Chapter 34

The night was cold, still, crisp, and moonless. The stars were bright and sharp, even against the light-polluted sky.

I filled my lungs with a deep breath of the bracing air, and headed back across town. The slush of earlier in the day had frozen and made a pleasant crunch as I walked. I wasn't particularly hungry, but I really didn't want to go to the effort of cooking anything.

The Center was fairly empty when I got there. I took a seat at the counter and hung my coat over the seat back.

The evening shift waitress was someone I didn't really know, so there wasn't a lot of small talk. After checking the blackboard with the day's specials, I settled on a Reuben with an order of onion rings and unsweetened iced tea.

As I ate, I thought about the afternoon's events. Sherry continued to surprise me. There was evidently a deep, strong passion within her that had been released. I was also surprised at the strength of my feelings for her. This had definitely gone well beyond a sexual adventure for me. I realized that I needed to take this very seriously.

The Reuben was excellent, and the beer-battered onion rings hit the spot as well. Mindful on my waistline, I passed on homemade pie (although it was a significant strain on my will (or won't?) power. A third glass of iced tea rounded things off nicely and I tossed a sawbuck and a fin on the table to cover the check and tip, detoured through the men's room to return some of the tea and headed home.

The walk was uneventful and cold, but nice. My ribs still twinged a bit, but not too badly. I managed to walk fast enough to work up a bit of a sweat under my coat, which I unzipped partially. The exertion felt good, and reminded me that I'd been pretty sedentary for a too long.

Eventually, I found myself at my walk. A glance up the street showed both Sherry's and Jerry's cars at their house. I hoped all was well there.

The rest of the evening passed uneventfully. I looked over the mail (tossed about 90%), stripped off and ran a load of clothes through the wash, checked my email and read some news sites, showered and hit the sack.