Devil Mail (9 page)

             
By evening, she felt a little revived, but didn’t feel able to cope with the outdoor exposure that a date with Aiden would require. Instead, they talked on the telephone, with Angela’s attention divided between Aiden and Christian Blend.

Aiden talked about one of his
anarchic clients who ran a chaotic construction company, while Angela focused on a wink she had received from ‘navyalex418’.  In his profile, he defined himself as a disciplined, principled Christian man, whose goal was to become a missionary. He was looking for a likeminded woman. His poses, attire, haircut, and choice of words, in fact everything about him, screamed ‘perfectionist’. Whilst he appeared to be one of the more venerable men she had come across on the site, he hadn’t put forth his fun-loving side, if he had one, and although she admired his aspirations, she had none of her own that would place her anywhere near the mission field. A return wink would only encourage further communication, which would probably prove futile in the long run.

During the conversation with Aiden,
Angela managed to sneak in a quick message to Matt, the sole purpose of which was to stem any expectation, on his part, of further communication for a while:

“Still feeling under the weather. I’ll catch up with you later when I’m better.

Angela”

             
Aiden succeeded in winning back her undivided attention on the telephone when he turned to the subject of love. “Do you believe that there’s only one person in the whole world who was created just for you?” His searching question gave the impression that he did not have a definitive answer.

“
Umm…” Angela pondered, “I’m not sure.”

             
“Do you believe in love at first sight?”

             
“Maybe affection and definitely strong physical attraction, but probably not love.” This answer came to her faster because it was something that she had thought about previously. “Why? What do you think?”

             
His answer caught her by surprise. “I think I’m in love.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

             
T
he dawn of a new day seemed to bring with it new horizons. From Angela’s perspective, life was grand. Her time in bed reminiscing over her very recent past was pared down to a few short minutes upon the arrival of Julia and Trey. Julia’s intention was to spend a few hours with her sister, cheering her up and helping her around the house as needed.

             
“Aunty Angie!” Trey came bounding through the doorway, jumping on her and hugging her. “You didn’t phone me. Nana said.” Trey was no different from any other toddler who grabbed ahold of words, turned them into promises and expected people to keep them. Angela understood his fragmented speech – dismissively, she had told Mrs. Craddock that she would call him, but she hadn’t explicitly given her a message to relay to him.

             
“I’m sorry Big T, I got sick.”

             
“You don’t look sick to me,” Julia remarked, “in fact, you look positively bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.”

             
“I do feel a lot better, actually.”

             
“I guess my services aren’t needed then?”

             
“You are quite welcome to stay, but you don’t really need to.” The presence of Julia and Trey would merely impede Angela’s freedom to daydream and think about Aiden. He hadn’t called at seven o’clock that morning, so it was likely that she could expect a call from him at any minute. If not, she would call him, but she couldn’t do so with her sister and nephew lounging around her place.

             
“I suppose we’ll stay for a little while.” Julia failed to read anything into the absence of a reply.

             
The telephone rang. With a prolonged blink and a sigh, Angela stepped towards the telephone silently reproving Julia for her poor timing. Now she would have to tell Aiden that she would call him back later. It was Judith. “What are you up to today? Fancy going shopping?” Since she hadn’t spoken to her over the past couple of days, Judith was unaware of her ill-health.

             
“I’m recovering from the flu. I was off work for the last couple of days. I’m just going to stay in to make sure I recover fully.”

             
“Why didn’t you call me? You know I would have come over, with my breathing mask, of course. So, from whom did you pick up that nasty disease?” Judith quipped.

             
“Oh, stop.”

             
“Is there any news on that front?”

             
“No, like I said, I’ve been sick for the past couple of days.” Judith hung up after receiving Angela’s assurance that she would keep her posted of all developments.

             
Julia was also curious as to whether or not there had been any progress in Angela’s relationship with Aiden, or anyone else for that matter. “I know it’s early days, but Aiden just seems to have a lot of the things I’m looking for in a man. He’s kind, generous, humorous, hardworking, there’s chemistry and an obvious physical attraction between us….”

             
“But….?” Julia read her sister like a book.

             
“The only thing is that he doesn’t really talk about his faith much. On the other hand, I’ve been instant messaging Matt, who seems like a really nice guy, he’s grounded in his faith, but now that we’ve got past the introductions and the basics, I don’t know that we have that much in common. Our conversations really consist of him spewing out a ton of facts and figures and me trying to keep up with him and stay interested.”

             
“Well, you need to decide what’s most important to you.”

             
“Stability is important, and they both have good jobs, and they are both able to engage in intelligent conversation. Aiden definitely has the edge when considering humor, and physical attraction, but I think Matt has a lot of untapped potential under the surface. He has the edge when it comes to readily talking about his faith and being involved in his church.”

             
“It’s only been a week, Angie. You don’t have to make any decisions just yet. There should be no pressure for you to rush into anything that you might regret later. Take it from me; I know exactly what I’m talking about.” Julia spoke with poignant regret.

             
“I know you’re right, but I feel like I’m in limbo. I just want to know which direction my life is going in, and be able to pour all my energies into it, instead of feeling divided.”

             
“I understand, but such an important decision cannot, or should not be made after just a week. Besides, you haven’t even spoken to Matt or felt what it’s like to be with him physically, so….”

             
“And already he’s beginning to bore me.” The words jabbed Angela’s conscience as soon as she spoke them. “I don’t mean to be cruel, but I wonder what we’ll talk about two, five, ten years down the road – more surveys and little known facts that I couldn’t care less about?”

