by Susan Rohrer
The tiniest speck of hope glistened in Kate’s eyes. “That’s what I thought. You think so, too?”
“It wasn’t a robot, was it?” M.J. adopted a mechanical cadence. “Did-he-talk-like-this?”
Kate felt herself smiling. “Not so much. It’s weird. I was actually more comfortable in one conversation with him than I was the whole three months with Dustin. Too bad I only had enough on my credit card for a week. Too bad I had to buy his time at all.”
M.J. threw an understanding arm around Kate. “I like to think of it as an investment. See, I’m investing in the possibilities with Rob. I’m getting out there, pushing past my comfort zone. Hey, do you happen to know where I could nab a couple of dogs?”
Walking along with her roommate, Kate felt strangely comforted. She didn’t have Dustin. By the end of the rental term, she wouldn’t have Brad. But side-by-side with a soon-to-be ex-Meter Maid, she knew she had the love of a friend.
Long after she knew her parents would have turned their phone ringer off, Kate thoughtfully dialed their number. Three hours ahead in Eastern Time, they retired at ten p.m. like clockwork and wouldn’t pick up her call. As she waited for their outgoing message to play, she pasted Brad’s flower card poem into her journal and dated it. Whoever he was, he had done his job well.
Kate’s reverie was broken by a tone, signaling her to record a message. “Hey, Mom and Daddy,” she started. “Sorry about the phone tag. The big news here is that Dustin and I are sort of...not so much anything anymore. It’s, well...it is what it is, but I’m surviving somewhat. Haven’t thought about ending it all for at least a few hours. Hyperbole, guys. No need to jump on a plane, I just...I miss you.”
With that, Kate hung up the phone. She wanted what her parents had, not only a romance, but also a best friendship for life. She’d always dreamed of getting married back in Virginia at the same place where they had gotten married. She wanted to walk down the aisle of their old country church toward a guy who would adore her forever, just the way her dad treasured her mom.
Wistfully, Kate looked up at her computer screen and called up Brad’s photo. She thought about the real guy he was, that guy who seemed to have gone the extra mile to help get her over the mountain of sadness she’d felt in losing Dustin. As she gazed into Brad’s inviting eyes, it occurred to her that there was still time left on her rental. What a waste, she thought, not to use it.
eight
♥
Deep in the recesses of the Virtually Mine stock room, Charlie sifted through floor-to-ceiling shelves of meticulously catalogued gifts, designated for the company’s clientele. He passed by the stuffed animals, baubles, and candies of the introductory level and ventured beyond to the deluxe level shelves. The disparity nagged at him. Kate seemed worth so much more to him than anything the lesser levels had to offer.
Charlie picked up a white velvet jewelry box and opened the lid. Inside was a dainty gold heart on a delicate chain. He knew he couldn’t jump this level for Kate, but as he admired it, he was sorely tempted. He could offer to pay for the necklace himself, he reasoned, but then again, he was sure that it would never pass muster with the company.
Charlie thought of his father, whose words had a way of ringing in his ears in this sort of situation. His dad had always taught that whenever a person was tempted to do the wrong thing, even when it was for what seemed to be the right reason, a door would be thrown open to provide a way out. Charlie believed it was true. He’d seen it happen before. He just never expected that the way out would look anything at all like Samantha Raznick.
As Sam pressed through the swinging doors to the stock room, Charlie snapped the lid shut on the necklace. He quickly put it back in its place on the deluxe level shelf.
‘Last time I checked, your client was still on the introductory level.”
“Right. Definitely gives me an incentive to up-sell.” Charlie crossed back to the introductory aisle and pulled a stuffed polar bear from the lower level shelf instead.
Charlie could feel his boss eyeing him. She was completely unnerving that way. He realized that the only thing worse than having his boss wordlessly watch him was when she actually spoke.
“Not to diminish the triumph of landing a lovely on your first day, Charlie, but one short-term client does not make you worth my while.”
Charlie knew she was right. “I’m, uh, working on that. Spreading the net.”
“In the mean time, I need you to assume a position,” Sam continued.
