The sun was shining bright and warm as Catherine left for work. She popped a worn and often-played cd into the stereo, grinning from ear to ear as she turned the volume dial several notches to the right and backed out of her parking space. The music began to play and Catherine’s grin grew wider as she thought back through the years to when she had first bought the album. It had been her favorite for a long time and she knew every song by heart; many were the memories associated with these songs.
As she drove to work that morning, she sang along with the cd as she always did, but her mind was not on the words she was singing as much as it was on the old days. One thing led to another and soon she was thinking of her friend Cordelia and how these songs had been the background music of their teen years. The band members themselves had fed their fancies, inspiring all sorts of wild stories and plenty of daydreams. Her mind slowly returned to the lyrics as her imagination kicked into high gear. “See?” she exclaimed to an imaginary Cordelia. “That’s what I want! Why can’t I find someone like that?”
She gestured emphatically at the stereo, quickly glancing down at it as she did so. When she looked back up, she noticed a car on the side of the road, its hazard lights flashing. Catherine glanced at the clock and decided to stop and see if she could be of assistance. She slowed her car and pulled over onto the shoulder, stopping just behind a brand new black Mitsubishi Eclipse with chrome accents. She put her car in park and climbed out of her car.
The hood was up on the Mitsubishi. “Need a hand?” Catherine called out, drawing near.
A familiar face peered around the hood, but why he looked so familiar, Catherine couldn’t say. Surely she knew him from somewhere, but where? “It certainly looks that way, doesn’t it?” he replied. He shot the engine a dirty look and moved around to the side of the car where Catherine was standing. “I don’t know what’s wrong with this thing,” he sighed, “and my cell phone doesn’t get any reception out here. I don’t suppose you could give me a ride to the nearest town?”
“The nearest town is Gladbrook, about five miles that way,” Catherine said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder, “but unfortunately, I’m not heading that way. I’m on my way to work in Eldora, but you’re welcome to ride along with me.”
The man glanced from Catherine to his car and back. “Doesn’t look like I have much choice in the matter, does it?” he finally said.
“I’m Catherine,” she introduced herself, extending her hand.
“Tom,” he replied, shaking her hand.
“Nice to meet you, Tom,” she said. “My car’s just over here.” She led the way to her car and scrambled to clear the front seat of her purse and cd case. She deposited everything in the back seat as Tom settled into the front and after a moment’s search, she retrieved a phone book. Handing the directory and her cell phone to him, she said, “You can find the number for Luethje’s in there under Gladbrook. They can tow your car back to town, fix it, and then I can drop you off there tonight after work. If you don’t mind waiting, that is.”
“Well, I think I’ll be waiting around most of the day no matter what,” Tom said, “so I suppose I may as well do my waiting with you. Thank you, Catherine.”
“You’re welcome,” she said nonchalantly as she started her car. “It’s no big deal.” The stereo kicked in then and music blasted through the speakers as she fumbled with the volume dial, trying to turn it down. “Sorry about that. I forgot I’d had it up so loud.”
She was embarrassed, but as she glanced quickly over at Tom, she saw surprise registered on his face. “I…I didn’t think anyone still listened to this anymore,” he murmured.
The blush on her cheeks deepened. “It was one of my favorite albums when it came out,” she admitted. “Actually, it still is. I have a lot of good memories associated with these songs.”
“Me, too.”
Now it was Catherine’s turn to be surprised. “Really? Most of the guys I know mock boy bands.”
Tom just smiled and began singing along. Catherine tried to concentrate on driving, but Tom’s singing proved to be too big a distraction. Gradually, so he wouldn’t notice, she turned the volume down till Tom was singing on his own. He finished the song, not realizing that Catherine had turned the stereo off, and found her staring at him. “Um, shouldn’t you be watching the road instead of me?” he asked.
“Oh, right,” Catherine stammered, embarrassed. Her cheeks burned deep scarlet as she kept flicking her eyes in Tom’s direction.
“What?” he asked, confused.
