“Darren,” he answered. “And I’m heading back to Chicago tomorrow morning. Gotta be at the airport probably around nine.”
“Airport?” Sherry asked, almost as if she’d never heard of such.
“Yeah.” Darren’s confused facial expression showed on his face. “You know? Fort Wayne International?”
“Yeah, I know,” Sherry said. She quickly finished up a couple beers for some biker guys as their waitress waited anxiously on the other side of the bar with their tray of food. “I’ve driven by it, but I didn’t know people actually flew into it.”
Darren laughed. The airport definitely came across to him as small “homey.” In a lot of ways, it seemed more like a gigantic bus station rather than an airport. “Yeah, I see what you mean.”
The bar swelled with even more people shortly after Sherry commented about how she’d be getting off around 11 that night because she’d come in much earlier to help with the crowd. Sitting at the bar had become a bit annoying for Darren as well as uncomfortable with so many people stepping up to his side and ordering drinks so frequently. He went ahead and paid for his three beers then stood up. Sherry looked over at him, smiling. To the other it was obvious they each wanted to say something.
“Look, if you’re up for hanging out a bit when you get off, I’ll still be up,” Darren said. “I don’t know anybody in Fort Wayne, so...”
“Hmm,” Sherry said then pausing. “I just might be. I’m not doing anything tonight, anyway. I’m not going to the festival or anything like that. Been a hundred times already.”
Darren chuckled. “A hundred times?” he said, thinking about how the festival was a yearly thing. He pulled one of his cards up out of his pocket. “Okay, well, here’s my card. My cell number is on there. You can just text me if you want. If you’re too tired or whatever, then no pressure.”
Sherry grabbed the card and looked it over, taking in the quality. Darren McWaters. Real Estate Investor. What followed was the address to his Chicago office as well as his phone number. This guy certainly takes good pictures. “Yeah, I’ll text you,” she said. “Only got a little while left in here. Are you staying out by the airport?”
“No, right downtown,” Darren said, gesturing toward to the north. “I’m staying at the Hilton. You know?”
“Yeah,” Sherry said. “I worked for a catering company once upon a time.”
Several people approached the bar and all crowded up against the railing order drinks. Darren backed away as Sherry assured she would call him as soon as she got off. Darren smiled, the two of them looking into the others eyes while he made his way out to the sidewalk. He smirked as he glanced back inside.
Darren, carrying his business folder at his side, walked down Calhoun Street and into the small courtyard adjacent to the Hilton building. The night air was perfect – not too humid, but certainly not the least bit chilly. Instead of going inside and sitting in the cold, stale lobby, Darren plopped down on a bench and simply observed. Sherry had been on his mind for a few minutes at this point. The Chicago-native then shrugged it off.
“Darren, forget it,” he said to himself, coming down and thinking realistically. “She’s probably used to guys hitting on her at the bar all the time and is just nice to them for the sake of being nice.”
Darren realized what the situation with a woman like Sherry probably was then figured he might as well start figuring out what else he would do for the night. The last few times he’d come to Ft. Wayne, he’d been so busy with researching the market that by the time he’d gotten back to his hotel room at night, he didn’t feel like having any company. This time was different, though. The longer Darren sat on the bench, the more antsy he became. Certain woman passing by – those with long hair, pretty faces, and smooth, toned legs on display – brought about even more thoughts.
Darren had been reading about different bars as well as a few nightclubs in the area when a text popped up from a 260 area code: I’m off. A smiley face emoji set at the end of the text. Darren’s expressionless face changed instantly; his lips curled into a smile.
After a few minutes of texting back and forth, Darren and Sherry finally agreed on Sherry coming down the street and joining him in the courtyard for a little while. Darren had insisted on coming back to the bar so he could walk with her, even heading out to the sidewalk so he could do so, but Sherry texted that she wanted to get some fresh air. Within minutes, she was in eyesight. Darren noticed the way she walked – so much confidence, so sexy. A strong wind whipped down the store-front-lined street, lifting Sherry’s blonde hair up off of her shoulders. The view was picturesque for Darren in many ways, as he was an art lover – the lit high-rises in the background, a tree-lined street, a clear, starry sky with a bright, glowing moon resting over top.. All with Sherry the center of the picture.
Darren and Sherry hugged one another. Darren tapped her cheek with a light kiss. They then sat down on the bench for a moment, in silence. “Were people still coming in there when you were getting out?” he asked, finally breaking the ice.
“Oh, yeah,” Sherry said, nodding her head. “And probably will be for the night. Local team won, so, you know.” She looked at Denny nod his head. “So, you stayin’ in this Hilton, huh?”
“Yeah,” Darren answered. “I think next time, I’m going to get something a little more personal. Maybe like a small house or rent some apartment in some old building. I like stuff like that more. Just something about these hotel rooms that are so cold. I hate sitting in them… Then again, maybe I’m just tired of them.”
“I see, I see” Sherry said. Badly, she wanted to ask the guy about what being a real estate investor really meant, but she worried about how she might come across. “Yeah, I could see what you mean. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to spend a night in a 5-star hotel every once in a while, but I guess if you stay in them a lot...”
“Yeah,” Darren said. “So, I was thinking about some small place that might have a little music...some dancing. You know of anywhere like that? I wouldn’t want to be there long, but it’s only eleven o’clock. And the night’s still young, as they say. The city is alive and stuff.”
Sherry snickered. “Yeah, okay. Fort Wayne is alive. Okay, well, seriously, I know a place. Down the block from where I live. If you want, you can follow me back to my apartment building and park in the lot then we can walk down the street. It’s like a little bar with music, usually karaoke, and sometimes you’ll get somebody in there who’s good enough to get people up and dancing.”
Darren’s eyebrows raised. Being from out of town, he wasn’t exactly in a position to turn down such an offer. He and Sherry wound up getting up and chatting a bit more before they went their separate ways to get to their cars. Daren crossed through the hotel lobby to access the parking garage. By the time he got down to The Blue Ivy in his rented golden sedan, Sherry was waiting at the parking lot exit to the street in her beat-up Toyota. She pulled out then Darren followed her, crossing the river then zigzagging through a compact neighborhood riddled with older corner-store buildings every few blocks. Within fifteen minutes, Sherry turned into the parking lot behind a brown brick, two-story building with a couple of small stores and a restaurant on the ground level and apartments on the second floor. They parked then met one another out on the sidewalk.
“I live up there,” Sherry said. She looked at the way Darren looked around and figured the guy probably wasn’t used to being in this kind of neighborhood – not the worst, but certainly not the best.
Darren nodded, having left his suit jacket in the car. “Okay, I see, I see,” he said.
Sherry playfully pushed Darren and told him to loosen up a bit.
“I am, I am,” Darren said.
Following Sherry’s lead, they walked down to the bar – Buren’s – at the corner. They enjoyed a few beers while a woman serenaded the crowd from the bar’s small stage at the front. A mini biker club congregated at the back, telling jokes and talking about women while they