Charlie’s eyes bugged. “Excuse me?”
Samantha plopped a stack of client files into Charlie’s spare hand. “Scan these into your system and get started with them ASAP. Archie is having his appendix out and he needs someone to take over his roster. Fake laryngitis to cover the voice change.”
With that, Sam turned on her outrageously expensive heels and clicked her way out the door.
Charlie leafed through Archie’s stack of clients. The fact was, for the most part, Archie’s clients were an assortment of average-looking women. In a way, his heart went out to them. He knew what it was like to wear an unremarkable face. When it came down to it, he realized, every one of their clients had a forlorn spot in her heart. An Imaginary Boyfriend could help, he supposed, but deep down he knew the soul-level loneliness, that longing to be noticed for oneself that only true love could fill.
Suddenly, Charlie heard a familiar prompt from his computer. “You’ve got a customer.” Charlie looked up with a start. “I do? Oh, I do.” Charlie glanced at his screen and saw an Instant Message from Kate. It read:
Brad, are you there?
Charlie’s heart leapt. As he swiveled over to the computer, the entire stack of Archie’s files cascaded off of his lap. He started to gather the papers, and then abandoned them for the computer.
After a moment of thought, Charlie typed out a reply IM, continuing his country boy persona as Brad: Hey, there country girl. I’ve been thinkin’ about you most of the day. How you doin’ tonight?
Charlie supposed he could have multi-tasked. He could have gotten a thing or two done for Archie’s clients while he waited for Kate’s reply, that is, if he could have torn his eyes away from the IM screen.
Finally, Kate IMed back: Not so hot. Look, I know it’s technically against the rules, but I feel like we have this amazing connection and... Is there any way I can see you?
Charlie’s hands flew up to cover his gaping mouth. What could he possibly say, even if he could work up the nerve? Reluctantly, he entered a reply: See me? I’m really sorry, but the company has a policy about—
Another IM from Kate popped up before Charlie could finish. It read: I need more than a picture of a face right now. I need the person.
Charlie took a deep breath. It was a breath so deep that he nearly hiccupped. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, then opened them, an idea dawning. Charlie bit his lip and tapped in a response: Sure, Katie Mae. Can you meet me at the Ferris Wheel at nine? It’s my favorite place out here.
It wasn’t long after Charlie sent that message that an inter-office memo appeared on his screen, a request from Samantha to see him in her office. Charlie tried to convince himself that it was only a coincidence, but the shake in his step as he crossed the cubicled pool persuaded him otherwise.
Though he cleared his throat to alert her that he’d reached her open door, Samantha coolly continued her work. It was as if she were intent upon making him sweat, right through his twenty-four hour deodorant.
“Did you need something?” Charlie asked.
Sam finally looked up. “It’s funny,” she started. “Men get exponentially more press over being visually stimulated, but the fairer sex is identically petty. Thick hair, a square jaw, broad shoulders, eyes set just the right distance apart. It all adds up to getting noticed.”
Charlie wondered where Sam was going with this line of thought. He knew her well enough to assume he was approaching some sort of verbal guillotine that would drop onto his neck wh
ether he waited silently or somehow bade her to continue. “Which means?”
Sam smiled the kind of smile that wasn’t really a smile at all. “I checked your IMs. You can’t see her. More to the point, she can’t see you, not if you want to keep this job.”
Caught, Charlie sputtered. “But she really wants to see me.”
“She wants an image and a person which simply do not coincide.”
Charlie’s ordinary face fell.
Samantha leaned forward intently. “Trust me on this, Charlie. She wants to see the face we’ve sold her. She doesn’t want to see you. Even if she did, she’d probably look right past you. She’ll only focus on men in her basic looks class or higher. The rest are invisible.”
♥ ♥ ♥
Kate emerged from her room to find M.J. on the floor, dialing random numbers from the local phone listings.
M.J. signaled Kate for silence as she spoke into the phone. “Hi, this is M.J. Poster, Dog Walker Extraordinaire. Do you by any chance have a dog that needs walking?” M.J. put the receiver down. “Apparently not.”
