Options Are Good Page 2

  The blue shirt, that Bandy noticed had two pockets and epaulets, was partially covered with a light brown leather jacket. And she had on a hat. A real hat. Not a cap or even a cowboy hat. But another leather item, matching the boots and jacket. It had a solid flat top and wide brim, but the sides of the crown were of mesh.

  It was only when someone called over to her as she was walking toward Bandy that he saw the long blonde hair hanging over the collar of the jacket. It swayed, Bandy noticed. Swayed nicely.

  It was Betty that had called over. She was hurrying from the office and, needlessly, waved Bandy over to join her and Ana-Bella at one side of the loading door. Right next to the neatly stacked, ready for loading items on the pick list.

  “Bandy, this is Ms Sheridan. There is a problem with the payment, Ms Sheridan. I can’t let Bandy load your truck until it gets straightened out.” Becky looked at Bandy. “Bandy, don’t load her until I give you the okay.”

  Bandy looked at Ana-Bella helplessly and shrugged slightly. To Bandy’s delight, Ana-Bella smiled and shrugged herself. Which was, despite the slim and trim figure, and leather jacket, and blue shirt, a nice sight.

  “I’m Ana-Bella Sheridan,” Ana-Bella said, holding out her hand for Bandy to shake. “Got a place I can get a snack and another bottle of water or two while I wait?”

  “Sure,” Bandy said. “Follow me. I’m Bandy Hawkins.” Bandy would have pretty much died of embarrassment had he known, much less seen, Ana-Bella giving him the onceover, from head to toe, as she followed him toward the office from the warehouse side.

  “We have several options, as you can see,” Bandy said, pointing out the snack and drink machines in the short hallway that opened to the customer bathrooms. “You don’t seem too upset.”

  “Wouldn’t help any, and I’m used to it with Longhammer, anyway. He has a habit of doing things like this. The man is smart as they come, and can certainly pay for the load, he just has a tendency to forget details sometimes. Like paying up front.

  “This isn’t a high priority load. He won’t use any of the stuff for some time. But I had some down time and told him I’d come get it while I had a chance. You want something from the machine?”

  “No. But thanks. You, uh… Know what the load is for?” Bandy asked rather tentatively.

  “Well, actually, I do,” Ana-Bella said after taking a long drink of water that made Bandy as thirsty as he’d ever been in his life, he decided.

  “But it isn’t public knowledge and I keep my loads pretty confidential.”

  “I see. I would that one, if it is what I think it probably is.” Bandy leaned against the wall with one shoulder.

  Ana-Bella took up a similar position, a slight smile playing on her lips. Bandy couldn’t take his eyes off her. “You think you know what everything is for?” she asked.

  “I think so. All for one project, unless I’m way off. Might be some extras, just because you have the space. But, yep. I’m thinking one fairly large project.”

  Ana-Bella laughed. “I see. Quite confident of yourself. And I’m of a mind that you would be a mile off. Kinda makes for the option of a nice bet, wouldn’t you say?”

  “A bet?” Bandy asked. “I’m not really a betting man. I just have it fixed in my mind what the load is for. I don’t have to know.”

  “Yeah. But I have to know if you are right or not. My insatiable curiosity. And since I’m stubborn as all get out, too, according to my Mother, I won’t just ask you. Gotta be a bet. A real bet.”

  “I’ll just tell you. We don’t have to…”

  “Chicken?” Ana-Bella asked. But it was with a smile. She thought for a moment, and then did something, that despite her propensity to engage in these small bets, she had never done before.

  “Tell you what, Bandy, guys are always hitting on me and wanting to take me out for dinner. What say I agree to go out with you tonight, on me, since I’ll still be in town, if you are right? And if you are as wrong as I believe, you can just give me fifty bucks to get my own nice dinner.”

  “Fifty bucks! I never bet like that!” Bandy said, thinking of what the money would buy in preps. It suddenly struck him that he did have that relationship money burning a hole in his pocket, metaphorically.

