Chapter 3- Have We Dated Before?

Working in the Twilight Zone

Chapter 3: Our First Date? Or Have We Dated Before?



         “Jeff?” Ellen inquired as she entered his office early that afternoon.

         “Yes, Ellen?”

         “Ready to meet the Big Cheese?” she chuckled.

         “Ready as I’ll ever be,” he said as he stood up and walked toward her.

         “I… told him you and I are having lunch tomorrow,” she continued, smiling. “Does that still fit your schedule?”

         “Uh… sure, I think it’ll fit just fine,” Jeff responded, still shocked at Ellen’s being so forward. “Um… this lunch tomorrow, Ellen. Is it business, or… personal?”

         "I knew you’d ask, Jeff. You’re sharp. You don’t miss much, do you?”

         “I try not to.”

         “I must admit, after what we shared this morning, that it’s a little bit of both. Do you mind?”

         “Not at all, Ellen.” Jeff thought to himself, “Geez. I was drawn to them both when I first met them. But I sure didn’t expect things to move this fast with either of them. It’s almost like they’re going to end up fighting over me. I don’t know if I can handle that,” he laughed to himself. “I guess we’ll have to see if it actually happens that way.”



         “Dad, this is Jeff Ambrose,” Ellen announced rather proudly as they entered the “old man’s” plush office. Jeff immediately noted that Mr. Martin was a slender man who certainly seemed to be in great physical shape for his age, which had to be about 50, give or take a few, assuming he was at least 21 when Ellen was born. Sharp dresser, too. Has the air about him that he knows what he’s doing in running the business.

         “Good afternoon, Jeff, nice to meet you, “ the elder Martin said. “Call me Frank. As you’ve noticed by now, we don’t stand on formality around here. Hope you don’t mind,” he said, extending his hand.

         “Not at all, sir. Um… Frank,” Jeff said nervously as he returned the firm handshake. He thought to himself, “This just might be as much fun as it is work. I could get to like it here.”

         “Have a rest, you two. We’ll get acquainted and hand this young man his first project.”



         Later, as he walked past Annie’s desk to return to his office, she stopped him. “Jeff?”

         “Yes, Annie?”

         “Ellen had me make lunch reservations for the two of you tomorrow at her favorite restaurant.”

         Jeff immediately recognized the fear in Annie’s voice. That sounded like his Annie, too. “Annie, you have my word. It doesn’t change what I said about wanting to see you again. I need to see you again.” Her immediate relaxation was openly visible.

         “Thanks, Jeff. I needed to hear that.”

         “Ellen and I had shared some personal thoughts this morning and I think she wants my advice on a family matter of some sort. Not sure. But the rest should be strictly business.” Now she really relaxed.

         “Thanks, Jeff. I… was… worried. Don’t ask me why,” she blushed.

         “I won’t,” he promised, but he felt he knew why, so he didn’t have to. His Annie had been the same way. That’s why they’d fallen in love so fast “She’s so much like my Annie this is unreal!” he thought to himself as he walked to his office. “Every minute that goes by this place feels more and more like the Twilight Zone. God. I’ve said that to myself three times now but there’s no other reasonable explanation. At least not yet.”



         As soon as Jeff got home from work he changed into this overalls, grabbed the Windex, vacuum cleaner, car polish and upholstery cleaner, and headed for the garage.

         “God,” he said aloud as he looked at his 4-year old Ford Probe. "This thing’s gonna need an overhaul before it’s ready for tonight. Those last years of school when I practically lived in this thing to save money are showing. I can’t let Annie see it like this!”

         That’s when it really hit him. “Geez,” he said aloud as he began wiping down the upholstery. “My first date in eight years since Annie, and it’s Annie all over again. What the heck is going on?” Then, as he began vacuuming the interior, he remembered his thought from this afternoon. “This better be the Twilight Zone,” he laughed. “At least that way I’ll have some idea of what to expect when it happens and not go off the deep end in front of Annie. What did we used to call it when we were watching the reruns of it from our folks’ generation? Oh, yeah - ‘the Zone’.”

