A Table for Two (8 page)

Tracy shrugged her shoulders. "I have no answer for that. You obviously need to believe your own distorted logic. I just happen to know we all need love and I'm pretty sure that includes you. I'm convinced it's what life is all about and the longer I live, the more I think it's the only thing that really matters."

"I've heard this all before, but it's not for me. I can do without love." Dana rubbed her eyes to ward off the beginnings of a headache. "Once was more than enough. I don't feel like setting myself up for that kind of misery ever again." She stopped rubbing her eyes and blinked several times to bring them into focus. "What's wrong with being alone? Do we all have to be with someone in order to be all right?"

"Nobody has to be with anybody if you come right down to it. It's not about that."

"Tracy, please give me a break. For some reason, I feel like an emotional train wreck today and talking about this is upsetting me even more."

Tracy walked over to Dana and took her hand. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you felt that way. What's bothering you?"

"I wish I knew." She squeezed Tracy's hand.

"I'm here if you need me. I hope you know that."

"I do." Tears welled up in Dana's eyes.

"Hey, don't cry. I didn't mean to upset you. Sometimes I have a big fat know-it-all mouth." Tracy draped her arms around Dana's shoulders. "Why don't you go upstairs and do something nice for yourself to take your mind off things. You don't have to do anything for the rest of the day but hang out and take it easy."

"I think I will. Maybe I'll unpack a few more boxes." Dana wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "I think I'll call my mother and talk to her and then I'll give my sister a call. Do you want to come down later and watch a movie? I'll make popcorn."

"Sounds like fun, but I can't tonight. I have a date."

"You have a date? Why didn't you tell me?" Dana asked.

"I haven't had a chance," Tracy told her.

"Who is she? Where did you meet her?"

"Her name's Erika. She owns a little shop on the corner of Ninth and South. I went in there to buy some candles and incense last week and we got to talking. The next thing I knew, she was flirting with me and she was so cute, I flirted right back."

"Is it that great smelling shop with all the new-age stuff? The one that has the jewelry and crystals and the yoga classes upstairs?"

"That's the one and she's the yoga instructor," Tracy confirmed.

"Get out of here."

"It's the truth." Mischief took over Tracy's face. "I've heard they have amazing flexibility and can twist their bodies into some very interesting positions."

"Shame on you, Tracy, you are so bad." Dana tried not to smile.

"That's not bad, it's good." Tracy made no attempt to hide her wicked thoughts.

"I see your point and I want to hear all about it tomorrow--well, maybe not all about it. You can keep the sordid details to yourself."

"It's our first date, so there probably won't be any sordid details to report. However, if things should happen to go that way, I'll give you the R-rated version, okay?"

"Make it PG, will you? I don't want to get too worked up."

"Will you be all right this evening?" All the mischief vanished from Tracy's face.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. You go out and have a good time."

"I will." Tracy glanced at the clock. "I've got to get going. Take it easy and be good to yourself, will you? I'll see you tomorrow."

Dana finished up in the kitchen, locked the door and climbed the stairs to her apartment. Snippets of her conversation with Tracy echoed in her mind and she kept going back to Tracy's suggestion that Ridley Kelsen was interested in her. She felt drawn to Ridley, a fact she had not shared with Tracy, and at the same time she wanted to run in the other direction as fast as she could. She hardly knew her and yet Ridley disturbed her in a way she didn't understand.

With a heavy heart, she unlocked the door to her apartment, kicked her clogs aside and went into the bathroom to take medicine to stem the headache gathering strength behind her eyes. As she swallowed the pills, she thought about the things Tracy had said about her being alone and needing someone in her life. Some of it made sense, but she didn't want her life to change, not when things were so easy and uncomplicated. She had her restaurant, her best friend was with her and she felt good. For the time being, she wanted things to stay the way they were. Her life made her feel secure and that was something she could count on. "I really don't need anyone. I really don't," she said to her reflection in the medicine cabinet mirror.

After washing her face, she went into the bedroom and climbed onto the bed. With her eyes closed, she thought about Sarah and their past and how much it would wear her down if she let it. She thought about how her dreams had evaporated into thin air in a single afternoon and how her plans had been destroyed by someone she'd loved and trusted, someone who had claimed to love her. The pain of the whole dirty mess had healed long ago, but she'd been left with something far worse. She'd been left with a pervasive sense of disillusionment.

