The Night Watchman

"I don't like to go to sleep," Annabelle told her.

"Oh. Well, I don't, either."

Donna leaned closer then said, "For that matter, I don't like getting up very much, either."

"You don't?" the little girl asked.

"No. But that's because I don't like going to bed."

Donna was so focused on the sweet little girl she was unaware of the way her father was looking at her. But there was another woman just a few feet away who saw it all, and within seconds after Chad and Annabelle left, Deanne started in.

"My, my, my. I think someone has a serious crush on someone else!" she told her big sister.

"I do not!" came the immediate reply.

"I wasn't talking about you," Deanne informed her with a smug smile. "Well, not just you, anyway."

Donna looked right at her sister then said, "What on earth are you talking about?"

"Oh, nothing," she began. "Unless we're talking about the way Chad was looking at you."

"What way are you talking about?" Donna demanded to know.

"The way that guys look at girls they have crushes on. That way."

"Ha! That's...absurd! He...he doesn't have any interest in me. Like that. At all!"

"Oh, yes he does!" Deanne shot back the way kids in junior-high school would talk.

Donna was shaking her head, but Deanne didn't care.

"And it's obvious you've got it just as bad for him."

"Okay. That's...that's beyond absurd. That's...ludicrous!"

"Is not," Deanne said in that playground voice.

"Is too!" her sister came back with as though it was a surefire defeater for the 'is not' comment.

The childish exchange went on for two more rounds before Donna said, "Okay. I've had enough. Not even Rembrandt can keep me here any longer with the likes of you!"

"Uh-huh. That's because you know I'm right," Deanne informed her.

"Ohhh! Sometimes you are just so exasp..."

"So right?" her sister said as she threw her head back in triumph.

Donna refused to speak to her all the way back to her apartment. But before she got out of the cab, Deanne told her she loved her, and that ended the silent treatment.

"You make it very hard for me to stay mad at you," Donna told her as she paid her part of the fare.

"That's because you know I'm right," she replied with a laugh, pouring salt into the wound.

When Donna slammed the car door, Deanne laughed even louder and just before the cab pulled away, hollered out, "You know I am!"

By the time she got inside Donna went from being furious with her sister to nearly calm, and the calm allowed her to ask herself some very pointed questions.

But before she did, her brain did a quick mental recap of the situation and how it had changed so dramatically. And so quickly.

First and foremost, Chad wasn't a married man. Second, he had the sweetest little girl Donna had ever seen with the possible exception of her two nieces. He'd invited her—and her sister and her girls, and Donna assumed her husband—to Annabelle's birthday party. He loved art and seemed very well-educated, at least where paintings were concerned, and he loved classical music.

On the negative side he also loved country, a style that made Donna's skin crawl. Lastly, Deanne said he'd been 'looking' at her which implied more than simply looking. Oh, and he was still as handsome as she remembered and also as young as he'd been, and the age difference, whatever it might be, couldn't be overlooked.

From there, Donna asked herself what, if anything, all of that meant. As she was trying to sort it all out, she asked herself whether or not Deanne was right about her having feelings for Chad—as absurd as that might be.

Her initial response to herself was to laugh the whole thing off as so much nonsense. And yet she couldn't deny that their mutually-shared passions made him at least interesting, and although she wasn't ready to admit it to herself just yet, maybe even intriguing.

She then wondered how many women would see a man having a child as a negative and couldn't even guess. What she knew was that it wasn't a negative to her. In fact, after meeting Annabelle, Donna knew for sure that his having a child was a positive. And maybe even a big one.

She smiled when she thought about the sweet little girl who reached out to her, and just the thought of being hugged by Annabelle made Donna happy. She also couldn't deny that Chad wasn't hard to look at. In fact, the only thing she'd found difficult was trying not to look at him.

So if her sister was right, if he had been 'looking' at her the way she'd been looking at him, was she also right about him 'having a thing for her'? Was that even possible? And if it was, what might he think when he found out she was 40 years old?

More than anything else, that thought caused her to come mentally crashing down in a very painful kind of way. It was as though the universe was toying with her. It had set up their paths to cross, but in spite of all the positives Donna had just ticked off in her mind, there was no chance that anything would ever come of it because she was...old.