         As he continued working at cleaning the Probe, he tried to make some sense out of the last 12 hours:

         “Fact #1. The receptionist is a dead wringer for my late wife, ooohh that’s bad,” he laughed aloud at the play on words he’d accidentally hit. “But, in a lot of ways, that’s the truth here.”

         “Fact #2,” he recited, making a half-hearted effort to keep an objective viewpoint to all this, “is that I immediately knew, when we sat down for lunch, that I had to see her again. And the decision was so easy. I’ve got to try and make sure I’m not trying to relive the past here. Or… am I reliving it without trying, or trying to pick up where Annie and I left off eight years ago?” He paused a moment on that one. “Just what do I want here? And… what can I expect?”

         “Fact #3. I’m also attracted to my boss, which sometimes isn’t a good idea in the first place, but I can’t help it for some inexplicable reason, and it’s starting to look like she’s interested in me, too. She’s warm, sensitive, and the thing that gets me is she’s already open about her personal life with me and I just started there. What has her so comfortable, and where is this relationship going? I didn’t think I’d ever date again after Annie… um… my Annie died, and here I am in the middle of the Zone.” He laughed as he finished up the cleaning job. “What the hell is this - a two-for-one sale? Lose one, my Annie, and get two free?” he laughed again as he put everything away.



         “I know she said ‘casual’,” he said as he buttoned his vest. “But I can’t do a first date that way. But… is this our first date?” He suddenly realized he wasn’t even sure of that much. This Annie was far too much like his Annie for that to be a clean-cut question. He glanced at the clock as he put on his jacket. “6:15. Perfect.” He felt good about being there on time, maybe even a little early.



         “6:52,” he recited as he shut off the engine in front of Annie’s apartment building. He ran in the main door, punched the elevator button with a fist, and paced nervously as he waited. “God,” he suddenly thought. “I don’t know if I’m nervous because this is a new date, or because it’s an old one!”

         “Okay. #522,” he said mechanically as he searched the numbers on the doors. “God. Right here.” He stopped, took a deep breath, and knocked.

         “Hi, Jeff!” Annie almost shouted as she quickly opened the door wide and greeted him.

         Jeff froze in his tracks. “Um…”

         “What’s wrong, Jeff?” she asked concerned. “We are still going, aren’t we?”

         “Um... yes, yes we are,” he stammered. His mind was racing. “Calm down, boy! I know - she’s wearing the same dress as your Annie did on our last date before the end. Same style, same color, everything. Same... fit. The… one that… gives you... access to any part of her that you want.” That immediately brought back his thought during the car cleaning. “Now I don’t have a clue: is this our first date, or not?” he finished silently.

         “Does my appearance leave you that speechless?” she asked, almost laughing with delight.

         “Yes,… um… as a matter of fact, it does,” he said, feeling that his nervousness was so obvious that she couldn’t miss it. But she didn’t seem to notice.

         “It is kinda nice to know I leave you that speechless, Jeff, I have to admit,” she blushed. “I… haven’t dated since…”

         “Neither have I,” Jeff quickly finished for them both. He didn’t want to know where that would have gone. Not yet.

         They stepped out into the parking lot, and in a few minutes approached Jeff’s sparkling clean Probe.

         “Is this your car? What happened to the Pontiac?” she asked, totally surprised.

         Jeff froze again. “The… Pontiac?”

         “Yeah, you know… the red one with the bench seat that you drove everywhere.”

         “I… didn’t mention cars at lunch,” he thought silently, really getting nervous now. “How did she…?” “It finally took its last ride,” he stuttered, still dazed. “Transmission went out and it was too costly to keep patching up ‘old reliable’. I was… in college... at the time.”

         “Gee, that’s a shame. I always liked that car. As he held the door for her, she seated herself and continued. “I hate bucket seats. You can’t snuggle in these things like we could have in the Pontiac. But, we can still get… close enough since there’s no console.”

