Her Cup of Tea

Her Cup of Tea

           She sipped the cup of tea he put before her. Mmm. Just right. Not too much honey, not too much milk. Just her cup of tea. This was the first time she’d been to the new tea house, and she’d suggested that they meet here so she could check it out while she checked him out.

She suspected that maybe he, too, would be just her cup of tea.

           It was the first time they’d seen each other outside of the thrift store where she volunteered. He’d been coming in a couple of times a week for a while now, flirting but rarely buying anything. It was obvious he was coming to see her.

           There was chemistry between them, that was sure. He was tall and well-spoken and he had a cute butt. That he was born the year she graduated from high school and was just older than her youngest child didn’t seem to matter, maybe even added to the allure. Almost seventy and still got it. Not too bad.

           She hadn’t dated at all since her divorce five years earlier. She might be ready, and Joe was funny and cute.

           He was smiling at her. She broke the silence. “I’m not looking for a relationship – “.           

“Neither am I,” he answered, smiling bigger.

Okay, got it, she thought. She let the silence grow for a minute.

“So, what are you thinking?” she asked, looking down at the table and back up at him.

“I thought we might like to spend some time together. Talk a little, watch a movie, see what comes up,” he said, winking at the cleverness of those last few words.

Gross.

“But we barely know each other,” she replied. “That’ll take some time.”

“Of course it will,” he said, shifting in his seat and reaching over to put his hand on hers. “Genie, do you have a couch at your house?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Can I come sit on it?”

Now, how cute is that?

She chuckled. “Let me tell you what else I have at my house. Two sisters, a nephew, and three dogs.”

His face fell. “Wow, all that? Well, that won’t do,” he frowned. “I’ve got a ghetto apartment. I don’t know if you want to come there.”

           No, buddy, I certainly don’t, she thought, and decided to have as much fun as he was having.

           “Also, if we’re going to be seeing each other – well, I promised my son that he could meet anyone I dated, because I haven’t always been very good at knowing who’ll be good for me. He’s the pastor of a little Baptist church, and he doesn’t want to see me get hurt again.”

           Joe sat back. He inhaled deeply and then leaned over the table, taking her hand in his. He winked. Then he winked again.

           He said the next words like a car salesman giving you his rock-bottom price, the one that would be the deal you couldn’t refuse. “I could be your dirty little secret,” he whispered.

           Dear God. “My dirty little secret?” she deadpanned.

           “No one has to know. We’re both adults. It’s no one’s business what we do.” He stroked in inside of her wrist gently.

           She had a sudden vision of Lonny, her ex-husband – could see him sitting in some random café doing the same touching, saying the same words to some random woman he was hoping to bed.

           And suddenly she despised this guy. She felt all the disgust and revulsion she’d felt for Lonny at the end. But she kept it off her face. She didn’t get up and walk out. Something in her wanted to explore this a bit. Maybe something Joe would say would give her some insight into Lonny’s thinking.

           She held up her hand. “Whoa, fella. Moving too fast here,” she said.

           “Okay. We can slow down. We can go as slow as you want,” he said, and lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of her fingers, never taking his eyes from hers. “Ask me anything.” He slipped one of her fingers into his mouth and sucked gently. It was all she could do not to jerk her hand away.

           “Well, Joe, tell me about yourself,” she said, extricating her hand gently and putting both in her lap. “Have you ever been married? Are you married now?”

           He scoffed. “No, I’m not married.” Lonny would have said the same thing. “I’ve never been married.” Would Lonny have said it so glibly?

           “Children?”

           “I have one daughter. She’s the best thing in my life,” he smiled, and she believed this one thing that he had said since they sat down. “She’s a radiology tech.”

           “And what kind of work do you do?”

           “I buy cars and fix them up and sell them.” He shifted again. “You know, I’m about women like I am about cars.”

           “Really? How’s that?”

           “You interested in this car? No? Fine. Next car.” Wow, she thought.

           “Wow,” she said. “That’s kind of -- businesslike.”

           “Not really. I mean, if you’re not interested, fine. Next woman.” Another wink. He did have pretty eyes. “But I might be just your cup of tea.” He doffed his half-empty cup toward her and took a sip.

No, Joe, you are definitely not.  She sipped from her own cup and put it down.

           “You know what, Joe?” She looked at him directly. “I don’t think this is going to work out – this whatever this is – between us,” she said.

           He gave her a sad face, the said, “Okay. That’s too bad. We could have had some fun.” He stood up.

           “Sit down, Joe. I’d like to tell you why it’s not going to work out.” He remained standing. “Humor me,” she said. “I gave you ten minutes; you can give me five.”

           He sat, looking bored and disinterested already.

           “First off,” she started, “had you let me finish my first sentence, you would have heard ‘I’m not looking for a relationship, but if one came along, I’d be open to it.’

           “Second, I don’t deal in dirty little secrets. Don’t want to have one, don’t want to be one. My life is an open book. That’s how I like it. If I can’t be seen with you, I don’t want to be with you.

           “Third, unlike you, I am not a dog in the yard, looking to jump anything that walks by. I have more respect for myself than that. Also unlike you, I am not desperate for someone, anyone, to have sex with.”

           He shrugged and stood up. “Okay. This car didn’t work out? Next car. This woman didn’t work out? Next woman,” he walked a couple of steps, then turned and came back to the table. He glared down at her and added, “You self-righteous bitch, you think I care? Some women know a good thing when they see it and some women are just stupid.”

           She looked at him levelly and gave a slight shrug. “It’s fine if you think that.”

           He walked away from her and out the door. She noticed his very mediocre butt.

           She sat for a long minute, then picked up her teacup and drained the last of the now lukewarm but still palatable brew.

           Quite a tasty cup of tea. She’d have to come back to this teahouse sometime.

           Joe was a disappointment, though.

           Oh, well, one out of two ain’t bad.