  “Okay. And don’t worry. I won’t ask for more than a nice meal and a nice time. I’m not the kind of guy you have to worry about, anyway.”

  “You are so sure!” Ana-Bella laughed throatily, sending a shiver down Bandy’s back. “I’ll hold you to that, if you inconceivably win. And besides. I can take care of myself. I wasn’t worried about that. But I’m glad you told me.” And she was. “So. What do you think the load is for? And I will give you one hint. It is all for one project.”

  Bandy studied Ana-Bella’s face. It was pretty. Maybe more than pretty, the more he saw. “Okay. It’s all for a disaster, slash fallout, slash blast, shelter and or bunker.”

  Ana-Bella’s bright blue eyes widened dramatically and she gasped. So softly, that Bandy wasn’t sure he heard right the first time, she said, “Yes!” Then she repeated it. Just a bit more loudly, after looking around to see if anyone was close. “Yes. It is a shelter and bunker complex a friend of my Father is putting in. He’s become a big time survivalist. How could you possibly have known?” Ana-Bella was shaking her head.

  “It was easy,” Bandy said, suddenly trying to decide how to get out of the bet. And said something he very seldom said. “I’m a prepper myself. If I was going to build something like that for myself, on that scale, the items are the type that I would get.”

  “Prepper?”

  “Survivalist without many agendas. I’m out to survive what comes, not start something with any entity.”

  “Oh. I guess that is what Longhammer is, really. He’s getting some guns, but said they would be the last thing he picked up. I can’t believe this! No one else would have ever figured it out, I’m sure.”

  There was an awkward silence for a few moments. But then Bandy said, “Look. I won’t hold you to…”

  “Oh, no. I don’t welsh on my bets. I’ll pay up. If I can remember how to even go on a date. I haven’t had one in a couple of years.”

  “You? But you’re gorgeous! You should have dates every night!” Bandy said, surprising himself no end.

  “Aw, that’s sweet, Bandy! But I stay pretty busy for the most part. On the road all the time. And it’s hard to meet nice guys doing what I do.”

  Ana-Bella looked startled for a moment. “It just occurred to me. I’m not stepping on your girlfriend’s toes, am I? I mean, I’m not out to steal you away. I never thought you’d win.”

  “Naw. I don’t have a girlfriend. And it has been longer than two years since I’ve had anything even resembling a date. I’m not sure how to act.”

  “We’ll work it out. But later. Here comes your lady.”

  Betty gushed. “It’s all perfectly all right! I so apologize! It was just some minor misunderstanding!” Then she turned to Bandy. “Bandy, you take good care of Ms Sheridan and the load for Mr. Longhammer. He was quite charming on the telephone.”

  “And Longhammer scores again,” Ana-Bella said with a laugh. “He could charm the food away from a starving man. So. I guess I’d better position the truck.”

  They were all business for the time it took to load the truck. There was another awkward moment when Ana-Bella finished securing the load and was ready to leave.

  But she smiled, one foot on the running board of the truck, and a hand on a grab rail of the cab. “Where and when? Your choice.”

  “I don’t know. We can always do some fast food. Or pizza, I guess. I don’t want to cost you an arm and a leg.”

  “Nope. Someplace nice. I haven’t had a really nice dinner in a long time. Somewhere a nice dress would be appropriate.” She smiled down at Bandy. “I actually have one. Never worn it on a trip, but I always carry it.”

  “Yeah. I’m a believer in options, myself. Okay. There is a steak house on Main that isn’t too expe
nsive. About seven? Or earlier if you need to get on the road earlier.”

  “Nope. I’m here until tomorrow noonish. Seven it is. I’ll find the steakhouse. What’s the name?”

  Bandy told her and Ana-Bella climbed up the rest of the way into the cab of the truck. “I’ll see you at seven.”

