Web of Secrets

CHAPTER ONE-3

ANDI TAGGERT LOOKED at her reflection one last time. “Not too bad,” she murmured in approval before grabbing her bag and heading out the door to finally meet the man she’d been chatting with for a few weeks.

One step outside was all it took.

“Wow,” she exclaimed, and went immediately back inside to put on her heaviest winter coat. “That wind is out of control! So much for ‘sunny and not too cold’ all week long like the weatherman said.”

Properly braced, she ventured out again, thankful when she reached her car that no ice was in sight. Texas winters notoriously skipped the beautiful white flakes of fun for the misery of black ice, choked highways, and in extreme years, downed power lines.

But on this late January afternoon there was no sleet or ice. It was almost pleasant. Except for the whipping Arctic blast traveling down across the country from the far north to sweep Fort Worth, Texas off its feet and cancel out any warming effect of the sun on such a clear, cloudless day.

Andi climbed into her Mazda and sat for a moment, letting the engine warm up a bit. She’d bought it used ten years ago, and although it was older, it was still mostly dependable – provided she didn’t push it too hard in the winter.

“Four more semesters. Just need you to last for four more semesters,” she said out loud, patting the dashboard. “Let me get this Masters’ degree done before you go giving out on me.”

After several minutes, her little blue coupe showed an acceptable system temperature, and she backed out of her driveway and headed to Ted’s, a bar and grill about ten minutes away.

As she drove, fingers tapping a rhythm to Volbeat’s “A Warrior’s Call”, she tried her best to calm her nerves. This was the third time she’d been brave enough to meet a guy in person that’d she met online. The first two meetings had been a complete waste of time, and she’d just about sworn off the online dating scene altogether until she stumbled across Gabriel’s profile.

Andi had been interested but skeptical until they started talking. It had progressed quickly from instant messaging online to texting to phone calls. He was smart, funny, and relatable. They talked every single day, about all sorts of things – careers, music, art, literature, sports teams, religion, politics. Everything under the sun.

Now, four weeks later, they were about to meet in real life for the first time. For Andi, the only real question left in her mind was, did he really look like his profile picture – or would this be a repeat of guys one and two she’d met?

That sounds so shallow of me, she realized. But I don’t mean it like that. It’s just, the first two guys I met in person had lied about things, including their appearance. She had to chuckle a bit at that. One guy – Walter - whose profile said he was six feet two inches tall turned out to be five-seven. This was a problem for her; she’d been five-ten since the ninth grade and had always felt self-conscious about her height, so she preferred men taller than her, and she’d plainly stated as much in her online bio.

“And then there was Barry,” she chortled aloud. “God, what did he not lie about?”

Mr. ‘I-run-my-own-company’ was not only unemployed but seemed to be perfectly content to still live at his mother’s house at the age of thirty-five. Barry had also added a good six inches to his height in his profile. He was about five feet six inches, roughly the same height as his mother - who he’d brought along on the date.

“Well, it was.... interesting, for sure,” Andi sighed as she relived the awkwardness of meeting with Barry. “Pretty sure tonight won’t be any worse than that. I hope.”

She pulled into Ted’s, parked her car, and made her way quickly through the chill-inducing wind to the door. Grateful to be back in the warmth, she removed her coat, then pulled her cell phone out of her purse. A new text message was waiting for her.

I’m in the bar area, it read. Dark blue sweater.

Andi ducked into the ladies’ room first, to make sure her hair hadn’t gotten whipped around too badly. Sure enough, the north wind had wreaked some havoc. She took a few moments to get herself put back together, then took a calming breath and texted Gabriel back.

Just pulled in. See you in a bit.

She counted to one hundred, then stepped back out into the front lobby and approached the hostess stand. “Hi, welcome to Ted’s,” the young woman stationed there said to Andi.

“Hi,” Andi answered. “I’m meeting someone, he’s already in the bar area. Blue sweater?”

“Yes, ma’am.” The girl turned and pointed. “He’s in the third booth on the left side.”

“Thanks,” Andi replied, and slowly walked that direction.

