When Rinat came Chris wasn't at all ready.  He was reading
in his bedroom, and had the stereo up. It was luck he even
heard the bell ring.  He had the stereo on loud and Rinat
rang a few times, but he didn't hear anything.  She heard
the music so she knew someone was home.  She waited for the
songs to change and then rang three times in a row.  Chris
was deep into his book, as he usually is, and when he heard
the bell, he jumped up in fear.  He put his bookmark, which
was on his lap, inside the book, and placed it, upside down,
on the left corner of his desk.  He walked through the hall,
turned the music down in the living room, and then unlocked
the door.  He was caught so off guard he didn't even notice
he was half naked, wearing only his jeans and socks, until
he opened the door.  "Hey," he said.  He hadn't seen Rinat
in over three months.  She was shocked to find him like he
was, bare-chested. She couldn't get a word out of her mouth,
all she managed was a quiet "hi".  She was trying not to
look directly at him, but found it almost impossible.
When he noticed how uncomfortable she was Chris thought to
go to his room and put a shirt on.  He was about to turn
around, when she spoke again.  "I'm sorry to pop in like
this," she said, and looked around as if thinking some one
else should be there too, "are you alone?"
"Yeah, Dan is not here," he told her.  The truth was that
Dan hadn't been there in weeks, because he had moved out
last month.  They had a big fight when Chris asked him to
move out so that his girlfriend, Tamar, could move in.   But
Rinat didn't know all that.  For all she knew Dan was still
living there, his room was down the hall so she couldn't
possible see that all his things weren't there anymore.  The
stereo and the television in the living room had always been
Chris', and everything looked pretty normal.  Tamar was
sleeping there but hadn't moved in all her things yet.  She
had some clothes in his room, and things in the bathroom,
but that was all.  He thought he better not let her use the
bathroom or she would probably notice.
She kept staring at him, and he noticed it too.  He told
her to wait for a second and went to put a shirt on.  He was
so nervous that he put on one of Tamar's shirts by accident.
He took it off and put on one of his own shirts and went
back to the living room.  "Sorry about that.  You want
anything to drink?  I think there's juice, and I can make
something hot," he said.
"Coffee will be good if you don't mind," she was looking
out the porch at the sun going down.  It was around seven or
so, but Chris knew Tamar wouldn't be back before ten.  She
was visiting her parents in Jerusalem.  "Like I said, I'm
sorry to just come in on you like that."
"It's okay, I wasn't doing anything special," he yelled
with his head halfway into the refrigerator.  "Listen,
there's no coffee.  I don't ever drink it, but I thought
there would be some somewhere.  There's only juice and
water, or I can make tea."  
"Tea's fine," she yelled back at him, and walked into the
kitchen.

Rinat asked him a lot of questions about Dan that he found
difficult to answer; he also didn't feel comfortable lying
to her knowing she would probably hear about it sooner or
later.  He told her Dan was away for a few days, and tried
avoiding telling exactly where.  He had made tea for the
both of them; he also put out cookies, which he was mostly
eating himself.  When she mentioned the trip they took to
Egypt two summers ago, he thought about his fight with Dan
again.  He couldn't understand why Dan got so angry.  He
knew that eventually Tamar and Chris would move in together,
and Chris was the one who signed the lease so he thought it
was natural for him to stay.  Dan said that if Chris wants
to live with his girlfriend then he should move out himself.
Maybe Dan was mad because Tamar spent so many nights at
their house, and he was alone.
Two summers ago, Dan, Rinat, and Chris went to Egypt to see
the pyramids.  Dan and Chris had always wanted to go and
they planed the trip for almost a year.  A week before they
left, Dan met Rinat and invited her to join them.  Chris was
angry that Dan invited her without asking him first; it was
before he met Tamar.  All three of them slept in the same
room, and when Rinat and Dan had sex it almost drove Chris
crazy.  They did it late at night, when they thought Chris
was asleep- but he wasn't.  After it happened once Chris
asked Dan not to do that again, but Dan argued that he
couldn't get another room where they were staying, and that
he doesn't understand why Chris would mind anyways.  Rinat
ruined the whole trip for him and he never forgave her for
that, even though it wasn't really her fault.  He and Dan
were always fighting, but they always made up too.  This
time he wasn't sure.
On the last night of the trip, Chris was sitting in a bar
near the hotel when Rinat came up to him and asked him if he
would dance with her.  It was the last thing he wanted to
do, but then she asked him if he would take a walk with her
instead and he agreed.  She told him Dan was sleeping, and
she just wanted to apologize.  He told it was okay and that
he didn't mind, even though he did.  She said she heard him
and Dan fighting and she really didn't mean for that to
happen.  She explained to him that she had always dreamed of
going to Egypt and when Dan told her about it she was so
excited Dan had to invite her.  She asked Chris not to be
mad at Dan because it wasn't his fault.  But he didn't
listen to her; he was too angry.  He was a little drunk too.
They had fallen asleep on the sand and Chris woke up in the
morning- Rinat sleeping on his chest-his shirt under his
head.  He hoped nothing had happened, and went back to their
hotel room to pack.

When they finished drinking their tea Rinat stood up and
again said she was sorry to come in on him with no notice.
Again he told her it was no problem, and that he wasn't
doing anything important.  Only reading.  When they were in
Egypt all he did was read.  He was alone most of the time
and he finished a 600-page book all in that week.  It was
the only good thing about the tip for him, but he could have
done it at home too, he didn't have to go away to Egypt for
it.  She asked him to tell Dan she came to see him, and she
left her new phone number.  "Tell him to call me, but only
if he wants to," she emphasized the "he".  Chris promised
her he would and then said goodbye to her.
After Chris locked the door he took the two cups and put
them in the sink and put the box of cookies back in the
cupboard.  He walked down the hall and took his shirt off;
he was so hot.  He looked at the time and wished Tamar would
come home early.  He picked up his book again off the corner
of the desk, sat on the bed, but didn't open it.  He picked
up the phone and called Dan.  There was no answer and he
left a message that Rinat came over to see him and she left
her new number.  He read out the seven digits and then
added; "she said to call her only if you want to" and then
hung up. He made sure he emphasized the "you" the way she
did.  He went back to read and finished the book, two hours
later, just as Tamar walked in.  Whenever Chris finishes a
book, he gets this weird feeling like a long journey has
just ended, but he was too happy to hear Tamar come in that
he didn't even have time to feel it this time.