  Managing not to think about the upcoming date with Ana-Bella constantly, at least no more than fifty-five minutes out of every hour until shift end, Bandy was extra careful when loading the trucks that came in, since he knew he was a little distracted.

  And then came the dreaded request. He would have bet a lot more than a date on the fact that someone wouldn’t show for swing shift. And his boss was caught at a loss when Bandy, when told he’d be working through, declined.

  “You always work these situations! Who am I supposed to get?”

  “Let Randy handle it. He could probably use the time, though you probably have to get him some coffee and food. He doesn’t have any extra, I’m sure.”

  “Come on, Bandy! I need you here!”

  “Alan, something has come up that I just can’t put off. I’m sorry. And I will make it up to you. But not today. I’m taking off. See you in the morning.”

  Alan knew which side his bread was buttered on. Bandy had pulled Alan’s fingers out of the fire too many times to begrudge him one time not doing so. He went to find Randy.

  Bandy didn’t go straight home. Though he wasn’t expecting Ana-Bella to be in his truck, he washed it at the drive through car wash, cleaned it carefully, and topped off the tanks before he went home.

  He showered and shaved extra carefully, and then took a full ten minutes trying to decide which suit he would wear.

  It was a situation where Bandy didn’t have a tremendous number of options. But he did have a few. His black ‘funeral’ suit. His ‘bought at a bargain for a possible cruise that didn’t go through’ light gray tux. The ‘Sunday go to meetin’ dark blue suit. The ‘he couldn’t remember why he bought it’ light gray suit. The ‘dress up like a gangster for Halloween one year’ pinstripe dark charcoal suit.

  He finally skipped over the suits and went with one of his three blazers, a pair of nice gray slacks, and a subtle pattern very light pink shirt. The blazer had been an internet find. Not too expensive, Italian leather, beautiful finish, basic black, and it fit him like it was tailored for him. And the pink shirt wasn’t glaring. Just a very soft pink with figured thread work that gave it some texture.

  Black zip on dress boots and his black felt wide brim fedora completed the ensemble. Checking his watch every few minutes, Bandy sat down at the computer and began to kill the hour he had before leaving.

  Despite watching his watch and the time in the lower right corner of his computer screen, Bandy almost missed his intended departure time. But he sighed in relief, seeing it was exactly six o’clock.

  He looked for his black felt wide brim fedora for two long minutes, until he remembered he already had it on. Shaking his head, Bandy headed to the garage to get into the truck.

  Suddenly terrified he would get in a traffic accident, or do something that would get him pulled over, Bandy drove carefully, had his lights on well before required, and double checked his seat belt half a dozen times.

  But he made it to the steak house in plenty of time. Bandy checked with the maître d’ to see if Ana-Bella had made reservations, by chance. The place was already getting crowded. She had. Under Sheridan. At seven.

  Bandy glanced at his watch and hurried outside. He took a seat off by himself on one of the benches, his eyes scanning the road for any sign of Ana-Bella’s semi rig.

  It was getting close to seven and Bandy found himself becoming very disappointed when Ana-Bella still hadn’t show up. He took his eyes off the road to look at a taxi that pulled up under the entry canopy. And jumped to his feet when he saw Ana-Bella’s face through the rear passenger seat glass.

  His heart was pounding when he hurried over to get the door of the taxi, since the cabbie was making no move to get out and do it. And he said it before he could stop himself.

  “You actually showed up!”

  “You doubted me?” Ana-Bella asked, lifting one hand up for Bandy to take to help her out of the taxi.

  “No. Not you. Me. It is just hard for me to accept someone like you would go out with me. Even on a lost bet.”

  With a demure flash of leg, Ana-Bella came out of the taxi to stand beside Bandy. He’d barely closed the door when the taxi took off.

  “Guess you already paid him.”

  “I did. With no tip. The slug was hitting on me the entire time. And Bandy… Don’t count yourself short. You came across as a nice guy the whole time at the warehouse.”

