Misconception

It was a lovely evening—typical California weather.  Busy with an inventory take, Rick couldn’t come over, but we talked for a while on the telephone.  “I need to run to the art store,” I told him. “I’m out of some stuff.  I should have gone earlier but I got caught up in a drawing.”

“Can’t you go tomorrow?  It’s getting late.”

“It’s not even 7:00!” I laughed.  “The place I go to is open for another two hours.  I’ll be back well before bedtime.  And Vince is gone—you said so.”

“You should still be careful, though.”

“I will be.  Now get back to work.  You need to set a good example for your staff.”

“I don’t see any reason why I should start now,” Rick answered, and I was still giggling about this at the art store.   After a chat with the owner I drove to a nearby grocery store for some laundry detergent and coffee beans.  In the checkout line I glanced at my watch; it was almost 8:45.  Home was only fifteen minutes away, so I would have plenty of time for Daisy’s pre-bedtime walk—and, now that Vince was gone, no reason to be afraid. 

Not that I ever believed I was in much danger.  I lived in a nice neighborhood, well lit and bustling with pleasant activity.  God knew it was safer than Rick’s area of town, where I’d sometimes passed only a few homeless people during my evening walks.  Of course, I’d much preferred them to the drunken gangs of male students on the prowl for girls and mayhem.  The one time they hassled me Daisy had growled so ferociously that they scattered, squealing in terror as they ran away.

But while that hadn’t bothered me at the time, I was now profoundly grateful I’d moved.   In the last few days Rick had admitted he never would have asked me out while I was his tenant, fearing it would come off too much like sexual harassment.  “You got enough of that from Vince,” he said with a scowl.  Funny how, in the end, it was my mother who had ensured my present happiness:  a cool apartment, a lovely neighborhood, and the boyfriend I never knew I wanted.  As I opened the trunk of my car in the parking garage underneath my building, I enjoyed a quiet chuckle. I would have to point that out to her during our next phone call.

“What’s so funny?”

Startled, I turned around.

Vince was standing next to me.

*From my novel The Abduction Myth, available to purchase here:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KI6XNJU