“You’re Tom Randall,” she murmured. “You’re Tom freaking Randall! I can’t believe it!”
Tom let out a hearty belly laugh. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t laugh,” he said as the blush on Catherine’s cheeks deepened, “but the look on your face was just priceless.”
“You’re Tom Randall,” she repeated. Then, realizing her inner thirteen-year-old had reared its ugly head, she became even more embarrassed. “Oh my God, I sound like an idiot,” she said. “I can’t believe I just said that! Three times! It’s not like you need me to tell you who you are. I’m going to stop talking now,” she winced.
“Catherine, don’t worry about it,” he said, grinning. “It’s always nice to meet a fan. There don’t seem to be many left anymore.”
Catherine braked as they neared the rumble strips just ahead of the Highway 14 intersection. “I knew you looked familiar,” she said, signaling a right turn as she stopped at the corner. “I just couldn’t put your name with your face.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he repeated.
“So what are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere?” she asked, changing the subject.
“I’m supposed to be performing at the Gallagher-Bluedorn tonight,” he explained. “I’m on tour promoting my solo album. I had some down time today and wanted to do a little sightseeing, so I rented a car and just started driving. I wanted to see the countryside, not just the city. I ended up clear out here and then my car broke down. I think you know the rest.”
Catherine was mesmerized. The sound of his voice was almost hypnotic. She tried desperately to quash the inner teenager that was struggling to break free and finally succeeded. “That’s too bad,” she said. “Listen, if Luethje’s can’t get your car fixed today, I’d be more than happy to drive you to Cedar Falls tonight.”
Tom studied her. He liked this girl, really liked her, which really surprised him given that he’d known her for all of ten minutes. “I’d appreciate that,” he said. “So, what do you do, Catherine?”
“I’m a legal secretary,” she replied. “I’m sorry I couldn’t take you back to Gladbrook this morning; I hope you won’t mind sitting around the office all day.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I was destined to spend the day waiting, it seems, so I may as well spend it with you. Is your office very big?”
“Oh, no,” Catherine replied. “There are only four of us, myself included. But I like working in a small office. The people I work with are wonderful; it’s really almost like a second family.”
Tom and Catherine chatted almost non-stop the rest of the way to Eldora, getting to know each other. Tom felt oddly at ease with his new friend. They seemed to have a connection, one he couldn’t explain but one he liked nevertheless.
Before she knew it, Catherine was pulling into her usual parking place, just between her office and the county annex building next door. “Well, here we are,” she sighed, staring at the antique brick exterior of what had once been the Eldora Public Library.
“What a neat place to have a law office,” Tom remarked as he climbed out of his seat and surveyed the building. “Was this a Carnegie library?”
“It was,” she replied, exiting the car herself. “The interior layout is a bit different than most Carnegie libraries; there were only a handful with a similar design. Ours is on the National Register of Historic Places.”
“Impressive!”
“I always thought so,” Catherine agreed as she opened the front door. “Good morning, Steph,” she called, depositing her purse on her desk and heading to the back of the office to hang up her jacket.
“Morning, Catherine,” Steph replied. “May I help you?” she said, noticing Tom, who had stopped in front of Catherine’s desk.
“Oh, no, thank you,” he said, looking around the office a bit as he waited for Catherine to return.
Catherine emerged from the coat room with an embarrassed smile. “I’m sorry, Steph, I forgot to introduce you,” she apologized. “Tom, this is my friend, Steph. Steph, this is Tom. His car broke down outside of Gladbrook this morning and I stopped to help him out,” she explained. “He called for a tow, but they’re towing it back to Gladbrook, so he gets to spend the day waiting for his car to be fixed. I hope it’s okay if he waits here.”
Steph smiled. “I don’t see why not,” she said.
Catherine led Tom over to the waiting area. “I hope you like to read,” she grinned.
Tom smiled. “I’ll be fine,” he assured her. “Thanks again for your help.”
