Free Virtually Mine: a love story by Susan Rohrer

nodded understandingly and
resumed his sweeping. He found it easier to remain calm around her when he had
a task to do—something, anything to keep her simple attractions from driving
him absolutely wild.
    The moment Kate disappeared into her
apartment, Charlie bolted back into his. Safely inside, he clutched his
pounding heart.
    ♥   
♥    ♥
    A pile of tissues around her, M.J. dotted on calamine lotion as Kate entered
their apartment with the bouquet.   Unsuccessfully, M.J. stifled a sneeze.
    With
a concerned look, Kate approached her roommate. “ Are you sick?”
    M.J. gathered her tissues. “Not exactly.
Turns out I’m allergic.”
    “To flowers?”
    M.J. hung her head. “Dogs.   I mean, I knew I was as a kid, but I thought
it was like chicken pox or acne or whatever, and I’d have grown out of it. Come
to think of it, I never completely grew out of acne either. A pity, you might
think, but it does blend quite nicely with the hives.”
    Kate wandered toward the sofa. “So, are
you going to quit the dog walking business?”
    “Heck, no.” M.J. popped an allergy pill
from its cell pack, and then read over the directions.
    “What are you going to do?”
    “Mainline allergy caps if necessary. And
if that results in daytime drowsiness, gastric distress, or occasional dry
heaves—believe me, this guy’s worth it.”   Again, M.J. sneezed.
    “Why don’t you just tell him?”
    M.J. flopped back on the sofa. “That my
mouth turns to mush at the sight of him? That I want to lick the spoon he eats
his breakfast from?”
    “How about just that you like him?”
    “See, you...you could do that.”
    “You could do it,” Kate insisted.
“Anybody could do it.”
    “Anybody with a face like yours and a bod
like that and, by the way, where on your thighs did you hide that half gallon
of ice cream?”
    “M.J., you’re beautiful!”
    “Uh-uh,” M.J. answered. “I’m the crack
up, the best bud.   I’m the go-to girl
for a favor.”
    Kate sat down by her roommate. “You’re a
lot more than that.”
    M.J. shrugged. “I’m okay looking. I know
that. But romantically, I have to grow on guys. I have to dig deep, send out
tillers and rhizomes, and make myself impossible to get rid of. Face it. I’m the
Bermuda grass of eligible women. And I’m almost thirty. Did I mention that?”
    A look of surprise crossed Kate’s face.
“You said you were twenty-five.”
    “I also lie about my weight. Go figure.”
    Kate wished she could encourage M.J., but
it was hard to know just how to do that. The phone began to jingle in Kate’s
bedroom, so Kate rose to answer it. “M.J.—the right guy—he’s going to notice
you.”
    “Rob is the right guy,” M.J. called after
her. “He just doesn’t know it yet.”
    ♥   
♥    ♥
    Charlie paced nervously, his
ear to the phone. Under his breath, he tried out what he might say. “ Hi,
Kate...no, she’ll...okay...I can do this. I’m from the country, the country
boy... I’m... Southern, I’m— ”
    Suddenly, he heard that Kate had picked
up.
    “Hello.”
    Don’t panic , Charlie
pleaded with himself. He took on a light twang, making himself more comfy in
Brad’s confident persona. “Well, hey there Katie, this is Brad. I was hopin’
I’d catch you in.”
    The line was silent for a moment. What
Charlie wouldn’t have given to have seen Kate’s face, but knowing she was on
the other side of the firewall their apartments shared would have to be close
enough. He glanced at her photo on his computer screen, then down at his phone
jack, calculating that they were actually just a couple of yards apart.
    “Brad from the...I mean, you’re my—”
    Charlie didn’t want her to have to finish
that sentence. The last thing he wanted was for anything about this time he had
with her to seem anything less than real. “Is it okay if I call you Katie?   I just always loved that name.”
    “Sure,” she replied. “Okay. That’s
actually what my Daddy calls