Accidentally Yours (9 page)

“I’d love one,” Vivian replied without hesitation. She decided Zack was a lost cause. She resolved to simply enjoy the evening and Bernard’s company.

She walked with them over to the bar. Glenda was leaving it, a fresh drink in her hand. Her eyes met Vivian
’s in obvious confusion, and Vivian knew she was trying to figure out how she had gone from dancing with Zack to talking with Bernard once more.

“
Oh, there you are,” Vivian said. She introduced Glenda to both Bernard and Terry, and noticed that Terry immediately perked up. From the terrified look in Glenda’s eyes, Vivian knew she had noticed, too. What with his receding hairline, prominent teeth, and slightly rounded belly, Terry was not exactly their idea of what their Mr. Rights would look like.

Vivian watched helplessly as Terry struck up a conversation with her friend.
“Are you a member of NBP?” he asked her.

Bernard turned to Vivian.
“It looks like those two are hitting it off.”

“
Well, actually, Glenda is seeing someone. She came tonight as a favor to me. None of my other girlfriends could make it, and I didn’t want to come alone.”

At a little after two
a.m. Glenda suggested to Vivian that they leave, and Vivian agreed. The function would go on until four, but they had both gone to work that day and were tired. Besides, neither one of them liked the idea of sticking around until the lights were turned on full force and they were ready to close the doors.

Bernard and Terry were disappointed at their decision to leave.
“I guess we’ll be going, too, in a little while.” Bernard said. “It’s been a long day, and I’m not feeling that hot, to tell you the truth.”

Vivian,
suddenly remembering the mishaps that occurred with Gary and Gordon, felt her muscles tense. “You’re not feeling well?”

“
Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. Probably just working too hard. I’ll call you tomorrow, all right?”

“
All right. Good night, Bernard.”

The two friends were able to speak frankly once they were in the parking lot.
“You either did a fabulous acting job or you were really having a nice time with Terry,” Vivian said.

“
You know, he’s very nice. Charming, funny, intelligent. What more could a girl ask for?”

“
Good looks would be nice.”

“
All right, so he’s starting to look a little middle-aged. But sometimes people put too much emphasis on looks. He’s not ugly, he’s just an average Joe.”

Vivian personally thought Terry had more teeth than Louis Armstrong, a thought she knew was best kept to herself.
“What about Bobby?” she asked instead.

“
Let’s say I’ve become disenchanted. He’s very unsophisticated, Viv.”

“
What does that mean? Does he eat with his fingers or talk with his mouth full or something?”

“
No. He’s boring, I guess. He’s lived in Long Island City all his life, and he seems content to stay there the rest of his life. He seems content with everything as it is, but he’s never done anything. He’s never eaten lobster. He’s never even been on an airplane.”

“
Why is that, I wonder? He makes good money, doesn’t he?”

“
Yes, but from what he’s told me I don’t think he did much when he was a kid, never went anywhere, never saw anything beyond Queens and Manhattan. Maybe because of that he never developed any curiosity or interest in the outside world or how people live in other places.”

Vivian made a face.
“No wonder he’s not married. Nobody wants his butt.”

“
Anyway, since I’m not about to spend my life living in a cramped apartment in Long Island City, I think I’d better cut him loose. Hey, did Zack look good or what? I tell you, it’s not every man who can get away with wearing a red jacket. What happened to him, anyway? The last I saw, you two were dancing together.”

“
I got sidetracked by Wilma Flintstone,” Vivian replied dryly. “I didn’t see him after that I didn’t see her, either, and in that ridiculous dress she would be easy to spot. Maybe they left together.”

“
I know who you’re talking about. The zig-zaggy hemline with one shoulder out. Did she actually cut in while you were dancing?”

“
No, but she must have been waiting for us to stop, because she grabbed him right away.” Vivian sighed. “But Bernard is nice. He’s a stockbrocker; lives in Riverdale.”

“
Terry has one of those in-law apartments in a private house in White Plains. He’s a systems analyst. He asked me to lunch, since our offices aren’t too far from each other. We’re going on Tuesday.”

“
You’re doing real good, Glenda. First Bobby, now Terry.”

Lowering her chin to her chest, Glenda replied,
“You sound like you haven’t been busy yourself, or were Gary and Gordon figments of your imagination?”

“
At least you and Bobby got somewhere…before you found out he’s not interested in going anywhere, that is. Gary and Gordon were duds from the beginning. You’re way ahead of me.”

“
Don’t sweat it. I’m six months older, remember?”

Chapter
6

Kind Hearts and Kidney Stones

T
hree weeks later Vivian and Glenda attended an off-Broadway revue, an outing sponsored by Glenda’s church. Two buses had been chartered for this event, all consisting of groups of women and couples. Neither Vivian nor Glenda had expected this to be a venue to meet men; they both just wanted to see the show.

Prior to that, Vivian had begun dating Bernard, while Glenda dumped Bobby in favor of Bernard
’s friend Terry Terrell, whose real first name, she learned, was Grover.

