Angie looked carefully at her friend. She noticed the grin, the sparkle in her eyes and if she wasn't mistaken, her friend was looking a little flushed. Angie looked over to the man as he walked over to the end of the line. She wasn't sure what to make of this and her protective radar went up.
Deciding to investigate later, Angie asked, "So what do you say we get this show on the road? Angie walked over to the microphone as Sarah answered, "Let's do it."
It didn't take Sarah long to realize that the man she'd been talking to planned on being one of the last people in line. She saw him step back to allow two women to get in line in front of him. She could see where he stood in line, towering over most of the people in front of him but never seeming to get any closer. She wasn't sure why she was keeping track of his progress in the line, other that he was a familiar face and an easy one to keep in sight. As each new person stepped up, she would look up in greeting and sneak a glance in his direction. She noticed there were times when he had a distracted, unfocused look to his eyes as his gaze roamed around the room. There were other times when she looked up and saw that he was looking right at her, with a little grin playing at the corners of his mouth. Those little grins made her smile in delight and be even more gracious with everyone she greeted. Taking extra time to speak with everyone only increased the length of time he had to wait. It was evil of her, but it appealed to her sick sense of humor.
"Well, hello there. We meet again, finally." Bobby said, as he slid his book over for her to sign. "If you could just sign it, 'To Siegfried, and first impressions'?'"
Laughing, "OK, I like that. I saw you letting others get in line ahead of you, but, please tell me it didn't take you this long to come up with it."
"Well, I'm slow, but a little quicker than that. I also had the idea that if I was the last people or even the last person in line, I'd have a better chance of getting to talk to you.
"And why would you want to do that?" Sarah asked, genuinely surprised.
"Well, there wasn't much of an opportunity to ask for your phone number earlier, and I didn't want to miss the chance."
"What, my phone number? You want my phone number. I don't understand."
"Yes, your phone number. I assume you have one. I mean, how else are we going to get to know each other? Or plan a first date if we don't get another chance to talk?"
"Well of course I have a phone number, a couple of them as a matter of fact, but… Our first date? Umm … look I think we're heading off into one of those weird tangents we talked about earlier." She looked around for Angie, who was on the far side of the store.
Bobby turned to follow her sight line and saw she was focused on the woman she'd been with earlier. "I was… um thinking more, more along the lines of your home phone. What are the chances of that? Just a way to stay in touch and get to know each other better, before that first date thing."
"Well, I'm sorry, but the chance really isn't very good at all. I mean, I don't really know you and I don't just give my number out…."
"Don't be sorry, Sarah. You know me. We met earlier. Remember?" Bending down closer to her, he hummed the tune of "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man". "I think you want to get to know me better too. I'm pretty good at reading people."
There were so few people left in the store that Angie and her assistants had started locking up doors and closing out registers for the night. She glanced over to where Sarah was still talking with the man she'd met earlier. She saw that Sarah was looking flustered and she came running over.
As she rounded the table she stood behind Sarah. "Are…are we okay here, Sarah? Is everything all right?"
"Um, um… yeah, everything's fine Angie, just fine." Angie had protectively placed her hands on Sarah's shoulders. "I was just…. just…"
Rather pointedly, Angie addressed the man towering over them. "I'm sorry sir, but it's late and I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I think we've kept Sarah long enough tonight, don't you?"
Now it was Goren's turn to be a little flustered. Bobby replayed the interaction he'd witness between the two women tonight. The way the two had linked arms several times after the book discussion, and the kiss Sarah had given Angie. The way Angie now leapt to Sarah's defense. He was going to have to take back that comment about being able to read people.
"Look, maybe I've made a mistake here and if I have, I'm sorry…. really. I didn't mean to overstep. I guess you're right. I should leave." Bobby looked down at the book in his hands as he tried to think of something else to say. He hadn't been blindsided like this in a long time. On the job, he was a bright guy, perceptive and good at reading body language, seeing little clues that others missed. Why did he have so much trouble in personal situations? How could he have misread the situation so badly?
Bobby waved the book as he took a step back. "Thank you for this. Good night."
As he turned to leave, Angie said, "No, no, no, hey it's nothing like that. We're best friends. We go back, to junior high school. What kind of best friend would I be if I didn't leap into her defense when she's looking a little freaked?" Angie flashed him her wedding ring.
