Alex watched in both fascination and appreciation as her dress swirled around her thighs. As the young Mexican man twirled her expertly, she threw her head back and laughed. Alex could tell it was happening to her again—she had forgotten to be wary, and the joy that was natural to her was sneaking out. It made him grin like a kid. Hands plunged into his pockets, he rocked back on his heels.
“Alex!” Paula shouted. He turned sharply to look at her. “For God’s sake, what planet are you on?”
“What?” he asked.
“I’ve been talking and elbowing you! You haven’t heard a word, have you?”
Well, what the hell did she expect when Jennifer was doing the maringá with the handsome young Latino? “Sorry,” he said. “What did you say?”
“I said, after the piñata, John and I will drop Rose at her house. You can stay on with the beautiful Doris,” she said, sarcasm drawing out the name.
“Thanks,” Alex said.
The dance ended and shouts and applause filled the air. Adolfo rushed to Jennifer, clapping and exclaiming, “¡Mi Dios! ¡Qué talento!”
Alex grabbed another bottle of beer. Paula was helping John and some others string up the piñata while the kids were swarming the backyard, anxious to crack it open. Meanwhile, Jennifer was being passed from hand to hand in the dance. Even Buzz turned her around a couple of times. Alex thought he should get his chance before she was exhausted, but she was so much fun to watch and he was having such pleasure doing so. Every now and then she would catch his eye, smile and wave just as she was spun off by yet another new partner.
When the music changed again, Alex put his beer down on a picnic table and went to claim her. “You’ve been holding out. You’re a dancer,” he said.
“Not really,” she protested, her cheeks flushed. “I admit I love to dance, but I’m a good follower, that’s all.”
“Oh-ho, I doubt that,” he laughed.
As if by magic, the next song was a slower pace and he pulled her into his arms. If either of them had looked closer, they would have seen their host instructing the guitarists to slow it down.
“Thank goodness,” she sighed, leaning against him gratefully. “I’m nearly worn out. I don’t think I could jig around this carport one more time.”
“Good,” he said.
She curved against him and proved she was, actually, a very good follower. But he didn’t plan on going far or fancy, he just wanted to hold her. And on the excuse of exhaustion, she lay her head against his shoulder and sighed. Her shoulder, tanned and freckled and glistening with the perspiration of dance, was right there at his lips; her arm circled his shoulders with comfortable possessiveness. His hand on her waist pulled her tighter, and as the music played, he felt himself moving her from the middle of the dance floor to the edge, farther from the crowd.
Jennifer felt at home, safe in his arms. She lay her head down, pulled him tighter and prayed he wouldn’t release her. Around them was the noise of partyers yelling, laughing, singing, clapping—but they began to seem farther and farther away. She had the vague sense of being alone with him and blamed exhaustion and the alcohol, then she blessed them both, for the stirring within her felt real and very welcome, and she didn’t want to fight it.
The music changed and changed again, but they continued to rock back and forth in a slow sway as if they were alone. His lips touched her shoulder and she brushed hers against his cheek. She found he had moved them into a corner of the carport and under the canopy of a drooping California pepper tree. It was there that he stopped moving his feet, pulled back slightly, lifted her chin with his index finger and moved his mouth over hers.
The thrill of his kiss shot through her and her arms went around his neck, her fingers digging into his hair to keep him close. She opened her lips under his and welcomed him; she moved her body against him so that he would have absolutely no doubt she wanted him. And want him she did, in a way so primal and natural, she was shocked by it.
The loud crack of the piñata bat suddenly rent the air, followed by screams and laughter as penny candy scattered, being chased by little ones. The noise broke apart a delicious kiss and they turned their heads to look, but Alex used a gentle hand to direct her eyes back to his. “Let’s get out of here,” he said.
“Rose,” she whispered.
“Rose is taken care of. Paula and John. They may have left already. Come with me?”
She nodded.
Jennifer laid her head back against the cool leather of Alex’s front seat. She closed her eyes while he drove; he placed a hand on her knee.
Think about it, she told herself. A waitress and dog-sitter falls in love with the nice man next door. A handsome, tender, strong, honest man. After a life so disjointed and fraught with worry, could I just this once luck out and stumble upon a stable and trustworthy man who cares for me? She saw a picture of it in her mind—a small Boulder City house, a couple of puppies, a garden, bicycles. She wouldn’t change a thing. After beachfront condos, private jets and Jaguars, could she be happy like that? Only for fifty or sixty years.
But when he learned all there was to know about her, would he feel the same way?
Alex pulled his car into his garage. He killed the engine and they sat in the still, quiet dark. He reached for her, kissed her again, long and lingeringly, and asked, “Your house or mine?”
“I want to be near Alice,” she said. “She’s so…you know.”
“Good enough,” he said.
They held hands as they walked across the lawn. She opened the door with her key and Alice greeted them. “See, I told you I wouldn’t be late,” she said.
