Authors: Dee Mann
Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #General, #Contemporary, #Contemporary Slice-of-life Romance
"A blessing?"
"A blessing.
"You've never actually said this, but I'm guessing you're ultimately looking for the home and family thing, the golden anniversary, and all that?"
"Well, of course."
"Then think about this. Do you really want to spend your life with a guy whose values are radically different from yours? Do you really want to marry a man who was more interested in your body than your mind and heart and soul? Who wasn't willing to put aside getting laid long enough to discover who the real Priya Kumar is?
"Let's face it, unless you date a blind man, any straight guy you're with will definitely respond to your looks. But there are guys to whom sex is not the be-all and end-all of a relationship. Look at me. Last Friday I wanted Jillian so bad it took every last smidgen of willpower to keep from tearing her dress off on the beach during our first kiss. And frankly, I'm not sure where I found the will not to sleep with her when she invited me in. But I did it. And I did it because…" He stopped and took a breath. "I did it because from the moment I first saw her I had the feeling she was the woman I'm meant to spend my life with."
Geez…did I really just say that out loud?
He looked sheepish. "I know it sounds crazy. Maybe it's hormones, maybe I'm really nuts, but the feeling keeps getting stronger and stronger every day. When I'm talking to her, I have to stay conscious of what I'm saying so I don't slip and say something that might make her think I'm some kind of love-sick psycho."
He paused to order his thoughts.
"I know you see it in movies all the time, but I never really believed this love-at-first-sight thing was real. Maybe it is."
He shrugged and shook his head as they started walking again.
"Or maybe it
is
just hormones. I don't know. But the point of telling you all this is to show you that the kind of guy you want is out there. And if keeping your virginity until marriage is really important to you, and I think it is or you wouldn't have made it this far, then I really believe you'll always regret giving it up to some guy just to find out if he'll stick around.
"So no, I don't think you're making a mistake. Even though it may be making things harder for you, in the end I think you'll be better off. You'll have found someone who you know wants you for who you are and not for how nature sculpted you."
It was Priya's turn to grab Paul's wrist and stop him. When he did, she moved right in and hugged him.
"Thank you. I really needed to hear that. I don't know what happened before to make me lose it like that, but I'm glad it happened when you were around to help."
She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
"This friend thing works pretty well, I think."
Priya let them walk in silence for a few minutes before she asked, "So, what will you do about Jessie?"
Paul groaned.
"I don't know. I'm supposed to call Jilli tonight and let her know. I've been trying to reason this out, but I'm not having much luck. I can make good arguments for not kissing her, and good arguments for doing it. And neither side is more compelling than the other."
"Well, forget about reason for a minute. How do you feel?"
"Confused. I told you, one part of me thinks we could really get to Ethan if we kissed, but the other part is really uncomfortable with all the things that could go wrong."
He shook his head quickly from side to side, trying to shed his troubles as a dog sheds water.
"What do you think I should do?"
"I can't tell you what to do, Paul. All I can say is, if I were you, I'd listen to my gut rather than my head on something like this."
After a minute of silence, she glanced over and could tell from the set of his brow he was thinking. A few seconds later, when his lips curled into a half-smile, she knew he'd reached a decision.
8:25 PM
"Hmmm."
I think I'm in the mood for lavender and bubbles tonight.
Priya sprinkled scented salts into the inch deep water, then added the bubble bath. Immediately, a white pillow formed and began to grow in the deep, old, claw-foot tub.
The tub was one of the reasons she'd rented this apartment when she moved to Boston. Another was its convenience to public transportation — one block off Commonwealth Avenue in Brighton. The one bedroom apartment was not the most modern she'd seen, but it
was
one of the least expensive.
She was about to remove her robe and step into the tub when the phone rang. She dashed out to the living room and grabbed it on the fourth ring.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Priya. This is Brian Jankowski. From last night."
"Hi, Brian. How are you?"
‘Well, not so good, actually. I think I may get fired from my job."
"Brian! I'm sorry! What happened?"
"Well, I spent so much time thinking about you today I didn't get much work done. My boss wasn't very happy."
Priya grinned. "Me? Why would you be thinking about me?"
"I don't know. Maybe it was your smile, or the way you laugh, or your deadly aim with a dart, or how easy you are to talk to."
"Flatterer."
"Not at all. It's not flattery if it's the truth, and you mean it. It was, and I meant every word."
Priya smiled again. She enjoyed the time she spent with Brian last night and was happy he called, but experience had taught her not to get too hopeful about any guy who seemed interested. Chances were he'd be gone as soon as he found out he wouldn't be getting laid.
"Well thank you, then. So what are you doing, or what were you doing before you called?"
"What I usually end up having to do when I want to get out early. I was working late. We had a network glitch that had to be fixed and it took us forever to track down the problem.