She tried saying old-er, but that did nothing to restore her hopeful mood; a mood that had crashed and burned and left a big smoking hole in her heart. Even though she knew that hearts only did one thing and that was pump blood.

Donna couldn't remember the last time she drank alone, but that evening she was so depressed she poured herself a glass of wine and sat down to try and console herself even as she beat herself up for being such a baby.

She was halfway through the glass when she heard her phone buzz. She assumed the text was from Deanne, and even if her sister was apologizing, she didn't feel like talking to her just then. Even so, she couldn't resist checking in the unlikely event there was an 'I'm so sorry' somewhere in her words.

But when she didn't see her sister's name but rather just a telephone number, she opened the text to see who sent it. Like everyone else, she routinely got texts from her phone company or some other business letting her know about this or that 'great deal' she couldn't live without.

"Probably a furniture store's Labor Day sale," she said to herself as she opened it.

But as she read the first few words, Donna was holding her breath.

"Donna. Hi. I hope you don't mind me bothering you out of the blue, but I really wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed seeing you today outside of the context of our jobs. Annabelle really likes you and has mentioned you several times. I hope this doesn't come across as...weird...but I wanted you to know I like you, too. It's so unusual to meet someone who shares my passion for art. Beyond that we both like classical music. Lastly, I just wanted to say that meeting someone like that who's as attractive as you are isn't just rare. It's the proverbial...Holy Grail. Well, for me anyway."

Donna finally exhaled and realized her heart was beating faster than it had in...well, she didn't know how long.

"At any rate I wanted to tell you how nice it was to see you, and Annabelle and I are both looking forward to you coming to her birthday party."

Donna's heart was now racing and there was only a line or two left.

"I should tell you I got your number from your sister who put hers in my phone today. I'm not sure I should tell you what she said, though. Perhaps at the party? Take care, Donna. Chad and Annabelle."

"Oh...my...goodness," Donna quietly said to herself as she read the text a second and then a third time. She started reading it a fourth time but stopped and called her sister.

"Calling to admit I was right?" Deanne asked in her happy voice.

"No!" Donna said immediately before softening her tone and changing it to, "maybe."

"He called you, didn't he?" Deanne asked.

Donna could tell she was smiling, and that infuriated her. Until she remembered her internal conversation a short time ago.

"No. He didn't call me, Miss Smarty Pants," Donna informed her.

"Really? He texted me two hours ago asking for your number. I was sure he'd have called by now."

Donna hated admitting her sister was right, but after holding out for a few seconds she admitted that he'd texted her, too.

"I knew it!" Deanne said triumphantly.

"You did not! You thought he called me and he didn't!" came the snarky retort from her sister.

"Texting is the same thing," Deanne boldly insisted.

There was another round of 'is not/is too' before Deanne stopped and asked a serious question.

"You really like him, huh?"

This pause was even longer, but Donna wasn't going to lie.

"No! Well...maybe," she said rather quietly.

"But?" Deanne asked.

"Exactly."

"Exactly what?"

"Okay, he told me in his text that Annabelle really liked me. And he also told me that...he likes me, too."

"Donna! That's great, right?"

"I...I don't know."

"Wait. What do you mean you don't know? You like him. He likes you. Oh, and his sweet little girl likes you, too. So what's not to know?"

"His age?"

Deanne knew by the way Donna asked the question that she was doing the little cringe thing women do when they're not sure about something.

"He's old enough to have a five-year old daughter. What more do you need to know?"

"Um...how about whether or not he's even 30 years old?"

"Oh, okay. So...if he's 30 or older you'll go out with him, but if he's 29...no way. Right?"

The sarcasm was impossible to miss, but Donna thought it was unfair and told her so.

"Why is that unfair?" Deanne asked. "That's essentially what you just said."

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Stop! Just...stop!" Donna, who was frustrated, confused, and losing every round said.

Deanne did stop then said, "Can we both stop? You know, as in stop the whole sister routine? You're my best friend, Donna, and I'm on your side, okay?"

There was a third pause and the longest one yet.

"I'm just so confused!" Donna admitted.

"There's a cure for that," her sister said, her voice almost sweet sounding.

"A second glass of wine?"

