Heidi awakened in the morning and sat up in bed. She realized there had been no obscene phone calls, so she'd slept through the night, and was rested for the first time since the harassing calls had begun. She allowed herself to feel a little bit hopeful. Maybe he'd decided to stop. Maybe the quick appearance of the police had frightened him away. Maybe he wouldn't be back.
Hoping against hope that her terrifying ordeal had ended, Heidi got up, showered, dressed, had breakfast, then she headed for school.
She drove to school, unaware that Tim was shadowing her in his pickup truck, and walked into the school building. Milt Bingham didn't greet her, which surprised her. In fact, she didn't see him around anywhere. She stopped at the office to pick up her mail.
"Did you hear?" Lina Dewey, the secretary, asked.
"Hear what?" Heidi asked.
"Mr. Bingham's parents were killed last night," the secretary said.
"My God, how?" Heidi asked.
"It was a car crash. Apparently a drunk driver hit them head on," Lina said. "I don't know all the details. All I know is that Mr. Williams said Mr. Bingham wouldn't be here for at least a week, maybe two."
"My God!" Heidi said. Although she didn't really want a relationship with Milt, she did like him as a friend, and she felt terrible about what had happened to his parents. "And I thought I had problems," she mused. "Where do they live?" she asked the secretary. "Mr. Bingham's parents, I mean."
"I think they lived in Florida," the secretary said.
"Do you have an address? I think I'd like to send him some flowers or something," Heidi said.
"I don't," Lina told her, "but I'll check with Mr. Williams. I think it would be good if the school sent flowers, don't you? I mean, Mr. Bingham is really sweet."
Heidi nodded. "Yes," she said, "he certainly is." She walked down the hall to her office. She'd only been there a few minutes when the phone rang.
She picked it up. "Heidi Tate," she said.
"Hi, Heidi, this is Bob Samuelson," a male voice said.
Heidi felt a rush of warmth. Memories of the evening she'd spent at his home flashed through her mind. "Ah...hi, Bob, what can I do for you?" Heidi asked.
"Joanna's away, I thought you might like to have dinner with me tonight," he said.
"At...at your house?" Heidi asked. She'd made up her mind she wasn't going to see Bob, or sleep with him, again. She had convinced herself that, since he was married, sleeping with him again was definitely not a good idea.
"I thought maybe we could go to the Hilldale House," Bob said. "It's very nice."
"Oh," Heidi said. Maybe he was just asking her out for dinner. If they went to a restaurant, that should be safe enough. And it would be nice to get out, to do something that would help take her mind off the horror she'd been going through the past few weeks. "I...I'd love to, Bob," she said.
"Wonderful. I'll pick you up about six-thirty," he said.
Anticipation of a relaxing evening with Bob made the day go quickly for Heidi. She drove home after school, did a little paperwork, then got ready to go out to dinner. She got out a lavender silk suit and lace t-shirt. To go with it, she donned a scanty purple bra and lacy purple scanty briefs.
Bob was punctual. At six-thirty, her doorbell rang. Heidi opened the door and liked the way his eyes widened when he saw her.
"Wow," he said, "You look terrific."
"Ah...thanks," Heidi said.
They walked out to his car, he held the door for her, and she got in. "Did you get a new car?" she asked.
"This is a rental," Bob replied. "A few days ago, somebody broke into my garage and vandalized mine. It's in the shop being repainted."
"My God!" Heidi said. "That's crazy."
"I understand you've had some problems, too," he said. "Obscene phone calls, people shooting at your house. God! It makes what happened to me seem like nothing."
"Yes," she admitted. "I can't understand who's doing this to me, or why. It's really terrifying. I mean, you don't expect things like that to happen here in Jamestown."
"Well, you're safe with me," Bob said.
They arrived at the restaurant, turned the car over to the valet parking attendant, then went inside. Neither of them was aware of the pickup truck following them.
Tim parked his truck in the far corner of the lot. "I guess Heidi's dating," he thought, a little dispirited. "I wonder who this guy is?" Pangs of jealousy flashed through his mind. It was his night off and he was determined to keep watching over Heidi, even if that meant having to endure the pain of seeing her going out with someone else.
The Hilldale House was a small, trendy place, known for it's intimate atmosphere and excellent food. There were booths along one of the interior walls, tables in the middle, and a bar along the other wall. The decor was hand-hewn and rustic. Heidi and Bob were seated in a corner booth. It was extremely dim in the booth.
"I feel a little strange about this," Heidi said as she slid into the booth.
"Why?" Bob asked.
"I guess it's just that I can't get over being uncomfortable about the fact that you're married," Heidi told him. "I mean, what we did was...it was wrong, Bob."
"Heidi, I told you, that's not a problem," he said. "What you and I do has nothing to do with my marriage. Besides, what harm is there in having a nice dinner?"
"That sounds good, and maybe he even believes it," Heidi thought, "But I don't. Even if what we did doesn't bother him, it does bother me." "I...I guess it's just something I'll have to get used to," she told him.
The waitress brought menus, took their order for cocktails, then left them to decide which of the eatery's delicacies they wanted.
Heidi held the menu in front of her, trying to decide what to order. While she studied the listing of foods, she felt something brush against the side of her breast and a thrill shot through her.
She looked down and saw her companion's hand lying on the side of her breast. "Bob!" she whispered. "Don't do that!"
"Nobody can see what I'm doing as long as you hold the menu up in front of you like that," Bob whispered in reply. He became bolder, his hand searching for, then finding, one of her erecting nipples. He began caressing it through the soft material of her blouse.
"Ohhhhhh!!!!" Heidi moaned. Despite her determination not to sleep with Bob again, she couldn't help being thrilled by the fact that he was teasing her now-turgid nipple, and that he was doing it here, in the restaurant. She continued to hold the menu up in front of her, but she couldn't focus on it any more. It was trembling because she was trembling. On top of that, she felt trapped. She didn't know how to get out of this fix without causing an embarrassing scene in the restaurant.
"What are you going to have?" Bob asked calmly, while his fingers continued to rub back and forth over her nipple.
