December 20. Tuesday Night.

Hi Journey.

Lunch with Eddie and I just gave him a new mouse for his laptop. It's wireless, which I can't believe he never had before, but he for some reason he didn't. Top of the line Vaio machine, and he is tethered to a fixed-line mouse. Weird, but I was actually proud of myself for thinking of something original.

Eddie gave me a brand new pair of field glasses. Says he wants us to spend time this spring going out and doing some bird watching. I don't know if we'll be dating then, but I hope so. (At least right now I do, J!)

Lunch was at Big Mike's. He fiddled with his Dell Axim through most of it, entering data, eyeballing the waitress, even though she was older than either of our mothers. He seems to take the most interest when other patrons pull out their wallets. Even though he kept track of my conversation the whole time, I could tell he was counting even as I spoke. He moves his lips just enough and sometimes looks up at the ceiling, but he's not really looking up at all. He's adding numbers in his head.

I think he actually times how long it takes from the moment the waitress brings the check out until the customer pays. Then he jots down the elapsed time for the waitress to bring the check back from the Visa machine, and then counts silently as the guy signs it, and then sticks his copy into his pocket. Then Eddie notes down whether or not the guy puts the receipt back into his wallet, his shirt pocket, his pants pocket, or his wallet. Weird.

I didn't say anything. He's fun, he's cute, and he won't let me pay for lunch. It's too early to wreck a good thing.

He's staying here in town for Christmas. His mom and sis still live here, so they'll just be over at their house. They put up their tree after Thanksgiving.

After lunch I drove over to Barrington 's Gifts at NorthPointe and picked up the last of the Christmas presents for staff. It's easier if I just get everybody the same thing; no bickering. This year I chose an engraved Cross Pen and Pencil set for everybody. 14K. Lorie Jeffers' daughter works at Barrington 's, and although she doesn't own it she is a full-timer and her mom has sent me plenty of referrals.

I tested each of their pens one after the other by signing their Christmas bonus checks while sipping an espresso at CoHo. I imagined myself a Geisha from feudal Japan and wrote on each check deliberately and neatly, with a fine, cursive stroke instead of my usually sloppy signature. I practiced my name at ten times on a piece of notebook paper prior to actually signing the check.

Because I was furious.

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