         Two words jumped out at Jeff. “Could have. She said ‘could have’, not ‘did’ - about the snuggling. ‘We could have’, not ‘we did’. That makes it even more confusing. One minute it’s our first date, the next it’s not. I wonder where this will end? Geez! Which way do I want it to end?” he asked himself silently as he tried to maintain his self control and figure all this out at the same time. He felt himself getting less certain with each passing minute about being able to manage that: “The dress, the Pontiac…”

         Annie put her hand on his knee as he pulled from the parking lot. “Why don’t you…?” She gently took his right hand from the wheel and placed it on her knee, sliding it up her leg until his fingers were just underneath the hem of her dress. “I hope you don’t mind, Jeff, it’s just been so long since I felt this.”

         It took every ounce of Jeff’s concentration to keep control of both himself and the car, but he managed. “God,” he thought as he felt her soft skin on his fingertips and the open palm of his hand. “If I just knew it was my Annie, I’d… “ His fingers twitched at the thought.

         “No need to be nervous, Jeff. If it… will help you relax, go ahead and… explore. I’d like to bring those feelings back, too.”

         As his hand slowly crept upward to her inner thigh, he felt her legs part a little more. “What could she mean ‘bring those feelings back, too’?” he wondered, silently stunned at the reference to the past but nervous at her openness toward intimacy so soon. “Or… is it that soon?” he questioned as he continued his “exploration,” both below and above her waist. As his hand moved tenderly across her upper chest, inside that “I’m all yours” dress, he suddenly stopped. “Annie, I feel something here. Um… what is it?”

         “It’s a little raised mole, Jeff. I guess it’s a beauty mark. Almost the shape of a diamond. I’ve had it all my life.”

         His hand involuntarily moved downward just a little, his thumb and forefinger slipping into the valley between her breasts.

         “Go on, Jeff, you can explore there, too. I don’t mind. To he honest with you, it would feel good after eight years.

         “Eight years?!” he silently shouted. As he got past the initial shock, he realized there was only one way he could think of at the moment to find out everything he needed to know, and one of those questions couldn’t wait until they were eating. It was a very personal question, but his state of mind left him no choice. It was either that or risk losing his sanity. “Um… Annie?” he began, as his hand accepted her invitation and reached inside her bra.

         “Yes, Jeff?” she asked warmly. “I like the way that feels. It’s… been too long.”

         “Um… um… I have to ask you a very personal question. Please trust me when I tell you it’s important.”

         “Sure, Jeff. Considering how far we’ve gone back in time so far tonight, why should I mind?”

         “ ‘Back in time?’ What the…?” Jeff forced himself to stick to the question at hand. “Annie, I need to know your bra size.” He froze, waiting.

         “34B.”

         Jeff’s hand flew out of her dress so fast it almost slapped her face in retreat.

         “You... okay, Jeff?”

         Uh… yeah,” he said, putting every ounce of his energy into calming down before she got too curious. He had one more personal question he had to ask Annie. But the way things were going, he figured he’d better not be driving when he asked it.

         “Please, Jeff, don’t stop now,” she cooed invitingly. She put his hand back on her leg, gently holding it there. “What was it about my bra size that startled you? That seemed a little strange.”

         “A little strange?” he asked himself silently. “If she only knew!” “Um… Annie, it will take me a while to figure out how to explain that. Maybe quite a while. Please… trust me.” He felt himself starting to relax again after saying that.

         “I trust you, Jeff,” she said warmly. Slowly, she slid his hand back up the inside of her leg, again beneath the dress, bringing it to rest at her crotch. She pressed it firmly against her, and held it there. She didn’t want him “jumping ship” this time.

         Jeff felt the warmth of her cover the open palm of his hand.

         “We’ll leave this for later,” she said seductively, patting his hand with hers before letting him go. “If… you want to later, that is.”