Catherine returned to her desk, stashed her purse, and got to work on one of several tax returns stacked on her desk. She checked, copied, stapled, and stamped tax returns all morning, sneaking a peek at Tom every once in a while. He worked his way through the variety of area newspapers, watching Catherine out of the corner of his eye. He had to admit she was beautiful. His mind began to wander and he finally put down the Ackley World Journal. He hadn’t actually read much of it, anyway. He pulled a small notebook and a pen from a jacket pocket and began jotting something down.
“Ready for lunch?” Catherine asked.
Tom jumped and she giggled. “Sure,” he replied, putting his things away. Catherine smiled as he rose from his seat and offered his arm, which she accepted. “So,” he said as they headed for the door, “where to?”
“The Ahoy Fountain is pretty good,” she replied as they descended the steps to the sidewalk. “So is Jerry’s. I usually eat at the Weathered Wheel.”
“Any of them sound fine to me,” Tom said, looking up and down the street. “Shall we try Jerry’s?”
“Sure,” Catherine agreed, letting Tom lead the way down the block. “I hope you haven’t been too bored today. I’m sure reading the paper gets old after a while.”
“Actually, I rather enjoyed it,” he replied with a smile. “I’ve never read a small-town newspaper before.”
Catherine couldn’t help but laugh as he held open the door to Jerry’s Pizza and Steakhouse for her. “I can’t imagine there would be much different about it,” she grinned. “Every newspaper I’ve ever read prints pretty much the same things.”
“It’s not so much what they print,” he explained as they sat down in a corner booth, “it’s how they print it. It’s the style of writing that’s different. It’s more…”
“Friendly?”
“Exactly!” Tom exclaimed. “It’s very personal writing. I felt like I got to know some of the people in those stories. I could just tell that this is a very close-knit community. It was nice.”
Catherine beamed with pride. “It is,” she agreed. “Most towns around here are. I guess I sort of take it for granted.”
“You shouldn’t. Not all places are this friendly. For instance, if my car had broken down along the side of the road, say, in Tampa, I sincerely doubt that anyone would have stopped to help me.”
Loretta, the lone waitress, appeared and took their orders. When she was gone, Catherine said, “I got a flat tire once. I lived in the country at the time and I’d only gone about half a mile down the road when the tire went. I pulled over and started rummaging through the trunk for my jack so that I could change my tire. Within minutes, someone stopped to ask if I needed help and offered to send his hired man. While he went to get help, someone else stopped to give me a hand. When the first guy’s hired man showed up, it turned out to be someone I’d gone to high school with. If it hadn’t been for them, I don’t think I’d have gotten the stupid tire off my car – the stupid thing was rusted on.”
“That’s exactly the sort of thing I’m talking about,” Tom said. “You’re lucky to live in a place where you can count on your neighbors to help you out.
They continued chatting like old friends and suddenly, Catherine began to feel a connection between them. She tried to ignore it, thinking it was only her imagination or a sudden emergence of her teen fantasies. Besides, she thought, he couldn’t possibly be interested in me.
Her lunch break was over all too soon. As they approached the counter to pay for their meals, Tom took Catherine’s ticket. “I’ve got this,” he told her, setting both tickets on the counter next to the register.
“Tom, you don’t have to do that,” she objected.
“Catherine, it’s the least I can do,” he insisted, handing Roxanne enough money for both meals. “I won’t take no for an answer.”
He was determined. “If you insist,” she finally relented.
“I do,” he assured her as he collected his change from a smiling Roxanne. “Shall we?”
Tom offered his arm and Catherine accepted, feeling somewhat embarrassed. “Thank you for lunch,” she murmured.
“You’re welcome. Thank you for stopping this morning.”
“I’m not sure how much help I’ve been, but you’re welcome,” she said.
Tom paused to look at her. “What do you mean by that?” he asked, searching her face for clues.
“Well, it’s just that you’ve been stuck sitting around in our waiting room all day,” she replied. “I’m sure you have things you need to do that won’t get done sitting here all day.”
