There was this girl.

The elevator opened on eleven and I got in. She must’ve been coming down from twelve, or the offices in the penthouse. It used to be a restaurant. Now it’s a real estate office for the condos in the building. I could tell where she was going, since I could, I’m sorry to say, smell it on her. I’m a recovering smoker, so I picked up on it pretty quickly. I hadn’t seen this girl here before, so I did my normal for any beautiful woman I’m put into a close quarters situation with and checked for rings. Yep, she had ‘em. Back up, Chuckles! Wedding rings on both hands?? Not normal, but we bachelors see that a lot. It’s because we look. Most people don’t notice. She was worth a second look, though. Definitely, worth a second look. Petite, young, cute face, perky nose, bright eyes, nice body, long light brown hair, and cute glasses. Just plain cute. She had on a long tight sweater, accentuating her hourglass figure, nice little bust, skinny waist, and cute round bottom. Again, I’m thinking cute. She had on opaque black tights, showing off the shape and length of her legs. As petite as she was, she was mostly legs. My kind of girl. I didn’t care about the smoking so much since she was so cute. Anyone can quit. I am living proof.

“Hi,” she said, looking up at me from her five foot nothing self in stocky three-inch-high heeled lace up boots. They looked like combat boots, but were trimmed with contrasting colors, gray or dark green leather and tan trim and laces and were tall, making her legs look like little trophies.

“Hi. Going down?” I asked. She nodded, smiling cutely. The red lighted arrow was on, so of course it was going down, but I felt the need to say something in return.

She got out, saying politely, and similar to what just about everyone seemed to say in this building, “Have a great morning.”

“I will, thank you. A better one now!” I grinned and as she turned, still looking at me, walked away, forming a large smile on her face. Hmmm, I thought, ‘cute, but those rings. Be careful there, buddy’.

It was a few days later, I was coming in from the store, and pushed the button to ride up to the condo. She walked up behind me. “Oh, Hi! We meet again.”

She said something, talking into space, then I understood her. “Hold on, Jennifer. Yes, hello, yourself. Nice to see you again. Going up?”

I smiled and nodded.

She seemed to return to space, actually, and obviously to me now, talking to her phone. “No, I won’t. I’m done with his sorry ass. I’ll call you back, Jennifer.” She put her phone in her purse.

“My name’s Charlie.” I reached out.

“Amy.” She shook my hand. So small, so dainty, so cute.

“You work here?”

“Receptionist, leasing office, upstairs. You live here?”

“For a while. Can you press eleven for me?”

“Sure.”

The door opened on eleven. “I hope to see you again, Amy. Have a great rest of the day.”

“Same to you, Mr ... Charlie, and thank you.”

It was another four or five days, I certainly wasn’t keeping track. A man my age, a woman her age, that would be what they would call idiocy in most circles. She was young and beautiful. I was old and not.

“Going down, Charlie?”

“That would be nice. Amy, do you appreciate honesty?”

“More than you will ever know, Charlie. What is it you’d like to tell me?”

“You are beautiful, and I am going to be hungry around six, and if you are not otherwise engaged, I’d give my left arm, in the figurative sense only, if you’d join me.”

“How handy. Our office closes at six.”

We stepped out of the elevator and stood in the portico off the lobby.

“I’m not a stalker, Amy, but I’m not the dullest knife in the block. The hours are posted on the sign over there at the desk. They’re on the sign downstairs in the garage as well.”

“Touché. Am I dressed well enough, or do I need to go home and change?”

“Doll, if you were dressed any more appropriately, I’d need a new battery in my pacemaker.”

She giggled. She was dressed in a dark green mini, dark, yet sheer, hose, black high heeled pumps with a very thin platform, and a ruffled placket blouse with a jacket over it.

“You look amazing. Trust me. If you didn’t, and I didn’t think there was some attraction here, I wouldn’t be asking you out to dinner. You understand that, right?”

“Completely. You’ll be my first. You need to know that up front.”

“Your first? I’m only asking you out to dinner, at this point anyway.”

“I know. Way too late for that other one, but I’m pretty sure you’ll have been the first real gentleman I’ll have had a dinner date with when we’re done.”

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that and yet it’s good to know, I guess. From my standpoint, anyway. Truth is, I heard a bit of the end of your call the other day with Miss Jennifer and figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask you out. Worst you could do was say no, or maybe shoot me with your pepper spray or something.” She giggled again. “I hope it wasn’t devastating?” She looked at me in question. “The call. With Jennifer. You said you were ‘done with his sorry ass’.”

“No, not devastating. Just another dickhead in a long line of boys who think with their ... Sorry. I’m being a bit juvenile. I can do better. Jennifer and I ... You have a good memory.” She looked up at me. “I’d love to go to dinner with you, Charlie. I’m going out back for a bit. You mind?”

“Not at all. Can I meet you right around here at six, then I can bring you back if your car is here or take you home?”

“Yes. Please. Here at six. And, yes, my car is here, if it starts.” She smiled. “Charlie ... Thank you. I’m looking forward to it.”

I touched my finger to my brow and left her. She watched me leaving, then as she turned, I saw the smile forming on her face as she glanced back at me then walked out the back door to the patio, lit up a smoke, and pulled her phone out. I watched her from the parking lot. Maybe I was a stalker.

She talked on the phone, animatedly, smiling and laughing, then said something, nodded, spoke again, pushed the screen, put the phone in her jacket pocket, and put the cigarette out. She wasn’t done with it, not if she smoked like I used to. I’d take ‘em right down to the filter. Nice to know, though. I started my car and left as she was walking back inside. She looked over, but I don’t know if she saw me in my car, or not.

