Bob had the radio on. If it had been tuned to talk radio --- anything with Hannity, Beck, or Limbaugh --- she would've gotten right back out of the car and left. Even though she was conservative, she wasn't a complete idiot and she didn't intend spending time she could spend otherwise with one --- a person tagged as liberal listening to such drivel. It wasn't, however, tuned to idiocy. Bob had it tuned to soft music on some station or had it playing music from some other source --- a CD, a MP3 player, whatever. When Bob climbed in, he turned the volume down and asked her how her day had gone.
Mary Lou wasn't about to give him a detailed recitation of how her day had gone. That wasn't his business, and she didn't know yet what his motive was in taking her out to eat anyway. "It went fine," she said. She looked over at him and said, "How about you? How did your day go?" She would see if he was any more responsive than her. Most of all she was interested in what he might have to say about his father's indictment, if anything. He had mentioned it before when they had gone for a drink, and she was anxious to see if they had anything more to say about it. Before, all he had said was that he doubted he would learn anything from his father about it, thereby confirming that the two of them were on the out and out.
"Not too bad. I've been working hard today. Had a lot of calls from customers and had to have a meeting with my people about the possibility of another upcoming layoff again. I've still been trying to find out more about my father's indictment. Unfortunately, there's not much news out there; I guess he's successfully muffled. And, like I told you the other night, it's not likely he's going to be sharing any information about it with me. But then, I didn't invite you out to dinner for us to discuss any of that."
"Well then," Mary Lou said, "let me ask you this question? Why did you ask me out?" It was a stupid question to ask, but when it came to such matters Mary Lou decided to be stupid.
"I just wanted to. I enjoyed having a drink with you the other night after a hard day --- especially with the news of my dad and all --- and I thought I'd enjoy your company again, just for the fun of it."
"Hmmm, so what did you find in our conversation that was so enjoyable?"
"I don't know. Maybe that you listened, seemed, at least, to hear what I was saying. Your responses suggested that you had listened to what I was saying. You didn't seem at all evasive when I asked you questions, and you seemed more than willing to communicate with me. I guess it seemed like you were not trying to hide anything."
"I'm so boring that I don't have anything to hide."
He laughed. "I bet there is something."
She looked out the window as they drove along and noticed that the wind had picked up, and it looked like a storm was blowing in. She hoped it wasn't going to snow. She didn't like the snow, especially in November before the snow was ever deep enough to go skiing. Besides, it was just too early to snow. Thanksgiving wasn't for a couple of weeks. That'd be soon enough for snow.
"Have you heard the weather report? Is it supposed to snow?"
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