"What?" Sarah asked. She was perplexed by what was happening. She was still grappling with the question of how he knew about the song.
"What? Oh, that's what …. No… that's not it. It's just…" Sarah blushed. She was still running about 2 minutes behind in what was going on.
"Well it looks like it's my turn to be sorry again, I guess." Bobby said, smirking.
"You're not the first and I doubt you'll be the last. I guess with people who don't really know us, it's the easy explanation." Angie said with a shrug of her shoulders which implied that it wasn't her problem if people made that assumption.
Turning to Bobby, Sarah asks, "How did you know, about, about the song? The song you just hummed?" She was still stunned that he had hummed the song she'd thought of when she first saw him.
Before he could answer, Angie blurted out, "Okay, I think there's been enough confusion tonight, so here's how the rest of it's going to play out. I'm going to conduct a little pre-date interview, just like on those online dating websites." Angie had sized up this situation and if she left it up to Sarah she'd shoot this guy down without giving him half a chance. Just as every other guy who'd approached her in the last three years. He seemed like an interesting guy, but Angie knew she was going to have to step in and help him out. She was going to do her best to see that Sarah couldn't slip off the hook this time.
Panic quickly replaced confusion as Sarah squeaked, "A pre-date interview? Very funny. No, no Angie, knock it off." Sarah said as she rose to her feet. "I'm not playing this game Angie."
Angie continued as if Sarah hadn't spoken, "OK, Sarah mentioned your name earlier…" Angie ignored the warning look Sarah sent her way, "but I'm sorry, but I've forgotten what it is. So, what was your name again?"
"Bobby. Bobby Goren."
"Right, okay. So play along with me Bobby. Believe me, it's your only chance."
Bobby grinned as he nodded. He thought this was about to get interesting.
"What do you do for a living. Where do you work?" Angie asked.
"I'm a police officer. I'm a detective with Major Case. I work downtown at One Police Plaza."
"OK, well… hmmm. Are you an honest cop? You're not on 'the take' or anything are you? Where do you live? What part of town?"
"Nope, not 'on the take' as you put, no skim, I'm just an honest hard-working detective. I live near the East Village, just a couple of blocks from here. I just happened to stop by on my way home from work tonight." This was odd, a very odd feeling. He was usually the one interrogating a subject. But, he was willing to play along to see how this turned out.
"Good, that's not too far away from Sarah, and it's a decent neighborhood. Kind of artsy. Are you an artist or creative? What about transportation? Do you have a car?"
"'Artistic? No, but I have a great appreciation for painting and books. My mother was a librarian. And cars, yes I have two. One is a suped up classic '68 Charger that some friends and I restored a couple of years ago. There's also a fairly new, more practical Wrangler SUV. A couple of big cars for a big guy." Bobby admitted with a shrug. "But I don't drive either one too often, in the city. Regular day to day, I'm a subway kind of guy."
"So, just to be sure that we are all on the same page, you'd like to ask my best friend, girl friend sitting right here, out on a date, am I right? So, I guess we can also assume you're straight. That you're an eligible bachelor and unencumbered, with the ability to pay for dinner, a movie, coffee?"
"Um, ah yes to all of the above." Now it was Bobby's turn to smirk again. This was turning into an amusing night, to say the least.
Angie turned to address Sarah, wo had been sitting with her mouth hanging open. "OK, Sarah. I don't need to ask you any questions. I know all I need to know about you. I think I know your history better than you do. I think he's all right. I think you should go out with him. At least once."
"And you, Bobby Goren, hot-shot detective from One Police Plaza, you should be able to find her number. You find her number and she'll go out with you. How's that for a deal, everyone?"
"NO. There's no deal." Sarah was indignant. "Okay, Angie you've had your fun and I get your point. Honestly, I do. But, this is not going to happen Mr. Goren. I'm not a twelve year old. I repeat this is not going to happen. You've both had your fun, but it's over and I'm leaving, now." Sarah grabbed her briefcase and blazer and started to walk to the door.
"Wait, wait…. Sarah." Angie headed off after Sarah. Turning to Bobby she said, "Don't you move."
Bobby threw his hands up in mock surrender. He stepped back to lean back on the edge of the table and crossed his arms across his chest.
Angie caught up with Sarah and implored, "Sarah, wait. Please stop."
