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The knock on the door was unexpected. Peering through the peephole, she could see the man running his fingers through his hair, then he breathed into his hand. Rolling her eyes at the sight, she opened the door. “Can I help you?”
“I am your new neighbor from down the hall.” He pointed to his door.
“Yes?” she sounded abrupt, not used to dealing with unknown people at the door.
“I just wondered if maybe you'd like to go for a drink sometime.”
She looks over her shoulder at her kids in the apartment. Oh yeh, I get so much time for that. Turning back to the gentleman at the door, she caught a whiff of alcohol on his breath. Instantly her stomach turned. “Thanks, but that's not possible.” Knowing how people can be when they're drinking, she kept one hand on the door and tried to make her retreat.
“Well maybe another time.”
“Uh, yeah, maybe. I have to go.” The crash in the hall pulled her attention from the door.
“Sure, no problem.”
Closing the door and slipping the lock into place, she took a deep breath in and out grateful that was over. Instead of being upset over the broken toy in the hall that caused her easy escape, she felt a much better 'punishment' should be dealt.
“Girls! Front and center,” she said from the kitchen.
The pounding of six feet echoed through the hall. “Yes mom?” They each looked at her with angelic eyes and completely innocent stares.
“I'm not going to yell. Not even going to get upset. All I'm going to say is I want it cleaned up and the first one done gets to pour the sprinkles on their ice cream first.”
“Ice cream!” came the unison cry. Away they ran to clean up.
While dishing out the dessert, she went over the quick conversation at the door. She knew he'd given his name but for the life of her she couldn't remember it. Then one gnawing thought crept through. “How'd he know which apartment I lived in?” She'd never even seen him in the building before. She also knew her name wasn't on the board in the lobby, for privacy and protection. The anonymity made her feel better, usually.
The rest of the evening passed uneventfully, until she was getting ready for bed. The knocking on the door was loud and insistent. She rushed to the door to keep it from waking her children. Without thinking, she pulled the door open. “Who the hell?” She was ready to argue with whomever was on the other side. Instead, she froze. It was the guy from down the hall. “You realize it's almost midnight?”
“I just wanted to see you.”
“It's almost midnight,” she repeated.
“It is?” He weaved on his feet. The scent of alcohol she had caught earlier had been increased about a dozen times. He smelt like a brewery.
Looking at him with disgust, she gritted her teeth. “What do you want?”
“I just got home.”
“And?”
“I wanted to know if you wanted to come over.”
“My kids are sleeping and you're drunk.”
“I'm fine, I'm fine.” He almost fell into the wall.
“Oh yeah, you're fine. You need to go home and sleep it off. Good night.” Not waiting on a reply she slammed the door and locked it. Her heart pounded in her chest. People as a general rule upset her. This situation brought back all the fears she felt from her abusive ex husband. Without thinking she went to the dining room table and grabbed a chair , propping it under the door jam for extra insurance. Then she went to bed, with the thought of , 'How'd he get my apartment number?' echoing through her mind.
to be continued...
