Devil Mail (5 page)

             
Right before leaving, she checked and quickly answered a couple of emails and was about to log off Christian Blend and shut down her computer when she saw that she had a new message. It was from Matt. He was obviously online, and the opportunity had arisen for them to instant message each other. In his message, Matt shared some basic information about himself, his work as a data analyst, the company he worked for, his involvement in the youth ministry in his church, his hobbies, likes and dislikes and recent vacations.

Although she was te
mpted to stay and chat with him, she recalled that she had some ground to make up with Aiden, and did not want to follow up the earlier discomposing telephone call with the poor second impression that being late would convey.

“I have to go out now, but I promise I’ll catch up with you later tonight. You are an intriguing man.”

This was all Angela could spare the time for, by way of a response to Matt. The telephone rang and immediately she presumed that Aiden was calling her back to cancel. She took one look at the caller ID display which notified her that it was Judith. Immediately, Angela rushed out the door and into an avalanche of pea-sized hail. By the time she buckled herself into her car, and started down the road, she could feel the gentle unraveling of her bun as the hailstones that her hair had collected melted and transformed it into a frizzy mass. There was nothing she could do about it now. If she returned home to fix it, she would be late.

The rain had subsided by the time she arrived
at Giuseppe’s restaurant, but the effect of the downpour was still evident. Self-conscious and embarrassed about her appearance, she stood in the entrance and fleetingly surveyed the restaurant. Slowly, she approached the front desk and advised that she was meeting someone by the name of Jacobs. The server escorted a very nervous Angela to her table where Aiden was waiting for her. In true chivalrous form, he stood to acknowledge her and pulled out the chair for her to sit down.

Angela caught herself eyeing Aiden from head to foot. Her facial expression clearly reflected her appreciation for what she saw. His physique was very close to that of her imagination, only he was slightly slimmer than she expected. Aiden’s smug smile
let her know that he was pleased to be of service to her as eye-candy.

She hated that she looked a mess physically and now appeared to be a lecherous, desperate woman. The conversation quickly moved to the menu and Angela’s favorite food. After they had ordered, Aiden’s attention returned to her, his eyes bouncing around her face and dropping occasionally to take in
the shapeliness of her well-endowed chest. Subtle mutual scrutiny continued throughout the evening as they ate and talked.

“So, how long have you been on Christian Blend?” Angela was curious as to why someone so well put together in appearance would have difficulties finding a mate.

“This is my second time around, actually. I met someone on the site last year, we dated for a few months, but it wasn’t going anywhere so it just kinda fizzled out. So, I subscribed again and I’ve been talking to a lady who lives in Atlanta, but honestly…” he paused, “she seems nice enough, but I think you and I have more in common.”

Angela processed the datum and quickly
became aware of her insecurity brought on by her knowledge that he might be interested in someone else. But why? It was no different to what she was doing. Here she was on a date with one man, while making promises to catch up online with another, later that night. Her insecurity was illogical. He was here with her, and Atlanta was hundreds of miles away.

Aiden wowed Angela with the high level of interest he took in her, and particularly in her career. She felt as if she was doing all the talking and he was doing all the listening. He wanted to know about her fascinating work, whether or not she had made any major bloopers in the recording of evidence, and whether or not she had worked on any murder, grand theft or high profile fraud cases. “So what case are you working on now?” his eyes inquisitive and his body poised to soak up all the forthcoming information.

“Actually, the case I’m working
on is quite a heart-wrenching assault case. Obviously I can’t go into too much detail, but the allegations are that the female victim of a car-jacking used her cellphone to track down her car herself and she and her brothers found the carjacker before the police did and beat him to a pulp, leaving him severely injured and in critical condition.”

“And whose side are you on?” Aiden’s question was as mischievous as his smile.

“I don’t take sides; I just take down the evidence.”

“Have you ever doctored the evidence to assist one party?”

“Absolutely not! That would be…..”

“Never tempted to?” he interrupted, looking at her accusingly out of the corner of his
attractive brown eyes. “How much would someone have to pay you to accidentally record the evidence incorrectly? Everyone has their price, you know.”

“Are you kidding me?”

D
etecting the seriousness, if not offense, in Angela’s tone, he replied, “Yes, I am kidding you, and you are quite gullible. I’m gonna love playing with you.”

“Yes, I am gullible and hate
being teased, so don’t do that!” Relief echoed in Angela’s voice.

“You’re quite the tease yourself, judging by the message you sent me.”
His smug look returned, spreading across his face as he gave her a quick once-over and smirked. 

“Message?” The word came out of Angela’s mouth before she had a chance to think. For a couple of seconds, she stared at
him like a petrified fawn; then it dawned on her that she never did check the message that Julia had written to him on her behalf. She was unsure of what would make her look more foolish – him knowing that she didn’t know what the message said, or him knowing that she didn’t write it. “Oh, the message; no provocation was intended,” was all she could muster by way of recovery.

“I don’t mind a little provocation here and there, especially not from you.”
With her eyes, Angela traced his straight eyebrows that sat low beneath a broad forehead, imposed upon by a modest widow’s peak. Her glistening chocolate brown eyes, locked with his, which were only a shade lighter. She pulled them away. They meandered down to his nose – straight, curved at the edge, flaunting wide nostrils – then on to his generous lips which were seductively parted (as if ready for a kiss at any given moment), before finally falling onto his rounded dimpled chin. Back in college, she and her friends used to laugh at men with such chins, calling them ‘butt-chins’, but this one was no laughing matter. When taken together with his other coordinated features, this one had her captivated. 