Kate threw a jacket over a gauzy top and jeans. “Do I look okay?”
“When do you not?”
Kate didn’t usually put much thought into what she wore, but something in her worried about it this time. “I’m serious.”
M.J. crossed yet another number off her call list. “So am I. Where are you going?”
“To meet him.”
“Who him?”
A faint blush crossed Kate’s cheeks. “My sweet little country boy.”
M.J. reeled back. “Shut up!”
Kate grinned as she flung open the door. She was shocked to find Dustin standing there, his hand raised to knock. “Dustin. Hi.”
Dustin lowered his hand sheepishly. “Hey, can we talk?”
Flustered, Kate straightened her collar. “Now?”
“Believe me,” Dustin pressed. “It’s urgent.”
Kate glanced at her watch. That thing about going with the bird in the hand over the bird in the bush came to mind, only Kate wasn’t sure which guy was in which. Brad had agreed to meet her at the pier, yet there Dustin was right in front of her, pleading for her attention with those puppy dog eyes of his. As if things couldn’t get any more awkward for Kate, Charlie rounded the corner into view, heading toward his apartment next door.
As Kate exchanged glances with Charlie, she couldn’t help but notice disappointment flicker across his face as he saw Dustin standing at her doorway. It was easy for Kate to understand why Charlie would be disappointed in her for even thinking about letting Dustin in, especially after everything she’d confided to Charlie when he’d come to fix her sink. She wanted to be strong enough to resist Dustin’s charms, but then again, he had claimed an urgent reason for being there. Maybe this timing wasn’t as awkward as it seemed, she reasoned. Maybe it was meant to be.
Dustin plopped onto Kate’s bed and leaned back against her headboard. “I completely tanked. My first callback for a national and I fully reeked.”
Kate stood just inside the door. A glance at her nightstand confirmed the clock’s advance toward the time she had set up with Brad. “Maybe it wasn’t that bad.”
Dustin grabbed a piece of candy from Kate’s dish and popped it into his mouth. “They liked me quirky from the first call where I was wearing this floofy kind of vest I bummed off some granny, which of course I didn’t have today. So, I had to do something to set myself apart and I thought—I know, a twitch.” Dustin’s eyes lit up as he reenacted his own ingenuity. “Yeah, a twitch could not only be quirky, get it? It’s also a possible side effect of their medicine.”
Kate couldn’t help marveling to herself that, apparently, this was Dustin’s definition of urgent. “So, what did they say?”
“Thank you,” Dustin spat. “Don’t you hate that?”
“Back home thank you means they appreciate you.”
Dustin shook his head. “Yeah, well, it’s the kiss of death here. Wissy barely spoke to me. She said she’s going to call you, though.”
There was something almost amazing to Kate that anything about this conversation had to do with her. “Wissy is calling me? Why?”
Dustin rolled his eyes. “Some other commercial they’re casting Monday. She said you’re perfect. But trust me on this: whatever she says about wardrobe, still wear a shirt.”
Kate nodded, covering how oddly this struck her, let alone how surreal this entire conversation was beginning to feel. “Dustin, why did you come over?”
Dustin crumpled his candy wrapper into a little ball and put it on Kate’s desk. “I needed to talk to you. You wouldn’t believe how bad my day was.”
Kate reeled, struggling to fathom what she’d ever seen in Dustin.
“She’ll never call me in again,” he pouted.
Kate cocked her head quizzically. “Oh, I don’t know. She seemed fairly into you in class.”
“That was acting,” he corrected. “Remember?”
Exasperated, Kate headed for the door. “Dustin, I’ve gotta go.”
Dustin sat up, a look of shock on his face. “What, you’re kicking me out? I’m having a crisis here.”
“Which you can feel free to have without me.” Kate offered. “Stay, go, do what you have to do. I’ve just gotta... Bye.” With that, Kate bolted out the door.
As Kate flew down the apartment building’s stairs, she kicked herself for having stayed at all. How long would Brad wait for her? She could only pray that she wasn’t too late.
