Then he turned and started to walk away.
“I’m not going to town with you,” I announced.
He turned back and asked, “Why not?”
“Because you called the taxi company and told them not to send a taxi.”
“And?”
“And, as delighted as I was to be offered a beer by Arlene coupled with the opportunity to experience town like a local, I wanted a taxi.”
He grinned again. “Arlene’s friendly.”
“I think Arlene’s a little nutty.”
“Friendly ain’t nutty, darlin’, it’s friendly.”
“It would have been friendlier if she sent a taxi.”
He tipped his head to the bed and noted, “You got a nap.”
“Yes.”
“And you got your color back.”
I fought the urge to touch my cheeks, won my fight and said, “So?”
“So, you got rest, except for bakin’ cookies. It’s what you needed.”
“Max, what I need is to –”
He turned and started walking away, saying, “We’ll talk over burgers.”
“Max.”
“Burgers,” he said before he hit the staircase.
“Max!” I shouted.
He didn’t answer.
God, he was so annoying.
He was hungry? He wanted burgers? He wanted to talk over burgers? I was hungry too, actually famished. So we’d talk over burgers.
I went to my suitcase, pulled out my hair drier and my makeup case and snatched up the converter. He wanted to go to town to talk over burgers; he’d have to wait until I did my hair and makeup. I didn’t go anywhere without doing my hair and makeup.
Unfortunately that morning I didn’t sleep. I tried but it wouldn’t come. So I made cookies instead. Then it was time for lunch, so I made lunch. Then I put the sheets in the drier, cleaned up after the cookies and lunch and tried to read but I was too tired so I went upstairs and slid open the doors to the TV and VCR. Max had a selection of shoot ‘em ups, some Westerns, horror, a few espionage, lots of explosion movies. I picked an espionage, made the bed, watched the movie, went downstairs and folded the sheets then went back upstairs to watch another espionage, which, obviously, I fell asleep while watching.
Now, it was dinnertime.
I blew out my hair sleek, gunked it up with some stuff I liked that contained any fly-aways and then did my makeup. Not full-on Nina makeup since I was in the Colorado mountains and if makeup-less, mountain fresh Becca was anything to go by the girls in the Colorado mountains didn’t do full-on Nina makeup. I went light, I might have got some of my color back but not all of it and I needed a bit of help.
Then I walked out of the bathroom, put away my stuff in my suitcase ever ready to escape, spritzed with perfume, put on some gold hoop earrings, a bunch of gold tinkly bracelets and wrapped a thin, lilac scarf edged with an inch of gold once around my neck, letting the long ends fall down the front. I pulled on some socks then my high-heeled tan boots. Then I stomped downstairs.
“Ready,” I announced when I hit the bottom.
Max was standing in the kitchen, looking like he was sorting through mail and he was eating another cookie.