Perfect Strangers

Veronica turned off the vacuum and put it away. She went down to the laundry room and switched the sheets over to the dryer. Once they were going she got out the mop and set about washing the floors in the kitchen.

He said the view there was incredible. Veronica wondered how far you could see from that high up. To the edge of town? Probably. But they would definitely have to break in to get up there, and she had no idea how to do that. Maybe he did. They didn't open the water tower up to just anyone after all, especially at night.

But that didn't matter, though! Because she wasn't going to go tonight. She was going to cook dinner, and eat it with Greg, and then he would watch TV and after they would go to bed together. The end.

When Veronica finished cleaning the floors and drained the sink, she put the mop away and thought that she should probably have a shower if she could. If she had time.

~~~

Greg arrived home at a quarter after five, just as Veronica was putting dinner on the table. He made himself a drink in the kitchen, sat down at the table, and stuffed a forkful of food in his mouth before Veronica had even finished serving.

"Christ, I'm starving," he told her through a mouthful of food. "I had to skip part of my lunch to get Sampson's reports in on time. Let me tell you, you'd better be thankful for all of the work I do to keep this house running. I don't just sit around all day and eat bon-bons."

Veronica put the serving dish down and sat in her chair, placing the napkin over her lap before picking up her knife and fork.

"I do appreciate it, sweety," she said. "Thank you. How's the pork?"

"Good," he said, not looking up from his plate. He chewed his food noisily, shoving huge pieces of meat into his mouth.

"You know, the food's better if you stop to taste it," she said, watching him.

"I promised some guys from work I'd play hockey with them. I told them I'd be out after I ate."

Veronica's heart skipped a beat in her chest. "You're going out tonight?" she asked.

"Yeah," Greg said, shoving another forkful of food into his mouth. "We might go out to a bar after the game, I'm not sure."

"Oh," Veronica said, her heart hammering now. She held her mouth open for a second before saying, "Actually, Nancy invited me out for drinks tonight as well, so I might be out late." And then, "We're meeting at nine."

"Whatever," Greg said. He shoved the last forkful of food into his mouth and got up. "Okay, I gotta run." He headed for the door and left, slamming it behind him.

Veronica looked at his plate, smears of mashed potato and strewn peas all over it. Her heart was still beating hard as she cut up a small piece of pork, slowly placing it in her mouth and chewing.

Chapter 7

When Veronica finished her dinner she put the leftovers away and did the dishes. It was only six o'clock by the time she finished, and the water tower was just 10 minutes away. She wandered around the house, wondering if she needed to do any more cleaning. She settled on dusting, grabbing a clean rag and the bottle of orange oil from under the sink. Moving from surface to surface, she wiped over shelves and tables, making them shine.

She really took her time, and when she was done she looked at the clock. Seven thirty. She realized that her hands now reeked of orange peel and remembered that she wanted to have a shower. She went to the bedroom, stripped off her clothes, and started up the shower. She spent a long time trying to get the orange scent out of her skin, and when it was finally gone she decided that she might as well wash her hair.

As she rinsed the conditioner out she looked down at her legs, noticing that they were kind of stubbly. She grabbed the shaving gel and razor, lathering up her legs and dragging the blade over them, being careful not to nick herself. She rinsed them clean and washed them again with body wash, to cover the smell of the shaving gel.

At last she got out of the shower, wrapping her hair in a towel as she walked into the bedroom. The clock said 8:17 and she stopped dead. She quickly dried herself and decided to blow-dry her hair, knowing that it would be a frizzy mess when she was done.

At half-past eight she turned off the blow dryer, her hair dry but tangled. She plugged the straightener in and walked into the bedroom to the closet, searching through her clothing for something to wear. She pulled out outfits one at a time and looked at them for a second before shoving them back. Finally she found some slim blue jeans and a red blouse that went well together. Throwing them on the bed, she made for the bathroom again where she quickly straightened her hair, keeping it at least under control.

When she came out again it was 8:43. She swore to herself and quickly got dressed, then dashed to the bathroom to make sure she looked halfway decent. She realized she wasn't wearing any make-up and swore again as she fumbled for her mascara. Carefully applying it, she put on some lipstick and a tiny bit of eye shadow. At last ready, she ran to the front door, put on her boots, grabbed her coat, and left.

Veronica quickly got into her car and started it up. The clock flashed 8:54. She backed out of the driveway a little too quickly and sped off for her destination, hoping to God that she didn't get pulled over or stopped at a red light.

~~~

Luckily for her there wasn't much traffic and Veronica made it to the water tower just a few minutes after nine. She saw Jason's black car and pulled up behind it at first, then after a moment, swerved back out onto the road and drove a little further on, parking up ahead.

When she turned off the car and got out, she looked around but didn't see him anywhere. She glanced up at the water tower — the huge white-grey beacon at the top of a shallow hill. Figuring that he must be up there already, she walked up th

e hill toward the base of it.

The tower itself was an enormous structure, about 100 feet high with a large flared top. It was around 20 feet in diameter and could be seen from miles around. Veronica and Greg usually used it as a landmark whenever they were coming back from driving in the country. That night it stood out like a ghostly apparition, glowing faintly against the black backdrop of the sky.