Ida smiled and told him, “I’m taking off of work tomorrow.”

Yeah, but I’m not, Ivan thought. Since he was curious and surprised by her spontaneous proposition, he asked her, “Are you sure you’re not on empty tonight? I don’t wanna start something we can’t finish,” he hinted.

He figured he would be as bold as he needed to ward off any disappointments.

Ida grinned at him. “I guess we’ll find out,” she said, and left it at that.

IDA FOLLOWED HIM back to his apartment complex in La Mesa. During the drive, Ivan continued to wonder what had sparked her sudden assertiveness. He kept wondering if she would call him up on the cell phone with a change of heart again. But she never did.

“My place is not even ready for this,” he mumbled to himself behind the wheel. He still had flyers, tax paperwork, food, and clothes that littered his apartment from the week’s work.

Then he began to think of his image. Although his apartment complex wasn’t all bad, he figured a successful accountant and party promoter should have a snazzier place to rest his head at night.

To make things worse, when they arrived in the parking lot of his complex, Ivan spotted his neighbor Julio, smoking another blunt on their second-level walkway.

“Shit!” Ivan grumbled to himself. Now I gotta walk past Julio with her, with weed smoke all in the air. But it’s too late to do anything about it now. She’s here.

Ivan had turned down his neighbor’s offers to smoke another one after the first time, but he hadn’t had company since then, either. So as he climbed out of his car, before Ida could climb out of hers, he attempted to make eye contact to tell Julio to clear out of the way for him.

Julio caught Ivan’s eye and understood his gesture of concern immediately. He could tell by their dress that it was an elegant affair. So with a nod and a knowing grin, Julio calmly put out his blunt and walked back inside his apartment. He agreed to allow Ivan to walk by with his dressed-to-impress date in peace.

As soon as Ida reached the second level of the apartment complex beside Ivan, she was still able to smell the lingering smoke of the weed.

To Ivan’s surprise, she inhaled deeply and commented, “Somebody has some strong reefer around here.”

Ivan chuckled guardedly. He joked, “It sounds like you want some.”

Ida looked at him and grinned, with no verbal response.

What does that mean? Ivan asked himself. Does she smoke…?

He ignored his question and made it inside his apartment with her.

Once inside, he clicked on a dim lamp in the living room to maintain an evening mood.