TWO WEEKS LATER on Sunday evening, Ridley climbed the steps to Laurie's front door. Last week, Laurie had called and invited her to a surprise birthday party for Karen. Ridley had promised to take her mother and aunt somewhere during the day, but as soon as she got back to the city, she showered and changed and left for the party. When she got to Laurie's house, she was relieved to discover that she was only half an hour late.

Laurie's cheeks were red and she sounded breathless as she opened the door. "I'm glad you made it." After Ridley stepped inside, Laurie shut the door and gave her the once over. "You should not be allowed to be out in public like that. It's not fair to the rest of us."

"Since I know you meant that as a compliment, I'll simply say thank you. How's the party going so far? Did you manage to surprise Karen?"

Laurie nodded. "Can you imagine that? I actually pulled it off for once."

"That's amazing. How did you fool her and how did you get her out of the house?"

"I took Karen out to dinner last night to celebrate her birthday, so she thought that was the end of it. Then I asked one of her friends to call this morning and beg her to go shopping to help her pick out a gift for her girlfriend. We weren't doing anything special and I pretended I had tests to grade, so Karen said she'd go. I don't think she suspected a thing. They got back about twenty minutes ago and by that time everyone was here except for you."

"You'll have to come up with a new trick next time you want to give her a surprise party. She'll never fall for that one a second time. I meant to ask you this when you called me, but I forgot. Why did you decide to have the party tonight when yesterday was her birthday? Wouldn't you rather have had it on Saturday?"

"Yeah, I would have, but I knew Dana and Tracy could only come if I had it on Sunday and I thought Karen would like it if they were here. Also, Dana offered to make something special for dinner and Tracy said she'd make the cake. All I had to do was buy salad stuff and provide the drinks and munchies. I couldn't turn that down."

"I thought maybe it had something to do with them."

"Come into the living room," Laurie said.

Ridley put her hand on Laurie's arm to hold her there. "Wait a minute. I want to ask you a question before we join the others. Did you get a chance to talk to Karen about our annual trip to the shore for Columbus Day weekend? Will she be able to get that Monday off? I promised my mother I'd call her tomorrow and let her know if we're going."

"Yes, I talked to her and everything is set. We wouldn't miss it for the world. Karen wanted me to ask you if it would be okay if we came down on Saturday morning instead of on Friday evening. She gets home late on Fridays and she's usually tired and grumpy and by the time we get down there, she'll be a mess. I think she'd feel a lot better if she had a good night's sleep."

"That's not a problem. I'm leaving right after work on Friday, but you guys can get there when you get there. Don't take too long, though. I want us to have a lot of time together."

"We'll be there by noon. Once she gets some sleep, she'll be fine. Now let's go in and join the others. Can I get you a beer or a glass of wine?"

"I'd like a beer." Ridley followed Laurie into the living room.

"Why don't you go say hello to the birthday girl?

She's talking to some friends from her law firm." Laurie pointed to a group of people gathered near the fireplace. "I'll get you a beer and bring it out to you."

Ridley went to Karen and tapped her on the shoulder. "Happy Birthday, Karen."

Karen excused herself from the group and stood aside with Ridley. She hugged her and kissed her on the cheek. "Hey you, I'm glad you're here. Thanks for the nice card and the gift certificate. They came in the mail yesterday."

"You're welcome. I know you love book stores and I thought with a gift certificate, you could pick out your own books or get whatever you want."

"I can't think of a better gift for me. I love spending money in a book store and I love it even more when it's someone else's money." Karen hugged Ridley a second time. "I'll introduce you to anyone you don't know later on, but before we do that I want you to come with me. Tracy and Dana are in the kitchen and they told me to let them know the minute you got here."

In the kitchen, the first thing Ridley noticed was Tracy leaning against the counter with her arm draped across the shoulders of an unknown woman. Judging by the glances they exchanged and the way they touched, they had to be more than friends and that made Ridley so ecstatic she felt like jumping for joy. Dana and Tracy weren't a couple after all and she couldn't have been happier if someone had just told her she'd won the lottery.