Relations between both couples seemed to be going relatively well, except Vivian found Bernard
’s occasional complaints of belly pain unnerving. Zack Warner’s offhand remark about her bringing bad health to the men she dated had wounded her more deeply than she’d originally thought. Could she possibly be carrying some kind of hex? But Bernard repeatedly insisted his discomfort wasn’t anything serious.

“
So how’s Terry?” she asked Glenda.

“
He’s good. You know, I think he was actually relieved to learn that you and I were going out tonight It’ll give him and Bernard a chance to chew the fat over a couple of beers.”

“
They’re awfully tight,” Vivian said.

“
Maybe too tight.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
As far as I can tell they talk every day.”

“
So do we.”

“
We work together, Vivian; it would be hard for us not to. Often on weekends we don’t talk unless we’re going somewhere together. But those two seem closer than Montgomery and Ward. Do you ever get the feeling that Bernard shares everything that goes on between the two of you with Terry, and vice versa?”

Vivian shrugged.
“It’s not like there’s anything juicy going on, but I’d like to feel I have some privacy.”

“
There’s nothing sexually happening with Terry and me, either. I’ve stuck to my guns about keeping that out of the picture unless me and the man in my life are absolutely mad about each other.”

“
You didn’t two years ago.”

Glenda rolled her eyes.
“David wasn’t serious, but it was steady. Besides, I didn’t want to miss my sexual peak. Can I help it if I wasn’t in love then, like you were? I was leading a lonely, shallow, and meaningless life. When I was with David it was just shallow and meaningless. And satisfying,” she added with a laugh. “No harm done.”

Vivian averted her eyes. It was true that she
’d had strong feelings for Douglas Mathis, and he for her, but she had ultimately decided that his alcohol intake was more than she felt comfortable with. He was a mail sorter at the post office, a well-paying, but rather boring, occupation in which people had been known to go berserk in the past. She was afraid that only trouble lay ahead and in her heart she’d always known the breakup had been for the best. She never regretted it; Douglas simply wasn’t her Mr. Right.

She felt Glenda
’s elbow gently poke her side and stopped thinking about her old flame.

“
Talk about an audience full of females,” Glenda hissed. “Any woman with a man is over fifty and has probably been married to him for twenty years.”

Vivian scanned the spectators in front of them, from left to right
. “Not that couple.” She pointed to the right with her chin.

“
Hmm. Interesting. I’m glad somebody out there has managed to snare a date. Maybe there’s hope for us yet eh?”

They both found their attention held by the couple. They could only see the backs of their heads and the sides of their faces. They were deeply engrossed in conversation and seemed oblivious of their surroundings.

A slight commotion having to do with someone being in the wrong seat just a few rows ahead of where she and Glenda were captured Vivian’s attention, and then she noticed that the couple was looking in that direction as well. The man looked even more handsome now that she saw his entire face, but she gasped when she got a closer look at the woman. To say she was not attractive was being kind. There were spaces between her upper teeth large enough to drive a Harley-Davidson through, suggesting advanced periodontal disease like in those scary posters at the dentist’s office. The obviously dyed reddish-gold chignon hairstyle which looked so fashionable from the rear was badly in need of a touch-up. Dark roots at least half-an-inch long were clearly visible in the front. A thick layer of make-up failed to disguise the fact that she had bad skin.

“Did you see that?” Glenda whispered.

“
Yes. Listen, I don’t like to begrudge anyone their good fortune, but there must be two dozen unescorted women in our group alone, and every one of them is better looking than she is.”

“
Hmph. She must be paying.”

“
Maybe. But it’s depressing all the same.”

*****

A warm front hit New York the following week, a hint of the spring that was still over a month away. Usually such unseasonable weather was reserved for work days, but New Yorkers awoke Friday morning to temperatures in the high forties that would reach the mid-sixties by the afternoon. The television meteorologists were promising it would last until Monday.

Bernard called Vivian at work that afternoon.
“I hear we’re going to have real nice weather this weekend. Let’s plan on doing something outside.”

“
Sounds good to me.”

They spent Saturday afternoon in Central Park
, then walked down the most fashionable part of Fifth Avenue. On Sunday they went to a deli and bought sandwiches, fruit, cheese and wine and had a picnic in one of the pullover areas on the West Side Highway overlooking the Hudson River, just north of the Seventy-Ninth Street Boat Basin. It was rather noisy, with southbound traffic whizzing past at sixty miles an hour, but somehow it was relaxing at the same time, just cooling out knowing that they had nowhere in particular to go.

“
I always wanted to have a boat,” Bernard said. “I’ll bet it costs a fortune to keep one here.”

Vivian was lying down with her head resting on his thigh. She followed his gaze to the boats docked in the basin.
“I think most of those people live on their boats.”

“
Well, that’s a thought. It beats paying rent, I’m sure.” He made a strange sound, almost like a whimper.

She immediately sat up.
“You all right?”

“
Well, actually I’m not feeling that great. Do you mind if we wrap up a little early?”

“
Of course not I’ll even drive.” She got up right away and began gathering the contents of their outing.

“
You know, Bernard, you really should make an appointment to see a doctor,” she said when they were settled in his cream-colored SUV, Vivian behind the wheel with the seat and mirrors adjusted for her lesser height, waiting for a break in traffic so she could pull out.