         Jeff shivered as he put his right hand back on the wheel. “God. My Annie did the same thing on our last date, when she wore that same dress. And… it wound up being the last time we… made love,” he thought silently. He didn’t know whether to cry sad tears at the memory, joyful tears at the thought of doing it with her again… “but is it her?” he quietly asked himself, or… try to keep his objectivity and keep figuring this thing out. He knew that last idea would certainly be the most difficult of the three.

         Jeff pulled into the parking lot next to a little family-run eatery he had found years ago. He and his Annie had never gone there. He wanted neutral territory this time to concentrate on the comparison between the two Annies that was driving him crazy, and he didn’t want any new complications getting in the way till he had a chance to sort this much out. If that’s possible. “I think you’ll like this place as much as I liked the place you picked for lunch,” Jeff said as he held the door for Annie to enter the restaurant.

         “I think so, too, Annie said, taking in the atmosphere of the place as they waited.

         “Two for dinner?” asked the hostess?

         “Yes,” said Jeff. “Non smoking, please.’

         As at lunch, Jeff held Annie’s chair for her.

         “You’re spoiling me, Jeff, you know that, don’t you?” she laughed as he seated himself.

         “Good. I like spoiling a lady.” He smiled.

         As they waited for their appetizer, Jeff saw Annie’s face turn to a serious tone. “What’s on your mind, Annie?”

         “It shows, huh?” she tried to laugh with it but it didn’t work. “I’m sorry, Jeff. I’m really enjoying this. I’m just not sure what you think about me being so forward with you at lunch. I… didn’t mean to be that way. I’m really not. Please understand.” The look in her eyes was begging him to understand, and not think less of her for the way she’d acted.

         “Annie, please. Don’t worry. Do you remember what I said at lunch when you did that?”

         ”No, I guess because I’ve been so nervous all this time. I really like you, Jeff, and I don’t want anything to mess it up. God, there I go again.”

         “I said,” Jeff began, trying to distract her from her self-induced low, “that there’s a lot going on here that I don’t understand, either. I said, ‘let’s just work together and see where it leads’. Remember?”

         “Oh, yeah. I do now,” she said, her mood picking up. “Thanks, Jeff. That makes me feel a lot better.”

         “Good. I’m glad I could get you out of that feeling, Annie. I like to see you smile.”

         She blushed. “Thanks, Jeff.”

         “And blush, too,” he added.

         “Oh, geez!” she said, turning away for a moment.

         “Sorry, Annie, I couldn’t resist. I have to cheer you up and that’s the first way I thought of to do it,” he smiled.

         “Thanks, Jeff, I needed that!” she grinned back at him.



         As they ate, Jeff decided he’d better get down to those other questions he had to ask Annie before they ran out of time, or he lost his nerve, or both.

         “Annie, like I said, we’re both trying to figure things out here. Um… would you mind if I asked you just a few more questions? One or two might be personal again. I should tell you that.

         “No, Jeff, I don’t mind. The way you’ve treated me today I know you have a reason, and I trust you. I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

         “Okay, Annie, thanks. Um… how old are you?”

         “Twenty-five.”

         “Oh-oh,” he thought to himself. "Part two of that one…” “Um… when’s your birthday?”

         “April 7th.”

         “Oh, God,” he thought nervously. “Here we go again. Um…do you have… a…”

         “A what, Jeff?”

         “A… heart-shaped mole anywhere?”

         "Yes,yes I do.”

         “Where?” He wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but at the same time he had to know.”

         “Um… well, how do I put this? Um… it’s at the base of my spine, just a little below the waist. Between there and… you know.”

         Jeff swallowed hard to keep his composure. “One last question, Annie. What color is that mole?”

         “It’s kind of a reddish brown. About the size of a small dime, but not quite that small.”

         Jeff froze. “Have you had it all your life?”

         “Yes, I have.”

         “Oh, God,” Jeff said silently. “What do I do now? My Annie had the same birthday, the same mole, and would have been the same age. I thought I could handle the Zone. Now I’m not so sure. But I have to try. It’s the only way I’ll ever find out.”

