Rita was so deep in thought that the sound of the doorbell startled her. She resumed her self-assessment and called out, "The door's open." Finally satisfied with her appearance, she left her bedroom and headed toward the front door. She found Chris sitting on her couch, looking pretty ticked off.
"Well don't you look handso-"
"Why did you do that?" he demanded, cutting her off.
"This has gotta be some kind of a record; you've only been here a minute and already I've managed to offend you. So tell me Chris, what exactly did I do?" questioned Rita, more than a little curious about what she could have possibly done to irritate him that quickly.
"Rita, you're a police officer," Chris said with badly concealed anger.
"I vaguely recall hearing that somewhere," she said, with a hint of a smile, not even attempting to understand Chris' state of mind.
"I'm serious here, Sam," Chris continued, "you should know better than leaving your door unlocked."
"I was expecting you, Chris," Rita said, her smile now completely gone. She didn't like being forced to defend her actions to anyone, especially not Chris, who usually knew what she was thinking without having to be told.
"So what? How could you be so careless? Dammit Rita, you're a homicide cop. You of all people should know that who a person expects and who shows up aren't always the same person."
"Listen up, Lorenzo, I don't know what's really going on here, but I'm not the one with the problem! As you've said more than once, I'm a cop. You're my partner, you know better than anyone that I can protect myself. Besides, if anyone should be upset here, it's me! You walk in late, with no explanation, no apology, not even a "Good Evening, Rita," and you expect me to feel bad because I left my door unlocked." Rita finished through clenched teeth. She sat on the other end of the couch, buried her head in her hands, and took several deep breaths. She looked so upset, Chris instantly felt contrite. Though his anger was now gone, the words that it had evoked still hung in the air.
"Geez, Sam, I'm sorry. It's just that when I came here and your door was unlocked...I just blew up. I'm sorry." Chris moved over until he was seated next to Rita. He reached out, as if to touch her, but just then, she got up off of the couch and started to pace. She didn't start to speak until her back was to Chris.
"So how are we going to convince these people that we're who we say we are and that we want to buy?" Rita questioned, her face not visible, voice giving nothing away.
For a second, Chris didn't know what people Rita was talking about, but quickly remembered their assignment. He realized that they had to talk about how they were going to do their jobs, but he didn't want to go any further without apologizing to Rita.
"Sammy, I am so-"
"Um, so how do you want to do this," Rita asked, interrupting Chris' apology.
"I was thinking that we could, ah, just hit the club scene. That's where all the designer drugs are, so I'm sure we'll see some of our Russian friends there. Rita, I'm really am do want to apologize about the way I acted before. I was being a jerk, I don't know how else to explain it. Please say that you'll forgive me; don't make me beg." But beg he did. By the time he was finished talking, he had crawled over to Rita and gotten down on his knees. Chris had taken her hands into his and looked into her eyes so that she could see how sorry he was.
"Rita, you know I trust you with my life. I know that you aren't careless, but my I was angry and my foot just seemed to find its way into my mouth. I wasn't trying to imply that you aren't a good police officer, because you're the best, and there's no one I would rather be with out there. I was worried, and I know it isn't any excuse. I promise, I'll make it up to you. I'll do all of your paperwork, I'll buy you lunch from someplace other than the Roach Coach, I'll..."
"...you'll give me your car..."
"Give you my car? You can't be serious. I've already said that I'm sorry," Chris looked up at Rita's face, and when he saw that she was just kidding he said, "but I'm not that sorry!"
"Gee, thanks. Now get up, you idiot. You're forgiven. About tonight, which nightclub should we check out? I was thinking that we should go to "The World," seeing Chris' confusion, Rita continued, "you know, the new one on Beale Street."
"Not that one, Rita. Do we have to?" Chris mock-whined as he stood up, "it's always loud and crowded and..."
"...and we're going there tonight," Rita finished for him.
"And we're going there tonight," Chris dutifully echoed.
"Cheer up," said Rita, as the pair headed toward the door, "you might meet someone you like there!"
"They're not my type," said Chris confidently.
"How do you know?" Rita asked, curiosity peaked, as she walked through the infamous door.
"I just do," said Chris, with a sense of finality, closing the door firmly behind them.
