Well, more stuff happened. After I sent her gift, I waited a while to see if perhaps she might send a thank-you card or make a phone call to say thank you (I wasn't really expecting it, though. She knew ahead of time she was getting the gift and even knew what it was).

Anyway, no thank you arrived so I decided to call her to make sure the gift arrived (and of course it was a good excuse to get to hear her voice again). She answered and I heard her family in the background - it sounded pretty busy. She said "hey!" in the same excited tone she used during the last call. The first thing she mentioned was that she was trying to reach me earlier and didn't get through somehow (I guess you were right; I was worrying for nothing!). She confirmed that she recieved the gift and said thank you. She said she was currently busy (I could tell by all the many voices in the background) and she said she'd call me back later. I asked if she had my number and she said that she had it on her cell phone.

I never got that call, either. I thought about what she said about not being able to reach me, and wondered if maybe she had my number wrong. I called the next day and only got a voicemail, so I left a message expressing my concern that she may not have the number right and said I'd try again later. The following several days I tried to call her one two more times with no success. Then I decided I'd just let it go for the time being. Try to put her out of my mind, I thought, and things will go as they should.

This evening I came home from work, tired, and there was a message on my answering machine. I pressed "play," and heard her lovely voice! The message was pretty short and she said that she got my call and got a chance to call me back. One noticeable thing about her message: she once again used my first name. I guess we're officially on a first-name basis now, which is great. After some celebratory hooting and hollering, I picked up the phone and called her back. She didn't sound as happy to hear from me this time, but I think it was because she was tired. She was at a fast food place when she answered her cell phone and she had finished with a job interview. I asked a little bit about her job, and then she said that since she was in a different town, she was being charged double minutes on her cell phone. Not wanting to cost her a lot of money, I said I'd let her go, and she said she'd call me when she got home.

I didn't hear from her again today, but I don't know if she was going home today or tommorow, so maybe she will still call. Now that I know she has my correct number, I am not going to bother her anymore. I'm just going to let her call me from now on until we establish something. The fact that three times in a row, she said she would call and didn't, is kind of worrying, but maybe there are good explanations for each time. I'm not as down in the dumps now, and I think it'll be interesting to see where this will end up.