A Time to Dance

Patrick had his place all cleaned up and looking pretty nice he thought. Myrtle had her head in her shell when he was vacuuming but she was poking it out now as she stared  out of the glass.  It was 5:30, Tamara was due to come at 6, perhaps he would take Myrtle out of her for a little and let her roam around.

He took off the lid and gently lifted her out. When he put her on the floor he felt like she smiled at him. Just then his doorbell rang. Was Tamara early? He opened the door to find a child selling Girl Scout Cookies. Patrick did have a sweet tooth, so he ordered some Thin Mints and some of their Coconut cookies. He closed the door and walked back to the couch to watch Myrtle explore some more, but where was she? He got down on the floor and looked under the sofa, but didn’t see her there. The little girl at the door had been chatty but he didn’t think they had talked that long. Myrtle was a turtle, how could she disappear so fast!

He kept crawling around but couldn’t see any sign of her, where did she go? He was feeling really confused when the doorbell rang again. Looking at the time he realized that now it would be Tamara. What a way to start off a date night, searching for his missing turtle.  He got up with a sigh and went to open the door.

Tamara was standing there smiling and looking nice in her bright yellow top and sunflower leggings.

“Hi there handsome”, she said, but then her smile changed as she saw the worried look on his face.

“What is wrong?”

“I can’t find Myrtle! I took her out of her cage and then the doorbell rang and …OH NO! What if she slipped out the door?

“She isn’t that speedy of a turtle, she probably just found a nice place to curl up and hide in. She can fit into some pretty small places. Myrtle, Myrtle, Where are you?”

Patrick started laughing. “She is a turtle, she isn’t going to answer you back. The last I knew turtles couldn’t talk.”

Tamara made a face at Patrick and continued calling as she looked.

“Found her!” Tamara shouted.

She had slipped underneath Patrick’s baseball glove that he had lying in the corner of the floor.

Patrick breathed a sigh of relief as he picked Myrtle up and  put her back into her terrarium.

“I thought you were a detective, and you couldn’t even find a missing turtle?” Tamara joked.

“Well it was kind of fun watching you crawl around on the floor.”

Tamara looked at Patrick’s twinkling eyes and she didn’t say a word.

Patrick walked over to the stereo and turned on some music. Tamara was sitting at the table and he came up behind her kissing her gently on her neck. He breathed in the soft fragrance of her sweet perfume and for a moment forgot about the food that he had prepared for them.

He had made his specialty,  Manicotti, with Tiramisu for dessert. He brought it over to the table and then poured them each some wine before he sat down.

“This smells delicious! I am impressed!” said Tamara.

“Hopefully you are still impressed, after you taste it. My Mom was a great cook and I was able to learn a little from her. I am also really good at ordering pizza, for when some of my dishes don’t turn out!”

They were enjoying a nice dinner until Tamara brought up how at times she had a strange feeling that someone was following her whenever she came to see Patrick. The only person she ever noticed around her though was some  lady with a broad rimmed hat on her head, and dark sunglasses.

Patrick started to say that he hadn’t noticed anyone before, but then he remembered the other day when he was backing his car out of the garage.

“I am sure its probably nothing, wouldn’t know why some lady would be ….” he paused.

Tamara looked at him, “Yes?”  Would be… what?”

Patrick took a gulp of wine, ” I don’t think you need to worry, but I will see if I notice her tomorrow when I go to work.”

Through the rest of dinner, Patrick had a nagging thought in his head, that he tried to dismiss. Would Anna really come looking for him??

He shook his head, watching Tamara clean off the table. When she went to take his plate, he took her hand. “The dishes can wait.”  he said.

He stood up and led her into the center of the room. “May I have this dance?”

Tamara smiled, laying her head against his chest as they swayed to the music, and all thoughts of Anna left Patrick’s mind.