For those unfamiliar with the Foy stories, you can find a list of them here. The context for this story is found in the collection of stories called "Foy's New Life."
 
On the Monday after their date, Charlene showed up at Foy’s cubicle. Charlene was an attractive, professional looking woman, who had been at Babcock Wellman since the very beginning. She knew all the inside information about the office and had her hands in a lot of operations beyond her job description. She saw herself as a no-nonsense kind of person, and she had a reputation for being rather blunt. She was twice divorced and carried herself with the skeptical confidence of a woman who thinks she knows a lot about life and love and men and work.

Foy recognized in her the same traits he had seen in many church leaders. She’d had a little experience, but she projected those experiences onto every situation. She talked fast and intelligently about almost anything. Sometimes she blew right by people with her words and the energy of her opinions. She was Suzanne’s closest friend at work. The two had shared an office in the early days, and now their cubicles were near each other.

Foy had sensed the power Charlene had at the office and been pleasant but guarded around her. He did not trust her emotionally, though he felt like she was probably a good person. She seemed very suspicious of people though, always thinking the worst.

“How was the date?” she asked, with a hint of sarcasm on the last word.

“The date? It was great. We had fun. We talked for a long time. How was your weekend?”

Charlene’s eyes bored into his, daring him to look back at her. Foy looked directly at her without wavering or breaking eye contact and without letting his face reveal anything. He was innocent and by God he was going to act innocent. This stuff was second nature to him because he had dealt with so many relationship and communication games back when he was a minister.

“You look like something’s on your mind, Charlene.”

Her face softened. “No, not really. Well I do want to ask you something.”

“Go ahead.”

“You better be who you say you are.”

Foy searched for some way of understanding what she was saying, but he couldn’t come up with anything.

“That’s not exactly a question. Tell me what you mean by that. You sound suspicious, but I can’t imagine what I’ve done to make you suspicious of me.”

Charlene nodded solemnly and watched him, as if she was sizing him up. Foy leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs. He intertwined his fingers together and laid them over the knee of his crossed leg. He calmly looked back, waiting for her to speak.

Charlene’s face relaxed. “It’s not you. It’s just, guys like you. You’re a good talker. Good with words. You know how to talk to women, obviously. And in my experience, that’s a dangerous thing. You better be who you say you are, because Suzanne thinks you are. She thinks you’re like the way you are when you’re with her.”

Charlene leaned forward, as if now she and Foy were now on the same side, collaborators, people taking care of Suzanne.

“She can’t be hurt again, okay? You don’t know what she’s been through. It’s a lot more than Jeremy. I mean, if she starts hanging her hopes on some man and he turns out…I don’t think she can stand it.”

Foy exhaled loudly. “Look Charlene, I appreciate how much you care about Suzanne. I do. I guess you probably have reasons of your own for being suspicious. And honestly, what could I say to make you less suspicious of me? If I was some kind of jerk, I’d probably try to convince you that I wasn’t, right? So I’m not going to try to convince you of anything. I work here. I like the people I’ve met. Suzanne and I had dinner together. It was nice. We might or might not go out again. I mean, I’ll probably ask…I am going to ask. But we’re just two regular people trying to figure it out, trying to find our way. And I’m trying not to plan too much ahead with this. I’m being as honest as I can here. I don’t know what else to tell you.”

Charlene looked at him for a few seconds and then nodded as if she accepted what he had said.

“Okay. Look, she’s my friend. I know this is kind of high schoolish, but I watch out for her. And I just got a little nervous, a little gun-shy. I mean, damn, I just don’t want to go through all that shit again with her where some man kind of…you know?”

Foy nodded. “We’re all a little scared, aren’t we? People our age. Young enough to feel intense desire and to have a strong, overpowering need for romance and love. Old enough to have been around the block, maybe a couple of times. Young enough to still hope that love is going to be there for us…somehow…if we can just find the right person. Old enough to know that time is running out. Hell, who isn’t scared? I know I am.”

Charlene inhaled deeply, slowly, deliberately. Like taking a drag on a cigarette. She held her breath when her lungs were full. She looked at Foy as if she was determined to make a judgment about him before she had to exhale. And then she let the air whoosh out and her shoulders collapsed forward, like she was giving up.

“Yeah, I know. I’ve been married twice. The first time was just a mistake, I thought. The second guy was, I don’t know, a talker. You know? He said all the right things. I thought I had found the man I was looking for.” She drew in her breath again. “But he was all talk. I don’t blame him I guess. Somehow I couldn’t tell what kind of a man he was. I don’t think he knew who he was, so how could I have known? Anyway, whatever. It didn’t work out.”

Foy nodded deliberately. He waited a polite amount of time before speaking, so it would be apparent that he had been listening to her and not just thinking about what he was going to say in response.

“We’re all confused, right? I mean, Jesus, I ran into Suzanne in the store before, you know before we went out. She was coming down the aisle toward me, and there I was holding a box of Captain Crunch.”

“Captain Crunch?”

Foy closed his eyes. “Yes, I know, Captain Crunch, but… actually it was kind of cool...but the point is, I was scared to death when I saw her. Scared she was going to think I was silly because of what was in my basket. Scared that I wouldn’t know what to say. Just scared. You women scare the hell out of me.”

Foy then let out a small, discreet compliment, as if it was an afterthought or a moment when he accidentally said too much and therefore couldn’t be accused of flirting. “And it’s smart women that get me. Smart, attractive women. Oh my God. You know, women like you and Suzanne. Jesus. How are we men supposed to think straight around you?”

Charlene tried to look serious, but a hint of a smile was apparent on her face. She looked down at her shoes, then back at Foy. Her face was soft and accepting at first, then it slackened into a neutral expression.

“You are a very dangerous man.”

“What did I say?”

“I’m not saying you’re a bad man. In fact, I actually think you’re sincere. Something in you, your way, I don’t know. But that doesn’t change things. You are a very dangerous man.”

Foy exhaled loudly and slumped forward in his seat. He put his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together. He looked at the ground and then back up. His face had a pained expression.

“But I don’t wanna be that. How can someone be dangerous if they don’t want to be?”

They looked at each other for a long moment. Then Charlene blew air out of her mouth, smiled, and shook her head as a signal that she was done with the intense stuff.

“My Lord, you do know how to do the little-boy-puppy-dog thing, don’t you?” She paused and then spoke again. “I’m sorry. This is…way out of line…too much…intrusive. Never mind me, I’m probably jaded. She’s my friend and I’m the one who picks up the pieces, you know? And that’s…no fun.”

Foy said nothing. He sat without moving, looking at the coffee cup on his desk that served as a pencil holder. He reached his hand toward it, then pulled it back. Charlene walked away and spoke without looking back at him.

“You better be who you say you are.”

rlp