Sub on a Bus

They hadn't really said anything much, but the spell was already broken. She was Rhonda again -- medical equipment specialist and divorced mother of two and not some goddess deserving of worship. Still, it had been fun while it lasted.

"I should go," she said.

She half hoped he would ask if he could see her again. She wouldn't have answered him, but it would have made her happy. As she reached the door, he handed her the bags -- the one for work and the one with her purchases from the sex shop.

"Wait," he said and then pulled out an umbrella from the cupboard under the stairs. It was a nice gesture, and maybe a little clever. Though if he thought that lending it to her guaranteed a second meeting, well, he'd have to hope the summer was dry.

She gave him a little peck on the cheek as she left. He'd earned that much. At the end of his front garden she paused. Right was home, but she felt pizza calling, or at least her own kitchen shooing her away, so she turned left instead and headed back to the main road.

As she passed the bike shop, she stopped to look for a moment. The lights were still on. Don, the owner and a regular at her church was working on adding stabilizers to a kid's bike in the middle of the shop floor. He looked up and waved. She tried the door and found it wasn't locked.

"Hey, Don, you're not still open, are you?"

"Not supposed to be, but I've been catching up on repairs and never got round to locking up. You after repairs or are you looking for a brand new bike?"

Rhonda came further into the shop and started to look at the more sensible adult choices. "I was thinking I might start to cycle to work. Haven't ridden a bike since secondary school."

"On an exercise kick?"

Rhonda spun the tyres of a lady's upright that was hanging down vertically. "Not really. I mean, kinda. To be honest, I just wanted to avoid the bus for a while."

"What, too many weirdos?"

Rhonda laughed. "Yeah, something like that. They're enough to drive you crazy."