classification is way off. I'm sure there are tons of people out there like me who just prefer to be alone, right Nate?"
"I think, in general, humans like companionship and are inclined to seek it out, so marriage tends to be in their future. There are people like Avery, though, who like to be alone and there's nothing wrong with that."
"With all the failed marriages these days, humans would be a lot better off getting a dog if they need companionship," I quipped as I saw our server bringing our food.
The food barely touched the table before we dove in. I did my best not to look at Liz as she ate her "food" that really never should've made it to a plate. I predicted that night's dreams were going to be of eels chasing me. I wasn't looking forward to it.
After we finished and paid, we walked back to the office to finish out the workday. I returned to my zone relatively easily and made some headway on a couple of my projects. At five, I was ready to get out of the building and back home to my last night of freedom.
On the way home, Nate started to plan our night. "You want to try to make it a movie night tonight? I don't expect you to want to go out anywhere, and I didn't see a lot of games or other hidden activities in your apartment."
"Are you
going to actually leave at midnight tonight? I don't want to wake up to find you next to me again if I can help it."
"I promise if you fall asleep tonight, I'll move you to your bed. I can't promise I won't sleep on the couch, though, especially since the stalker seems to be watching your home. I'm worried what would happen if I'm not there."
"Okay I'm in the mood for humor. I'm thinking Little Nicky, Big Daddy, Happy Gilmore and Mr. Deeds. That should take up most of the time and if not, I'm sure I have a couple more movies that tie in with those laying around.
"Sounds good." Nate was already pulling into a parking place. "Are you making something for dinner or would you like to order in?"
"I'm making something. After lunch, I'm afraid someone will sneak eel into anything I get." I cringed, still not over the eel rolls.
When we got to the apartment, I kicked off my sandals, while he put his keys and wallet on the table. I grabbed the movies from the entertainment center and put them in my six disk DVD player. I flipped it to Mr. Deeds and hit play while he settled on the couch.
"I'm going to go make fried chicken and mashed potatoes, if that's okay. Should only take about twenty minutes and I can hear the movie from the kitchen," I said, already heading that way.
"That sounds great. I could use some home-style cooking after lunch today. The eel didn't scare me as much as it did you, but I still didn't feel like I was eating something that would stick to my bones," he responded.
After putting on my apron, I pulled out a skillet and turned the stove on. I poured a mess of oil in it to get it ready. Then, I took some milk and chicken from the fridge. I grabbed two bowls and poured the milk in one and seasoned some flour in the other.
Taking one chicken breast, I dipped it in the milk and then dredged it in the flour. I repeated the process to give it an extra layer of coating. Once both chicken breasts were ready, I threw them in the oil.?
While they started browning, I got two good-sized potatoes out and rinsed them off. I poked them with a fork and put them in the microwave on the potato setting. As they cooked, I put a stick of butter in a bowl and poured a good amount of milk in. After adding some pepper and garlic, I set it aside.
I quickly flipped the chicken over, and then I retrieved the potatoes from the microwave. As carefully as I could, with a potholder in one hand, I peeled the skins off and threw the potatoes in the milk and butter bowl. I beat them to submission with my hand mixer.
I took out two plates and dished the potatoes onto them. I placed a few paper towels on the counter and put the chicken breasts on them to let some of the grease absorb into the towels.? Once enough grease was gone, I tossed the chicken on the plates and got us forks.
"Do you want something to drink?" I put the plates down on the table in front of Nate as I asked.
"This looks delicious, and I think it would pair nicely with a glass of milk if you have some," Nate responded as he stabbed his fork into the mashed potatoes.
I ran to the kitchen, poured two glasses of milk and was back on the couch within seconds. We ate without talking while laughing along with the movie. When we were done, I took the dishes and rinsed them off to deal with later. On my way back to the living room area, the phone rang. I checked the phone to verify who the caller was.
"Hello, Mom," I answered as I made my way back to sit on the couch with Nate.
"Oh Avery, I'm so happy to finally get a hold of you. I wanted to go over the itinerary for our trip."
"When are you going to arrive?" I asked, wishing they'd picked another time for a visit.
"We'll be getting in at two in the afternoon on Saturday. We're staying a full week, so maybe you could take some time off work to show us around," she said hopefully.
"I can see if it is possible, but work is really busy right now so it might be difficult."
I knew if the Zuba case was taken care of, like it should've been, there wouldn't be any trouble asking for time off. I didn't like asking for time off, but I was fairly certain I'd be ready for a little break.
"That would be lovely; you've lived there for a while now, so you should be able to show me and your father a great time. We'll have a rental car at the airport, which means you don't have to worry about picking us up. I imagine we'll need to unwind from the flight, so maybe we could get together for dinner that night," she suggested.
"I don't know of any reason that wouldn't work. I currently have no plans Saturday. I say let's plan on it. Is there anything else you need to talk about right now? I have company over and I'd like to get back to them."
"Company? Avery, you know you can't tell me that and not tell me who it is. Is it your friend Frannie or have you finally found a guy friend?" she asked.
"It's a coworker so don't get any ideas. I'll talk to you on Saturday, if you don't find a reason to call before then."
"Oh fine," she said and I could tell she wanted to push for information about who I had over. I didn't think she bought the coworker label, even if it was accurate. "I love you, dear, and look forward to seeing you."
"Love you too, Mom. Bye." I hung up the phone.
"You're really looking forward to their visit aren't you?" Nate asked.
"That obvious, huh." Nate didn't push for more information, which worked well for me, because I didn't want to talk about the imminent trip.
We had a lot of laughs as we finished watching the four movies. The clock said ten and I was tired, so I told Nate I was heading to bed. I grabbed him an extra blanket and a pillow and wished him good night. I knew he wasn't going to leave, which left me attempting to be hospitable.
"Sleep well, my little butterfly," I heard him say as I walked to bed.