"Hey, are you drinking by yourself?"

"Just one glass. I only got through half of it before Chad texted me."

"Drinking isn't the answer, Donna. And the cure for confusion is information. And you get information by getting to know someone. And until you do, this won't get any better."

For all of the ways Deanne could be annoying, she was also a very smart woman.

"You're right," Donna replied.

"Hold on. Can you say that again? But let me set my phone to record before you say it, okay?"

"Ha-ha!"

"Did you text him back?" Deanne asked.

"No. I...I wanted to talk to you first."

Deanne laughed then said, "Okay. And now you've been to The Oracle. So...?"

"The Oracle my..." Donna replied but then laughed, too. "Do you think I should?"

"Oh, geez, Donna. How can anyone be SO smart and yet SO dumb?"

"Okay. I'll text him back," Donna said so fast it made her sister laugh.

"Just tell him how you feel. But omit the part about wanting to have his babies, though, okay?"

Donna's exaggerated gasps and gags made her laugh some more.

"Go on. Get some information and maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised."

"Yeah, right. Maybe he's got a thing for...grandmothers."

"Grandmothers. Ha! You're hot, Donna. Super hot. Forty or not...you're smokin'."

"Smokin'. I must be smoking something to think a guy like Chad would be interested in a..."

"Good luck, Grandma!" Deanne said before the phone went dead.

It took her a few minutes of additional back and forth with herself to convince herself to text him back. What finally convinced her was the realization it would be impolite not to do so. And were it anyone else who'd texted her, she'd definitely respond. So with that in mind she thought about what to say.

"Chad. Hi. What a pleasant surprise! Thank you for the kind words, and please let me say I enjoyed seeing you today, as well. And as far as your beautiful little girl is concerned, the feelings are mutual. She is just adorable!"

Donna read what she'd written and thought, "So far, so good."

The problem was what, if anything else, she should say. She laughed when she thought about Deanne's 'having his babies' comment, and knew that wasn't going into her reply. But how could she possibly tell him how she felt in a text? After some more thought, she closed with one more thing.

"I'm very much looking forward to the birthday party, and no matter what you say, I will be bringing a gift, okay?"

She searched for the right emoji and added it before reading it all one more time and hitting send.

Donna checked her phone every few minutes until she got ready to go to bed, but there was no followup response from Chad. To her, it was obvious that meant he liked her 'as a friend' rather than as something more. So by the time she finally crawled into bed, another dark cloud of sadness descended on her. Only this time it was even worse now that the realization set in that Chad, his unknown age and last name aside, was her ideal man, but that she just wasn't his ideal kind of girl.

"Girl. Ha! I hate being 40," was the last thing Donna remembered thinking before drifting off to sleep around 2am.

Just when Donna felt like she couldn't get any lower, Deanne called around 10am the following day and asked her to come over for dinner that evening.

"The girls really want to see you, too," Deanne let her know.

"You know what? I think that's just what the doctor ordered," Donna told her.

"Hmmm. Does that mean your text wasn't well received?"

Donna sighed then promised to explain later at her sister's.

After explaining how Chad didn't even respond after dinner, it was Tim who spoke.

"He's a guy. And guy's don't feel they have to say a lot even if they care."

He saw his wife glaring at him and laughed, making matters worse.

"Okay. I get it. But that look Deanne is giving me proves my point. She knows I love her, but I don't say it every day. And no guy I know does that, either."

"It wouldn't hurt you to say it more than once a year, though," his wife said with a bit of attitude.

"Hold on. I tell you I love you on our anniversary AND on your birthday," Tim said before he put his arms up and ducked.

Deanne still whacked him with a pillow and everyone laughed.

"So don't read anything into it. He told you he likes you in the text, so...relax."

Deanne was still steamed and said, "Yeah. And maybe he'll tell you again next year. On your birthday."

Donna didn't laugh.

"Yes. When I turn...41."

"Oh, boy," Deanne said, knowing she'd just picked at another scab.

"No. It's fine. I have no one to blame but myself anyway," Donna said in a resigned tone of voice.

"Stop! You're beautiful!" Deanne told her.

She looked at her husband and asked him, "Right, honey?"

Tim held his hand up again but this time in a 'don't get me involved in that' kind of way.

