Free Devil Mail by P. V. Edwards Page A

held open her car door.
    “I’ll never forget today. T hanks,” she said quietly, as she climbed into her car. She couldn’t look at him. She did not look at him in her rear view mirror when she drove away. She needed to settle her emotions, which had gone haywire. On one hand she was wondering about the depth of his faith, while on the other hand she was nursing the pain of disappointment brought on by his failure to even attempt to kiss her.
    W hile sitting at a railway crossing waiting for an uncommonly long cargo train to pass by, she made two calls; one to Julia and one to Judith. She invited both of them to show up at her apartment at seven o’clock for some girl talk, and Judith was to bring take-out for dinner.  Neither of them needed any persuasion.
    Upon her arrival home, she called Aiden and confirmed that she had arrived home safely. She was glad when he brought up the subject of their next date, because she wanted to know, but didn’t want to ask. “Can I see you tomorrow?” he inquired.
    “No, that’s my night to go to zumba with my sister.”
    “Friday, then?”
    “I think I’m free. I’ll check and let you know tomorrow and we can confirm the details then.” Of course she knew she was free, but gaining some control and calling the shots augmented her self-esteem where hitherto, she had been defenseless against Aiden’s hypnotic character.
    To fulfill her promise, Angela also called her mother. “How was work?” was one of the first things she asked. Did she know something or was the question completely innocent? Had she called her at work and found out that she didn’t go in today? Her mother rarely called her at work, as she viewed it as an imposition. Her mother recalled how much she used to dislike being called at work as the substance of the calls usually turned out to be inconsequential or related to something that could, and had to, wait until she got off work.  But knowing Angela’s luck, today would be the day, if any, that her mother decided to call. Angela realized that her answer could potentially land her in hot water.
    “It was just work. It will always be there ,” Angela replied casually.  She waited for her mother’s response on the subject, but none came. She liked to think that she was a grown woman who did not need to answer to her mother and certainly did not need her approval to take the day off work, but the truth was that she did care what her mother thought, and the little girl inside her still sought her mother’s approval.
    Sh e had time to check her Christian Blend inbox and found a message from ‘freakyfrank44’, a legally separated man who suggested that he had no time for games, was interested in serious relationships only, and only with women who had uploaded profile pictures. Angela believed that ‘Freaky Frank’ had more than a passing resemblance to The Joker in The Dark Knight movie from the Batman trilogy, and wondered if this really was the finest picture he could find to assist him in putting his best face forward. Aside from this, she considered a legally separated man to still be married, and therefore, unavailable to her.
    There was also a message from Matt who had added another profile picture, in which he was an attendee at a formal gathering. Angela noted that he did not appear to be at home in a tuxedo. His tie hung askew about his angular neck, the tuxedo was crumpled and his wavy hair was parted and brushed to one side, much like a little boy on his way to Sunday school back in the seventies. In the personal section of his profile, he quoted his height as being 5’11”, but from what she could see in the picture, he looked closer to being about 5’8” – shorter than her preference – and he was skinny; not slim, skinny.
    Angela caught herself making judgments based on his appearance. She told herself that she needed to rise to Matt’s level of maturity and place more emphasis on inner beauty, rather than external beauty which