The Gift (3 page)

They woke up a couple hours later with bright sunlight
streaming in through the window. The screen door banged as Justin went out to
the driveway and drove off in the car. They were happy to be left alone and
decided to make good use of the time.

Zak slowly pulled off his faded black t-shirt revealing
a lean but muscled torso. He continued to undress, unbuckling the belt on his
jeans and sliding off his pants. He got under the quilt with her and she could
feel his warm skin against hers. Sometime during the night, she had been
divested of her clothes too. He leaned over her and started kissing her mouth,
more and more insistently. Then he moved to her neck and down to her full
breasts.  She moaned from the excitement and anticipation. She could feel he
was excited too. He murmured endearments in her ear, his long hair brushing against
her face. Suddenly, he couldn’t wait any longer. He asked her if he needed to
use something and she told him she was on the pill. He kissed her hard on the
lips and then pushed deep inside her repeatedly until they both climaxed.
Maggie felt her eyes fill with hot tears.

“Is something wrong, sha?” Zak asked. He kissed her
gently.

“No, I just felt overwhelmed for a moment.”

Zak held her for a while quietly, kissing her until
suddenly her stomach rumbled loudly. Zak laughed.

“It’s trying to tell you something I think. How about if
I make some breakfast?”

By the time that Justin came back, Maggie and Zak were
seated cosily around the small table in the kitchen greedily eating a late
breakfast of bacon and eggs. They were out of coffee, but Justin had bought
some when he went out, so Zak made some strong Louisiana coffee with chicory
which helped get them  jump started for the day.

After Maggie helped Zak wash the dishes, he suggested
going out to the studio to do some playing.  He grabbed one of the mandolins
and led her out back of the house. He apologized for the overgrown grass and
said that they had been playing gigs out on the road and hadn’t been home much
during the last few months. Then he unlocked the door to the studio and
welcomed her inside

This was his private world. There were boxes of albums
and posters on the walls that advertised his past gigs. His favorite electric
guitars were in their stands, at the ready. Microphones and amplifiers had been
left set up so that he and Justin could practice whenever they wanted. She
could see a small mix console and reel to reel and cassette tape decks.

“Sorry that things are sort of a mess. Justin and I are
in the middle of recording an album.”

Zak took the mandolin out of its case and handed it to
Maggie.

“Here, you can play this. I used it on my last album.”

“Thanks, Zak.

“I’m glad you decided to come home with me. It’s been
kind of lonely around here since my girlfriend Jacqueline moved out.”

Suddenly Zak shyly confessed that he had recently broken
up with his girlfriend because she couldn’t understand his life. She didn’t
understand his need to play for hours a day and to travel endlessly to perform
in front of audiences. His music was all-consuming, and she didn’t feel there
was enough room left in his life for her.

“Maybe it was for the best Zak,” Maggie suggested. “You
deserve to be with someone who can understand and accept you.”

Maggie kissed him hoping to console him. A minute or two
later, she turned her attention to tuning up the mandolin.

“This is a beautiful mandolin, Zak.”

“Yes, I was lucky to find it in a pawn shop. It’s a 1928
Gibson F-5. I installed a pickup on the bridge so I can play it through an
amplifier when I play with my band.”

She liked the feel of the mandolin, the neck was full and
fit her hand comfortably. Maggie played a few quick chords and they rang out
loudly. She knew that the Gibson F mandolins were especially prized because
they had that “chop” sound that was necessary for playing rhythm in a bluegrass
band.

Zak asked her what she wanted to play. He had picked up
a Martin guitar and was ready to go. Maggie demurred a bit, but then suggested
the Kris Kristofferson song, “Me and Bobby McGee”. That song had been floating
around in her brain for several days, probably because of its references to Louisiana. Maggie often found that songs would spontaneously come to mind, sometimes it was
like having a juke box in her head.

“Busted flat in Baton Rouge

Headin’ for a train

Feelin’ nearly faded as my jeans

Bobby flagged a diesel down

Just before it rained

Took us all the way to New Orleans.”