"Angie, I don't want to hear it! You are certifiable! This doesn't even rank as a high school stunt, it's not even junior high school. Under her breath she added, "You weren't this crazy in high school. Oh, Angie how could you? I'm so embarrassed."
"OK, first off, you didn't need me to be like this in high school. You weren't shooting down every guy who showed a modicum of interest in you then. Secondly, I had to step in to keep you from shutting this guy down before he even had a chance."
"That's my point Angie, we, I don't know anything about him. You don't know anything about him. I don't know anything about him. How could you be so reckless?"
"Look, we know as much about him, more even, than I knew about David when I first went out with him. And look how well that turned out."
Glancing over to where Bobby sat, Sarah whispered, "He is not David. I can't do this Angie. I can't."
With an exasperated sigh, Angie realized she had to hit Sarah hard. "Look, Sarah the only thing I may have gotten you involved in is an adventure. Nothing more, nothing less. That's what dating is, Sarah. Giving two people a chance to find out what they have in common. It doesn't have to be anymore than that. Give it a chance, Sarah. Give him a chance. Give yourself a chance. Not everyone is a stalker. Not everyone is psychotic. Not everyone is a freak. Not every man is Michael."
At the mention of Michael's name, the breath caught in Sarah's throat and a startled gasp escaped. "Oh god, Sarah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that. It just came out." Angie came over to Sarah and hugged her, pulling her tight. "I'm sorry."
Shaking her head, Sarah said, "You're right. I know you are. About all of it. But it's still just so hard. I know you didn't mean to bring up Michael."
"Come on back, he's still sitting there waiting. He obviously has a sense of humor. Cut him a break and tell him if he finds your phone number, he can call you. It's all been kind of goofy and fun, it'll fit right in."
"Oh god, I'm going to look like the biggest fool."
Linking arms again, Angie chided, "Not any bigger than earlier tonight during book reading."
"What?!"
"I'm just joking with you. Okay just follow my lead and try to keep up this time."
Angie led Sarah back to where Bobby sat. he'd opened the book he had and started reading.
"Well, it looks like he passed the freak out test. He's still here. He didn't slink away. So he's pretty steady." Angie elbowed Sarah to get her to reply.
"That… that's a bonus. Okay, that's a point in his favor. I guess you're right. If he finds my phone number, I'll talk to him. Other than that, all bets are off." She looked as she spoke, but her comments were directed to Angie. It gave her more confidence that way.
Before things could get any stranger, Bobby knew he needed to make his exit. "OK, great. A deal is a deal. I'll call you tomorrow, and… and we'll talk. Maybe, we can make plans to meet somewhere very public. I'll call you tomorrow. Because it's late, I'll wait until tomorrow to call you." He realized that he was babbling, he needed to get out of here… now. With a big grin on his face, he began to back away. He knew he could get every phone number and address for Sarah Stevens in about 5 minutes. He turned on his heel and headed for the door. Once he reached it he walked away not rushing and not turning around. That would signal anxiousness and desperation. Even though that's what he was feeling, he really didn't think he needed to broadcast it.
"Wait a minute. I, I can't do this." It was too late. He was gone. How does such a big guy move and disappear so quickly? "Aaahh, what am I going to do? What was I thinking?"
"Just breathe, honey. You'll be fine. Really you will." Sarah tagged along with Angie as she went to tell the last of her employees they could leave. "Stay here and keep an eye out for David, he should be here any minute now to take us home. I'll be right back, I just need to lock the safe up and get my coat and bag."
Looking out the window they could still see the tall figure of Bobby Goren as he walked away from the bookstore. Sarah looked over to Angie, "Just so you know; I'm telling David all about what just happened. And how if he wasn't around you would probably have given Bobby your phone number."
"Is my wife giving our phone number out to strange men again?" As if on cue, David arrived to pick up the girls. As Sarah related the events of the last few minutes, David couldn't contain his laughter. "Any chance the security cameras picked up any of this action?"
"The security cameras!" Angie cried as hugged David and then ran off to see if there was any video evidence of the incident. Now that she'd be able to hold over Sarah's head forever.
"Too bad those cameras aren't equipped with audio." David added, watching his wife run to the office.
Giving up in disgust, Sarah huffed off, "You two are hopeless. You deserve each other."
And with that David whole heartedly agreed and ran to catch up to Sarah, to give her a big hug.
