A Slight Change of Plan (17 page)

“I’m not sure. Will he really think that? Isn’t that a little high school?”

“Of course. But let’s face it, that’s where men learn most of their dating behavior. Do you have a few C-listers? That way Tom will understand that his being invited was not really such a big deal.”

“C-list? I don’t think I have a C-list.”

“Of course you do. New neighbors? The golf pro? Cleaning lady? I know for a fact you can drum up a few lawyers.”

“The lady across the cul-de-sac. She thinks Boone is adorable.”

“Excellent. And a few lawyers?”

“Cheryl, in all the years I worked at that office, I did not find one person I would consider inviting to my home. But seriously, maybe he doesn’t even know the difference between the A-list and the C-list.”

She made another, even more impolite noise. “That’s another thing we learn about in high school, Kate: Life’s journey is all about working your way up to the cool kids’ table. Don’t forget it. Ever. What should I bring?”

“Chicken nuggets and Boone’s Farm apple wine?”

She laughed and hung up. Boone came up to me and laid her head on my lap, her butt wagging gently where her tail should have been. Time for a walk.

Since I had canceled my golf lesson, I had changed the route Boone and I took every day. Now we came out of the cul-de-sac and turned left toward the walking trails, instead of down past the pool. I had never been a great fan of Mother Nature. I mean, I loved looking out at things, but I never enjoyed being in the midst of, well, a forest or a desert, for example. My idea of the perfect wilderness setting involved carefully weeded flower beds and comfortable seating. Plus, I was a little phobic about ticks. But I braved the wilds of Madison rather than face the golf pro, and I was meeting a whole new set of neighbors, the hardy, outdoor set. There was one very friendly man who walked his Jack Russell terrier who seemed very open to conversation, but his dog kept trying to hump Boone, so our exchanges so far had been rather short.

Boone and I braved our way through the trees. It was summer already—it was mid-July, and although Memorial Day was the usual start of summer, I always considered the Fourth of July to be the official jumping-off place. I never put on a bathing suit before then.

On the way home, I stopped by and knocked on my neighbor’s door. It took a few minutes for her to answer, but since her front door was open behind the screen, I figured she was home. When she appeared, she gave me a big smile, opened the screen door, and reached down to pet Boone.

“Kate, hello. And Boone, how’s the girl?”

Boone wriggled with delight.

“Marie, I’m having some folks over tomorrow for spaghetti dinner. Do you think you could come over and join us?”

She broke into a delighted smile. “Of course. I’d love to. Dane was coming over, but he’s here all the time. I don’t get too many invites these days, so I certainly won’t say no. Thank you so much.”

“Dane?”

“My son. We usually see each other on the weekends, but he’ll understand, I’m sure.”

“Invite him along,” I told her.

She tilted her head in surprise. “Really? You don’t even know him.”

I waved a hand. “Well, you and I are going to be neighbors for a long time, so I may as well get to know him, right?”
Besides
, I thought,
nothing says C-list like a neighbor’s son
.

She beamed. “How thoughtful of you, dear. All right, then. What time?”

So I was set. Tom was going to meet my friends, some family, and also some of the most insignificant people in my life.

Now, there was a step. I’m not sure if it was forward or not, but at least it was something.

Saturday morning, Sam came down fully dressed at a fairly early hour, surprising me just a little. He gave me a quick kiss and opened the fridge.

“Alisa and I are going to have to miss your thing tonight. We’re going into the city to hang out with some of my lab people; then we’re seeing Tim’s—remember Tim? He helped us move?—his brother is in a band and they’re playing in Chelsea tonight. And then we’re going to crash at Tim’s place, so we don’t have to worry about catching the bus. Sorry.”

“No problem, honey. Have a great time.”

He had pulled out some organic cranberry juice and poured himself a huge glass. Then he started taking all his pills. He took at least eight different supplements, from fish oil, which I could perfectly understand, to blue algae, which I didn’t get at all.

“So, Mom, how’s it going?”

I settled back with my coffee. “It’s going fine, Sam. Thanks for asking. Still nothing on the job front, but I’m not worried yet.”

