The Secret Lives of Housewives (12 page)

W
hen Monica arrived back at her car after lunch, she found Dan sitting in a small black convertible parked beside her Lexus. “It's a beautiful day,” he said, climbing out of his BMW, “and I thought I'd kidnap you.”

He'd asked her out again before class and again she'd politely refused. She'd slipped out quickly afterward to avoid any temptation. “Excuse me?”

“Remember my motto, work hard, play hard. We're going to the zoo.” He opened the passenger side door. “Get in.”

He terrified her because he tempted her. “I'm not going out on a date with you. I thought I made that clear.”

“You did, but this isn't ‘a date', it's going to the zoo.”

That logic eluded her. “That's
out
as far as I'm concerned.”

He got a little-boy sheepish look. “Okay, it's outside, but it's not really out. Not as in date. I want to go to the Bronx Zoo and I want to take you with me. When was the last time you visited the lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my?”

She shook her head in amazement at his gall. “I have work to do, and you're insane.” She glanced around and saw Cait strolling toward her Honda. Behind Dan's back, Cait curled her fingers in an OK sign, pulled off her sunglasses, and made an exaggerated wink.

“No, I'm quite sane, and I'm going to the zoo. With you. Get in.”

What was she going to do with him? The day was unusually gorgeous for New York in August, an almost painfully blue sky with only a few fluffy clouds, low humidity, and temperatures in the low eighties. She considered all the reasons she should get into her own car and go home: gobs of work, the danger of being with Dan, the need to talk to her sister as she'd done several times during the week.

He'd obviously been home to change out of his yoga sweats and now he looked handsome in white, butt-hugging shorts and a yellow polo shirt. She sighed as she remembered Angie's comments about his great legs. He did have great legs and nice feet. He wore sandals and she noticed his straight toes.
Now I'm looking at feet. What's come over me?

“I can't go running off at the drop of a hat,” she said. Could she?

“Remember what your doctor said. Think of today as medicine.”

“I can't just take off. I'd have to shower and change, and make sure Sam has enough food and water.”
I guess I can have my nails done tomorrow.

“Okay, fair enough. I'll follow you home and haunt your driveway until you come out again. Where the zoo's concerned, I'm a very determined man.”

She shook her head in exasperation, then resigned herself to spending an afternoon with him. What was the harm? They'd spend a nice afternoon together, relaxing. She'd look at it as part of her doctor's prescription. That would be all. Somewhere, a small voice said,
Why are you deluding yourself? You're very attracted to him, and it's okay.

He put on a pair of oversized sunglasses and as promised, drove behind her in his little sports car, then pulled up in front of her house. He remained behind the wheel listening to the radio while she took a very quick shower, pulled on a light blue short-sleeved shirt and a pair of lightweight white jeans, and took care of Sam. Fifteen minutes later she locked her door behind herself.

“You're a speedy woman,” Dan said, and the brightening of his face warmed her more than she wanted it to. With a shrug, she folded herself into the tiny car.

“I hope you like Ella Fitzgerald,” he said as she became aware of the mellow voice coming from the CD player.

“I'm not really familiar with her music,” she said, then listened a moment, “but it's nice.”

“Nice? I'm a bit of an old-time jazz fan, Ella, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, like that, but there's a box of CDs in the back. Pick something else if this isn't your taste.”

“Not at all. I'm enjoying it.” She wasn't just saying it, she thought. It really was nice, and a change from the country music station she usually listened to.

As they drove south on Route 9, the wind made conversation impossible. Her hair would be a disaster, she thought, but the feel of the warm air on her face was sensual. She hadn't been in a convertible since Harry Polito took her for a drive in his father's car when she was in high school. She counted. That was fifteen years ago.
One of these days, when I fly somewhere warm, I'll have to rent one. It's a gas.

Half an hour later they turned off the Bronx River Parkway and parked in the zoo's lot. Dan got out, came around, and opened the door for her. Nice manners, she thought. He offered her his hand, and since she couldn't gracefully get out of the low-slung vehicle without help, she took it. “That's a good girl,” he said. “Now,” he added as they strolled toward the zoo entrance, “why the sudden about-face last weekend?”

He'd obviously realized that she had been about to agree to go out with him and then abruptly changed her mind. “I just had other things to do.”

He shook his head. “Wrong answer. If you tell me you don't want to discuss it, that's okay, but please, don't lie to me. We'd all but made plans, and then when I called your voice sounded like it had been frozen. My ear was frostbitten by the time I hung up.”

She had to laugh at the picture he painted. “It wasn't that bad.”

“Was too,” he said, whining like a five-year-old.

“Was not,” she said, now laughing. “Okay, I guess it was. I was just down. I'd gotten some bad news.”

Dan's face was suddenly serious and they stopped walking. “I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to pry.”

She sighed, resigned to telling him. “My sister's husband has decamped.”

His concern looked genuine. “Kids?”

“Yeah. She's the one with kids of similar ages to your sister's.”

“Shit. That sucks.” He was silent for a moment, then said, “I'm just picturing how I'd feel if Sarah's husband did that. God, it's like a shot in the gut. No wonder you were swearing off men.”

She was surprised at how immediately perceptive he was. She nodded ruefully. “I might ask you, why the persistence?”

She watched his shoulders rise and fall. “I don't really know. While we were sitting by the pool that evening I felt something I'm not used to with women. Friendship.”

She wanted to be insulted. He should feel lust. But as the thought echoed through her brain with lightning speed, she realized that friendship was a good thing. That was what she felt with Cait, Angie, and Eve, and it warmed her. “Friendship,” she whispered.