Zak said it was a good choice and started playing too.
He was an incredible guitarist and she found it easy to play with him. He
reached over and turned on the cassette recorder and gestured that she should
sing. Then next she knew, he was singing harmony with her. He had a great voice
and their voices blended well together.

“Good job, Maggie,” he said when they were done. “You’re
very talented. Let’s try singing another song together. How about ‘I Know You
Rider’?  I’m planning on recording that on the new album.”

Zak started singing the song and Maggie joined in with
some harmonies. She knew the song from a Grateful Dead album that she had
listened to when she was in college. Justin walked through the door of the
studio. After listening to them for a minute or two he said, “That sounds
pretty good, mind if I play along?”

Justin strapped on his bass and plugged it into an
amplifier. Then the three of them spent the next couple hours finding songs
that they knew in common and jamming together. Maggie had never had so much fun
musically, she felt that the communication between the three of them was
extraordinary. Everyone listened carefully to what the other one was doing and
they were able to integrate their parts seamlessly. She had never played with
such sensitive and responsive musicians before, and she felt like it was almost
ruining her to go back to her old band.

.

Chapter 4

After playing together for a couple hours,
Maggie suddenly felt exhausted from the intense concentration. Zak must have
noticed because he gently took the mandolin away from her.

“You look tired Maggie. Do you want to go get something
to eat? There are a lot of good Cajun restaurants in town. Have you ever had
Cajun food before?”

“No, I haven’t,” she replied.

“Well, I’d be happy to provide an introduction,” Zak
said and laughed. “How about you, Justin?  Are you hungry?”

“You know me, Zak. I’m almost always hungry.

So the three of them of them piled into the Lincoln and headed out to a nearby restaurant. Zak wanted Maggie to appreciate why he loved
this area of Louisiana and the Cajun culture, so he and Justin decided that the
best place to take her was Martine’s where there was music and dancing as well
as good Cajun food. Zak and Justin sometimes played there with a local zydeco
band. They always enjoyed the ambience, and they thought Maggie would like it
too.

It was obvious when they walked in the restaurant that
Zak and Justin were well-known at Martine’s. The manager came over and shook
their hands and escorted them to a table next to the dance floor. Their
waitress flirted shamelessly with the guys. She asked Maggie what she wanted to
drink and then left for the bar without asking Zak and Justin for their order.
She obviously knew them well because she came back with a Jack Daniels for Zak
and a beer for Justin. Maggie had decided to have a beer too thinking it would
probably go well with Cajun food. The waitress asked them for their order.

“What would you like to eat, Maggie?” Zak asked.

“I’ve always wanted to try crawfish,” she said.

“It’s not really in season right now. It’s easy to cook
and I‘d be happy to make it for you another time. Maybe you’d like the catfish.
It’s a specialty of the restaurant.”

“O.k., that sounds good. What are you going to get?”

Zak ordered the fried alligator, mostly because he
wanted to see Maggie’s reaction when he persuaded her to try it. Justin ordered
the baked duck which came with a Cajun rice dressing and sweet potato. While
they waited for their food, they listened to the band and watched the dancers.
There were all ages out on the dance floor, from couples in their 70’s to
children. They seemed to be alternating the two-step and the waltz. Zak asked
Maggie if she wanted to dance.  She thought the two-step seemed a little
intimidating, but she said she would waltz with him.

Maggie felt a wave of sexual excitement come over her as
Zak took her out on the dance floor.  He stood facing her, looking deep into
her blue eyes which sparkled with anticipation. He placed his hand lightly on
her waist, pulled her close to him and started directing her around the dance
floor. She had always liked to dance, but most of her boyfriends in Boston weren’t too keen on it. Here in Louisiana, dancing seemed to be part of everyone’s
life. Maggie was aware of the swirl of dancers around her, but she couldn’t
take her eyes off of Zak’s face. He was smiling widely and she could tell that
he was enjoying himself enormously. When the music stopped, he put both arms
around her waist and kissed her sweetly. Maggie felt that she had never been so
happy.

