Chapter 6

I was still looking forward to my Wednesday-night quickie-date with Molly when, the night before, my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Greg? It's Sarah. From next door?"

"Oh. Hi, Sarah."

"Are you working tomorrow?"

"Uh. Yes. Regular day. Why?"

"Well, I'm taking a day off. I only have two classes on Wednesdays, and one of them was cancelled. I've decided to tank the other one."

"Uhh. O.K."

"If you're going to be away from home, working, I thought I might spend some time out back -- in the yard," Sarah explained.

"Oh. And you wanted to be certain I wouldn't be gawking at your hot body, from my living room window."

"That's right. Molly's been teasing me about losing my all-over tan. With a little adult cooperation from you, I can regain some of my ahh -- uniformity tomorrow."

"It's supposed to be sunny and warm," I said. "I will likely not get home until 6:30 or so. Molly and I are going out to dinner later. Tell you what: Give me your cell phone number, and take your cell with you out back. If, for any reason, I get home before I expect to, I'll call ahead and warn you, so you can cover up."

"Molly said you were a gentleman," Sarah said. "But I thought she was just wrong about men, like she usually is."

"Well, she's wrong about my being a gentleman," I answered, "but I'm giving you the straight scoop about Wednesday afternoon. You should be perfectly safe from prying eyes until long after the sun has set on your eight-foot fence. And if anything changes, I promise I'll call you!"

In the nearly three weeks that I had been Sarah's neighbor, I had been gone from the house every weekday morning by 7:30, and I don't think I'd ever come home before at least 5:30 at the earliest. As a student, Sarah's schedule of ins and outs seemed much more irregular than mine. But I guessed Sarah wouldn't necessarily know about my schedule.

Still, it seemed a little strange that she'd have called me, just to let me know she was going to be out back in her birthday suit on Wednesday. Well, maybe it was a little strange, but I wasn't going to see her back there. It would be just her and the other jaybirds.

Wednesday night finally came, and once again, Molly and I had a pleasant evening together. We went to a better restaurant this time, a little ways out of the neighborhood, and Molly insisted it be Dutch Treat. It was just as well. The check was a shocker.

We had wine after dinner. It was after 9:30, but Molly didn't seem concerned about the hour, working day tomorrow or not. Remembering the conversation with Sarah, I asked Molly whether she'd known that Sarah was taking the day for Mental Health leave.

"She hadn't mentioned it," Molly said. "But when I got home tonight, she told me then, that she'd been home all day. How did you know about it?"

"Sarah called me last night," I said. "She wanted to make sure I'd be gone all day today, 'cause she wanted to even up her tan out back."

"She didn't!"

"She didn't what?"

"You're telling me Sarah called you at home and let you know she was taking a day off, and that she'd be out back?"

"Uhh. Yeah. She wanted to be sure I wouldn't be there to spy on her."