Chapter 19

Rob took a shower and got dressed.  He wanted to eat dinner with his mother and father so that he would not have to buy dinner when he went out this evening.  He put on moderately clean white athletic shoes, close fitting faded jeans, and a close fitting grey t-shirt.  Rob was not tall, he was only 5′-9″, not muscular, thin, weighing about 155 lbs.  Most young men fitting this description would feel the need to compensate for being so ordinary, by working out in the gym every day, wearing expensive clothes, expensive shoes, or jewelry, but Rob did not have to compensate.  Somehow, women were attracted to him without him making any effort at all.

He sat down at the dinner table with his mother and father who were in their early fifties.  They were having chopped steak, macaroni & cheese, and canned green beans.  This meal was typical of what his mother had been preparing for the last 21 years.  His mother asked him if anything exciting happened today at Rob’s work, and Rob replied “no”.  Rob’s father did not look up or say anything.  If anyone ever wanted to know why Rob was so non communicative, they would only have to watch him and his mother and father eating dinner to figure out why.

In his mother and father’s minds, they had never been expecting much from Rob, themselves, or each other.  They were not disappointed in him, or dis-satisfied with him.  They did not spend very much time thinking about him, or worrying about him.

Rob had the routine of starting out at Players Club on the north end of Dickinson at about 6:00 p.m.  Professional women, accountants, bankers, human resources, would leave work at 5:30 p.m. to go to Players Club to have a few drinks before they went home.  The women would be sitting at tables in groups when Rob would walk in and go sit at the bar.  Virtually all of the women would notice him.  Wound up from office work, acting up with their girl friends, and affected by alcohol, within seconds each woman would be planning how to make a pass at Rob.

Even though their table was being served by a waitress, one woman would suddenly need to go to the bar and squeeze beside Rob to grab some cocktail napkins, brushing her breasts or pushing her bottom against him.  Another woman would suddenly have to make a trip to the bathroom and try to get Rob’s attention as she walked by.  Another woman would go to the other side of the bar in front of Rob and be delayed there with some kind of business long enough to get Rob’s attention.  Rob would just look at each of them, and not say anything.  Each of the women were temporarily satisfied they had gotten Rob’s attention.

The advantage of meeting the professional women at Players Club, was that these women usually had their own apartment or house.  Rob was not able to take women home, because he lived with his mother and father.  Another advantage was, they wanted Rob to leave after they got done having sex, they had to get up and go to work in the morning, and they would not be able to sleep soundly with some strange guy that they didn’t know being in their house.  This was fine with Rob, he didn’t want to stay, he would still have time to go to Applebees, or if it was later, the Paragon Bowling Alley.

Chapter 20

Rachel got off work at Herbergers at 9:00 p.m. and drove over to Applebees with several coworkers.  Within a few minutes of being seated, she saw Rob walk in and sit at the bar.  Rachel was a little taken aback, she had not expected to see him, but she was kind of intrigued at how relaxed and self assured he seemed.  Most men his age acted more insecure and frantic.

At first, Rachel was so hoping that Rob wouldn’t see her, and wouldn’t try to come and join her.  After five minutes passed, Rachel  couldn’t understand why Rob hadn’t seen her.  After another five minutes had passed, Rachel was thinking that the least Rob could do, would be to come over and say hello to her.  After another five minutes had passed, Rachel was walking over to the bar to squeeze next to Rob to grab some cocktail napkins, nearly knocking 155 lb Rob off his stool.  Oh, “Hi, Rob, I didn’t see you, she said innocently”, and quickly walked away back to her table.

Rob thought that he had better go try to sit next to her, even though he didn’t want to talk to her and her friends.  Rob picked up his drink from the bar, and slowly and casually walked over to the table with Rachel and her friends.  All four young women did not take their eyes off him as he walked over.  They had all noticed that Rachel had deliberately gone over there to get his attention.  It wasn’t like he was uninvited.

Each of Rachel’s friends had the initial impression that Rob was kind of goofy looking, but he was confident.  He was permitted to sit down beside Rachel.  As they listened to him speak, he didn’t have anything too important or significant to say.  However, as he spoke, one by one, Rachel and each of her friends, became distracted by the scent of some nice perfume, that they hadn’t before noticed that any of them were wearing, and each of them could not figure out where it was coming from.  One by one, they realized it was Rob that smelled like expensive women’s perfume.

As each of the young women realized and suspected that Rob must have recently been entangled with, and had freed himself from some “mystery woman”, their interest in him intensified, and each of them formulated in their own mind how best to find out more about this Rob person.

One of the young ladies was the first to ask, “So Rob, what do you do?”  After Rob replied that he was a driver for United Express, each of Rachel’s friends said to themselves, “Oooohhh.”  Each of Rachel’s friends was thinking, but not saying, “Do you make many deliveries to Rachel’s house?”  Even though Rachel’s friends didn’t say it out loud, Rachel could tell what they were thinking, and Rachel began to turn red in the face.  Her friends began laughing at her.  Rob was thinking, that this wasn’t helping him, and he planned to extricate himself soon, only willing to take a few more questions from the young ladies.  “Rob, where do you live?”  He answered, “Over by Trinity High School.”  “Oh, do you live in those nice town homes on the top of the hill there?”  Rob answered, “No, I live in a house.”  To end their questioning, Rob said that he had to go, and that it was nice meeting all of them.  They all said, “Bye Rob!”

They watched Rob walk out the door, and get into his white Subaru WRX, and drive away.  Now that they each knew approximately where he lived, and what car he drove, this began their hobby of Rob tracking, which they weren’t the only women in Dickinson with this same hobby.

(The characters in this novel are fictional, and are not based on real or actual persons.  The events in this novel are fictional. Any resemblance to real or actual persons, or actual events, is entirely coincidental.)