"Say, I haven't eaten yet. If you haven't either, can I interest you in some pizza and beer, or anything else for that matter?"
"If I hadn't already eaten dinner and wasn't in the middle of…"
Of what? I can't tell him I'm taking a bath.
"…something I have to finish tonight, I would have loved some pizza. But thank you for asking. I…oh shoot, hold on a minute please."
Priya forgot the bath water was running until she turned and saw a mountain of bubbles threatening to spill over the rim. She pressed the hold button on the phone and ran to turn off the water. When she returned to the living room, she stretched out on the sofa.
"I'm back. Sorry about that."
"Everything okay?"
"Sure, I just had to avert a minor disaster."
She giggled a bit, hoping he'd believe she was joking. He did.
"So tell me. Are you a professional darter? I've never met anyone who could throw like you do."
Priya shared her brief history with darts and could tell he wasn't sure whether or not to believe her. But they moved on to other subjects and as the minutes passed, the bubbles popped, and her bathwater grew cold.
"You see? I was right," he said after pointing out that it was almost eleven o'clock.
"Right about what?"
"About you being easy to talk to. I called over two hours ago and it seems like only ten minutes."
She heard him clear his throat.
"I know this is a bit presumptuous of me, but would you consider canceling whatever plans you might have made for tomorrow and have dinner with me? I'd really like to see you and I'm not sure I can stand to wait longer than that."
Despite her head reminding her about the past, she felt fluttery as she agreed to the date. And when they said goodbye a few minutes later, she realized she was happier than she'd been in many weeks.
She walked back into the bathroom, pulled the drain plug, and perched on the side of the tub.
He was as easy to talk to as he claims I am….and as funny and charming as last night. What did we talk about for two hours? I can't remember half of it…but it was a nice two hours. I can still hear his voice in my head, the way it cracks a little when he laughs, and the way it seemed to soften when he was taking about me.
She started filling the tub with hot water again, adding new salts and bubbles. She swirled the water with her hand as the bubble cloud grew for the second time that night
I really do like him. But are the feelings genuine or fallout from what happened earlier with Paul? Or maybe the gods have sent me someone to help me forget Paul.
She sighed as she stepped into the bubbly, scented water.
Maybe I'll get lucky like Paul and this will be the one for me.
She shrugged and smiled.
I don't know. All I know is my fantasy lover has a new face tonight.
FRIDAY, MAY 14
4:30 PM
Gary rolled down his window, snatched the ticket he'd need later at the toll booth, and started down the ramp to the Massachusetts Turnpike. Sitting next to him in the front seat, resplendent in his tuxedo, Paul had entertained him with how he'd met Jillian and about much of what had happened since then.
"And now you're taking her sister to a prom? That's wild!" Gary glanced over at Paul with an appraising and envious eye. "Does she look anything like Jillian?"
"She's a little shorter and a little thinner, but I think she's just as pretty. You'll see for yourself soon enough."
"Man, you have to be the luckiest guy alive. Were you a saint or something in a previous life?"
Paul grinned. "I don't think so. Why?"
"Come on. Last week you stumble onto what sounds to me like the love of your life, and this week you get to take her sister out, too. And she tells you its okay to make out with the sister to make some guy jealous. And the sister's a fox!" He grunted. "And you wonder why I think you have a golden horseshoe nailed to your butt?"
"Hey, what can I say?" Laughing, Paul pulled out his cell phone and dialed Jillian's.
"Hi, hon. I thought I'd check in. Is it total pandemonium over there?"
"No. Actually, everything's going smoothly and almost calmly. Where are you?"
"Sitting next to Gary. We're on the Pike."
"Already? You'll be way too early. You aren't supposed to leave here until quarter past six. How far away are you?"
"Hold on." He turned to Gary. "ETA?"
"If the traffic stays like this, twenty, twenty-five minutes."
Paul relayed the time estimate.
"That means you'll be waiting around for an hour!"
"I know, I know. But it's Friday and I thought the traffic would be heavy, and I wanted a little time to rehearse with Jessie."
"Well you'll have plenty of time now."
"Don't worry. This way I can take some time to meet your parents and fill them in on all the details of our little plan."
"Don't you dare!"
Paul could hear her sisters in the background asking what was wrong. Laughing he said, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. You think I want your father coming after me with a meat cleaver or something?"
After saying goodbye, he dropped the phone into the breast pocket of his tux. "So what do you do when you're not driving me around? And why do you look as good as I do tonight?"
"Davie makes us wear a tux when we drive this and the other Bentley. For the regular limos we wear the outfit you saw last Friday. I guess he thinks it makes the ride more elegant or something. As for what I do, I mostly go to school and study. I'm a sophomore at Tufts University."
"No kidding. I grew up in Medford near Tufts. On Adams Street. My parents still live there."