  The light wasn’t bad under the entry canopy, but it was a lot better at the doors to the restaurant and Bandy got a good look at Ana-Bella’s dress. It was all he could do not to whistle. Which he wasn’t inclined to do at any time. But that dress, on Ana-Bella, would bring out the wolf in most men.

  “That is some dress,” Bandy said. She was smiling when his eyes met hers again. “You couldn’t have been carrying anything any better.”

  “About the dress,” Ana-Bella said her left arm on Bandy’s right as someone held the door open for them. “This isn’t the one I carry… That’s a nice dress. A sun dress, but nice. I bought this one this afternoon. I just wanted something a little more…”

  When she hesitated, looked for just the right word, Bandy supplied it for her. “Well, you got your money’s worth, no matter what you paid. You and that dress are beautiful.”

  Ana-Bella could tell that it was a heartfelt comment. “Why thank you, Bandy.” After giving the maître d her name and being told it would be another few minutes, the two went to the bar to wait.

  With a nice white wine for Ana-Bella, and a neat Irish Mist for Bandy in hand, the two took a stand up table to wait for the call. “Bandy, do you mind if I ask you if Bandy is your real name, or a nickname of some type?” Ana-Bella asked him. She hadn’t objected when he paid for the drinks.

  “My real name. The way my Father put it, they were having a hard time coming up with something they liked that was different, but not too outlandish. He said, and I quote, ‘We bandied about dozens of names. And there you go. You became Bandy’.”

  “That is rather sweet. Your parents doing okay?”

  “No. Lost them both. Auto accident. A tornado literally came up behind them and totally destroyed their car before my Dad could evade it. Just after my high school graduation.”

  Ana-Bella’s free hand went to Bandy’s arm. “I’m so sorry, Bandy! That must have been hard.”

  “Yeah.” Bandy shrugged. “But it gave me a lifelong dedication for prepping. And the pressure to do well on my own from the start.”

  It was obvious that Bandy wanted to change the subject. “And what about your name? Ana-Bella is rather unique. And very fitting for you somehow.”

  “Not too unique. You see it sometimes. Usually with two Ns and no hyphen. And it is hyphenated. I’m not sure about fitting. I was conceived in the Anabella Hotel in Anaheim California while my parents were on their honeymoon.”

  “Ah. I took it you were from the south. You just look like a southern belle. And the accent…”

  “Isn’t too bad, is it?” Ana-Bella asked with a laugh. “You are the perceptive one. I am from the south. Georgia. We moved up to Oklahoma when I was thirteen. But I’m told I still have the accent a little. A lot when I get back to Georgia.”

  “That where your parents are? Georgia?”

  Ana-Bella shook her head, causing Bandy’s eyes to go to her shimmering hair. “No. They’re still in Oklahoma City. But I get a run to Georgia every once in a while.”

  Her name was called and Bandy took her elbow to guide her through the crowd. It had really filled up since she had arrived. Bandy didn’t notice, but Ana-Bella did, that they got more than one appreciative look. Her mostly from guys, and Bandy from more than a few women.
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br />   She smiled inwardly. Why she was letting him guide her protectively she wasn’t sure, as she was usually a hard charger and did pretty much everything on her own. She didn’t mind having a door opened or anything, but Bandy’s old style charm and gentlemanliness was nice.

  He seated her and then sat across the table from her, placing his hat on one of the other chairs at the table. Bandy only protested slightly when Ana-Bella insisted on appetizers. Bandy gave in when Ana-Bella softly said, “I insist, Bandy. We can share one. This is going to be a good time and I plan to eat hearty. If you want to select and pay for the wine, I won’t object.”

  It was enough to satisfy Bandy’s need to contribute and he quickly agreed. And though he didn’t order the most expensive dishes on the menu, he did order what he wanted. And it was a fun time. Despite the crowd, it wasn’t too loud in the restaurant and they were able to carry on conversation without raising their voices.