He sat in the
back of the coffee shop, reading a McMurtry novel to escape the heat and pass
the time. As interesting as the cattle drive was, something made him look up.
She stood at the
counter and all he could see was the back of the blue-green dress that exposed
her shoulders and fell to the middle of her thighs. Her light brown hair was
pulled back into a pony tail. She was slender of build and for whatever reason
captivated him.
He found himself
staring so his eyes returned to the page. Cattle, horses, cowboys. She had
turned around and faced the shop. Not what some would consider a classic beauty
but very easy on the eyes. Pretty.
The man watched
her move with a kind of grace towards the back where the available tables were.
As she made her way up the steps that broke up the shop, his eyes worked their
way down her slim frame. Her tanned skin exposed by the summer dress was smooth
and unblemished. Her breasts just the right size for her build. Her hips were
close and her legs were slender.
He considered
himself a leg man. Hers were average. She made up for it with her choice of
footwear. A tan Victorian style shoe that came just a little higher than the
average high top sneaker. They laced up the front but zipped on the side. She
wore them unzipped with the laces wrapped around mid-shoe. He had always
appreciated that style of shoe on a woman but had never seen them with a one
inch heel or worn in such a way before. She suddenly became unique.
He was still
looking at her as she approached the table next to his. She met his gaze for a
moment. He wanted to smile, give a friendly salutation, something, anything to
keep her attention now that he had it. He looked back down; cattle, horses,
cowboys, dumb ass.
She sat down and
started reading a paperback novel, sipping her iced coffee. He was trying to
focus on something about renegade Indians when she turned slightly and her
tanned leg came into view. Renegade In-thigh. Cattle dri-calf. Cowb-shoulders.
The rolling prair-gentle slope of her neck. A page and a half later and he had
no idea what he’d read.
He felt like a
lecherous voyeur just sitting there past the point of distraction. He wanted to
open his mouth and use his words. No stranger to rejection, he knew the worst
she could say was no. Seeing she was reading, he convinced himself that he was
waiting for an opening so as not to disturb her. He really knew that the worst
she could say was yes.
Searching for a new excuse, he flashed on the reason of why women like
that read in coffee shops. As if on cue, the woman in the blue-green dress was
greeted by a plain looking blond woman. Her friend apologized for keeping her
waiting and hoped she hadn’t been there long. The woman in the blue-green dress
made no complaint as she grabbed her drink and they walked toward the door. The
admiration of her graceful exit was the mans only consolation of a missed
opportunity.
