Monty was nervous when he parked his pickup in the yellow loading zone near the front of the Marriott on Thursday afternoon at 5. He'd tossed and turned for a long time last night on his bed in the motel in South San Francisco before finally falling asleep. It wasn't that the bed was uncomfortable, and he'd sometimes slept on the ground with nothing under him but the bottom layer of a sleeping bag. But it was a long time, too long, since he'd spent much time with a woman, and never with a woman as attractive, witty, down-to-earth yet apparently sophisticated, as Laura. He couldn't get her out of his mind, and kept reliving the previous evening, involuntarily smiling at some of the fun things she'd said, and reflecting on the intelligent curiosity she'd shown in her questions about ranching life and about the rodeo.
When he woke in the morning, he let the hot shower water cascade over his head for longer than usual, trying to clear his mind. Was last night all a dream? Had his lack of experience conversing with such a woman caused him to say anything stupid, or to ramble on about things important to him, and she was just feigning interest out of politeness? Yet he could recall nothing which had struck a sour note, and he remembered how quickly she had accepted his offer of a drive back to the city, and then his invitation to attend the Cattlemen's Day celebration tonight.
Yet now that he was here to pick her up, for what was in all respects a date, all his doubts rushed back. Maybe it was just the novelty of attending a rodeo and meeting a real cowboy that had made Laura so enthusiastic last night, and maybe she'd come to her senses today and regret having agreed to accompany him. Maybe she wouldn't even show up: they hadn't exchanged phone numbers last night, the name of his motel hadn't come up, and while he could have looked up the number and called her at her hotel, his self-doubts had led him to just show up at the agreed-upon time, and see if she was there.
All of his doubts were swept away when he stepped into the lobby, and all of his breath was knocked out of him. Laura had been sitting in one of the overstuffed leather chairs in the lobby, facing the front entrance, and she stood up quickly with a radiant smile when she saw Monty enter. While she had felt that her clothing last night had been acceptable, she wanted to fit in more tonight. At morning break, she had scanned the San Francisco Yellow Pages, looking for Western wear stores. To her surprise, there was actually one listed in the city, and it was on Third Street, only 2 blocks from her hotel. She forced herself to pay attention to the rest of the morning's session, but when they broke for lunch, she rushed out and around the corner to the store.