The Secret Outside Her Window

The Wearer of White

...Five days before the incident...

Cora got a text from an unknown number and proceded to avoid her phone for the rest of the day. Diana returned with two glasses of wine and a gallon of ice cream. She heard about the problems of which became of flirting with a mysterious man from the bar of which has a reputation of rich CEO's and now creeps. This caught Diana's attention when Cora introduced the subject of meeting a man over the phone but was strongly discouraged when she heard about Cora's fears that he might be following her.
"A rich CEO who is into you... the CEO of what?" Diana asked

"I honestly don't remember," Cora confessed, sipping the wine and sitting down on the couch next to Diana who had already grabbed a spoon and was eating out of the ice cream tub.

"This guy sounds like a creep- have you seen him after the time that he dropped you off?"

"Yeah! He was at the bar again and didn't leave until I told the manager."

Diana made a face and shivered with her whole body to express her disgust. "Guys like that, honestly need to learn how to detect boundaries. Have you told him no yet?"

"Haven't been able to."

"He probably wouldn't even listen. Men in high positions have a tendency to dominate the room and demand a sort of silence among peers. They like the attention and end up silencing everyone else because they think they are so 'talented'." Diana rolled her eyes. 

"So. True." Cora agreed, tasting her wine.

"Next time just call the cops, I don't want that guy to be following you back home."

"You're telling me! I thought I heard a few noises outside my window last night. I couldn't get out of my covers. Just imagine him trying to look inside my room."

"If that happens and you see a guys face through the window, promise me you will open the window, pull him through, and beat him to a pulp- no, no, I'm just kidding. But really, I want you to call the police if that happens. Or me; if I'm available;"  Diana went into a higher pitch and mimicked a secretary "my hours are Monday through Thursday; nine to five." 

Cora laughed, "OK. I'll do that." Cora replied. "Do you want to go out? I am not sure just hiding in the house is a good idea either."

"But the guy..." Diana warned. 

"Don't worry, I'll have you." Cora teased.

Diana looked at Cora with one raised eyebrow. 

"Yeah, yeah, safety and all that important stuff, blah, blah, blah. We don't have to be out long, I just want to hit a few art stores and then I have to be back for therapy and all that good stuff." Cora patted Diana's knee and got up from the couch. "You coming?"

Diana groaned and got up as well. "Yay!" Cora jumped up and down and grabbed her purse. "I love shopping!" 

They drove to the art store that was a few miles down in the nearest outlet mall which she picked up new precision brushes and watercolor paints. Cora would go down an isle of paints and glance behind her, afraid it was the man. She would almost hide every time she saw someone walking into the store and avoid any eye contact with a man which proved difficult since the cashier was one.  Much to her relief he was kind and ushered them out quickly without initiating any conversation. Cora didn't realize how terrified she was of the possibility that Callan might actually be stalking her until she got to the art store and her arm hairs started to tingle. Diana and Cora glanced in the makeup and clothes stores but everything was too expensive or not of interest to buy.  They walked into every store just to peek at the items and if the store was of the highest quality with expensive clothing, the two would play a game of 'Guess the Price', which consisted of one person being astounded at the price of a simple object or piece of clothing as ask the other how much it was. They usually got it $50 off higher or lower.