He watched her as she spoke and felt something stir inside him. “I do have things to do,” he agreed, “but I would much rather be with you.”
Catherine couldn’t believe her ears. Tom couldn’t believe it himself. For a moment, he regretted having spoken, but as they stared into each other’s eyes, all regret faded away. Everything faded away and it was just the two of them standing at the edge, both wondering if they should jump or not. In that moment, Tom saw more of her than he had ever hoped to see and for a moment, he was speechless. In the end, it was Catherine who broke the silence. “I…I have to go,” she murmured. “I have to go back to work.”
They were standing in front of her office now, but she didn’t move. She seemed to be waiting for a response. “Right,” Tom nearly whispered. “I-I think I’m going to go for a walk. You know, see the town. I shouldn’t be long.”
“Okay,” she nodded. She watched him go before she returned to work. She didn’t hear what Steph asked as she reclaimed her desk chair. She hardly even noticed what she was doing as she got back to work, completing her tasks mechanically. She was in a daze; thoughts whirled around inside her brain so fast that she didn’t stand a chance of deciphering them all. Her mind kept returning to the moment in front of the steps. Catherine had seen what he was thinking; she’d read his every thought as if they’d been her own. He had wanted to kiss her and she couldn’t believe it.
They had been so close. So close, and yet so far. He doubted himself and she doubted what she saw, afraid to believe. The more she thought about it, the more confused she became; finally, she began to doubt that she had seen anything at all.
Meanwhile, Tom roamed hither and yon through the streets of town, seeing everything and nothing. His thoughts, too, were on that moment in front of the steps, and on how close he had come to changing everything. How he had wanted to kiss her! Yet something had held him back, had kept him frozen when he wanted to move. He’d had a nagging sense that the timing wasn’t right, but he hadn’t wanted to listen.
He wandered aimlessly as thoughts flew willy-nilly round his head until finally he found himself standing in front of Catherine’s office. He slowly climbed the steps to the door, smiling at Catherine as she looked up from her work. “Hey,” he murmured.
“I thought you said you wouldn’t be long,” she teased.
“I wasn’t,” he argued.
Catherine giggled. “It’s four o’clock,” she told him. “Steph said I could cut out early when she gets back from running errands. She should be here any minute.”
“I didn’t think I was gone that long,” Tom insisted. “But that’s really nice of Steph to let you leave early like that.”
“I think she felt a little bad that you were stuck sitting here all day. Have you heard anything fro Luethje’s?”
“Not yet. Looks like I may need that ride to Cedar Falls after all,” he told her, secretly glad that he would get to spend more time with her.
“No problem,” Catherine replied, unable to contain the smile that lit up her face.
Steph returned from running errands before either of them had the chance to say more. Once she had settled in at her desk, Catherine began shutting down her own computer and getting ready to go. A few minutes later, they were out the door and heading for Catherine’s car.
“So,” Catherine began as she backed out of her parking space, “how was your walk?”
“It was okay.”
“Nice town, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Tom replied hesitantly. “Actually, I did a lot of thinking while I walked and I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to my surroundings,” he admitted sheepishly.
“What were you thinking about?” Catherine asked, glancing briefly in his direction as she checked for traffic before turning onto the highway.
“Oh, nothing in particular,” he lied. “Just things.”
Catherine looked over at him. “Really? Just things?”
“Yup.”
She grinned at him, her eyes twinkling mischievously, and suddenly, Tom couldn’t breathe. “Okay for you,” she laughed. “Don’t tell me then.”
“Maybe I will one of these days,” he replied teasingly as his breath returned.
“Oh, I see how it is. You’re a tease!”
Tom laughed. “I only tease people I like,” he assured her.
“So you like me, then, is that it?”
Her eyes were still twinkling; she had no idea how close she was to the truth. “Yes,” he admitted before he could stop himself. “I like you very much, Catherine.”
But he said it so softly that Catherine didn’t hear him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that. What did you say?”
