Lip and Annie Ch. 05

He had a couple more bites of pizza before getting up and getting a photograph from the wall in the hallway. It was of a younger Robert standing beside a girl who looked slightly older than he was. "This is a picture of my sister and me that was taken during our university days. She's a year older than me. Maybe someday you'll meet her: I think you'd like her."

They continued with their meal, and when both of them were finished with all of the pizza that they cared to have, Robert put the dirty plates into the dishwasher. He got them both a second bottle of beer, and then joined Annie back at the table.

"I realize now that by not using my head about your night out with Sid I might have lost your friendship, Annie. They say that for all dark clouds there is a silver lining, and I guess having you come up here to Thunder Bay for a visit to straighten that out is my silver lining. I've missed the little talks we had after calling it a night at the poker tables." It was obvious that he was sincere in his comments, and Annie smiled and nodded her head in reply.

"I still think you were jealous, Robert, but you're right about the silver lining. I've always wanted to come here and never had a good reason before. I'm glad we were able to get over the whole thing so easily. I was afraid I'd have to hope to run into you at the casino to get to really talk to you again."

"Well, Annie, I guess it couldn't have worked out better for both of us. I don't know if I can agree on the jealous part of it, since I've never been in a position where jealousy would have been an expected emotion. I do know that I've probably not given you full credit for your honesty, and for being so upfront with me about your feelings."

The slightly pink complexion of Robert's face made it obvious that he was more than a little embarrassed by the whole situation, and how he had handled it.

Robert took another sip from his beer and then said, "Let's agree that I won't be so foolish again, but if I am, that you'll straighten me out with a kick in the butt; just figuratively I mean." They both laughed at his comment, and Annie replied, "I'm not sure how figurative it will be. I have a lot of experience kicking a soccer ball, so I might be able to make an impression on you, if I have to kick you."

Robert got very serious and said, "I can't believe how comfortable you seem to be with me now. When I think back to how nervous you used to be I wonder just how you've been able to get such a good handle on your emotions."

Annie's face reflected the serious look that was on Robert's as she said, "I have to thank Dr. Maier for a lot of it, but you are the key. You've been so patient with me, and so completely open and trustworthy, that you've managed to sort of renew my trust in men. I know it was just that one bastard that was responsible for everything, but I guess somewhere in my mind I confused him with men in general."

She reached across the table and patted his hand before continuing, "Sid was a pretty safe guy too, but I would never have accepted his offer to take me to the retirement party if you hadn't already helped get me over my most severe problems."

After thinking about her words for a few moments, Robert replied, "I realize that I have to thank you for something too, Annie. You're probably right that I was jealous of Sid being out with you, but I sort of think that maybe I've been running away from our friendship so that I wouldn't be hurt. Realizing that I was really bothered by your date with Sid has made me realize that I was afraid of letting you get too close to me and having you in a position where you could hurt me."

He looked up at her sheepishly, and continued, "I know now that that was pretty foolish of me. I'm not saying that I expect you to be more than just a friend, but I think I may have subconsciously decided to push you away so that I could protect myself from any chance of future hurt."

Annie stared at him as she pondered her reply to what he had said, but eventually said, "I'm so happy to have you as my friend, Robert, that I'm going to do my best to not do anything to cause you pain. I do have to ask that you be patient with me. How about we agree to just keep our friendship safe and go from there." She reached her hand across the table, obviously waiting for Robert to shake her hand as she said, "Deal?"

Robert quickly smiled, took her hand in his, and repeated, "Deal!"

The two of them spent the next couple of hours talking about poker at the Grand Hinkley Casino, and about their respective university days. Eventually, though, it was time to go to bed for the night and they said goodnight to each other after a brief hug in the hallway.

They both retired for the night with pleasant thoughts about their renewed and strengthened friendship, and if someone had been able to take a look at their faces just before they separately drifted off to sleep, they would have noticed their smiles.