"I live on Boston Ave across the street from that little convenience store on the corner of Hillside Ave."
"Hey, you're only two blocks from my parents. Talk about a small world. But wait a second. You look too old to be a sophomore. Were you in the military or something?"
Gary grinned. "No. I look old for my age. I bet you thought I was as old as you, twenty-four or twenty-five, right?"
It was Paul's turn to grin. "Well, you're right about what I thought, but I'm twenty-eight."
"Really? Well, I just turned twenty-one last month."
"Hey, congrats! Did you go out bar-hopping to celebrate?"
"Actually, no. I have a hypersensitivity to alcohol. My brain doesn't react normally to it, so one drink and I'm flying. Two drinks and I'm falling down drunk."
"I never heard of that."
"Neither did my parents when I was sixteen and they let me have a glass of wine with the meal at a wedding. They actually grounded me for a week because they thought I'd snuck at least two or three more glassfuls. After the next time it happened, they took me to the doctor.
"At first I was bummed, you know, but now it's kind of fun being the sober one watching all his friends make fools of themselves."
They traded school stories for the next ten miles or so until Paul asked if the girls at Tufts were still as brainy and beautiful as when he was there.
"They certainly are."
"You go out with any of them?"
"Nah, not really. I go to parties now and then, but studying and work keep me pretty busy."
"Sure, but with all those great women available, how can you pass that up?"
"I date a little, but to tell the truth, I'm sort of waiting to meet the love of
my
life again."
"Again?"
"Un-huh. A little over a year ago, I was going with this girl, Claire. One Saturday she talked me into taking her shopping at the Gallaria Mall in Cambridge."
Paul nodded. "Girls love that place."
"Sure do. Well, after an hour or so of wandering in and out of stores, I'm getting tired of it but she's getting her second wind. So I told her I'd wait for her in the food court and she promised not to be too long." He grunted. "I knew that would never happen, but I didn't mind. I like sitting around and watching people.
"Well, I'd only been there about five minutes when this big, loud, obnoxious guy and this really pretty girl sit down next to me. She has a small drink and he's pissing and moaning about having to buy it for her, how these places rip you off, and on and on. Then he starts in on her, how stupid she is for buying stuff here, and this fault and that fault. And the girl just sat there, embarrassed, taking it all.
"After about ten minutes of that treatment, during which the girl is looking more and more miserable by the second, he jumps up, literally commands her to stay put until he gets back, and stalks off. No sooner is he out of sight than the girl starts to cry. Not loud, just sort of weeping, like all the embarrassment and shame was leaking out.
"Man, I couldn't imagine why the hell she was with him and I felt so bad for her that after a minute I leaned over and said softly, ‘Excuse me, but I wanted to apologize.'
"She sort of stiffened when she heard me and snapped, ‘For what?' And I told her, ‘For being the same gender as that asshole you're with.' Well, that got about half a smile out of her and we started talking.
"I could tell she was a little shy, but once she figured out I wasn't hitting on her, she warmed up. She was quick, and sweet, and funny, and so easy to talk to that I found myself really liking her. And I definitely had the feeling she was into me, too. Of course, she was only a junior in high school and not quite seventeen, but I didn't care. We were really connecting, you know?"
Paul nodded, not wanting to interrupt.
"Anyway, in the back of my head, I start wondering what Claire will think if she shows up and sees me having a great time talking to another girl. So I checked my watch and forty-five minutes had gone by! And of course, just then Claire did show up. What could I do? I thanked the girl, told her to find a new boyfriend, and said goodbye.
"Well, Claire and I are in the garage walking to my car when I realize I never even asked the girl her name. And suddenly, it was real important to find out who she was. So I handed Claire my keys and told her I forgot a small bag at the table and ran back to the food court."
Gary let out a big sigh, and Paul could tell what was coming next. "She was gone. I was so bummed I almost forgot to stop and buy something so I'd have a bag when I got back to the car."
He glanced over at Paul. "You know how you said that when you met Jillian something seemed to click. Well, that's how it was. When Claire and I were driving home, all I could think about was that girl. We really made some connection." He paused and sighed. "Since then, I've been waiting to meet her again. I figure we were fated to meet so it'll happen when the time is right."
"You have no clue who she is or where she lives or anything?"
"Nope. Not even a hint. So I spend much of my free time in the mall hoping to run into her again." He shrugged. "If it's really meant to be, I'll find her."
"Sure, but how long do you keep…"
Paul's cell phone rang before he could finish. It was Jillian, who wanted them to stop at the convenience store on Main Street to pick up a bottle of orange soda.
"I've been craving it all day and mom doesn't have a drop in the house."
"So, you get cravings for orange soda. Any other potential cravings I should know about?"
"Actually, yes! For three days I've been craving that slice of
Zaccotto
we left in the limo last Friday! Gary probably tossed it out. What a waste!"