Sensing the uncomfortable direction
in which the conversation was going, Angela switched gears. “Now I feel like I really am hogging the conversation,” she said, clearing her throat. “I’ve talked a lot about myself, now I want to hear more about you.” Aiden obliged, telling her about his upbringing as an only child in Cottonport, Louisiana, where his parents still resided. He depicted a lonely childhood, with few friends due to the small population of his town. His facial expressions painted a picture of happier times when he began to talk about college life in Tampa, Florida, and his subsequent job there as a certified public accountant, prior to his decision to launch into the deep and pursue his dreams of self-employment; a dream now realized in his becoming a freelance accountant. His word choice exuded a haughty sense of accomplishment that perhaps challenged the expectations of those that knew him growing up.

T
he evening passed swifter than they both had hoped. Aiden walked Angela to her car, with the cool evening air, alluring moonlight and starry night sky all adding to the romance of the occasion. With a soft touch to the small of her back, he drew himself close to her and whispered just above her ear, “Thank you for a lovely evening.”

“The pleasure was all mine
.” Angela’s voice cracked, leaking evidence that her emotional fortitude was crumbling at his touch. It had been a while since she was in a relationship, and Aiden was unwittingly awakening emotions that had been dormant for some time now.

“I beg to differ, I had my fair share of plea
sure tonight,” his hushed tones quieter than necessary, since hardly anyone else was around. In synchronized movement, he removed his left hand from her back, while raising his right hand towards her face, then around to the side of her head. Under different circumstances, Angela probably would have flinched, but here, tonight, with Aiden, she didn’t even blink. He removed a pin from her hair, and watched a tuft of hair tumble to the side of her face. “I’ve wanted to do that all night.”

“You mean my hair has been a lopsided mess all night, and you wait until now to fix it?”
Her feigned dismay made Aiden laugh.

“It was kinda cute, that’s why I left it alone.”

“I don’t usually walk around with this frizzy animal on my head; I just got caught in the hailstorm on my way here.”

“It’s certainly unique. I like it.” Angela checked his facial expression to see if he was teasing her again. He wasn’t.
His voice was sincere as he continued, “When do I get to see you again?” Angela suppressed the ludicrous answer that began floating up into her throat. She wanted to tell him that he could see her right now. She wanted to take him home with her and curl up on the sofa with him, and sip hot chocolate and laugh and talk into the early hours of the next morning. It made no sense that she would feel this way about someone that she had just met.

“Call me, we’ll arrange something,” she invited. He closed her car door behind her and watch
ed her drive away. Her efforts to keep her eyes on the road were pitiful. She snatched as many glances of him in her rearview mirror as she could, until he was out of sight. The experience created for Angela a fair idea of what it must be like for someone to smile all the way to the bank after winning the lottery. She certainly felt like she had hit the jackpot; she smiled all the way home, questioning if this could be it. Had she found her soul mate? Of course, it was too soon to jump to any conclusions, and Angela knew this, but that did not diminish the possibility in her mind.

On her answer machine
, she played a message from Judith and one from Julia, both demanding that she call them as soon as she got home. She wasn’t up to explaining to either of them that she had just been to dinner with a man she met on the internet the day before. Hearing Julia’s voice sparked the memory of the mystery message that she had written to Aiden on her behalf.  She had to log on and read it before any further distractions occurred. 

The first thing she noticed on Christian Blend was that she had a new message from Matt:

“
I’ll be here….waiting…unable to sleep…just waiting… with bated breath to hear from you….waiting….”

“Oh drat! I said I would get back with him when I returned home.” She didn’t feel inclined to enter into meaningful communication; she was still emotionally drunk from the evening’s events. Still, it would be awful for Matt to judge her as someone who was not true to her word, so she replied by sharing general details along the same lines of the details she had shared with Aiden over dinner.

After sending the message to Matt, she checked her ‘sent’ messages and read the one Julia had so
graciously volunteered to send to Aiden. Cringing as she read it, Angela decided to strangle Julia:

“Some of our best days are ahead of us; why rush? I like a man to take his time, enjoy the journey and breathe in the scent of life as it unfolds. Don’t be in a hurry. Let’s screen talk for a while before exchanging numbers.” 

             
Matt’s swift response intersected her thought process. Could he have read and digested her lengthy message so quickly?

“
Glad to see that you made it home safely. Enjoy your evening? I thought about you while you were gone.

             
Matt”

              “Nice thoughts?

             
Angela”

              “Very!

             
Matt”

              “Care to share?

             
Angela”

             
Before she knew it, Angela was swept into instant messaging Matt for over an hour. They covered an immense amount of ground that went far beyond mere pleasantries. Matt was a fountain of information, with the ability to cite statistics and little known facts like no one else she had come into contact with before. He seemed to take humble pleasure in sharing his vast knowledge. She only became conscious of the hour when Matt wrote:

“Although I could selfishly spend the night talking with you, I should let you get some beauty sleep. Can we talk again tomorrow?

Matt”

             
Angela replied in the affirmative and logged off. There was something profound about Matt that was drawing her in. She liked his apparent unassuming, easy-going nature, and his capacity to communicate intellectually, albeit on the occasional esoteric level. He made her feel as if they had been friends for years. She too could have talked to him all night.