Anchor Line (42 page)

 
           "Okay. Bye." Conrad hit the red button and put it on the sofa table, and stretched back out on the sofa and patted the cushion in front of him so that Addie could lie back down.

 
             "I think I’m going to make some tea." Addie whispered, not looking at him. "Want some?"

 
             "No thanks babe." He said lying on his side, propping up on one arm. "You okay?" He noticed that Addie didn't look at him.

 
           Shit. He shouldn’t have taken that call. Should have just let it go to voice-mail.

 
           Addie didn't want to say anything that might betray how she felt. She at least thought that he'd regard her being there and not talk to any of his other women until she left. She wasn’t his girlfriend she told herself again. So why did she feel…betrayed…when she heard him talking to another woman?  Pulling the tea bags from the cabinet, she filled a pot with water and put it on the stove, and lit the burner. She turned around to put sugar in her mug and a tea bag when she felt Conrad's presence in the doorway staring at her.

 
             "What's wrong Addie?" He asked softly.

 
             "Nothing." She said quietly. "I'm fine. Did you need to go in to work or something?"

 
           She still wouldn't look at him, she just toyed with the tea bag begging the water silently to hurry up and boil.

 
             "Nah, just one of the guys." He said.

 
             "Ah.” She answered. “You call one of the guys ’hun’ and scene with them?" Addie asked indifferently.

 
             "Addie..." He started as he walked in the kitchen behind her and put his hands on her hips.

 
             "No, it's okay Conrad.”  Addie said cutting him off.  “I should have known. A single guy like yourself and all."

 
           Conrad let go of her and backed up against the counter next to the stove now and crossed his arms over his chest. Addie turned around to check the water being careful not to look at him. Her cheeks were pink with embarrassment. She made busy work of looking at the flame under the pot and looking at the water. 

 
             "Whoa." Conrad put his hands up in defense. "What’s going on here? Are you jealous?"

 
             "What? Are you serious?" Addie put her hands on her hips. "My train pulled in four hours ago and I've been so tired we haven't even done anything but eat, kiss a few times, and we laid down to watch a movie that I struggled to stay awake through." She looked up at him feeling confident enough to face him. “When have I had time to be jealous? And what, pray tell should I be jealous of?"

 
             "Well it sure as hell sounds like it.  I'm not committed to anyone Addie." He said gruffly, crossing his arms over his chest again.

 
           Addie's face turned a bright red. "I didn’t say you were." She retorted. "But thanks for the recap."

 
          "What did you expect Addie. You asked to stay here remember?"

 
           She asked to stay here? Not exactly. She told him that she was coming over to visit family for about four or five days. He asked to see her. So she asked if he’d like to show her around Italy. He’d said yes, then asked how long she was staying for. As the conversation went on, they’d agreed that she would stay ten days. With him.

 
           The water started to boil on the stove and she took the opportunity to keep her hands busy, because she itched to slap him while she reminded him how their conversation when via email.

 
           She turned off the burner, took the pot and filled her mug, then turned around putting the pot back on the stove. Then, and only then had the wave of jealousy hit her so suddenly. She looked back up at Conrad who was resting up against the counter, his hands resting on either side of him on the counter.

 
           "You're right Conrad. You are so right." Addie said forcing a smile. "Clearly, you have absolutely no problem telling me that I invited myself here and that you are committed to no one, and I’m jealous. But hey, ya know, don’t forget that it was you that said you wanted to see me and how long you’d get. And don't forget in Pittsburgh when you said that you needed time. But, I’m jealous and I invited myself to stay here when you said no hotels. ‘You’ll stay with me or I won't show me around.’ I didn't think you'd parade your girls around me too."

 
             “Really Addie?" Conrad almost sounded like he was whining. "What did you want me to do? Say, sure come on over, maybe the three of us can get it on."

 
             "Well damn, at least you talk to her on the phone!”  Addie retorted.  “I just got emails. Or conversations through messenger.”

 
             “Addie come on!”  Conrad was clearly frustrated.

 
             “I don’t get you Conrad." She looked at him, furious now.

 
           “I’m not committed to anyone Addie.” He said it heatedly slashing his hand through the air.

 
           "Well thank you sergeant fucking obvious. What do you do Conrad? Do you get online and feel these chicks out and ask them if they like you? If they think about you? And then they say yes they do, but when you are asked the same question, you say nothing. Nothing at all. Is that how you operate? To conquer the world and have a woman in every port you go to. But you have to do it while you are deployed so that these stupid women think you are depraved, lacking female companionship."

 
           Addie turned around to stir her hot tea. "Got this one here, check. Got that one there, check. Addie's in Fort Bragg, check."

 
           Conrad gave her a genuine smile now. "Writing is a wicked evil thing." He paused. "Did you keep all of my emails Addie?" His smile brightened even more as he waited for her to turn around and answer.

 
           "No! I did not." She looked Conrad in the eye and said quite matter of factly.

 
            It was a lie, but he didn’t need to know that she kept most of them. She decided to abandon her hot tea and walked out toward the bedroom with Conrad a few steps behind her. He followed her into his bedroom and leaned up against the doorjamb effectively blocking her way out. She walked to the closet and pulled out her bag, then opened it and started tossing her shoes in it first, and then she walked into the small bathroom and grabbed her toiletry bag and came back into the bedroom. She said nothing as she walked over to the dresser and put her folded clothes in her bag.  She sat on the bed putting her sneakers on to tie them.

