“Thanks a lot, Dannie.”
“Like I said, Terry, it’s no trouble. I don’t want you catching hyper-pneumonia or whatever!”
“What you’ve done for us, the least we could do,” Carol pulls out a fifty for Dannie’s excellent job shoveling the front steps and sidewalk tonight.
He shakes his head.
“Nah, you keep that, Mrs. Carol. It's fine, really.”
“Come inside for some hot chocolate then...” Therese insists.
Dannie brightens under the single bulb hung inside the hallway of the walk-up apartment. He caves in for the delicious beverage. Removing his cap, he follows the two women up a flight of stairs to their unit.
Seated at the mint green & chrome kitchen table, Dannie hovers above his steaming mug of boiled cocoa with fingerless gloved hands cupping the mug. Therese joins him along with Carol standing by in her daisy orange bathrobe and matching slippers.
“If it gets any colder, I’ll sue,” Dannie jokes, receiving laughter from both women.
“What’s new with you, Dannie?” Carol asks politely.
“Nothing, really,” he shrugs.
“Don’t even start,” Therese clicks her tongue. “Tell Carol what you’ve told me.”
Carol crosses her ankles together; leaning up against the Frigidaire. She blows away steam to cool off her mug of hot chocolate before taking a sip.
“I met a girl at a bar,” Dannie explains, bringing his hot cocoa towards his mouth.
“Ooh la la,” Carol playfully taunts. “What’s her name?”
Dannie swallows and pulls back, staring hard at his drink as if he was trying to remember.
“He won’t say her name,” Therese informs, almost accusingly.
“Dannie won’t tell me.”
“Why you wanna know? Why’s that so important?” his voice rose—seconds away from sounding upset.
“You don’t need her name, alright? I’m seeing her. I’m taken. All is well and fine.”
Dannie ended up changing the conversation soon after that. Once he finished his hot cocoa, he was ready to leave. Therese called a cab and escorted him out the door after Carol shoved the fifty dollar bill in his tweed jacket pocket. He accepted the money with no refusal this time.
“You think he’s lying about the girl he met at a bar?” Carol questions Therese the minute she arrives back from downstairs.
“Maybe,” Therese replies. “Or maybe she is real, and he doesn't want to hurt my feelings about it.”
Carol smirks and goes ahead to rinse out the mugs that were left in the sink.