“Oh, that's not to say I didn't want to throw you down on a lawn chair and have my wicked way with you.” As she spoke, he mimed twirling a long moustache like the villain in an old silent film.

She couldn't help it. She burst out laughing. He was charming, impossible, delightful, and difficult. Yes, difficult. And very, very dangerous. She turned her face up to the heat of the sun, then looked at him. “I think the lions and tigers and bears, oh my, are waiting for us.”

They spent several hours wandering through the various exhibits. As they walked out of one, she said, “I haven't been in the House of Darkness since elementary school. It's terrific.”

“I know. I bring my nieces and nephews here. The boys and the younger girls love it, the older girls think it's yucky.” His voice squeaked, “Ooooh, bats,” then returned to its normal deep timber. “I've no idea where those yucky feelings come from but then I've no idea where anything teenaged girls do comes from. They are a complete mystery.”

“None of my nieces are teenagers quite yet, but Josh, he's thirteen, isn't taking my sister's separation well at all. According to her he's sullen and almost completely uncommunicative. Lissa is only eleven but she's mastered the ‘harrumph' that says, ‘Mother, you just don't get anything.' I think she blames Bonnie for the split.” As she spoke, Monica realized that she was able to discuss Bonnie's troubles with Dan without the immediate pain it usually caused.

He chuckled. “I know just the female teen attitude. Sadly, it will only get worse.”

“I was never like that,” Monica said. “I was the perfect child.”

“Like hell.”

She dropped onto a bench in the shade. “Why do you say that?” she asked, puzzled.

He sat beside her. “You were brighter than most of your schoolmates and probably bored to tears—”

She had been just that.

“—so you probably went away.” When she started to defend herself, he said, “Oh, not in the physical sense. You just stared out the window and paid no attention to what the teacher was saying.”

“That's true.” She smiled at the memory. “Mr. Fishbein, in seventh grade science, kept trying to catch me daydreaming, but somehow my brain was recording everything he said, even though my conscious mind was elsewhere. He'd snap a question at me. ‘Ms. Beaumont, what's the answer?' giving me no clue as to the question. I found that I could merely rewind the tape and give him the answer he wanted. The kids all laughed and gave me the thumbs up. When I'd done that three or four times, he gave up.”

“I knew it.”

“How?”

He smiled ruefully. “Because I was like that, too. School drove me to distraction, not because I wanted to go out and play sports, but because, after a week, I knew what the teacher was going to say before he or she said it. That was until I got to MIT. The inner workings of computers fascinated me. I'd read everything I could get my hands on in high school and built my own desktop when I was fifteen. Then I programmed my own browser to surf the 'Net. It was better than anything out there then, but the Web was much smaller, too.”

“I'm impressed.”

“Don't be. It's just the way my mind works. Anyway, I tested out of a few of the basic classes and finally got to something both fascinating and challenging. I've been fascinated and challenged ever since.” He stood. “End of life story. Let's find the seals.”

The rest of the afternoon sped by, and by the time they returned to Dan's car she was footsore and filled with hot dogs and slices of pizza. “So, now that I've bought you dinner,” he said, starting the engine, “can I have my wicked way with you?” He had bought the junk food after a short argument about who would pay. Finally she'd relented and allowed him to spend fifteen dollars on “dinner.”

He was nuts, and she wasn't ready for anything more serious than an afternoon at the zoo. “I'm really sorry but that will have to wait.” Why had she put it that way, implying that something would happen in the future? “I didn't mean it that way.”

His laugh was unrestrained, rich and full, and she found she loved the sound of it. “Don't fumble over words. I, for one, had a delightful afternoon and I want to spend more time with you, no strings.”

“I hate to admit it, but I had a great time, too. But I have a briefcase full of work waiting for me and I really do have to get home.” She wanted to see him again. “Maybe another evening?”

He suddenly looked sad. “I have to admit that I had an ulterior motive for kidnapping you today. I'm leaving for San Francisco tomorrow morning and I won't be back until Friday. I didn't want to wait another week to have our first date.”

“You said this wasn't a date.”

He looked sheepish. “I lied.”

“I knew you couldn't be trusted,” she said with a twinkle.

“You were right. How about next Saturday evening? Dinner? Our first real, planned-beforehand, getting-dressed-up date?”

Oh, what the hell. “I'd love to.”

 

“Logan,” Cait said the following Monday evening, “I'd love to get a camera-phone thing for my computer. You know, the kind where I could talk to your mother or my sister-in-law. I could keep up with the kids and stuff. Mary already has one,” she said, referring to her brother Fred's wife, “and so does your mom. Mary says it's great. Like being there. With her new baby on the way…”
Calm down and don't talk too much,
Cait told herself.
Don't sound as if it's too important. Just a lark
. The previous evening Hotguy344 had again suggested what fun it would be if they could see each other. When she'd asked, he'd assured her that they'd just log on with screen names and remain as anonymous as they'd always been. “I understand your fears—I've got them, too. No problem.”

Just the thought of seeing him, watching him jerk off, made her hot. She took a deep breath and tried not to fidget.

Luckily Logan, as usual, was so preoccupied with the contracts he was reading that he didn't have the foggiest idea of what was going on. “Sounds interesting,” Logan said, looking up, “but do you know anything about hooking it up? A guy at work mentioned that he has one so he can talk to his brother in Chicago, but he said it was a bitch to get it working the first time.”