Coffee in Common (6 page)

Geez, why am I so nervous?

He jumped up and grabbed a beer from the fridge. After a long pull, he checked the clock yet again as he paced in front of the sink.

Come on, get on with it. She's just a girl. But what if she's sleeping? Will she be upset if I wake her? Maybe I should wait and call her in the morning. Maybe…

"What the hell's wrong with me? This girl's got me so freakin' off-balance I can't think straight. Is this some cosmic joke or something? We've both been going to the coffee shop for years and now, suddenly, there she is, right in front of me, stealing my line. I wouldn't even have noticed her if she hadn't…maybe it is fate or something…damn, she even has me talking to myself!"

He shook his head to clear it.

"Call. Just call her before it gets any later."

His thumb started punching keys.

10:55 PM

Less than 350 yards away, Jillian was saying goodbye to her friends. Her second floor apartment at 1171 Boylston Street was across the Fens from Paul's condo.

"Don't worry," Jenna said as she and Liz donned their jackets. "He'll call tomorrow for sure."

Liz agreed. "For sure. He obviously likes you."

Jillian repeated her earlier contention. "If he calls, he calls. I really don't care one way or the other."

Liz chuckled. "Sure you don't. That's why we spent the past four hours talking about him. ‘Cause you don't care one way or the other. HAH! You are so in denial girl. Do you even remember what movie we were watching? This guy has you bad, girl, really bad."

"Bad," Jenna mimicked, laughing, "
really bad
."

Liz turned the knob and opened the door, but before she could move, the phone began to ring. Jillian made no move to answer it.

"What are you waiting for?" Liz asked. "Go get it. It's probably him."

Jillian stood her ground.

"Well if you won't answer it, I will."

Liz started toward the phone on the table butJillian rushed by her and grabbed the receiver.

"Don't care one way or the other my ass," Liz muttered, heading back to the door.

Jillian pressed the talk button and said, "Hello?"

"Hi, it's Paul. Please tell me it's not too late to call."

Jillian's face lit up. She pointed to the phone and mouthed ‘it's him', then waved goodbye to the girls as they closed the door on their way out.

"Hi. It's not too late. Two of my friends just left."

"Sorry to call so late. I was with Rob – remember him from the coffee shop this morning? I got tied up with him after work and just walked in a few minutes ago. I'm glad you're still awake."

"And I'm glad you called. Did the manuscript dry out?"

"Sure. After you left, I took it to the Laundromat and put the wet pages in the dryer."

"You did not!"

"No, not really. But it sounded good, didn't it?"

Jillian laughed and realized she'd been laughing a lot since lunch today.

"Are you like this all the time?"

"Like what?"

"Funny."

Paul thought for a few seconds. "I try. I like to laugh, and I like to make other people laugh. Especially people I like."

"Oh, so you're saying you like me?"

"Yes, I'd definitely say I like you. The big question though, the one on which the future of this whole conversation rests is…" He paused for effect. "…do you like Italian food?"

"It's my favorite."

"Whew. Okay. Everything's fine now. I was really worried. I could never date a woman who didn't like Italian food."

"Really?"

"Absolutely. You see, Italian food is more than just food. It not only nourishes the body, it nourishes the soul. It makes your tonsils dance and your heart sing. It fills your stomach, yes, but it also fills you with a sense of peace and contentment. Especially when accompanied by a couple of bottles of Chianti."

Jillian was laughing again. "My, my. Is it only food, or are you this passionate about everything?"

Paul knew what he would have liked to say, but instead offered, "I think I'll let you discover that for yourself, a little at a time. So, tell me about your friends."

Jillian's eyebrows arched at the unexpected question. "You want to hear about my friends?"

"Of course. If they're over there this late on a work night, I'm guessing they're a big part of your life and someday I hope to meet them, so why not get to know a little about them now. Unless you'd rather not talk about them."

Someday I hope to meet them? Someday I hope to meet them! Does he know what he just said? Is he actually thinking that far ahead? How could he be? We just met.