 
           As Addie was tying her sneakers, there was a strong knock at the front door.

 
           "Oh great.” She waived a hand toward the front door, “Maybe you didn't tell all of your women that one was already visiting. Maybe you need a battle roster of women.  Or maybe that was your plan all along. More than one at a time so that your hands were full.  Isn’t that every guy’s fantasy?" Addie said meanly.

 
             "Addie, what are you doing?" Conrad asked softly. "Where are you going to go?"

 
           Another insistent knock on the door started and had Conrad ignoring that one too.

 
           She had calmed down only a little since she left the kitchen.

 
           "I'm going to a hotel." Addie sighed. "I feel like I’m intruding on your lifestyle. You said yourself that I invited myself here. But then you agreed that I could stay here and you even took leave to go and explore with me. But hey, this is all my fault."

 
           She zipped her bag, picked it up and stood in front of Conrad. "Excuse me for intruding." She said as confidently as she could.

 
           Conrad's phone started to ring now.

 
            "This is ridiculous Addie, you know that. You aren't going to leave." He said, still not moving from the door way. “Besides, you still have clothes in the closet.”  He let his phone just ring.

 
           Addie just stood there. "Are you going to answer the door or your phone?"     

 
                   "I'm not moving until you put your bag down Addie." He said smiling. "I give a shit who’s at the door. The ringtone says it's Nathan Cale, a guy I work with. He’s a fellow platoon sergeant.  I forgot he was supposed to come by. So that’s probably who’s at the door."

 
             "Well, hell, let's not be ungracious." She dropped her bag in the middle of the floor and put one hand on her hip and the other motioning toward the door. "Answer the door."

 
           Conrad sighed lightly. “Yeah hold on." He yelled as he walked briskly to the front door and Addie walked to the kitchen.

 
           She pulled the teabag out of the mug and finished stirring it. She stayed rooted where she was, in the kitchen and moved to look out the little window above the sink. It was dark out now and she could see the lights of the town. She heard Conrad greet his friend and they walked in the small kitchen. She turned around just in time.

 
            "Addie, this is Nathan. Nathan, this is Addie."

 
           Nathan was just as tall as Conrad, not as broad, fair with dirty blonde hair and steel blue eyes, and high cheekbones and nice lips. Good looking, not as rugged as Conrad she thought.

 
             "Pleasure." Addie said shaking his hand.

 
             "Likewise. Conrad didn't say you were this hot." Nathan commented giving her his brightest smile. "No wonder he didn't say anything. He didn't want anyone to steal you."

 
             "Thank you." Addie said blushing slightly in her cheeks. "I probably got lost in the little black book." Addie smiled back, and then took her mug and sipped her tea.

 
           Nathan looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow feeling the tension in the small kitchen. He’d also noticed that her bag was in the middle of the bedroom floor when Conrad led him to the kitchen. Maybe things weren't going so well after all he thought to himself.

 
            “I can come back if this isn’t a...”  Nathan started.

 
             "Oh please, stay." Addie said. "You’re fine."She waved her hand around.

 
             "Are you staying here or a hotel?" Nathan asked.

 
             "Yes. She is." Conrad answered for her. "Want a beer?" He asked opening the fridge, deflecting the conversation.

 
             "Sure. Just thought I’d stop by and meet Addie and uh, see if you kids were still up for dinner tomorrow." Nathan said taking the beer from Conrad. "Cal and Tracy want to meet you too Addie."

 
           Conrad closed the fridge and stood there looking at Addie.

 
            "We'd love to." He said. "I forgot to mention it earlier.  You up hun?"

 
           Addie swallowed her tea and raised the mug in affirmation, plastering a smile on her face. "Hun, is up." She said the word to remind Conrad of what he'd called the woman that had called him. He visibly cringed, remembering.

 
    Nathan gave Conrad a strange look deciding to move to the living room.  Addie just turned around to stare out of the kitchen window again trying to ignore Nathan and Conrad’s conversation on where they were going for dinner, what to do afterwards, and what movie was playing on the TV just now.

 
            It was when Nathan asked if things were going alright that Conrad admitted that one of his hook-ups had phoned and Addie must have heard everything and he initially tried to hide the fact that it was a woman They were just hashing it out and Addie was ready to go to a hotel, but he wanted her to stay when Nathan had arrived. Nathan scolded Conrad on talking to any other girl when he had Addie. Conrad of course didn't respond.

 
   Addie thought he sounded genuine, and really hoped that he was.  She wasn’t sure how long she stood looking out the window lost in her own thoughts when she heard Nathan leaving.

 
             “See you tomorrow Addie.”  He called from the living room.

 
             “Yes. Definitely.”  Addie answered moving to the doorway of the kitchen to wave at him, and then moved back to the sink.

 
             "We'll be there." Conrad answered as he pulled the door open. 

 
           Once Nathan left, Conrad turned back toward the kitchen and leaned up against the doorway.

 
           "Addie. Please stay. You can stay in the bedroom. I'll sleep on the sofa."

 
             "Sure." Addie said as she rinsed out her mug.