Gabriel sensed movement, looked up, and saw her. “Hi there,” he said with an easy grin. He stood up, and to Andi’s relief not only did he look precisely like his online picture with his neatly trimmed goatee, wavy black hair and warm blue eyes, but he was also six-four - as his profile had indicated.

Andi gave him a winning smile. “Hi there,” she replied softly. And thought to herself, finally! Cute as hell, just like his picture, and taller than me, just as he said.

Andi and Gabriel ate, laughed, and talked until at last they noticed they were the last two patrons in the restaurant.

“They probably want to close up,” he observed, signaling for the check.

“Probably,” she agreed.

She offered to go halves on the tab, but he wouldn’t hear of it. “At least let me cover the tip, then,” she insisted.

“All right,” he grinned, hands splayed in an ‘I give up’ gesture.

As they made their way toward the door, Gabriel told her, “I had a really good time tonight. I’d like to do it again soon.”

“Yes,” Andi beamed. “I’d really like that.”

“Do you like to bowl?”

“Um, yes. It’s just been a while,” she replied. “But it sounds like fun.”

They paused just inside the front door of Ted’s, both dreading the wind that they knew awaited them.

“This is the part where I dash to my car and let it warm up before I can leave,” she announced. “Fun times.”

“You want me to wait with you? I don’t mind. Besides, if I do this,” he pulled out his keys, hit a button twice, and his Dodge 1500 started up from across the lot, “mine will be all set when we part company.”

“I am so jealous of that!”

He laughed. “It comes in handy, that’s for sure. Especially when it’s a hundred and ten in the shade.” Then he reached over and took her hand. “Come on. I’ll shiver with you. No one should suffer alone.”

They ran hand in hand to her car, then separated long enough to climb in.

“Wow,” he managed. “That wind has got some bite tonight.”

“Yes,” Andi hissed through chattering teeth. “It’s horrible.” She slid her key into the ignition, turned it, and the little blue Mazda sputtered to life. “And now, we wait.”

“An established pattern, huh?”

“Yep,” she confirmed. “Even back when I first got it. This little car has just never run well in the winter.”

She turned her head to look at him and noticed he had leaned toward her. On impulse, she closed the distance and kissed him softly on the lips. Gabriel pulled back slightly in surprise, then smiled, framed her face in his hands and kissed her back. His touch sent a tingle racing all the way to her toes.

He pulled back again, eyes twinkling, and murmured, “I was going to behave myself on the first date, but I’ll be honest, I wondered what that would be like.”

Andi blushed as she stumbled over her words. “Sorry... I just... well. I wanted to know too.” She glanced at her dashboard. “Oh, look, it’s warm enough now.”

Gabriel laughed, squeezing her hand. “I’m going to go to my truck now, end this date on a high note.” He reached for the door handle, paused, and asked, “Saturday afternoon sound good for bowling? We can do a few games, then grab dinner?”

“Sounds great.”

“Okay, then. I’ll call you and we’ll figure out the details.”

He bailed out the passenger side quickly so he wouldn’t let too much cold air into Andi’s car, and jogged to his warm and waiting truck. She honked and waved as she pulled out of the lot and headed home.

As she drove, she could not stop smiling. He’s amazing, she thought. I’m so glad I gave this another shot. She pulled into her driveway and hurried into her house to get out of the wind.

Andi shrugged off her heavy coat and hung it up in the hall closet, set her purse on the coffee table, and moved down the hallway to her bedroom to change into her pajamas. She scrubbed off her makeup and brushed her teeth before turning out her bathroom light and walking across her room to her bed.

***

* * * *

“HOW DID YOUR DATE GO?” his roommate asked as soon as Gabriel walked into their apartment.

Gabriel grinned ear-to-ear and his eyes twinkled. “Dude, Andi is amazing,” he answered as he started to go to his room. “I can’t wait to see her again.”

“Come on, bro. Tell me about it. I didn’t wait up for you so you could run off to bed and leave me hanging. How did it go? What’s she like?”

“Okay, okay,” Gabriel said as he flopped down on the couch and began to walk his roommate, Mike, through his night in more detail.

***