             
Julia guffawed. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to laugh at your dilemma, but I think you’re putting yourself under too much pressure too soon. Your best days are yet ahead.” Angela threw a dirty look in Julia’s direction. “Oh yeah, remind me to strangle you for that! Actually, I take that back – Aiden quite liked it.”

             
“See, so now you owe me one; or one more I should say.” Julia garnered a list of groceries that Angela needed and took Trey to the supermarket. They were barely out of the door before Angela picked up the telephone and called Aiden. A gamut of thoughts raced through her mind when her call went straight to his voicemail. To satisfy herself that she had not misdialed, she called again, with the same result.

             
Turning to Christian Blend, she found that there was no message from Aiden, but there was a message from Matt:

             
“Sweet Angel,

You are on my mind more than I care to admit.
I often wonder what it would be like to spend time with you in person. I hope we get to that stage at some point in the near future. I want to know what your voice is like. I imagine it’s angelic.

W
hen you reach that comfort level, I would love for us to exchange numbers so we can talk all night and hear each other laugh… and breathe.

Matt”

             
Angela read the message again and again, driving the words deep into her psyche. There were no little known facts, no statistics to analyze, no surveys to dissect, just words on her computer screen that translated into something close to poetry in her heart.

             
One quick click added fuel to Angela’s emotional fire. KDoyleIII had viewed her profile and sent her a wink. She had now gained the attention of ‘Boaz’.  Her deep breaths, taken to calm herself and quiet the whirling internal turmoil, failed to have the desired effect. 

             
She knew that another’s words should not have the power to dictate how she felt about herself, but the words that Matt had written and Aiden had spoken were just that – powerful; igniting within her a confidence she had never experienced before. In the essence of her being, she possessed something magnetic that both men, and now possibly a third man, sought. This newfound confidence, however, was tainted by fear. Fear that she would pursue a relationship with the wrong man; fear that she would not be able to maintain the interest of the man she chose; fear that after all this, she would end up lonely and alone.  She stepped out onto the balcony to abate her soaring temperature and to think.

             
The apartment parking lot was incorporated into the well-kept grounds below her apartment. The grounds, with its lush landscape and vibrant explosion of tropical colors, invariably transported Angela to her happy place.  She eyed the varying shades of the red and purple begonias, their rich green leaves tipped with maroon. The person who thought to sprinkle them among the delicate portrait of purity painted by the creamy-white gardenias, was indubitably an artist in their own right. Most pleasing, was the sweet blend of fragrances floating on the wings of the light winds that wafted her way. She wished her life could be so artfully orchestrated into such striking, yet simplistic beauty.

             
It wasn’t long before Julia and Trey returned. “Aunty Angie,” Trey shouted, jumping on her as if it were the first time he was seeing her for the day.

             
“Did you buy me lots and lots of yummy things to eat, Big-T?”

             
“Yeah, you gonna be big and fat!” Trey replied. The sisters looked at each other and laughed.

             
“Your mom will take me to zumba and aerobics to make sure I don’t get fat.” Angela’s comment was lost on Trey who ran off mid-sentence to play on the balcony.

“Get back inside, Trey,” Julia called after him. “No playing on the balcony. Come in and watch TV.”
             

With her head and
eyes, Angela gestured towards the laptop on the kitchen table. Julia, following her cue, pulled the laptop close to her and Angela pulled up the message from Matt.  “Ooh, progress….” Julia looked like she was on the verge of salivating.

             
“And that’s not all.” Feeding into Julia’s desire for a thrill, Angela navigated to the wink from KDoyleIII.

             
“Angie, he’s cute. What’re you gonna do?”

             
“I don’t know. Nothing right now, I guess.”

              The evening found Angela alone with time on her hands to worry about the possibility that something had happened to Aiden or that he had lost interest in her. She didn’t have any other way of contacting him, so to her mind, her options were to keep calling him on his cellphone or to sit and worry and think about what she may have said or done to chase him off.

             
Her subsequent call went to his voicemail and plunged her into a state of irrational anxiety. There was no one she could talk to who would understand. She could already hear their hollow rationalizations. Julia would say, “There’s probably a perfectly good reason why he hasn’t called.” Judith would say, “He’s most likely busy, earning enough money to keep you in the lifestyle that he’s introduced you to. Get a life, girl, go do something constructive.” Angela didn’t want to hear any of it.

             
Subsequent to her flicking through all the television channels and wondering how there could be so many channels and yet, so few quality shows, she turned to Christian Blend. She was about to yield to temptation by sending a message to KDoyleIII in response to his wink, when the telephone rang. 

             
“Miss me?” It was the deep, thick voice that she had been longing to hear all day.

             
“Aiden, where have you been?” Angela gasped.

             
“Working.” He sounded perplexed at her response. “I told you I had to work today.”

             
“You did? I don’t remember that. I’ve been so worried about you.”

             
“Angela, last night on the phone, did I not tell you that I’d have an early start because I had to go and sort out the mess that this construction guy in Lakeland had made of his accounts?”

             
“N…..” Angela couldn’t quite complete the ‘no’. A flashback reminded her that she was instant messaging Matt at the same time that she was talking to Aiden, so in all likelihood, he had mentioned his plans. “Oh, I guess I forgot.”

             
“And I guess I didn’t tell you that I’m going out of town tomorrow either.”

             
“No, you did.” Angela had no recollection of this either, but dared not disclose it. “Another messy case right?” It was a statement doubled up as a question designed to both cover her inattentiveness and extract from him information she obviously missed the night before.

             
“You could say that. My appointment’s really on Monday but I don’t want to contend with the Monday morning traffic, so I’m going up on Sunday and staying in a hotel overnight.”