Adam nodded, pretending he knew what she was talking about.
Once they were seated, it became clear that somebody was going to have to make sure that the conversation kept going. There wasn’t enough naturally in common between the four of them to keep it going on its own. Tracie, intimidated by Casey’s educational accomplishments, was not very talkative during dinner. Her one year of college and her job as a customer service rep for a large insurance company was nothing she felt like discussing. So Adam and Rob did most of the talking, telling the women amusing stories about each other. After dinner, Rob and Casey hit the dance floor.
“Shall we dance?” Adam asked graciously.
There was a long pause. “I don’t know. I don’t think I’ll be any good at it.”
“It’s easy,” Adam said, pulling Tracie up from the table. The energy Adam was exerting to get Tracie to ease up on herself was wearing on him. “What can I do to make you feel more comfortable?” he asked, as their cheeks were pressed together on the dance floor.
“I need time…that’s all.” He didn’t press any further.
Around midnight, Adam and Rob’s social experiment of going on a double date with dates who didn’t know each other had come to a conclusion. It wasn’t a failure by any means, but it certainly hadn’t been a smashing success, either. Adam thought he felt strongly about Tracie, but he wondered whether he really liked her or just liked being her savior.
“Do you want to come over?” Tracie asked, inviting him to her small apartment in a building for lower-income individuals. Adam had helped her find it after she lost the house to the mortgage company. “It isn’t much,” she warned. “But hey, I don’t sleep on the floor anymore,” she grinned.
“I don’t care what it looks like. That kind of stuff doesn’t matter to me.”
“Well, it’s not a spacious, modern condo like yours.”
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