You’ll have tocome to Cali for that to happen, but yeah, that would be cool.
Sounds like mybrother is ready to go home. Which means once I set things straightwith Ronnie, I should head over to my parents’ house and figure outhow to get along with the rest of my family. I’m done with all thisestranged bullshit.
Wonderhow my fatherwill reactwhen I tell him that?
EarlierI saidthis week had been the longest of my life. Scratch that. Thesetwenty minutes feel like twenty years. How the hell long does ittake to say goodbye and head a few blocks south? She doesn’t livethat far from the venue.
Shit, what ifsomething happened to her on the way? What if she was mugged? Orhit by a car? Or…
“Hey.”
I whipmy headup and watch asshe hesitantly walks toward me. She’s wearing this navy and whitesundress with spaghetti straps and a really, really short hemline.Between the barely there skirt and those high-heeled sandals, herlegs look like they go on for miles.
She’sclutching her handbag ina death grip, and there are brackets around her lips and eyes. Ihope those tell-tale signs aren’t saying,I can’t wait to get rid ofyou; that they reallymeanI’mdesperate to get horizontal with you. No, wait. Right now they need to beLet’s work this outand make up.
“Hey,” Irespond, and then take a step back so she can unlock her apartmentdoor.
“Um,it’s kind of quiet without Pucker here,” she says. She flips on alight while I close and lock the door. I’m wracking my brain for an appropriate response,and I’m coming up flat. It was easy to be brave and confident whenwe were on the phone. But now that she’s standing in front of me,fiddling with the strap of her purse, I’m losing all thatself-respect I just recently discovered.
She waves atthe kitchen. “Do you…do you want a drink?”
“Yeah. That’dbe great. Thanks.”
We soundlike strangers, not estranged lovers. Or hell, maybe this is what estrangedlovers sound like. I’ve never been in this situation before, so Ihave no clue.
I placemy hands on the counter while she reaches for the Johnny WalkerBlue Label on top of the fridge. The hem of thattoo-short skirt rides high on the back ofher thighs, and my mind blanks even more than it alreadywas.
I clear mythroat while she pours smooth, blended scotch over ice.
“I, uh… So,um…well, Mike and Sylvia got back together.”
“I saw,”she says, turning aroundand offering me one of the drinks.
“How come youdidn’t say hi?” I ask.
Shelifts oneshoulder, hergaze on the amber liquid. “Didn’t want to interrupt. Do you know,that’s the first time I’ve ever watched you do your job? You werereally good.”
AllI did waslisten to the woman and convince her to have a little confidence inherself, but okay. “Yeah, speaking of that… I realized somethingtonight.”
“What’sthat?” She’s peering at me expectantly, and I can’t tell if she’strying to be polite or reallywants to know what I have to say.
“That I’m adumbass.”
Her eyeswiden and her lips part.“Why do you say that?”
I swirlthe liquid in my glass, staring at it likeit holds the answers to all my problems.“Because I’m in love with this really fantastic woman, but I didn’thave enough confidence or self-respect to keep her.”
There’sa sound, alittleeep, and Iglance up at Ronnie, who is opening and closing her mouth likeshe’s trying to speak but someone stole her vocal cords. “Did youjust say you love me?” she finally manages to croak.
I nod.“Yep.”
“OhGod.” She glances around with a senseof urgency, and then finally walks over and sinksonto the recliner in the living room. I frown and follow, sittingon the edge of the couch and placing my drink on the coffeetable.
“Oh God,” shesays again.
“What?”
“This”—she wavesher finger between the two of us—“was okay when it was justscrewing around, having a good time. And then it turned serious,and I still thought, okay, I can handle this. And then you startedacting all weird and—”