Before she could get any more involved with the dog, she found herself pulled into Alex’s embrace yet again. He turned her and pushed her back against the closed front door. Alone now with no intruding laughter, music or partygoers, Alex pressed himself against the length of her and applied himself to the task of seducing her with bold and serious intention.
She found him totally irresistible. Totally. The feeling rocked her. There was no distorting the fact that while she’d had quite a few men in her day, she hadn’t ever felt helpless or vulnerable to the emotions that drove simple-headed women into the arms of conquesting men. But this guy was working his magic on her and she was melting. Literally. She felt him firm up against her while she became damp and pliant and ready.
She wanted him. She wanted to give herself to him. But it came to her suddenly that to do so while there was still so much deception on her part would be wrong. If it wasn’t enough that he didn’t even know her name, he would have to know about her history with men before they could become intimate. For the first time, it would be more than sex for her. It would be the whole of it—giving and taking.
“Alex?” she whispered against his parted lips.
“Hmm?” he returned while his hands roved down to her buttocks and pulled her hard against him.
“I don’t want you to go, but I might…might need more time before…”
Alex groaned.
“I want to be sure,” she said, but what she meant was that they both should be sure. He should know what he was getting into so he didn’t have any regrets.
His lips left hers and his head dropped slightly, banging the door over her shoulder. “Okay,” he finally said. “Perfectly understandable.” He kissed her again. “Perfectly impossible.”
Ten
Alex stayed the night, just in case Jennifer changed her mind. They went to bed, but in most of their clothes. She in her dress; he removed his shoes, belt and shirt. He curled around her back at first, kissing her neck, whispering that the moment she was ready, all she had to do was nudge him and he would take very good care of her. But thanks to beer, margaritas and dancing, his promises soon turned into soft snores. Very soon he rolled over and she was left to spoon his back.
Snuggling was something she never did. She hadn’t had a relationship that lent itself to closeness. Sex, yes. Intimacy, no.
&n
bsp; He never stirred when she got up at four-thirty to go to work, or when she ran the shower and let Alice out in the yard. She scribbled him a little note and headed for the diner at sunrise.
Buzz was in the grill and there was no sign of Adolfo. “Our cook isn’t coming in today?” she asked.
“He’ll make it sooner or later, but there’s no hurry. So. You and Alex? Huh?”
“Just friends, Buzz. He’s right next door is all.”
Buzz chuckled and his belly jiggled. “Good thing my neighbors don’t kiss me like that. I live next door to old man Roberts. Bristly chin, very few teeth.”
Jennifer put on her apron. “But what a great party, huh? Adolfo has such a wonderful family. So many fantastic friends.” She tried to keep the sigh from her voice. “I can’t imagine.”
“Tell me about it,” Buzz concurred. “But we shouldn’t complain, Doris. We have to play the cards we’re dealt.”
She leaned her elbows on the counter. “You ever feel ready for a new deck?”
He seemed to think about that for a moment, then shook his head. “Naw. I don’t think I could be any luckier. Nor happier.”
“What are you happiest about?” she asked.
“Well, in case you hadn’t noticed, I have a lot of fun. I have good friends and I make the absolute most out of what I got. This is just a little diner, and it keeps a lot of people happy and well fed. I don’t know what more I could ask for.”
“I was thinking about family….”
“I think of all of you as my family.” Then he smiled broadly, nodding his head so sharply that the haylike thatch of hair flopped on his forehead. “I keep you irritated enough, don’t you think?”
Elbow on the counter, she leaned on her hand. “You never married.”
“Never found anyone who would have me.” He chuckled. “Except Adolfo.”
“You two are like an old married couple. You’ve been together a long time, haven’t you?”
“Over twenty-five years. He’s good people.”
“The whole family is wonderful. How do you do that? Create a family like that?”
“They stick together, the Garcias. They work together, help each other. And, they never give up.”
“You know, Buzz, I don’t think I’ve told you this, but you gave me a great opportunity here, with this job.”
“This crummy job?”
“It’s good work. I needed something like this. Needed to slow down and take a long look at my life. It was time for a change.”
“Well,” he said, wiping the counter in front of her. “We aim to please.”
Because she couldn’t shake the memory of leaving Alex in her bed, the morning dragged by. Adolfo finally showed up at a little after nine, looking a little worse for wear but pleased with himself. Hedda showed up early, a bunch of pictures torn from the magazines in her notebook for Jennifer to ooh and aah over. And then finally it was time to go home. Even after a long introspective morning, she still didn’t know what she was going to say to Alex.
She was saved from that challenge. At the bottom of her note he had written, “I had a great time, too. Had to go in to work, but hopefully that means I’ll be home a little earlier. I’ll give you a call. And my cell number is 555-7678.” It sounded as though Alex was moving into a relationship.
Louise had said, For advice about men, ask Rose.
After Alice’s constitutional, she tapped on Rose’s door. “Are you busy, Rose?”
“I was going to go shopping, but it can wait if you need something.”
She took a deep breath. “Can you tell me about Alex?”
