A Smart Man

Toni had been gone for three days and he hadn’t heard from her. He knew the time difference was a killer but surely she could have called him at anytime. He looked at his watch it was going five in the evening and should be around seven in the morning at her mother’s place. He’s said good bye to Miss Peeg at 4:30 and had been finishing up some work in his office. He logged off his computer and picked up the phone on his desk and dialed her cell phone.

Toni kept her cell phone on the bedside table because Travis called her at night before she went to bed. When it rang early in the morning and woke her; the blinds in her room were still closed and she had no idea what time it was as she reached for the phone.

“Hi lover,” she said dreamily.

“Hi Toni, how are ya?”

Toni sat up in the bed, “Richie?”

“Yeah, who else do you call lover?”

“Oh, I was asleep.”

“Sorry to wake you but I hadn’t heard from you and I just wanted to make sure you got there okay?”

“Well…yes I’m here.”

“How’s your mom?”

“She’s, she’s okay. We’re ah going shopping today.”

“Good, tell her I said hello.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Are you okay, you don’t sound right?”

“Well like I said I was asleep.”

“Go back to sleep then, I just wanted to check on you, call me when you’re awake.”

“Yeah, I’ll um do that.”

“Toni, I miss you.”

“I’ll call you later Richie.”

Richie picked up a pencil and bounced it on his desk and wondered what was up with her. He knew it took her awhile to wake up…she just didn’t sound like herself. ‘Hello lover’ what the hell was that? He’d never known her to answer a phone like that even when she knew he was going to call. A smart man, he thought as he thumped the pencil across his desk, would deduce it wasn’t him she expected to hear on the other end of the line.