“Yeah, well, it’s easy for you to be all starry-eyed. You married the only Mr. Perfect and left the rest of us with the jerks and the losers.”
“Wayne isn’t perfect.” But then Karen smiled, her plain face suddenly almost pretty. “But I’ll admit that he’s darned close.”
“Just because this Mike guy is pretty and gave her flowers doesn’t mean Catherine should get tangled up with him.”
Catherine cleared her throat rather forcefully. “I am still here, you know. I can hear every word of this totally inane conversation.”
Karen giggled. “We haven’t forgotten about you.”
“Then could we change the subject now, please?” Though she knew it was foolish, she had the unsettling feeling that Mike would somehow know they were talking about him.
Karen looked a bit reluctant, but Julia was more than happy to veer the conversation into a new direction. Very aware of Mike sitting on the other side of the room, but trying to pretend she had forgotten all about him, Catherine focused intently on her friends as they finished their meals.
Catherine spotted Mike across the apartment compound as she climbed out of her car late the next afternoon. A toolbox in his hands, he was chatting with an older man she knew to be a longtime resident. Other tenants were moving around the parking lot, either walking to or away from their vehicles. She noted that several of them called out greetings to Mike, to which he responded with cordial
waves.
He had certainly made himself known during his brief time on this job. She had lived here almost two years and knew the names of maybe three of her neighbors.
Finishing his conversation, he turned her way, saw her and lifted his hand in a wave. She paused in the shade of the oak tree next to her apartment building when he indicated that he wanted to speak with her.
“How’s it going?” he asked as he approached her.
“Very well, thank you. And you?”
“Not bad. I just wanted to tell you I got a B on my biology exam. A high B, just two points away from an A. The professor graded off on one of my essay questions,” he added with a charmingly sheepish smile. “Said I was ‘too vague.’”
She returned the smile, feeling safe to tease him a bit since he seemed to have accepted the comments good-naturedly. “Imagine that.”
He chuckled. “You did try to warn me.”
“Still, a high B is an excellent grade. Congratulations.”
“Thanks.” He looked genuinely proud of himself.
“When’s your next exam?”
“Friday.”
“Do you feel good about it?”
He hesitated just a moment before smiling a bit too brightly. “Oh, yeah. Piece of cake.”
Tilting her head, she studied him with a frown. “What will it cover?”
“Classification of organisms. You know, prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Real basic stuff that everyone should know by college.”
And yet he didn’t sound at all confident that he did know the material that well. “I’d be happy to quiz you, if you like,” she offered diffidently. “Not that I’m implying you’re not ready, of course, but—”
“You’re sure? Because I wouldn’t want to be a nuisance to you. I really don’t expect you to help me study for every test.”
“I don’t mind,” she assured him. “This is a fairly slow week for me—which is a rarity, actually. I can spare a couple of hours to talk about plantae and such.”
“Eukaryotes, right?”
She smiled again. “Right. When’s a good time for you?”
“I have a class this evening. But I’m free tomorrow evening, if that’s good for you.”