With her kids upstate at her ex's place for the weekend, Lori decided she wanted to be a little daring. She peered out of her front window to the house across from her. The garage was open, which told Lori that her neighbor Dom was working on his hotrod, a 69'Dino, or something.
She drew from an old fantasy and formed a plan. Lori tore a piece of paper from one of her kid's notebooks, found a pen, and in her best cursive writing carefully wrote two sentences. When she was finished, Lori folded the paper and went outside.
She'd heard the hog call of its engine earlier, and In a cul-de-sac with only five houses, mostly everyone tolerated it. They were go-along to-get-along sort of people, but Lori had a strong suspicion that the other neighbors were too intimidated by Dom's burly junkyard-dog physique and sprawling tattoos to say anything. Too bad they didn't know him like she did.
Lori popped the note in his mailbox, then walked up his driveway. She found Dom working beneath the car's body and humming along to Hotrod's radio. She cleared her throat He slid from under the old crimson Dino on one of those mechanic's boards. He shielded his eyes from the sun, then realized who it was and smiled.
"Hey, good morning, Ms Lori. How are you?"
"Not bad," she answered before gesturing to his car. "Bit early to be clanking away, isn't it?"
Dom shot her a greasy smile. "What? Using my hand on somethin' beautiful? It's never too early for that."
Lori crossed her arms and fixed him with a knowing smile before easing into her lie. "I uh - I think the mailman got our addresses mixed up. I had something that belonged to you. I just popped it into your mailbox."
"Well," He started, standing up and giving a big bear stretch. "I appreciate that. Thank you."
"You're welcome," Lori answered. She turned to walk back to her place before calling over her shoulder. "The letter looked important."
She made it back to her house and stood poised next to her living room window. It took her a moment to muster the courage before Lori leaned over and furtively peered out. Dom was at his mailbox with her note open and reading it. A curious look crossed his face, and she didn't know what to make of it. Was he confused? Was he offended?
She watched him turn it over in his hand, then, as if sensing her eyes on him, Dom looked over to her house. Lori stepped back from the window with a jolt, then laughed. Excitement bubbled up inside of her, and she began pacing the hall between her foyer and her kitchen. What was he going to do? How would he respond?
She managed to put it out of her mind until after supper. At Eight o'clock Lori watched the sunset through her kitchen window, hoping for a night of passion and excitement. She poured a generous glass of wine and wondered how her evening would play out. Would he come in all suave like a romance novel, or quiet and forceful like some snuff film? Both possibilities put a smile on her face.
By Nine o'clock, the sun had dipped down giving way to a clear starry night and a full pewter moon. Lori walked to her back door and flicked the lock open. Then she made her way upstairs to her bed where she drowsed after a second glass of wine. She'd waited until Ten o'clock to see if Dom would show. She listened for the creek of the back door, or the sound of footsteps climbing the stairs, but there was nothing.
It came to her then, the idea that maybe she'd been too risqué; too forward. They'd tussled before, back when Lori first separated from her husband, but that had been a gritty heat-of-the-moment fling. Had her letter scared him off?
By Eleven o'clock, Lori had slipped into an alcohol-fueled slumber. She was lying on her side, curled up around a pillow, unaware of the creaking from her back door. She snored lightly, while the faint sound of footsteps climbed her stairs, and she was blissfully ignorant of the man that stood in her bedroom doorway.
He reached out and traced a gloved hand down the curve of her ass and Lori stirred at his touch. Still half asleep, she tried to roll over, but he grabbed her by the shoulder and forced her back down into the mattress. She sucked in a sharp inhale and In an instant, Lori was wide awake and sober.
Her intruder held out a folded piece of paper. "Did you write this?" The dim light from the moon was enough to illuminate the two sentences she penned in her best cursive:
"I'm all alone tonight, and I left my back door unlocked. I sure hope no one sneaks in and uses me all night."
It came back to her then what was going on, and Lori calmed. She nodded and peered back over her shoulder, catching sight of a tall imposing figure, fitted in all black and a tattered ski mask.
"Alright," she thought to herself, "snuff film it is."