Tom breathed a quick sigh of relief. “Oh, nothing,” he said quickly. “Just being a smart aleck. So, how far is it to Cedar Falls from here?”
“Oh, right around 45 minutes or so,” she replied. “I’ll get on Highway 20 here in a bit and then we can go a little faster. What time are you supposed to be there?”
“Right about the time we’ll get there,” Tom said. “Hey – would you like to stick around, maybe see the show?”
“Sure! I’d love to,” Catherine exclaimed, once again struggling to keep her inner thirteen-year-old in check. “Thank you.”
“Hey, what are friends for?”
Catherine turned to look at him. “Really? Friends?”
“Sure; why not?” Tom squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. Why wouldn’t she stop staring at him? She finally turned her attention back to the road and he resumed breathing, hoping he’d managed not to betray his feelings again.
But he had, and Catherine had seen once again what he’d been thinking. Once again, she doubted. Once again, she feared she was reading too much into it. “I’m flattered,” she finally managed.
Tom turned to stare at her in surprise. “Why?”
Catherine shrugged her shoulders as she turned into Pine Lake State Park. “You must know people far more interesting than me,” she said lamely. “If your car hadn’t broken down, we never would have met.”
“Maybe it was meant to be,” he suggested cautiously.
“What was meant to be?” she asked hesitantly.
“Maybe my car was meant to break down,” he said, “though I fail to see what that has to do with us being friends.” On an impulse, he took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Unless you don’t want to be friends…”
Catherine flicked her eyes in his direction as she squeezed his hand in return, her whole arm tingling from his touch. “I do want to be friends, Tom,” she insisted.
“Then…”
“I guess I’m just a bit star-struck,” she replied, smiling self-consciously. “Sorry.
He smiled that wonderful smile of his as her eyes darted from him to the road and back. “I’m just a regular guy,” he said, still holding her hand.
“Well, regular or not, I’m glad we’re friends,” Catherine assured him.
“Me, too.”
The rest of the drive to Cedar Falls was dominated by silence; both Tom and Catherine were lost in thought, trying to make sense of the day’s events. When they arrived at their destination, they were quickly separated by a throng of people who’d been looking all over for Tom. Before Catherine even realized what had happened, she found herself alone. She wandered around for a bit, trying to decide if she should leave or not. She had almost made up her mind when she was approached by a young man impersonating Eminem. “Catherine?”
“Yes…”
“Cool. Come with me,” he instructed. “Tom sent me to find you.”
“He did?”
“Yup yup. I”m Alex, by the way,” he introduced himself.
Catherine shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, Alex,” she said, feeling a bit unsure of herself as they hurried through the performance center. “Um, where are we going?”
“Oh, Tom wanted you to wait for him in his dressing room,” Alex explained, stopping in front of a door. “Go on in. He’ll be around in a bit, after rehearsal.”
He opened the door and stood back so Catherine could enter the room, and once she was inside, he left. Catherine looked around, studying the room. It was rather plain, except for where Tom’s things were scattered about. The mirror along one wall caught her eye, in particular the note with her name that had been taped to its silvery surface. She unfolded the piece of paper and found two words printed neatly in the center: Turn around.
“You don’t follow directions very well, do you?”
Catherine nearly jumped out of her skin and turned around to find Tom trying not to laugh. “I’ll have you know that I follow directions quite well,” she insisted, affecting a haughty superiority.
“Okay, okay,” Tom said, holding his hands up in surrender. “Are you hungry? We could get something to eat…”
“Sure, I could eat,” she said, wondering why he suddenly seemed so nervous. “Are you okay?”
Tom led her out into the hall. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Catherine studied him for a moment before answering. “I don’t know,” she replied. “You just seem nervous.”
“Must be pre-show jitters,” he said hastily.
“Must be,” she agreed, still watching him. She didn’t believe him, but since she couldn’t come up with a better theory, she let the subject drop, to Tom’s immense relief.