         “Jeff?”

         “Uh… yeah, Annie?”

         “Can I ask you something?”

         “Sure.”

         “How did you know about the mole? To ask me about it, I mean?”

         “That’s part of what I’m trying to figure out, Annie. You see, my Annie had that mole, too. And your birthdays are the same, and she had that dress, and she rode in the Pontiac you asked me about. There’s just too much coincidence for me to understand it all right now. That’s the best answer I can give you at the moment. I hope it’s enough. Um… by the way… how did you know about the Pontiac?”

         “I’m not sure, Jeff. I just did. I can’t explain why. It just came into my head when I saw the Probe.”

         “Oh, okay. That’s okay. Like I said we’re working together on this.”

         As they left the restaurant a short while later, both were hoping the movie would get their minds off this tangled web for a short while. And it did. Until they started back for Annie’s place.

         “Jeff?” Annie asked cautiously.

         “Yes, Annie?”

         “If it… will help you figure things out, I’ll… show you the… mole when we get to … my place. So… you can be sure it’s what you think it is.”

         “Annie, I’m going to have to take you up on that,” he blurted before losing his nerve. “You apologized for being so forward at lunch, now it’s my turn to do it for creating a situation where you have to do something like that. But… it’s something I just have to know. Please understand.”

         “I do, Jeff, I really do,” she said firmly, but with compassion. “That’s why I offered.”



         Twenty minutes later they were in the elevator in Annie’s building. For the whole elevator ride they’d been trying to reassure each other that they had to do what they had to do for both of them to figure this thing out. Annie assuring Jeff it was okay, that she had no reservations about showing him the mole, Jeff apologizing for the need to know.

         When they reached her apartment, Annie unlocked the door, holding it for Jeff to follow her inside. “C’mon in, Jeff,” she said warmly.

         “Thanks, Annie.”

         Annie locked the door. “Just so we won’t be… disturbed while we… take care of things,” she said, meaning the mole, but suddenly wondering what else might happen. “Okay, Jeff,” she said as she walked over to the couch. See if this is what your Annie had.” She was obviously nervous, but she stood by what she told Jeff she’d do. She turned her back to him, reached under her dress, and pulled down her bikini panties. Then, leaning forward, she flipped the back of the dress up onto her back, braced herself against the back of the couch, and waited.

         Jeff froze a moment. It looked just like the one his Annie had had. “Um, Annie, may I…”

         “Um, sure, Jeff. You said your Annie’s was raised. Go ahead and feel it.”

         Jeff cautiously ran his hand over her skin, intentionally starting well to one side of the mole, to go across it feeling for any raised part of it. He jumped as his fingers raised up to move across the little heart. The moment that happened his heart stopped, and his mind raced with a sudden realization. “This thing dominated our entire day. Some lunch, and some date tonight. Swell. This is all circumstantial, but it’s mind blowing. I don’t have a clue why I couldn’t admit this to Annie and myself before now, but the thing is, I’m attracted to her whether she’s really my Annie or not. I can’t possibly forget all these similarities, and I’m dying to know, but I don’t want it to dominate our relationship while I try to figure it out. I want to enjoy our relationship while I try to understand. But... how can I get that across to Annie the best?” That one only took a second, too. But this time it was a very pleasant second. “Okay, Annie,” I’m done looking at it. You… can get up now.”

         Annie stood up, got her clothes in order, and turned to face Jeff. “Well?” she queried? Wa…”

         Jeff didn’t give her a chance to even finish that word, whatever it would have been. He slowly stepped forward, arms wide as if to embrace her. She stepped slowly into his arms, and they encircled her with gentleness, and affection. As if it was necessary for his survival, he pressed his lips firmly over hers, and she responded with her own hot, searching tongue. Jeff scooped her up in his arms, and a blissfully mute Annie simply pointed the way with her free hand.

         Jeff carried her down the hallway…