Terry and Gene 4

"My phone number?" The very thought of Gene Grey asking for her phone number was mind-numbing.

"Yeah. So I can dial the phone and talk to you."

"Oh. OK." she said. I sound so stupid.

When they got to the front door, she set the wad of paper on the floor and took her wallet out of her pocket.

"Do you have a pen?" she asked. He produced one from the table in the foyer.
She wrote her phone number on the back of her business card. She swallowed hard as she handed it to him. He gazed into her eyes and she felt herself sinking again.
She forced herself to take a deep breath and bend over to pick up the paper.

"Well. Thank you again." she breathed and moved toward the door. He opened it for her.

"Good night. " he said.

"Good night."

When she arrived back in her neck of the woods, she called and ordered Chinese food and stopped by to pick it up. As soon as she walked through the door, she picked up her phone and the broken dial tone told her that she had voice mail. While she unloaded the food from the bag, she listened to her messages. One from her sister and one from Gene.

"Terry, I don't know exactly what was going through your head, but you had doubt written all over your face. I will call you. I want to get to know you better. Talk to you later."

Terry checked the time on the message. It was about five minutes after she had left his house. She erased it and called her sister.

"Ann, you'll never believe what happened to me today." And Terry related the story.

"You need to be careful. What if he's a weirdo?"

"If he's a weirdo, I'll call the cops."

Terry heard Ann sigh. "He's probably a big jerk."

"OK. Could you just try to be excited for me? I've liked this guy's music for years and now I got to meet him. One on one. Not even at a press conference or anything. And he asked for my phone number and he already called me once. It's kind of exciting, you know?"

"OK, OK. Just watch yourself."

It was Terry's turn to sigh. "I will."