Page 11 of Dating and Other Theories
“I kind of like the attention,” Jinny admitted. “After what he did, he deserves to grovel. And I deserve to enjoy his groveling.” She leaned over to pet Sally, who glided just out of reach. “Why doesn’t your cat want to be my friend?”
Esther shrugged. “She doesn’t like anyone but me. She’s choosy.”
“Are you saying I’m not good enough for your cat?”
“No, I’m saying she knows where her food comes from and doesn’t have time for anyone who doesn’t keep her in the gourmet salmon bits to which she’s accustomed.”
“That’s fair,” Jinny said. “I’ll give you a pass, Sally.”
There was another knock on the door, and Sally bolted for the bedroom again. Esther got up, signed the receipt for the food, and carried it to the dining table.
“God, it smells so good,” Jinny said as she helped Esther unpack the food. “I’m famished. Turning down sex is hard work.”
“I’m sure,” Esther said sourly as she went into the kitchen for utensils and napkins.
Jinny peeled open one of the containers. “You ordered the kettle corn, right?”
“Of course. I’m not an amateur.”
They’d barely started eating when there was yet another knock on the door. Right on cue.
“Listen for our food to be delivered,” Esther had told Jonathan. “Once the delivery guy leaves, wait two minutes, then come over with the mail.” She’d given him back her misdelivered mail, so he could bring it over while Jinny was there.
“Did the delivery guy forget something?” Jinny asked, taking stock of the food containers.
“I don’t think so.” Esther headed for the door. “Maybe I signed the wrong receipt.” She pulled it open and pretended to be surprised. “Oh! Jonathan. Hi.”
“Hey,” he said without much enthusiasm.
She raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to explain why he was here. Don’t screw this up, you idiot.
“Hey,” he mumbled again. Smooth. “The—uh—the mailman left these in my box by mistake.” He held out her mail.
“Thanks!” Esther said, trying to sound friendly. “I guess he got our boxes mixed up, because I’ve got some of yours too. Come on in.” She stepped back and waved him over the threshold.
Hands shoved deep in his pockets and slouching like a kid being dragged to church against his will, Jonathan shuffled into the apartment. So far, he was really not selling this.
Esther pretended to rifle through the stack of mail piling up on the Ikea bookcase by the door. “I know I set it down around here somewhere…aha! Here we go. Sorry, I was going to bring it over earlier, but then Jinny came over and I sort of forgot. This is my friend Jinny, by the way,” she added, waving her hand like it was an afterthought. “Jinny, Jonathan. Jonathan, Jinny.”
“Hey,” Jonathan mumbled.
Come on, Esther thought. Try harder. This wasn’t going to work if he kept acting like he didn’t want to be there.
Jinny stepped forward and stuck out her hand. “Hi, nice to meet you.” Thank god one of them had social skills.
Jonathan stared at her hand for a second, like he didn’t know what he was supposed to do with it. And then finally—finally—some kind of automatic response kicked in, and he stepped forward to take it. “Oh, yeah. I’ve seen you around before.”
“Tell her you’ve seen her around before,” Esther had coached Jonathan earlier. “She’ll be flattered that you noticed her.”
Jinny’s smile got wider. “I’m here a lot. I like Esther’s pool. Esther’s okay too, but mainly it’s the pool that’s the draw.”
Jonathan nodded, relaxing a little. “Yeah, it’s pretty nice. I hope you don’t get in it though, because of the bacteria.”
“Esther or the pool?” Jinny asked, straight-faced.
Jonathan laughed. “The pool. I don’t really know anything about Esther’s bacteria situation.”
Hey, what do you know? The guy could smile after all.
