the idea, that I don't stop and think?” He smiled and look down so I wouldn't see him doing it. “You told me you say things in haste the last time you were here, and no one would say something mean after thinking about it and thinking about the consequences that such words bring with it.” Okay that was true. How did he get so wise? “ Tell me, what you said that hurt someone's feelings?” “ I didn't. Really I didn't.” I was eager for him to believe me and to think well of me. “ Fine. I understand. That means that you drove too fast again. I don't understand. We talked about this before. Do we seriously need to rehash this?” He leaned back in his chair. “I may not know your name but I do worry about you. I wish you wouldn't take my feelings so lightly. When you don't listen to me, it makes me feel very unimportant to you. Maybe you think that because we hardly know each other that I am going overboard, but imagine me opening the newspaper one day, and finally finding out your name, as I read about you dying in the car accident.” “ Oh.” I hung my head. I hadn't thought about it that way. “ Yes, oh. Sometimes you meet someone and they make a lasting impression on you. That is the case with us.” He looked a little uncomfortable admitting that. But as always, I believed him. He gave me my usual scolding at the door but this time I got a hug and the normal kiss on the forehead.
As always after a visit to him I was a perfect angel. I even caught myself, trying to figure out what he would say to this or that. I thought a lot about him around one in the morning. I was tired and belonged in bed but I was also in the middle of writing something. Sometimes I would be good and write myself a note about how I wanted to continue, and sometimes I was bad and wrote until my head dropped, and I fell asleep in sitting. I saw his disappointed face in those moments. I had written an e-mail saying goodbye but I thought about him a lot. I expected to see him out on the town but I never did and I was looking. I didn't feel like I was being followed either. Things had been on the up and up with him.
With time I thought about him less and less. His scolding was starting to fade, too. I was back to driving like a German and snapping at the people I loved. My mom had even given me a lecture on the phone because I had apparently been rude to my cousin at a family wedding. I rolled my eyes as my mom went on and on. I called my cousin to apologize, but her feelings were honestly hurt, and she didn't want to talk to me. She even hung up on me after saying that it wasn't her fault that I couldn't find a date for the wedding, and that I shouldn't take it out on her. I cried for days. I felt just terrible. Her words had hit the nail on the head. That had been the real reason that I was so out of sorts that day. Everyone else seemed to have found their significant other but me. Even people who I felt didn't look as good as I did. Okay, who looked a lot worse than I did. That could only mean that I had some gigantic personality flaw. I mean, I was thirty years old and I had only had one boyfriend years ago. I wasn't even playing the field. I hadn't talked to a guy at all in years except at work. Okay, that spanking guy but that had been business too. There was definitely something wrong with me. Maybe I just needed a little sex? No, I wasn't the type to go to a bar and pick up a guy. Plus one of my books was taking off. I was becoming semi-famous. I didn't want a bad repetition in the book world. Kids were reading my stuff. I had to be a good role model. Maybe I didn't have to be, but I wanted to be.
“ Could you bring me a cup of coffee?” I asked my agent's assistant. I was going over the movie rights for my book. They were actually going to film it. I was excited about this but I hated doing all of this paperwork that I didn't understand. The numbers were all running together in my head. I was trying so hard