Free Following My Toes by Laurel Osterkamp Page A

was staring at the velvet painting of Niagra Falls on the wall beyond me, boredom planted clearly on his face.
    I put my credit card in my wallet and shoved it in my purse. “Yeah, I happen to teach English, so I get that it’s an idiom. Thanks. What I meant was, what is the root of the idiom? Idioms don’t just make themselves up. They come from somewhere.”
    “Sorry.” He sounded genuine; I think he was responding more to my tone than to my actual words. Then, for the first time since I had gotten there, he actually really looked at me. “Hey, where are you off to? You look nice.”
    It was too late. I already regretted my behavior and his response to it. Since it’s easier to blame others than ourselves, I took my frustration out on him.
    “Just tell me where my car is,” I said tersely, and he responded quickly in return.
    “It’s outside, right around the back.”
    “Thanks.” I started to walk out.
    “Hey, let me know if there are any more problems with it. I’ll take a look – no charge. Those older foreign models can be a little tricky.”
    “That won’t be necessary. I’m sure it will be fine.” Even if it wasn’t fine, I knew I would never bring my car back here. This guy was too into mixed signals and ex-girlfriends to be good for me, and I was too into him to be able to exercise superior judgment. Furthermore, my intuition was failing and that scared me. I needed to leave. I had my hand on the doorknob and was about to go when he stopped me once more.
    “Uh, who was it that said, ‘It’s a constant struggle to see what’s in front of your nose.’?”
      I turned to face him. “I don’t know.”
    “That’s not it exactly, but it’s something like that. Some twentieth century author, I can’t remember who.”
    “I truly have no idea. I’ve never heard that quote before.”
    “Oh.” he said. “Well anyway, he probably said it after ‘on the nose’ became an idiom, but it’s interesting anyway. If something is on your nose, or even right in front of it, it is impossible to see. You’re too damn close. You know what I mean?”
    “Sure.”
      He brushed his dark hair away from his forehead, and continued. “So why would we use ‘on the nose’ to describe something that is exact? How can something be exact when we can’t even see it clearly enough to have perspective on it?”
    Perhaps Ethan was as big a geek as I was. I stood there for a moment, trying to think of something profound to say in return, but came up blank.
    “Well anyway, let me know if your car gives you more trouble. I’m running late, and I sort of need to call someone back.” He was up, organizing the stuff in his office, perhaps in preparation to leave for the day.
    “Your ex?” I inquired.
    He stopped what he was doing, and looked at me in shock. Then his face relaxed. “Oh yeah, I mentioned her before. Yeah. She was sort of angry, so I better call her back.”
    “Good luck.”
    “See you around.”
     
    * * *
     
    When I got back to the apartment I relayed the story to a disappointed Carolyn and an amused Charles.
    “You’re being too sensitive.” said Carolyn. “He was just preoccupied because his ex called while you were there. If you had been a little more friendly something would have happened.”
    “Just because she called doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to do you,” said Charles. I think that was supposed to cheer me up, but it didn’t. I was sure that Ethan wasn’t interested, even though Carolyn insisted he was. Otherwise, she said, why would he offer to look at my car again for free?
    “He was probably worried that he didn’t fix it right, and he wanted to have all of his bases covered before I called the better business bureau on him.”
    “Come on,” said Carolyn. “With an attitude like that, you’re never going to move on from Peter.”
    She was right on that count, but it’s hard to get your attitude to change simply because you want it to. And truth was, I still