“
I know. I’ll definitely make the call tomorrow. It’s become pretty apparent that whatever this is, it isn’t going to go away by itself. Do you mind if I put my seat back?”

“
No, go ahead. I’m fine.”

Vivian took the first exit, then got back on heading north. She was glad the toll was on the south
bound side; she wanted to get Bernard home as quickly as possible.

It only took fifteen minutes to get to Bernard
’s co-op in Riverdale, but in that brief time he had fallen asleep. She gently shook him awake. “Yeah, I’m up,” he said unconvincingly.

“
I’m coming upstairs with you. I’m not leaving until I know you’re all right”

“
I need to bring you home.”

“
If you’re not up to it I’ll just take your car to go home in. If you feel better later I’ll bring it back to you, and you can bring me home then. Even if you don’t feel up to it later, we can do it tomorrow. You take the train to work, anyway, and the car will be safe on my street.”

On his floor she stopped at the incinerator closet to toss the trash bag from their outing.
“Leave the door open,” she called. She opened the incinerator chute, stuffed the bag inside and did a quick reflex action to make sure it had actually gone down. She then rushed down the hall to Bernard’s apartment. The door was ajar, held open by the deadbolt lock in the locked position. She wondered if she would get a look at his bedroom. She wasn’t in the least concerned that he might try for sex; that look on his face reflected genuine pain. In the meantime she could learn more about his personality, like if the neat appearance of the front of his apartment was real or just for show.

The television was on in the living room. Perhaps out of habit he had turned it on to watch the afternoon
’s basketball games.

“
Bernard?” she called haltingly as she entered the living room. She drew in her breath when she saw him lying on the floor between the coffee table and the sofa, facing the sofa. Good Lord, he must have passed out. There was blood on the edge of the coffee table. She also noticed blood on the area rug underneath the table.

She was afraid to look at his face, but she had to determine if he was still breathing. She knelt in front of him and tried to roll him over, without
much success. For such a thin man he felt awfully heavy. His forehead was covered with blood. “Bernard. What happened?”

He mumbled something unintelligible.

“Wait I’m going to call for help.” She reached for the phone and dialed nine-one-one, then went to get a cloth to wipe away all the blood.

Vivian drove Bernard
’s SUV to the hospital instead of riding in the ambulance; that way she would be sure to have a way to get home. The ambulance brought Bernard to Hudson Hospital. It was in Manhattan and there were plenty of hospitals in the Bronx, but it was a ten-minute drive from Riverdale, right off the Henry Hudson Parkway. She really didn’t think about the possibility of seeing Zack until she pulled into the parking lot. She could only imagine what he would have to say at her accompanying yet another ailing male friend. If she was lucky, he wouldn’t be on duty today.

The nurse at the triage desk interviewed her, but she was unable to provide most of the answers to the information they sought.
“I don’t know him very well,” she added, feeling she needed to explain to the harried nurse, whose expression clearly conveyed that she felt Vivian was worthless. “When you’re getting to know someone you generally don’t exchange information like what medical problems or operations they’ve had.”

When the nurse was done Vivian decided to notify Bernard
’s family. Of course, she had no idea of how to reach them, but she knew who would.

*****

“Hello?”

“
Glenda, it’s Vivian. I need to get in touch with Terry.”

“
He’s right here. We just got in from playing some miniature golf. Is everything all right?”

“
No. I’m at the hospital with Bernard. He passed out in his apartment.”

“
Oh, my goodness! Is he okay?”

“
They haven’t told me anything yet. He seemed conscious when EMS came to pick him up, but he was talking gibberish.”

“
I hope he didn’t have a stroke. He’s young for that, but he does hold a high-stress job.”

“
At this point, all I can do is wait. But I do think his parents should know about this. Besides, they can answer a lot of questions I’m not able to, like if he has any medication allergies.”

“
Oh, sure. Hold on. I’ll tell Terry to pick up.” There was a pause, as if she was putting down the phone, but then Glenda spoke again. “Wait a minute. What hospital are you at?”

Vivian chuckled.
“Where else but my favorite ER?”

A rushing sound flooded the receiver as Glenda inhaled.
“Hudson! Did you see him?”

“
No,” Vivian replied flatly.

“
Well, you don’t have to sound so defensive.”

“
I’m not being defensive, Glenda. This is a serious matter. Bernard was unconscious. You just said yourself that maybe he had a stroke. Zack Warner is the last person I’m thinking about. This is not part of our little husband-hunting expedition.”

“
All right, all right. Now you’re making me feel guilty. Hold on; here’s Terry.”

Vivian sat in the waiting area, alternating between reading the Arts and Leisure section of the
New York Times
that someone had apparently left behind, and glancing up at the entry, wanting to see if anyone new had arrived. Terry had immediately offered to call Bernard’s parents and let them know their son was at the hospital. “I’m sure they’ll rush right over,” he said.

Vivian expected as much. It had been a very long time since she
’d met the parents of a man she was dating, and these circumstances were far from ideal. Terry had also told her that he and Glenda would be over right after they got something to eat. She found herself hoping that they would arrive before the Williamses; it would make the situation less uncomfortable for her.