He nodded. “Good. Good. Listen, Alisa and I aren’t being too big a pain in the ass, are we?”

I smiled. “Alisa is a great girl, and she can stay here as long as she likes. You have always been a pain in the ass, but
I’m used to it by now. Are you really going to move to France and raise my grandbabies in a foreign country?”

He made a face. “Mom, you have no idea what kind of opportunity this is for Alisa. She’s not even begun her doctorate, and this guy over there is crazy to get her. Alisa is really brilliant.”

“I know. And apparently she can also make a mean latte. But France?”

He finished taking his pills and put the glass in the sink, caught my look, then put it in the dishwasher. Good boy.

“Who knows what’s going to happen, Mom? I know how you are about planning way too far in advance for everything, so let’s just wait, okay?”

Fair enough. I resented the “planning way too far in advance” remark, but knew it held a kernel of truth. As I finished my coffee, it occurred to me that with the kids out of the house, Tom could spend the night with me for a change. I sent him a quick text, making the invitation, then went into the den to check my e-mails.

And there it was, a message from Jake, telling me what a great time he’d had, and maybe we could meet again next week?

My ears were filled with the sound of all my blood rushing to my head. Really? He wanted to see me again? But what about the girlfriend? I had been that girl, the one who had put her blind faith in Jake because I thought he was such a wonderful guy, only to have my heart stomped on because he really wasn’t. Did I want to be That Woman? The woman who knowingly went out with an attached man in hopes of luring him away? And how did I feel about the fact that Jake seemed perfectly comfortable cheating on this girlfriend, too?

On the other hand, Sandra the Beautiful didn’t look like the type to have too many sophisticated emotions, and would probably be moving on to the next guy before the back door even got close to smacking her on the butt.

Damn, I wished I knew what I wanted. I wished that there was some clear plan out there for me, and that all I had to do was follow the dotted line. What I was not going to do was be an “other woman,” although since the other woman was usually the young, sexy one, the whole situation appealed to my sense of irony. So I sent him a simple line back—
What about Sandra the Beautiful?

Take that, Jake Windom.

The next night, as I was chopping salad, I heard Boone barking and knew somebody had come up the driveway. But after a few minutes of no one coming through the door, I went down to find Laura sitting on the bench, Bobby standing beside her, holding her crutches.

“Hey,” I called, coming down into the courtyard.

Laura looked up and smiled. “Can we eat out here?” she asked.

I gave Bobby a kiss and a quick hug before sitting down next to Laura. “Sure. We’ll bring down the dining room table and chairs, set out a bunch of candles; it’ll be great.”

She nodded. “Good. Stairs are really tough for me. You know how uncoordinated I am. In fact, I may have to spend the rest of the month here, because going down is harder than going up.”

“She won’t let me carry her,” Bobby explained. “She’s afraid I’ll throw out my back.”

I shook my head. “Laura, you probably don’t weigh more than a hundred and twenty pounds.”

“I know. But Bobby’s back is tricky. Picking up a six-pack can be fraught with peril.”

“Well, Tom is coming, and Jeff and Phil and my neighbor’s son. Hopefully, between all of them, we can find someone who knows the fireman’s carry.”

She rolled her eyes. “I am not going to be slung over somebody’s shoulder like a sack of flour, with my butt stuck out for all the world to see.”

“Laura, honey, you have no butt, remember? Can I bring you out some wine?”

She nodded, and Bobby followed me into the house.

“She’s in more pain than she admits,” Bobby said. “Devon is homesick and keeps texting her every five minutes for her to come and get him.”

“Wait a minute,” I said. “Those boys have been going to the same soccer camp for ten years. This year he’s homesick?”

“This year he has a girlfriend, which is the only reason she hasn’t sent me up there to get him. And on top of everything else, your mom got her cable shut off because she forgot to pay the bill.” He sighed. “Laura’s stressed and doesn’t handle it the same way you do.”

I wasn’t so great at stress, actually, but Laura tended to crumple quickly. I poured the wine.

“Mom had her cable cut off?”

Bobby nodded. “And her cable is tied to her phone. So at first she thought the phone was broken, so she drove to RadioShack and bought a new one. But then when the TV stayed blank, she called a neighbor to try to fix it. That’s
when they figured out that everything was turned off. It took her four days to get it turned back on.”