Charlie was near the foot of the apartment stairs, refilling the swimming pool with a hose. “Kate, hi. Where’re you going?”
Kate picked up speed. “Where I should have gone half an hour ago.”
Kate blasted by. Charlie whipped around with the hose, dousing the walk with water. As Kate quickly sidestepped the flood, Charlie dropped the hose, which, taking on a life of its own, curled up and thrashed about, spraying water everywhere.
“Sorry!” Charlie called after her as she disappeared into the garage.
It wasn’t so often that Kate stalled out her old manual transmission, but this night, of all nights, was an exception. “Come on...” Quickly Kate restarted the car and motored down Ocean Avenue toward the pier. The sun had long since set and the bright lights of the Ferris Wheel beckoned her. “I’m coming, Brad! Please stay...”
Kate thanked God when she found a parking place. She knew most people thought the Almighty had better things to do than to manage such conveniences, but she swerved into the lone open spot gratefully, paid for it, and dashed down the pier.
Kate pressed through the meandering crowd, searching for Brad’s now familiar face as she hastened toward the Ferris Wheel. “Please still be here...” Kate hated herself for being late. It wasn’t that she blamed Dustin for coming over as much as she blamed herself for giving into him. She resolved that it would be the last time.
Finally, Kate skidded to a stop at the ticket gate below the Ferris Wheel. She scanned the nearby crowd, searching desperately. “Brad! Brad...” Not seeing him, Kate slumped in defeat. How long had he waited for her? Surely, she’d missed him. Sadly, Kate turned to go
Suddenly, the ride’s attendant called out to her. “Hey, are you Kate Valentine?”
Kate’s eyes brightened with hope. “Yeah, yeah. That’s me. I’m Kate Valentine.”
“Some guy told me to give these to you.” With that the attendant handed Kate a ticket for the ride and a fluffy white polar bear with a VM heart logo on its chest.
Kate glanced around. “Did he leave...the guy who gave you this?”
The attendant nodded. “He said to tell you he had to go, but he hopes you have a good time.” With that, the attendant opened the gate to the ride.
There was something dreamlike to Kate about accepting Brad’s gifts and walking through the gate. It felt as if there were much more to the steps she was taking than met the natural eye. Though she walked through and boarded a Ferris Wheel car all by
herself, somehow she sensed that she was far from alone.
As the attendant started the ride, Kate set the polar bear beside her and lowered the security bar. Then, just as the Ferris Wheel began to turn, Kate’s cell phone rang. Private Caller flashed on her screen.
♥ ♥ ♥
Charlie pulled the brim of his cap low as he waited for Kate to answer her phone. He watched, a safe distance away, obscured by the throng. He had set it all up with the attendant on his way home. He’d raced back over to be with Kate, unnoticed.
“Hello?” Kate answered.
Charlie couldn’t help but melt at the sound of her voice. It had a musical lilt to it, just like his mom’s used to have.
Taking on Brad’s persona, Charlie answered. “Hey, there Katie-girl. I’m so glad you came.” Charlie watched as Kate glanced around below, confident that with hundreds of people milling around the pier, she’d never pick him out.
“Brad, where are you?”
Below, Charlie hung back as he watched Kate’s ascent on the Ferris Wheel. “Closer than you think, Darlin’. I’m afraid my boss was monitoring my IMs with you this afternoon. She said if I met you in person she’d have to let me go.”
“Oh, no.”
Encouraged by Kate’s sympathetic tone, Charlie continued as Brad. “That’s why I brought Bubba along to keep you company. I warned him not to get fresh.” Charlie saw Kate as she looked over at the polar bear, charmed.
“So far, he’s behaving himself very well,” she replied.
Charlie breathed a bit easier. It was working. “Anyhow, I figured this way we could at least be together without me breaking any promises. Much as I want to be right there beside you, I have a thing about bein’ true to my word.”
“And you’re really right here?” Kate asked.
“Not a stone’s skip away. Close enough to see how cute you look with your hair blowin’ in your eyes like that.”