Mouth-watering smells filled the kitchen and Ridley's eyes followed her nose to the stove where she saw Dana just standing there smiling at her. The sight of her made Ridley's heart dance inside her chest. It twirled and dipped and beat to a measure as old as time itself.

"I'm going back in the living room to talk to some of my friends from work," Karen said to Ridley.

"Have a good time and I'll see you in a little while."

"Okay. I'll be out later." When Karen left, Ridley approached Tracy and the new girl. "Hi, Tracy, nice to see you again. Who's your friend?"

"Nice to see you, too and I'd like you to meet my date, Erika. Erika this is Ridley. She's the teacher I told you about, Karen and Laurie's friend."

"Hi," Erika offered her hand. "I heard about you."

Ridley shook Erika's hand. "Pleased to meet you."

"Well, thanks. I'm pleased to meet you, too. Tracy told me you came to visit her and Dana at the restaurant a couple of weeks ago. That must have been interesting."

"I enjoyed it," Ridley said. "I'd never been in a restaurant kitchen and I got to watch them in action. It was really something. Have you tried the restaurant yet?"

"Yes, I went to dinner there last week and I loved it." Erika glanced at Tracy and kissed her on the cheek. Anyone could see she was totally infatuated.

Ridley noticed a huge sheet cake on the kitchen table. "Laurie told me you were making Karen's birthday cake," she said to Tracy. "I can't wait to try it."

"Go over and see how I decorated it," Tracy said.

Ridley went to the table and checked out the cake. Tracy had used brightly colored icings to paint a likeness of Karen and Laurie's row house on the cake. The windows were tinted with yellow and white icings to suggest that warm lights were coming from inside the house and their street number was on the front door. Next to the house she wrote, Happy Birthday, Karen.

"It's a work of art," Ridley remarked. "Loaded with calories, too, I'll bet,"

"No need to worry. It's a carrot cake, so it's full of veggies and therefore, healthy. I also used a secret technique they taught us in chef's school that removes all the calories. It's highly technical, but it's worth it in the end, or should I say in the derriere?"

"Honestly, Tracy. Do you think Ridley's dumb enough to believe that?" Dana chimed in from her private corner of the kitchen. "Knowing the way you make cakes, it would be easier to believe that you used a secret technique to get even more calories into it."

"I'm deeply wounded that you would say such a thing about me, Dana." Tracy clutched at her chest and pretended to swoon while the rest of them laughed at her antics. "I know Ridley's not dumb and I would never do anything like that."

After the merriment died down, Ridley moved closer to Dana who was bending over in front of the oven checking on two large foil covered rectangular pans. Dana lifted a corner of the foil with a fork and dipped a finger inside and then she began to put what appeared to be several big loaves of garlic bread wrapped in foil into the oven alongside the pans."What's that you're making?" Ridley asked her.

"Chicken cutlets baked in a homemade blush sauce with thin slices of prosciutto and fresh mozzarella on top. I made it for Karen once, a long time ago, and she loved it so much she never forgot it, so I told Laurie I'd make it as a birthday gift. I made it earlier at the restaurant and now all I have to do is heat it up with the garlic bread."

"It smells luscious." Ridley inhaled deeply. "I can't wait to try it."

"I hope you like it," Dana said as she closed the oven door. After she straightened up and laid the potholders on the stove, she turned and met Ridley's eyes. "I'm happy to see you."

"Are you?" Ridley studied Dana's face. Standing this close to Dana made her feel giddy and weak in the knees. Those fiery brown eyes held on to hers and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't tear her eyes away.

"Yes."

"That's good, because I'm happy to see you." Ridley's gaze shifted to Dana's mouth and she found herself fantasizing about what it would be like to kiss her. She felt it down to her toes as if her lips were actually touching Dana's and she shoved that thought out of her mind. What good would it do to think along those lines or to torture her mind with wild desires? Just because Dana wasn't involved with Tracy didn't mean she was interested in her. Ridley tried to focus her eyes on something else. "How's your apartment coming along?" she asked Dana, her heart racing and her breathing reduced to short little puffs.