“Wait. She drove? I thought Laura said her car was dead, and she was using the bus that ran through the complex to get around.”

Bobby made a face. “A well-meaning neighbor jump-started it for her.”

I felt like banging my head against the counter. This was a woman who, according to my sister, could not walk across her living room without stopping for breath and who was starting to forget things. The last time she drove, about three months ago, she got on the parkway going in the wrong direction and went past six exits before she figured it out. And somebody thought she should have her car back? Well-meaning neighbors should be shot.

I carried the wine back outside, and found a small crowd had gathered. Cheryl was there with a very tall, very attractive man I assumed was Marco. I had imagined him older, but he was probably in his mid-forties, with dark skin, flashing white teeth, and a magnificent head of black hair, thick and longish, that surrounded his strong face like a lion’s mane. Tom was also there, hands in his pockets, watching everything with a half smile on his face. Regan was sitting next to Laura, holding her hand. Phil was crouched in front of Laura, looking very sympathetic.

“Wow,” I said, coming down the steps and handing Laura her wine. “Were you all lurking around the corner, waiting until there were enough of you for a mass strike?”

Regan stood up and gave me a quick kiss. “I was just telling Aunt Laura that Phil can easily carry her inside. This is silly.”

I looked at Laura. “See? Man up and let Phil carry you. I’ve decided I cannot feed all you people out here. There’s not enough room for the chairs.”

Laura made a face, but put out her arms. Phil scooped her up and they went into the house, Regan carrying the crutches. I smiled at Tom and gave him a nice, long kiss.

“Welcome,” I said.

He nodded. “Thanks. Is your family always so high-maintenance?”

What did he say?

“Well, she did break her leg, and crutches are tough to get used to,” I explained, still smiling.

He shrugged. “If you say so.”

I was trying to decide what to say next when I heard my name being called. Marie was crossing the street with a very large, dark man at her side.

She smiled and waved. “Hello, Kate. This is my son, Dane.”

Marie was tiny, just under five feet, with snow-white hair, olive skin, and a very Italian look. Dane had skin the color of coffee with a touch of cream, long dreadlocks, and a decidedly Jamaican lilt to his voice.

“Glad to meet you, Kate,” he said, holding out his hand. I shook it, introduced Tom, and we all went inside.

Laura was comfortably settled on the couch, her wineglass handy, laughing at something Regan had said. I made more introductions, got more wine, and sat back to watch.

Marie and Marco were fast becoming friends. He, I knew, was a professional musician. What I didn’t know was that Marie had also been a professional—she had sung in the chorus of the Metropolitan Opera for thirty years. Cheryl,
left to her own devices, zeroed in on Dane. He was probably just under forty and very good-looking. He was explaining that Marie had adopted him when he was twelve years old, bringing him to live with her in New York City. Dane was the director of some sort of program in Newark that worked with the homeless. Bobby and Tom were discussing sports. It seemed that a good time was being had by all.

Regan left Laura’s side to sit next to me. She gave me a look.

“What did you do to Elaine?” she asked.

“Nothing. I just bought a gorgeous metallic dress, bronze, before she could buy a gorgeous metallic dress. I may have pissed her off.”

“Ya think? Why do you do that to her?”

“Do what? It’s not my fault I found the perfect dress for your wedding that just happens to be bronze. She called your future father-in-law a philistine, by the way, and warned me that he’d try to sleep with the bridesmaids.”

Regan snorted. “Edward is a perfect gentleman. It’s all sour grapes on her part. Tom seems nice.”

Her voice was very even. Tom had come through a few minutes earlier and asked everyone if he could freshen their drink. A nice gesture, sure, but—this was
my
house.

I glanced up and Regan’s face was completely set. “Yes, he is. We haven’t known each other very long, but I think if we give each other a chance, we could be good together.”

She took a quick sip of her wine. “What about that other guy? The college one?”

Now it was my turn to keep my voice even. “We had a drink. It was good to see him again.”

Cheryl came over, her arm draped through Dane’s. “Kate, you must talk to this man. He needs your help.”