Nick didn't notice Kay at first, beyond her being one of those friendly women who chatted with everyone. She worked in the same building where he'd just gotten a new job and he often spotted her passing through the reception area carrying assorted files or packages. One afternoon he was eating by himself in the building's coffee shop when she asked if she could join him.
"There used to be a group of us who'd come here every day," she said as she sat across from him. "Only Terry went on mat leave, Jen retired, and Lisa was never that sociable anyway."
Nick hunched his shoulders. He wasn't sure what to say. He'd always been shy. He watched her bite into a sandwich she'd brought from home. Through lunch she gave him a rundown on the changes to the area over the years. He learned she was thirty-three, and had been working for a property management firm for nearly a decade. She seemed to know everyone who came and went from the coffee shop.
On their way back into the main lobby she said, "Let's do this again some time."
"Yeah, sure." Nick thought nothing more of it for the time being. Being nearly ten years older than him, Kay didn't register as potential girlfriend material,not that he was looking.
A few days later, he went again to the coffee shop. She was already seated in a far corner and she waved for him to join her. "I know it sounds silly, but I can't stand eating by myself in public," she said. "I always feel like a wierdo."
"Fair enough," he said. When he first started lunching alone he'd felt self-conscious, so he understood. She dug into the salad she'd bought. Only now did he notice she was quite pretty, with large brown eyes fringed by long lashes. No mascara, either. Her only makeup was tinted lip gloss. She had a small, freckled nose and was pale without being pasty. Her dark brown hair was pulled into a loose ponytail that made her look younger than she was.
"So how old are you?" she asked.
"Twenty-three. Almost twenty-four." He wasn't sure why he felt that was important to point out apart from not wanting to come across as too young for her. Her ring finger was bare, he noticed, although she wore two rings on her other hand.
"Got a girlfriend?" She seemed to be asking more for conversation's sake than because she was interested in him.
"Sort of. I don't really label her as such, but I suppose she is." Did a woman he sometimes shagged, and who occasionally cooked him breakfast count? It wasn't like he wined and dined her or anything. "What about you?"
"Committed to being single."
He detected no bitterness in her tone or in her smile, though he did feel a tinge of disappointment, as if she were brushing him off.
"I was in love once. A long time ago. We were together for a bunch of years. Sometimes things don't work out is all. I'm pretty happy with my life." Conversation turned to gossip about some of Nick's co-workers and then some road project the city was planning. He appreciated that she didn't just prattle on about herself the way most women seemed to; she was a good person to lunch with. Most of his own co-workers were a clique who chattered only about what they'd watched on television, their assorted health problems, or home renos.
By the time the month was out, Nick and Kay were lunching together almost daily. One Friday evening as he was leaving for the day, she came up to him in the lobby. She seemed nervous. "Hey, are you busy this evening?"
He was supposed to call Mel and meet up with her later, but wasn't in the mood for her. She'd been annoying him lately. "Not really, I was just on my way home." He hesitated pushing his way out of the exit.
"I was wondering if you'd like to grab a bite with me. At that pizza place down the block I was telling you about."
"Sure." All he'd been planning on doing was heading home for a nap, but a change in routine was always good. After eating, they went for a sunset walk in the nearby park. He wasn't sure whether he took her hand or she took his, but by the time they came out of the gates and onto the road again their fingers were locked.
"What time is it?" she asked. "I have to be home by ten."
He didn't ask why, although it sounded oddly like a curfew. She was a little old to be living with her parents, though. And she had said she was single, hadn't she? Nor had she asked him about his own status lately. "Eight thirty." They were passing along Pine Street, where it crossed Maple. His own place was less than a block away and he thought to himself, why not. "I live close by if you want to hang out for a bit."
"I'd like that."
He took her up to his ground floor apartment in the two-story walk-up. He was glad he'd tidied last night and had finished the dishes this morning before leaving for work. They took off their shoes and he offered her a drink.
"Just ginger ale is fine," she insisted. "I'm not much of a drinker."
He hoped she wasn't just pretending the way Mel had pretended when he'd first met her. Mel turned out to be a borderline alcoholic. He'd never found drunk women at all attractive.