"There is NO way I'm answering that, because no matter what I say, I'll be in hot water."

"Wait? You don't think my sister is hot?" his wife asked with a single raised eyebrow. But she realized her husband was right once she thought about how she'd feel if he told her she was.

"Thank you. Both," Donna said knowing Tim would agree if he could. "But right now I just feel...old."

"Okay. Where's the wine?" Deanne asked as she looked at her husband who happily got up to get it, and more importantly, to get away.

Two hours and two glasses later, Donna felt much better. Just seeing her sister and nieces always had that effect, and she was so thankful to have them in her life.

As she was getting ready to leave, Deanne said, "Wear something nice to the party tomorrow, okay?"

"Like that's gonna matter," her sister replied.

"You have an amazing body, sweetie. Show it off a little. Even if Chad isn't a big talker, he's still a man, and men notice things like that."

"It just seems kind of...desperate," Donna said.

"Well, desperate times call for desperate measures, right?" her sister said with a laugh before they hugged each other and said 'goodnight'.

The following morning, Donna listened to the weather report which gave her the information she needed. It hadn't turned cold yet, but it was chilly enough to wear something she'd been saving for a special occasion. It was too informal and not at all appropriate for work, but not so...revealing...that it would be in bad taste around children. And if Deanne was right, Chad would have to notice. Or at least she hoped that would be the case. In between those moments when she wondered whether or not she was still sane.

By the time she needed to get ready to start getting ready, she convinced herself to give it a try and hope that someone as handsome as Chad...

Donna realized she still didn't even know his last name, and that made her laugh.

"You're laughing because that means you don't know what your new last name will be, huh?" she said to herself as she got ready to step into the shower.

As she dried her hair, Donna thought about wearing it up, but that seemed a little much for a birthday party. Instead, she left it damp and put it up in some big rollers while she got dressed and did her makeup and nails.

A dress was also too formal and jeans were too informal. So a pair of black pants made sense, especially with the top she wanted to wear. It was a very soft, very pretty, off-the-shoulder, white sweater that provided a very nice view of her entire upper body. The fact that it would look great with her beautiful auburn hair was an added bonus.

A little later, when the rollers came out and she saw the way it fell around her face and halfway from her chin to her shoulders, she knew she'd made the right call. Once she was ready to go, there was just enough time to take a cab, stop and guy a gift and have it wrapped, and still get to the party on time. Or close to it.

Donna asked for help as soon as she got to the toy store, and a cute young associate suggested a few things, all of which Donna liked. But the one that caught her eye was a game called "Animal Logic" that was both fun and involved learning as children had to find ways to bring the 'animals' in the game to safety.

She was in and out in less then 15 minutes and on her way to Chad's when Deanne texted her. She was at the store Donna had just left, alone, and asked for her opinion on what to buy for Annabelle.

"Anything but 'Animal Logic'," her sister told her with a laugh.

"Ah, okay. You bought something brainy. Gee, what a shock!"

"She'll love whatever you bring, Deanne. You really can't go wrong."

Deanne opted for something fun that involved exercise and picked up a game called "2 in 1 Musical Jump 'n Toss". Kids flipped a switch which started sprinkler-like poles spinning; poles they had to jump over as many times as they could. When the missed, they'd just put the poles back together and try again.

When the cab pulled up to an apartment building that was nicer than the one Donna lived in, she was more than a little surprised. Grad school was expensive. But housing in Chicago was out of this world.

When she stepped into the lobby, she was pleasantly surprised to find a doorman, a man who smiled at her and told her she looked quite lovely. Donna thanked him then went back to wondering how someone with a child, and who worked as a security guard, could possibly live in a place like that and afford to go to graduate school.

Her concerns changed to how Chad would react when she saw herself in the mirrors located on both sides of the elevator. She did another quick assessment and told herself that if this didn't do the trick then Chad either had no interest in her, or how she looked made no difference to him. Her final thought as she exited was that he probably wouldn't notice because to him, she was little more than a middle-aged woman who also happened to love art.

She walked down the corridor until she found his apartment, stopped, took a deep breath, then rang the doorbell. Donna smiled when she heard the unmistakable voice of a little girl holler out, "I'll get it!"