Stella had been perched on the window seat when she saw the familiar figure of Magdalene walk down the path from the building to the street where she vanished. "That's odd," she said to Tesla with whom she was sharing her morning glory muffin. The previous night she had seen Mags with the blonde Viking, and yet she walked out of Anton's just now? Well, they were working together, so it wasn't necessarily sex. But still, she felt herself more annoyed about this than warranted.<i> 'Get him out of your head, make space for Peter. He's so hawt</i>,' said the Angel on her shoulder. He was dressed in a fluffy robe, and had fuzzy bunny slippers on his feet and pretend fanned his face with a diminutive hand.<i>'Girl, my man Anton? He's the real deal,'</i>said the Devil who was in a down dog position on her shoulder wearing yoga pants and a form fitting t-shirt.<i> 'Anton is confused, give him time!'</i>The Angel leaned forward and looked around her neck at the Devil who had assumed a greet the sun posture,<i> 'confused? Oh sure, well, there's Magdalene</i>, and there's Chloe, and who knows how many other dames vying for his attention, plus our gal here. so yeah, it's easy to get confused.'<br/><br/>"Both of you go away."<br/><br/>Stella needed peace and quiet to sort through her feelings, and shook her head to clear her thoughts. She had really enjoyed her night with Peter.  She knew rather little about him, he had told her he was a developer but not much else. He had regaled her with a few funny stories of his travels and even quipped that he'd take her to Prague with him next time he went so he could show her the sights, as long as she wouldn't mind staying in Petersburg, Russia for a few days before that. She had laughed at his outrageousness, certain that it was all in jest but the way he had looked at her made it just as certain that he had been quite serious.  She had enjoyed the way he had made her feel that he was giving her his complete attention. He was charming, and relaxed, and unpretentious, and truth was that she did look forward to meeting him again.  And then there was Anton. She wanted her feelings for him to go away, but they only shifted a little. She had so loved sitting with him on his sofa, or at his table watching the cats either play or lovingly groom each other. Anton could be very intense, and just as easily very calm and relaxed. He had a great sense of humor and made her laugh. He introduced her to music and groups she wasn't familiar with, and he had cooked for her. She liked how they 'felt' together when they were together. To her he felt like he 'belonged' in her space...would Peter feel like that once they got to know each other better?<br/><br/>In a way both men had some things in common. They were both rather good looking and both carried with them an air of confidence, something she was only slowly beginning to develop.<br/><br/><i>Ugh,</i>she sighed, and rested her head on the windowpane behind her,<i>'why is love even a thing? It's really more trouble than it's worth.'</i><br/><br/>Stella got up and headed to the bathroom where she took an extended shower before tackling her chores. There were groceries to buy, catfood and cat litter she bought online and had delivered, and she needed to take a few things to the dry cleaner. And then there was a visit to the salon to get a trim, and a facial. It was there that she saw Peter's intense stare from a Forbes magazine cover. The business suit dressed man who had held the magazine reading the article put the magazine down looking at her quizzically. She had bent down and forward staring at the cover and approached closer. Stella blushed realizing that she had stalked the man, 'Uh, sorry, just something I saw on the magazine." The man looked at the cover, "Peter Guthrie? Oh yes, he's been in this area for some weeks now, fabulous man, and I should know, I am working for him on the current project." Stella straightened up and looked at him, "what project?" The man laughed in an avuncular fashion, "I guess you're not overly much into shopping.  He's building that new mall off highway 80 on the North East side of the city. But, if you'll excuse me, my hairdresser is ready for me. Here, you can read about him." He handed her the magazine and followed his hairdresser into the salon.