I picked up some groceries for the weekend then went next door to the liquor store and got a couple bottles of Moscato, some beer, and some honey whiskey. That stuff is growing on me. Probably not a good thing, but better than meth, or heroin, maybe. The years would tell.

At six, I was standing in the lobby, looking through my mail, almost all junk mail for the previous resident. His name was obviously ‘Resident’, first name was ‘Current’, so it was pretty easy to tell. I pitched all but one envelope in the trash as she looked at me, walking off the elevator. I stuck that one envelope in my suit pocket, walked toward her, took her hand, kissed it, and did my thing.

“Thank you for accepting my offer, Amy. Do you have anywhere special you like, or do I get to choose.”

“You choose, please. My experience has been with fast food and chain places. While some of the chains are fine, if you like, and Popeye’s is OK for lunch, a date in a booth at Wendy’s does not appeal to me anymore. That last one got a touch incensed when I told him that. Are you into abject honesty as well, Charlie?”

“Absolutely. The only way to fly. Hurts sometimes, in the short term, but not in the long run.”

“I know I’m young, and I know I’m cute. I’m not beautiful in the classic sense, but I still don’t want to give my ass away for a double cheeseburger and fries. Sorry. That was crass. I won’t put out for surf and turf either, but hopefully you understand. A union carpenter journeyman, as he bragged he was, makes enough to take a date to somewhere with metal utensils and cloth napkins. Just sayin’.”

“Valid point. Pepper Tree, surf and turf, and no nookie afterwards. I think that sounds like a plan. I’m having a steak, but you knock yourself out. Anything and or everything on the menu you want is fine with me.”

She giggled again. “You’re cute. For an old man with a pacemaker. What do you do, Charlie?”

“I’m in the service, Amy. Right now, I’m in school at the base back there, but I’ll be here for a while afterwards from what I understand.”

“Good, so if I kiss you goodnight, after this wonderful date, you aren’t leaving town in the morning?”

“Absolutely not. That’s happened to you?”

“Very recently. More recently than I want to admit, then dickhead showed up at a bad time, and...”

“Thank you for letting me know up front. Amy, I like you. I have since the first time I saw you in that long sweater, tights, and clunky boots. Cute by the way, especially on a little girl like you. I’ll be careful with you. As careful as I can be, anyway. I work weird hours, but I’ll be honest with you and treat you like a lady, and with respect. If you’ll do the same for me, I’ll make you a deal.”

“You really do have a good memory, Charlie. Seriously. To remember that outfit? Wowsers. OK. A deal. What is it?”

“If we date again, or decide to date a third time, I won’t be seeing anyone else. If you go elsewhere, I will as well, but if we’re dating, until you pull the cord, we’re dating. I’m sorry, but I don’t share well.”

We pulled up to the Pepper Tree and I walked her inside. I had reservations, hoping she wouldn’t pick somewhere else when I asked. As I walked her in, hand in the small of her back, and the hostess showed us the table, she reached back, pressed my hand into her back and looked up at me. She smiled. More of a grin, actually.

“It’s a deal. Under most circumstances, Charlie, I don’t, or won’t, either. Share.”

I seated her, scooting her chair in a bit then sat next to her.

“Tell me about the rings.”

“Oh, God. Yes. OK. Here we go. A multitude of reasons for wearing these, starting with fending off idiots and weirdos. I’m glad you’re not an idiot or a weirdo. At least ... Never Mind. You heard me with Jennifer, though, so you knew. That makes it a bit better.” She giggled. “This one,” she touched her wedding ring finger, “is my mother’s wedding ring from my father. This one,” pointing to a wide band on her thumb, “was his from her. Their wedding set, if you will. This one is a CZ given to me by my junior year high school sweetheart. I was a junior. He graduated the year before, promising to replace it with a real diamond, then left out of Fort Carson and didn’t come back ... Alive. He came back, but he’s ... He was in the sandbox. Ok, that’s three for three. This one is my grandmother’s, my mother’s mother’s promise ring from Poppa, my grandfather. They were kids. He promised he’d come back from Viet Nam and marry her. He did. They grew old together. They’re still old, and growing older. In Nebraska. Ickkk. I get out there about once a year. It’s not the pretty part of Nebraska.”

I had ordered while she talked, and when the salads were on the way, she apologized for going on and on.

“Don’t. Don’t apologize. I asked you to explain them. We vowed honesty, right?” She nodded. “You told me. Don’t be so quick to apologize for doing the right thing. I’m not someone you need to work at pleasing. Be Amy and I’ll be Charlie, and let’s see what happens.”

“Charlie what?”

“Charles Campbell Corbin. Amy what?”

“Amy Lynn Porter.”

“Nice to meet you, Amy. If you don’t choke and die on dinner, would you go to a movie with me tomorrow night?”

“Yes. That means we’re exclusive, according to your deal.”

“Works for me. You?”

“Yep. Oh, good. Salad.” The server brought the salads and some bread for us. “Thank you for ordering. You didn’t really have to do the surf and turf thing, though.”

“Yes, actually, I did. It’s a personal goal of mine to test every woman I date and find out what their threshold really is. If yours is surf and turf and below for a ‘no’, I need to find out what constitutes grounds for a ‘yes’. Prime rib? Diamonds? Barbecued ribs? Emeralds? I just need to know.”