Tom finally found the buffet he’d been looking for and he and Catherine filled their plates and sat down. Neither of them said much as they ate. Tom couldn’t keep his eyes off Catherine and though there were a thousand things he wanted to tell her, he found he hadn’t even the breath for one. Catherine pretended not to notice his staring, but she couldn’t help wondering why he found her so fascinating.
Catherine watched the concert from the middle of the third row and enjoyed every minute. Tom had given her a backstage pass for after the show, but once backstage, she had trouble finding him. Instead, she managed to find Alex. “Will you do me a favor?” she asked him.
“Sure, what do you need?”
She tore a piece of paper from the small notebook she kept in her purse, scribbled something, and handed Alex the note. “Can you give this to Tom for me?”
Alex took the paper from her and folded it in half a couple times. “No problem,” he said, walking off in search of Tom.
“Thank you!” Catherine called after him.
It didn’t take Alex long to find Tom alone in a far corner. He appeared to be rehearsing something when Alex tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, man, Catherine asked me to give you this,” he said, handing Tom the note.
“What? Where is she?” he asked, unfolding the paper, but Alex just shrugged and disappeared back into the crowd from whence he came. Tom returned his attention to the note, which contained Catherine’s phone number and a suggestion to call her the next time he was in town. For a moment, all he could do was stare at the piece of paper, but then inspiration struck and he raced back to his dressing room.
The laptop was on the counter, right where he’d left it, and he quickly brought up Google. He punched in her name. No results. Next he tried her name and town. That brought up a few old newspaper articles detailing her high school band career, but nothing more. On a hunch, he tried a reverse phone lookup on WhitePages.com. Bingo! He scribbled down her information and ran off to find Alex.
In the meantime, Catherine was stuck in traffic. University Avenue was a nightmare all the way out to Hudson Road. As she pondered how much faster things would move without the police directing traffic, the long line of cars in front of her finally began to inch forward. She crept toward Hudson Road at a snail’s pace and eventually managed to turn south toward home.
As she neared open country and picked up speed, her thoughts drifted back to Tom. She couldn’t help feeling a bit giddy thinking about him and she finally allowed her inner thirteen-year-old to squee to her heart’s content. The rest of the drive home seemed to fly by as she recalled snippets of conversation from earlier in the day. She arrived at home fort minutes later, high as a kite and grinning from ear to ear.
Catherine entered her apartment still grinning and closed the door behind her. She hung up her things and meandered toward her room to change clothes. She took her time, still thinking about Tom and all that had happened that day. The more she thought about it, the more she began to wonder if it had all been just an incredible dream, but something told her it wasn’t.
She was in the bathroom combing out her hair when the doorbell rang. “Who in the world could that be?” she wondered as the chime of the doorbell was followed by thunderous pounding on the front door. “Okay, okay, I”m coming already,” she muttered as she headed for the door. She opened the door and before she even had time to react, he was kissing her.
Catherine was so surprised that she took a step back. Tom kicked the door shut behind him as he kissed her and when he finally stepped back to look at her, Catherine could hardly speak. “What…Tom…I…”
“I’ve been wanting to do that all day,” he explained breathlessly. “I-I’m sorry to barge in on you like this, but I couldn’t leave without telling you how I feel.”
“What?” she whispered, beginning to realize how stupid she’d been.
Tom stepped closer and caressed her cheek. “Catherine, I”d like to see you again,” he murmured, “as in a date.”
“A date?” she repeated, seemingly uncomprehending. “With me?”
He smiled that smile of his and she felt herself go weak in the knees. “Yes, with you,” he laughed gently.
Catherine stepped closer, smiling as he wrapped his arms around her. “I would really like that,” she gushed.
Tom bent down and kissed her gently. “Good,” he murmured, kissing her again.
(c) 2009. All rights reserved.
Hi there! Welcome! I'm so glad you've stumbled into my little corner of the blogosphere. If you're looking for something to read that's sometimes funny, sometimes random, and always a good time, you've come to the right place! Enjoy!