Paul told her to hold on and turned to Gary. "Hey, did you find a paper bag in the limo last Friday?"
"You mean the one with that incredible dessert?"
Paul grinned. "He found it and ate it. And judging from the smile on his face, he enjoyed it as much as we did."
Ten minutes later, the limo turned onto Sears Road, and they were at the house. Jillian was waiting for them and waved as they pulled into the semi-circular driveway.
Gary sat behind the wheel, glancing in the side mirror as Paul and Jillian embraced and kissed. Then she walked toward his window so he rolled it down.
"You know I may never forgive you for eating my extra dessert."
"I'm sorry." He tried to look contrite. "I had no idea how valuable it was."
"Well, I should make you sit out here for punishment, but I forgive you, so come on into the house."
"That's okay. I'm used to waiting in the car."
"Nonsense. They won't be leaving for over an hour, and if you don't come in now, my mother will be out in two minutes to drag you in. I guarantee it. Come on. The parlor is way more comfortable than out here. You can even have some of my orange soda!"
5:10 PM
Priya was wondering if Paul had arrived yet at the Marshall home when Rob voiced the question.
"Unless they hit heavy traffic on the Pike he should have been there ten minutes ago," Tom told him.
"I still can't believe he's really taking her sister to a prom."
"Why not? It's a nice thing for him to do," Priya said. "Proms are important to girls and even if they don't succeed in making her old boyfriend jealous, she'll remember how nice he was to her for the rest of her life. Take my word on that."
Tom and Rob shrugged. Both had attended their high school senior proms and neither understood the big deal. You had to get dressed up to eat rubbery chicken and dance to whatever lame music would be approved by the school. As far as they were concerned, the best thing about their proms had been the all-night parties after.
"I'll always take your word, without question, on any girl thing," Rob assured her. "So what time is Brian picking you up?"
"Seven-thirty. What do you think, should I dress up or dress down?"
"Where's he taking you?" Tom asked.
"I don't know," she replied, then added with a grin, "but it's probably not Casa de Luna."
That drew matching grins from the two guys.
"Just because Paul's nuts, doesn't mean all men are," Tom quipped.
"That's right," Rob agreed. "Brian seemed like a pretty steady sort of guy. Reasonable, you know. Not given to undue extravagance, but he'll want to impress you with his gustatory sophistication. Hmmm. Yes… I'm guessing he's taking to you Sal's"
"Sal's? Where's that."
"You know Sal's."
Priya shook her head.
"Sure you do."
"I'm telling you I don't. Where is it?"
"Right near Park Street station.
She shook her head again, her face blank.
"The sausage cart."
Tom had seen it coming and burst out laughing.
"You moron!" Priya searched her desktop for something to throw at him. Then she stopped and wagged a finger at him. "I'm going to tell Lisa you did that.
She'll
make you pay."
Rob was about to reply when Priya's phone rang. It was Brian.
"Are we still on for seven-thirty?"
"Absolutely. Do I need to get dressed up?"
"Priya, I can't imagine anything you could wear in which you wouldn't look fantastic. Be comfortable so we can relax, okay?"
Brian couldn't see her pleased smile at the compliment.
"Okay."
"I, ah, well, I didn't know what kind of food you like, so I made reservations at three places; The Union Oyster House if you want seafood, Little Vietnam over on North Beacon street if you want something Asian, and Giacomo's in the North End if you're in the mood for Italian."
"Are you serious? You made three reservations?"
She grinned as Rob's and Tom's eyebrows shot up.
"Hey, I was a Boy scout who became an engineer. Being prepared is in my blood. Actually, that's really why I called you at work. I didn't want to leave the two losers holding reservations on a Friday night."
Priya laughed. "The two losers?"
"Sure. The two places that won't have the prettiest girl in Boston sitting at one of their tables tonight."
Again, the pleased smile curled her lips.
5:20 PM
Paul, Gary, and Jeff Marshall were seated in the living room. After making introductions, Jillian and her mom had vanished upstairs to assist Joanne and Julia in completing the transformation of Jessie from high school girl to prom queen.
For the most part, Gary sat back and enjoyed listening to Mr. Marshall tactfully but pointedly extract from Paul the story of his life, plans for the future, political and social outlooks, and plans for after the prom.
"Well, sir, I hadn't really thought about after the prom. With your permission, I suppose I'll leave that up to Jessie."
Her father's pleasant smile never wavered.
"All well and good, but please remember that Jessie is not old enough to drink. She's also somewhat shy and given to going along with the crowd, so I'll consider it a personal favor if you would take special care of her tonight and make sure nothing happens that shouldn't happen."
Then, always the good host, he turned his attention to Gary. "Are you happy at Tufts?"
"Yes sir."