Nowhere to hide in a small town

This morning, I got up early and went for a long walk with my neighbor, as I sometimes do.

Then, as I sometimes do, still wearing my exercise clothes, I climbed into the daybed in my sunroom to watch last night's Daily Show.

And then around 8 someone rang the bell. I ignored it, as I sometimes do, because I was not expecting anyone and I was not dressed for company and if it was some political thing, I didn't really have time for a long conversation.

Then that someone knocked, in case I hadn't heard the bell. And then I just froze in place, not making a sound, not wanting to so much as rustle so whoever it was would just go away.

And then whoever it was did go away. Very briefly. Until he started taking apart the room I was in —from the outside. Apparently "someone" was my contractor, who is supposed to be doing some work on my house, but who I did not know was starting this morning. But at this point, I was still a mess, and  also a mess who has pretended not to have heard the doorbell or the knock, which might be reasonable if I was in the shower or something, but which is in no way reasonable when I am sitting in the sunroom.

So I stayed frozen. The Daily Show ended and I didn't put anything else on. I unfroze long enough to pull the covers over my head at one point when he got too close to the window.

And then, finally, after some period longer than several minutes but arguably shorter than the one million years it felt like, there was quiet.

I assumed he'd gone back to his truck to get a tool or something. I scurried from the sunroom back to my bedroom, where I quickly got ready for work. I figured I'd just admit the whole thing, except for the hiding. And so I emerged, smiling, dressed, shod, coiffed, ready to engage with the contractor — and he was nowhere. His tools were in a heap on my deck, but the contractor was gone, and so was his truck.

So I was left with no opportunity to explain, but he was obviously going to notice my car, which had been in the garage, was not anymore.

Obviously, I left the awkwardest note in the universe under his pile of tools and took off for work.

This is a fantastic start to this relationship, I feel.

How's your day going?