Part 27
It was Saturday evening, two days after Christmas. The doorbell rang, and Anna answered it. Jeremy was standing there; she could already smell his favorite brand of cologne. It brought back a wave of memories.
“Come on in,” Anna said. “I’m just about ready to go.”
Anna had on a red sweater and black pants, and wore a lovely scarf that draped around her neck. She’d also put on a lovely gold necklace that was one of her favorites.
“The place looks so nice, and the tree is really great. Did you do it yourself?” Jeremy asked, as he walked around the tree.
“Yep, it was really easy to assemble. And fun, since I played some great Christmas music while I worked on it,” Anna answered.
Anna grabbed her short, black winter coat and her purse, and they went out to Jeremy’s car. He opened the door for her. He was being way too polite, Anna thought.
The movie theater was fairly crowded, but the line moved fast and before long they were seated and waiting for the feature to start. It was a bang-bang, cops and robbers movie that Anna figured would probably be full of solicitous violence and huge bursts of noise which always bothered Anna. The plot had a couple of twists and turns and it ended on a happy note, which was probably the only plus. However, Jeremy seemed very into the movie. He talked about the special effects all the way to the car and while they were driving to the eatery.
They went for a burger afterwards at a more upscale place than they used to frequent. He ordered a beer, and Anna had tea. Her feet were still cold from the theater.
“Anna, you look really good,” Jeremy said. “You’ve changed your hair or something.”
“Yes, a little bit. I got a different cut, and we added some highlights,” Anna said. “It was something I always wanted to try.”
“Well, you look terrific. So did you see that new laptop that came out, the one with all the memory and the thin case?” Jeremy asked.
“I think I saw an ad for it,” Anna said.
“I got one. It’s awesome,” Jeremy said.
Just then Anna heard a cell phone ringing, and she knew it wasn’t hers because she had turned it off. Jeremy pulled out a smart phone from his pocket and answered it.
“Hello,” he said.
As he was listening, he stood up and mouthed to Anna, “I’ve got to get this. Be right back.”
Meanwhile, the waitress came to take their order, and Anna asked her to wait for a few minutes. She looked around to see where Jeremy went, but he was out of sight. The more she thought about it, the evening was all wrong. The movie was wrong. The burger place was wrong. Answering the cell phone and going off to talk to someone was wrong – no matter who it was. Unless it was a five-alarm fire somewhere, which Anna was pretty sure it wasn’t.
She began to mull over their relationship in her mind, and all of the issues that they had were just an undercurrent that no matter how long they might be apart was still running strong at the base of it all. She would be wrong to expect him to change, or to spend years nagging at him in hopes that he would. She opened her purse and got out her own cell phone. Since they were in the city near Addleford where she worked, Anna found the name of the cab company she had used before and called them. They said that a cab was nearby and would be there in two minutes. Anna took a few sips of the hot tea and got up, walked out of the restaurant, and stood by the front door. She saw Jeremy just down the street, with his back towards the restaurant and she stood near a large potted Christmas tree where he would be unlikely to see her. The cab pulled up and she got in.
“Where to?” the driver asked.
Anna gave him her home address and they pulled away from the curb.
Once home, Anna hung her good clothes in the closet and put on her pajamas. She made herself some decaf tea and put on the television. There was a new made-for-TV movie on, and it looked corny but good enough.
The phone rang and she checked the ID. It was Jeremy’s cell. She didn’t answer it and it felt good. She was in control. She knew what she wanted and it wasn’t Jeremy.
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