Events moved fast from then on.
Abruptly, she whispered something about leaving the party. He thought she meant later and alone. She meant right then and with him. He went over and thanked Meg for the invitation. She apologized for not getting free to talk with him and suggested he stick around. They could talk after the party. Loraine was already standing by the door, so he supposed he'd better go. Meg appeared troubled.
As soon as they got outside, Loraine grabbed his arm and started walking fast. "Let's go."
"You want a ride home?" he asked.
"Anything to drink at your place?"
"My place? Uh, wine?" He should explain his new apartment was barely furnished.
"What kind?"
"Not sure...it's white."
"How cute, it's white. Christ. Is it at least fresh? Never mind. Your place will do. Where's your car?"
"That's mine over there, the green one." He pointed.
"You've got to be joking. We'll take mine."
She started off and he hurried after her. Understanding women wasn't one of his strong points.
At the end of that night with Loraine there was no doorstep affection, no exchange of phone numbers and no promise to meet again. He gave her an awkward little grin meaning such casual sex was unusual for him. She, no doubt, had already figured that one out.
And that was it.
That's what he thought.
She phoned a week later on Saturday morning. He was making instant coffee, and his biggest problem was whether he could get by that day without shaving. Regrettably, he answered the phone.
She wanted to meet him at the Inn Towner motel. Sounding frantic and insistent, she hung up without explaining. At that point, he didn't think she was actually nutty, only a bit off and he could live with that. Normal women weren't within the range of his experience anyway.
Why the call? Wasn't their night together supposed to be just a party thing? Of course, one-night stands happen all the time-well, not to him. Perhaps he'd been better in bed than he thought. Deciding on a Saturday morning rendezvous with a woman wasn't difficult even if it meant changing out of his sweats and sneakers. He didn't want the relationship to go anywhere, but would he like a second go around? Sure. Counting the months before the divorce and the time after the divorce, he had a lot to make up for. And there was available and willing Loraine perhaps asking for an encore. Whether a woman desires only a one-night stand had always confused him.
He realized his fantasies might be getting ahead of him. Could this be one of those "be careful what you wish for" deals? Why else the troubled voice? Likely, she wanted something else from him, wanted him to do something expensive or stupid, maybe both. The least he could do, he decided, was to show up and see what she wanted. Wouldn't most people say, don't ask too many questions just go?