Rose’s eyes took on a special light and she smiled. “Come in, Doris. Let’s have a Coke.”
Alex, Rose told her, bought the little house on the other side of Louise about twelve years ago. He was a brand-new, twenty-three-year-old police officer in the city, single and pleasant to be around. Then a couple of years later a beautiful young woman appeared—the new wife.
“We weren’t close friends at that time,” Rose said. “So we didn’t know that Alex was engaged and we weren’t invited to the wedding. When Patsy showed up, I swear the whole street brightened. She was so effervescent, so alive. It was easy to tell that Alex had never been so happy. We saw a lot more of him in those early days. I imagine it was because he wanted to be home with his pretty young wife whenever he could.”
“What happened to her?” Jennifer asked, quite sure she was going to hear the tragic story of a love gone wrong, leaving Alex devastated.
“One day we noticed the young woman was gone and Alex’s house seemed to be shut up tighter than a tick. If it hadn’t been for seeing him go to and from work now and then, we’d have thought he moved.”
“What happened?”
“She left him. Or he threw her out.” They sat at the kitchen table with their sodas on ice and Rose leaned closer. “Alex was a very junior police officer at the time—a uniformed officer. He didn’t have much seniority so he worked nights and weekends. But his wife was not alone and lonely—when she wasn’t out until late at night, she had company in. She always seemed to make it home before Alex showed up, and her company would always leave before he got home. I was the one that pointed it out to Louise, and you know what she said?”
“I can’t imagine,” Jennifer said.
“She said I had a dirty mind. Phoo.”
Jennifer thought about that for a while. “Poor Alex,” she said softly.
“There hasn’t been a woman in that house since. I’m not saying he hasn’t dated—I wouldn’t know about that. But if he’s brought anyone home with him, he snuck them right past Louise and me. Now, Louise might mind her own business most of the time, but I’m on the neighborhood watch. And I mean watch.”
Then undoubtedly Rose knew where Alex had spent the night last night, she thought.
“Has he ever told you what happened? With his wife?”
“I’ve never asked,” Rose said. “It was clear that whatever it was, it was very painful. He was a long time in coming around. It was a couple of years later when he was cutting his front lawn—he just kept going until he’d cut all three lawns. It’s not as though they’re very big. Then one day he trimmed all three front hedges. Then some spring flowers appeared around our doors, so Louise and I had him to dinner. The help with the lawns was never negotiated—it seemed to coincide perfectly with our lawn boy going off to college.”
“But you’re very close now….”
“We’re friends, Doris. But he doesn’t confide in me.” She smiled a little wistfully. “We actually have a good time together, Alex and I. I’m very careful, you see—I don’t want him spending all his time with old women.”
“But he seems to have a wonderful life!” Jennifer protested. “I’ve met his partner and her husband. He personally introduced me to half of Adolfo’s family and every one in the neighborhood—he knows everyone. He may not be married or dating, but he has a very full life. You can’t deny it.”
Rose lifted just one finely arched brow. “Is he dating now?” she asked.
Jennifer didn’t answer right away because she was deep in thought. How was it possible this attractive and sensitive and funny man hadn’t had a significant woman in his life in at least eight years and now, suddenly, a couple of months after meeting her he was ready to take a chance again? On her? What would he say if he knew what her life had really been like? “I don’t know,” she said softly.
“He seems a little preoccupied with you,” Rose said.
“I don’t know,” she said again.
“Save all that coyness for someone else, darling. I can see right through you.” She stood up from the table. “We should have a little wine now. Loosen your tongue.” She went to her wine rack and turned bottles until she found one she liked.
“Louise warned me about you. She said you’d get me drunk and make me talk.”
“How is the old girl?”
“She’s having a high old time. There’
s one thing that’s so crazy, Rose. I always ask about Rudy, but all Louise will ever say is that he’s just the same.”
Rose was in the process of pulling out the cork and her hand froze. She turned to look at Jennifer, a most peculiar expression on her face. “Oh, my dear,” she said finally. “We really do need that wine.”
“Why? What is it? This whole thing is so strange. She did say she was going to see her son, Rudy, didn’t she?”
Rose poured two glasses of wine and took her seat again. “I think what she said was, she was going to be near Rudy. You see, Doris, Rudy is dead.”
“Louise’s history is fascinating. And tragic. She married a California engineer in the forties. Harry was his name. They had only one child, Rudy, born just a year after they married. Louise was first a teacher and then, after going back to college for her Ph.D. with a baby in a stroller beside her during most of her classes, an academic. They were true intellectuals, bohemians. Harry and Louise lived as equal partners before that was fashionable. But it wasn’t easy to get an education and pursue a career while also a wife and mother. I suppose that’s why she went in the direction of women’s studies and women’s literature.
“They did a great deal of traveling back then, and spent several years in Europe, mostly London. Harry worked for the Department of Defense as a consultant, which took him all over the globe, and Louise was welcomed at international universities in her studies.”