Then they heard Justin calling their names and saw that
their dinner had arrived. They walked over to their table and sat down. Zak
pulled his chair up close to Maggie so that their knees touched under the
table. They decided that they would share their dishes so that Maggie could try
all the food. Maggie’s catfish came with an étouffée sauce and jambalaya which
immediately brought to mind a Hank Williams song that she liked to sing.

“Jambalaya, crawfish pie and filé gumbo,

Tonight I’m going to see my cher amio.”

She started singing it softly under her breath, Zak
heard her and smiled. He said “We should play that tomorrow, that’s one of my
favorites.”

Zak offered Maggie some of his alligator. “Try it
Maggie, it tastes like chicken,” he said with a smile. She was a little
reticent to try it, but she gamely closed her eyes and took a bite off of his
fork.

“It doesn’t taste like any chicken that I’ve ever had,”
she said with a laugh. “It’s pretty good though.”

Justin gave her some of his baked duck and Maggie liked
that much better. While they were eating, Maggie found herself really listening
to the music. She loved the sound of the accordion and fiddle especially.

“Didn’t you tell me that you play fiddle?”  Zak asked.

“Not quite,” she responded, “I played classical violin
for a while.”

 “You should try playing Cajun fiddle,” he said. “I
think you could pick it up pretty easily. There’s a jam in town every Saturday
night, we could go over sometime.”

“That might be fun,” she told him.

Maggie started thinking about how he was making plans
for them to do things together in the future. She hadn’t planned on staying in Louisiana that long, in fact she was supposed to fly back home to Boston in a couple days.
She didn’t really want to bring that up though and spoil the mood.

Dessert arrived with some strong coffee. Maggie had
ordered the Praline Supreme which was ice cream with a praline liqueur. Zak got
the pecan pie and Justin had another beer. Zak held Maggie’s hand while they
were eating, she could tell that he was looking forward to getting home.
Suddenly Maggie felt someone’s eyes on her and looked up to notice that one of
the waitresses was staring at them pointedly. As they were finishing their
dessert, the waitress came over to the table and glared at Zak.

“Where’s Jacqueline?” she asked. “And who’s your new
friend?”

Zak looked uncomfortable.

“Jackie moved out a couple of weeks ago. She said she
couldn’t handle me being gone on the road all the time. This is Maggie, Bonnie.
I met her in New Orleans. She’s a musician and she’s going to sing on my new
album.”

Justin raised his eyebrows at that news. Zak hadn’t
mentioned anything to him about it, but Justin had heard Maggie sing and he
thought she might be able to contribute something to the album.

Bonnie snorted in derision and flounced off.

Zak shrugged. “It’s a small town, and everyone knows
everybody else’s business. There are a lot of good things about living here
though.”

Zak asked their waitress for the bill. She whispered
something in his ear and then left. He explained that the manager, who was a
big fan of Zak and Justin’s music, was treating them. They left a generous tip
for the waitress, went over and thanked the manager, and then headed home.

When they got back to the bungalow, Maggie asked if
there was a phone she could use. She tried to call the guys in her band at the
motel, but they must have gone out. They had made tentative plans to go to some
clubs in New Orleans to hear music that night and they were probably wondering
what had happened to her. They were leaving the next morning to drive back to Boston. She knew that at some point she was going to have to explain to her boyfriend Doug
what had happened. She was dreading that discussion. She didn’t know yet what
she was going to say. She had no idea where her relationship with Zak was
heading. She had initially thought that it was just going to be a crazy one
night stand with a cute musician, but now she wasn’t so sure.

Then Maggie called Vanessa to let her know she was o.k.
Vanessa asked her if she was going to fly back to Boston in two days. Maggie
told her that she was still trying to decide what to do about her plane
reservation. Zak had come into the room and overheard her and he seemed
suddenly quiet. When she got off the phone, he sat down next to her on the
couch.