Two days went by. He hadn't called. All her worst nightmares swam into focus again. He'd forgotten all about her. He realized now that she'd been nothing but an amusing fling.
He'd met one of those gorgeous Austra lian swimmers and couldn't even remember the name of that strange woman he'd pretended to be married to for a few days a month or so ago. It all seemed perfectly possi ble, even probable. Yet she knew that all it would take to dispel them would be one call on the telephone.
She walked around with her cell phone in her hand. She wasn't sure if he would be calling her cell or the house phone, but she was going to be prepared for anything.
"Call, Ross!" she ordered, forcing her mind to project to Aus tralia. "Do it now!"
The telephone rang. She jumped a foot in the air, then grabbed the receiver, her heart pounding. "Hello?" she cried.
"Leo's Pizza?" came the reply in a whining adolescent male voice.
Her heart fell. Her number was close to the pizzeria's. She'd had calls for them before. "No. Sorry, you've got the wrong number."
Putting down the phone, she sighed. Why should he call, after all? They hadn't said anything about him call ing. Maybe he wouldn't call once during the whole three weeks. Maybe he wouldn't even think to send a "Wish You Were Here" post card.
The telephone rang again. Warily, she put it to her ear. "Hello?"
"Leo's Pizza?"
Suppressing her annoyance, she kept her tone cool. "This is not Leo's Pizza. You're dialing the wrong num ber. It's zero nine, not nine nine."
The adolescent hung up with a click in her ear, without so much as an apology. She replaced the receiver. The next time he called she'd go ahead and take his order, just to be rid of him.
The phone rang again.
Exasperated, she pulled it to her ear and said in a chirpy voice, "Leo's Pizza here. What would you like? How about a nice large pepperoni with extra cheese?"
The silence on the line only encouraged her.
"No? We've got a special on Leo's Delight. Everything but the kitchen sink and we'll throw that in, too if you can name who won the Academy Award for best Italian ac cent in a serious drama in 1958."
"Sophia Loren," he guessed, in Ross's voice.
"Ross!" she shrieked, finally noticing the long-distance crackle on the line.
"I'm glad to see you've taken up a hobby to wile away the lonely hours while I'm gone," he went on calmly. "Knitting or racquetball might have been a little more conventional. But then, who ever said you were conven tional?"