Jillian thought she should be feeling funny about his self-assurance, his presumption that he'd be around long enough to meet her friends. Instead it made her feel warm inside, peaceful and happy.

What is it about this guy that keeps making me feel so opposite to what I
should
be feeling?

"So you're serious? You really want me to tell you about Liz and Jenna?"

"Of course. I wouldn't have asked otherwise. How did you meet them?"

"Okay then," she said, reclining on the sofa. "I hope you're sitting down.

"Liz is Elizabeth Farrell. She's my oldest friend. We met in the third grade and hated each other until half-way through the fourth grade. Then this pint-sized terror named Eddie Lepage started picking on both of us, so we called a temporary truce so we could figure out a way to get back at him. We schemed for almost a week before deciding on a plan.

"Are you bored yet?"

"Not at all. I love revenge stories."

"I see. Well, one day during recess, I started taunting Eddie until he started to chase me. I ran halfway around the yard, then around the back of the school where Liz was waiting. As soon as he turned the corner, she jumped out and screamed at the top of lungs, which didn't bother Eddie at all, but did get him to stop. That's when she threw a glass of water at the front of his pants, soaking them.

"The two of us ran back out to the yard where all the other kids were playing. When Eddie came around the corner to get us, we started laughing and pointing, telling everyone Liz scared him so much he peed in his pants."

She could hear Paul chuckling softly.

"Eddie's denials were long and loud but to no avail. From that day, until his family moved away the following year, he was known as Eddie LePee."

She heard his chuckles become laughs. "Eddie LePee! That's a riot. I bet his folks moved to save him from the humiliation."

Jillian matched his laugh. "Maybe so. Anyway, with our mission accomplished, we found we had a lot in common and since neither of us could remember why we hated each other, we decided to be friends, instead. That was eighteen years ago."

"Whoa…eighteen years! My oldest friend is Rob and I met him in high school. What about the other one? What's her name?"

"Jenna. Jennafer Williams. Liz and I met her freshman year in college."

"Which school?"

"Boston University."

"Oh! Good school. I went to Tufts."

"That's a pretty good school, too."

"It was close to home. And I got a discount because I lived in Medford. Hmmm…I wonder if they still do that? Anyway, Jenna?"

"She was the third girl in a triple dorm room."

"Holy crap! Three girls in one room? With one bathroom?"

"You have no idea! But anyway, we'd all won scholarships…or rather, the school gave Liz and I scholarships. Jenna got hers by winning some national science contest."

"Wow, she must be pretty smart."

"She sure is. But she's such a goofball you'd never know it outside the lab where she works."

Jillian found herself telling him things about Liz and Jenna, what they did, what they liked, things she might have expected to tell a new girlfriend, but not some guy she'd just met.

"Man, I wish I had a friend like Liz. You two sound more like sisters than friends."

"I guess we are, really."

"At our age, it's hard to imagine having had a best friend for eighteen years. And speaking of age, if I've done my math correctly, you would be 25?"

"Your math is correct," she replied. "Now, to get your age, how much should I add or subtract from mine?"

"You should add three."

"Twenty-eight! You're twenty-eight? I never would have guessed. I thought you were my age, or younger."

"It's my boyish good looks. They're a curse, really. But it's true, I'm only two years away from the big three-oh. Can Social Security be far behind?"

As the conversation continued, each offered tidbits of information, about work, friends, likes, dislikes; the things two people usually offer up at the beginning of a new relationship.

Paul was charming, constantly making her laugh. Both were so caught up in the dialogue, time flew by.

When Jillian thought to check, she was shocked to see it was well after midnight.

Didn't the phone just ring a few minutes ago?

"You know I was so embarrassed at lunch today, I just wanted to go hide somewhere."

"I remember," he said, chuckling, "but there was no reason to be embarrassed. You were nervous. So was I. Heck, if you hadn't knocked it over, I probably would have. Actually, I was more relieved than anything else."

"Relieved?"

