Free A Green Knight and a Hot Night by Rona Valiere Page B

my early thirties. " She was twenty-nine herself. Whew! That made him just the right age for her.
    Callie ' s next discreet inquiry dealt with Green ' s occupation…if he had one. Since he had so much free time, she reasoned, he might be unemployed. Once again, the answer reassur ed her , " I ' m on the tech crew of the Sunnyside Theatre. I have so much free time by day because the bulk of my work is done in the evenings. Yes, we have rehearsals and other work during some daytime hours, but most of my working hours are put in after dark. "
    The correspondence flew thick and fast now, although they still mostly talked about Pro Dog matters. Callie did tell Green that she managed a floral warehouse, and Green did admit to an overwhelming fondness for chicken-fried steak, but mostly they didn ' t talk about themselves except in relationship to the organization. The more passionate Green became about their cause, the more Callie respected him. The more creative Green became in dreaming up ways to advance their agenda, the more Callie admired him. Although halfway enamored of him already , however, she still didn ' t know his name or what he looked like.
    Maybe it ' s best if I never meet him, she thought to herself more than once. This way I can ' t get hurt or disappointed. She certainly didn ' t want a repeat of what had happened with Barry. Then again, she did want a boyfriend. She did want to fall in love again…if only she could have some kind of guarantee that this time she wouldn ' t get hurt. She knew she couldn ' t go through life forever shying away from relationships for fear of getting her heart broken, yet she couldn ' t help being gun-shy after this last bad experience.
    Green wrote to her one day early in October, asking her if she had plans for Halloween. " Are you the type who loves to stay home and give out candy to the little ghouls and goblins, or do you throw a party, or do you have a friend who always invites you over to her (or his) party? "
    Callie wondered if the " or his " was a veiled attempt to find out if she had a boyfriend. She was inclined to believe it was a straightforward question, but she wasn ' t sure. " I don ' t have a set routine for Halloween, " she wrote back. " I only gave a Halloween party myself one time, about six years ago. I like staying home and giving out goodies, but I ' m not a fanatic about it. If I get invited to a party, I go. What about you? "
    In Green ' s next letter, he answered her question with, " We don ' t get many trick-or-treaters around here. I usually wind up eating more than half the candy myself. Since I like to stay trim, that ' s not a good idea. :-(  I ' m not a raving rah-rah Halloween type, but if I ' m invited to a party, I ' ll go, and if not, I do answer the doorbell on Halloween…unlike some of my neighbors. Well, some of them are fogeys…or at least, they seem that way to a guy my age. :-) I might get invited to a party this year, though. One of the owners of the theatre I work at said something about inviting the whole crew to his mansion, though that could be all talk. So far , there ' s been no actual invitation. If I do get invited, though, wanna go with me? "
    The note intrigued her on a number of levels. First, his comments, his use of " wanna " for " want to, " his describing his older neighbors as fogeys, and his use of emoticons bore out his earlier assertion regarding his age . Never having met him, she had wondered about the veracity of f his self-described age , or if he was, like so many other people on the internet, fudging his age or even lying grossly.) Then, she considered the fact that he was now proposing a face-to-face meeting. This excited her tremendously. At last , she might get to meet GreenKnight and see if he might be her " white knight. "
    " I ' d be pleased to go to the party with you if you ' re invited, " she wrote back. " Will you be wearing a green knight costume? "
    " No, but I will be in some kind of a costume.