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Robert was up early the next morning and after starting a pot of coffee he quickly dressed. Once he had left a note for Annie to tell her to help herself to coffee, he quietly let himself out of the condo and went to a nearby small 24 hour supermarket.

Twenty minutes later he quietly returned to the condo, carrying two plastic sacks of groceries. When he entered the kitchen he found Annie sitting at the kitchen table, dressed in her pajamas and a thin robe, sipping on a fresh cup of coffee.

"I wondered where you had gone, Robert. You didn't need to go out to get groceries this early, as I would have been happy with a slice of that cold pizza in the refrigerator." Annie laughed after saying that.

Robert set the two bags on the countertop and replied, "I couldn't take a chance on feeding you pizza again. I'm sure you'd be wondering if I really do live on take-out food. I needed to get a few things anyway, and I decided to pick up enough that I would be able to make you pancakes this morning."

"You're anxious to prove that you really do cook for yourself, are you? I believed you, you know." The two of them exchanged these minor barbs while Robert put the items he'd purchased into the proper cupboards and the refrigerator.

He poured himself a cup of coffee and joined Annie at the table. "Do you like blueberries, Annie? I'm planning to make you buttermilk pancakes with blueberries, if that's all right with you." After she admitted that the planned breakfast sounded great to her, Robert set about making them.

He quickly realized he was enjoying the opportunity to show off his cooking skills to Annie. It wasn't long before the first batch was finished and he gave them to his guest, insisting that she eat them while they were hot and fresh.

When their meal was over, and the dirty dishes were in the dishwasher, Annie said, "Those pancakes were great, Robert. You really can cook very well, maybe even better than me, I suspect. Maybe someday, if you don't intimidate me too much with your talents, I'll take the chance to make a meal for you." Her offer was quickly accepted by Robert.

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They spent the morning in his condo, as Robert had some work that needed doing that day. Around noon he rejoined Annie in the living room where she had been reading the newspaper and said, "Do you, by chance, remember my friend Fred, the guy I was speaking to in Hinkley the first day we met, when we were playing at the same table?"

After Annie confirmed that she did vaguely remember his friend talking with him at the casino he said, "I had an email from him, and he wanted me to go out for supper again with him and his girlfriend Sherry. They're both on vacation, and wondered if I wanted to get together with them. Would you be interested in going out for supper with me and Fred and Sherry tonight? That's assuming that they haven't made other plans: I can give him a phone call."

After Annie agreed to the idea, Robert phoned his friend and the arrangements were made. They would meet at 7:30 p.m. at one of the better local restaurants. Annie was a little unsure if she would have appropriate clothing for a fancy restaurant, as she hadn't had those requirements on her mind when she left Duluth. Robert agreed to go with her to one of the local malls for a few minutes so that she could pick out something suitable. She laughed when he insisted that it not be another sweater.

That afternoon, before their trip to the mall, Robert showed Annie around town, visiting local points of interest, and driving through the campus of Lakehead University. On their visit to a local mall, Robert was able to convince Annie to buy herself a nice short sleeved blouse and a skirt that ended about 3 inches above her knees.

Annie seemed very reluctant to make the purchases at first, but eventually did after a lot of encouragement from Robert. She surprised him when she said that she hardly ever wore a skirt, that the last time had been at her parents' home for Christmas, and that she couldn't remember the time before that.

"Why on earth would that be, Annie? Was it an issue with scarring?" Robert asked the questions without any air of importance attached to them, and Annie didn't seem to mind providing an answer to them.

"I'm not really sure, Robert. It's not a problem of scars. I think it was probably my way of trying to avoid being noticed by men. The first few years after my attack I was really paranoid about interacting with any man, even the doctors around the hospital."

Robert could tell she was a little embarrassed by the admission, and they walked together for quite a while before she continued, "I eventually got over it, or so I thought, until things like this hesitation to purchase a nice skirt come along. Thanks for bearing with me and pushing me towards buying it."

She laughed before continuing, "Most of my dresses and skirts are horribly out of style now. Maybe this one will end up being the start of a whole new wardrobe."

To be continued