"Sure. After all, I made such a fool of myself this morning, and I had this vision of you as, you know, so cool and calm and detached. I had no idea what to say or do to impress you. I just knew I had to. And when the coffee went flying, and you got all flustered…well, I knew we were okay. I knew you'd laugh at my ‘most beautiful' joke and I knew we'd hit it off.

"You knew that? How?"

"I'm not sure. I guess because if you really were the cold, aloof type, you wouldn't have reacted that way to the spill. And to tell the truth, by then I had a feeling, but it was probably more hoping than knowing how you'd react to the joke."

Jillian found herself nodding, pleased that his answers were so honest and unguarded.

"Since we're doing
True Confessions
here, I had planned to come in all cold and aloof, what you were expecting, just to test you. I was really afraid you were playing me and I didn't want any part of it, if that's what it was. Knocking over the coffee and you being so nice about it sort of reset my attitude I think."

"Well I'm very glad it did."

"Me too."

Her eyes flicked to the clock again. "You realize it's way after midnight, and I have to get up for work in the morning."

Paul sighed. "I know. So do I. I just don't want to let go of your voice…"

That warm, comfortable feeling flowed through her again.

"…but I will. So now the moment of truth has arrived. Would you like to go out with me Friday night?"

"No."

There was dead silence on the phone line. Paul's face had drained to a ghostly white. Was she really turning him down?

"I'd
like
to go out with you tomorrow night but I can't because I have yoga class and then dinner plans with some friends. So I guess I'll have to hold out until Friday."

It took a moment for Paul to recover his voice and for the color to return to his face.

"You know you almost gave me a heart attack. Was that…"

"Payback for the joke this afternoon? Yes it was." Jillian laughed. "Still want to go out with me?"

Paul was laughing now as well. "Oh yes. I have a feeling getting to know you will be the most interesting thing I'll ever do."

THURSDAY, MAY 6

7:35 AM

Paul and Rob stood near the window of the coffee shop sipping their morning caffeine as they scanned the sidewalk.

"I'm glad to hear it, man." Paul's eyes never paused as they swept back-and-forth.

His friend nodded. "It was weird. Debbie was so nice, you know? She really has her act together, unlike some of us. We seemed to hit it off and all, but the more I got to know her, and the more I realized how great she was, the more I missed Lisa. Even worse, though, is that I'm pretty sure Debbie would have invited me home if I'd shown even the slightest interest. But I knew it would have felt like I was cheating on Lisa. Besides, I think Marianne might have grabbed her gun and shot me had I dared set foot inside Debbie's apartment."

"I'm guessing you two didn't get along well after I left?"

"Man, she started in on me as soon as you were out the door. She all but tore me a new one because I'd dragged you there rather than let you get home to call coffee girl. She went on and on and on about it. Whatever you told her made one hell of an impression."

"I told her about meeting Jillian and what happened at lunch, the same things I told you."

"Well, she obviously read more into it than I did, because she reamed me good."

Paul laughed. He could picture Marianne berating Rob. "In your defense, you
were
a little preoccupied with your own problems with Lisa."

"Maybe so, but she certainly liked you. When I said goodbye to them at the subway, I got the impression they'd be talking about you and coffee girl all night."

"Jillian."

"What?"

"Jillian. Her name is Jillian, not coffee girl."

"Oooo, touchy, touchy. Jillian it is then, but I don't think she's coming."

Paul glanced at his watch and sighed. It was quarter to eight. He really wanted to see her again this morning.

Last night, after saying goodbye, he tried to sleep but found he could not get her off his mind. Her face, her voice, the way she'd looked from behind as he chased after her that morning, everything kept playing back over and over. He thought he finally fell asleep sometime after two. And when his alarm clock buzzed at 6:30, his first thought had been of her and how she might look in the morning.

"Let's give it few more minutes. So what are you going to do about Lisa?"

"Well, last night I burned a CD with a bunch of songs to tell her I'm sorry, and I miss her, and all. I was up until almost two-thirty figuring out what to put on it. And I'm sending flowers to her at work this morning and including the CD and a letter I wrote last night."