The Rebound Effect

by Linda Griffin

  “Sacred? Really, Frank, it’s embarrassing when you lay it on so thick.”

  He kissed her temple penitently. “I know. I’m sorry. I can’t seem to help myself. I’ve never felt anything quite like this.”

  “Not with…your wife?”

  “No, that was a little different. I mean it was good; we had a great relationship, but I think you’re the one I was meant to be with. I wish you were as sure as I am. It’s a great feeling. We can get married and buy a house together—in Cougar, of course; I assume you don’t want to live in Powell City—and we’ll have a little girl right away, and you can stay home and take care of them and study for your degree.”

  “Do I get a say in any of this?”

  “Yes, of course, but I’m sure we want the same things. I’d like more kids, but if you don’t, I’ll settle for two, and eventually you can open your own practice or at least be a full partner where you are.”

  “That does sound good,” she admitted.

  “Your parents live here in the city, right? When can I meet them?” Teresa was torn. She both wanted to introduce Frank to her family and dreaded the upheaval it would cause. He noticed her reluctance and asked, “You’re afraid your folks won’t like me? Do they have something against cops or…?”

  “No, but they’ll think it’s too fast.”

  “When they see us together, they’ll understand.”

  She wasn’t so sure, but what could she say? “Would you be able to get off work at Thanksgiving?”

  “I’ll see what I can do, but let’s not wait that long. We could take them out to dinner—we’ll choose a casual family restaurant. Aiden too, of course. I should ask your dad for permission to propose to you.”

  “That’s a pretty old-fashioned idea.” She could imagine exactly how it would play out.

  “What does he do, your father?”

  “He works for a company called Information Management. It sounds important, but he says he’s a glorified typist. It’s a lot different from farming. He—actually, both of them—will think it’s too soon—after Brett.”

  Aiden ran back to them, signing excitedly, “Come see rhinoceros!” He grabbed Teresa’s hand and swung it as they walked. “Rhino…sir?”

  “Rhine-oss-erus,” she enunciated.

  “Rhinoceros!” He liked the word.

  “Very good.” He ran ahead and ran his finger along the sign in front of the enclosure, puzzling out the words.

  “He’s pretty verbal, considering, isn’t he?” Frank asked. “I’m not sure what’s normal at his age.”

  “They say children who learn a second language at an early age find it easier to learn everything else.”

  “A second—oh, you mean sign language?”

  “ASL, yes. And he learned the manual alphabet and the printed alphabet at the same time too.”

  “I know how challenging that is,” he said. They dutifully admired the rhinoceros, and then Frank asked, “What were we talking about before?” Teresa was going to say something about their future plans or her parents, but he said, “Oh, yes, Devlin. I found out why he was fired.”

  “I didn’t want you to do that.” Hadn’t she in fact asked him not to? “I wanted him to tell me, and he wouldn’t, but now it’s not my business.” She had wanted to know, and she had wanted Brett to be able to tell her anything. She was also afraid to know. He wouldn’t have been fired for sleeping with Lacey, so it had to be something worse—worse than the calamity that toppled the life they had planned to have together.

  “Good,” Frank said. “That means you’re moving on. Still…didn’t you even want to know if it was something that could have put your son at risk?”

  “Was it?”

  “No, but it might have involved Aiden.” He came to a full stop, but of course now she had to know. She gave him a look, and he smiled and touched her hair affectionately. “He falsified information on a grant application.”

  “Really?” It didn’t sound like Brett, but neither did cheating with a teenage waitress. She had always believed he was honest—he couldn’t even lie about Lacey. “What does it have to do with Aiden?”

  “My understanding is the school district has to pay for a sign-language interpreter under the ADA, but other things—like the after-school program and the speech therapist—were paid for by this grant. Devlin falsified information—I’m not sure what. Maybe inflated the number of disabled students, something like that. And of course Aiden was the beneficiary, so it’s a conflict of interest, because you were dating.”

  This was a double blow. “So we’ll lose the therapist?”

  “Don’t worry about it. You’ll be home when he gets out of school, and we can afford a private therapist.”

  “If we get married.”

  “Well…of course it’s up to you. I can understand why you wouldn’t want to be a cop’s wife.”

  She hadn’t really considered it much, but now she remembered what it was like to try to sleep while he was involved in a six-hour standoff before they’d even had a first date. “Was it hard on her?” she asked, and tentatively, “Your first wife?”

  He liked that. He put his arm around her and held her close. “Nikki was a pro,” he said.

  “Nikki?” She felt both guilt for the information she had gained secretly, and a leap of surprised hope. Maybe he hadn’t been married to the mysterious Edris after all.

  “Yeah, that was her name, or what everybody called her, anyway. Her middle name was Nicole. Anyway, her father and brother were both cops, and she worked for the department as a computer tech, so she didn’t go into it blind. If that’s one of the things standing in your way, maybe it would help if I showed you all the precautions we take, the safety equipment and so on.”

  Aiden tugged at Teresa’s hand, and she followed him and helped him read a sign. When he was satisfied, he signed, “What you and Frank talk about?” The sign they had devised for his name combined F with the sign for police. Frank was right behind them now, and she interpreted the question for him.

  “Police work,” he said.

  Aiden, hanging on the fence of the enclosure, looked up at him. “When can I see your gun?”

  Frank glanced at Teresa. “I don’t think your mom wants you to.”

  “Why not?”

  “Guns are dangerous,” she told him. “They scare me.”

  “Yes, they’re dangerous,” Frank agreed. “That’s why it’s very important to learn the right way to use them. When you’re a little older, I’ll take you to the shooting range and teach you how to do it safely.” She cringed, but translated it all.

  “How much old?” Aiden signed.

  Frank deferred to Teresa. “Thirty,” she said.

  He shook his head, amused. “Eight? Twelve?”

  “Twenty-one.”

  “Okay,” he said. “We’ll leave it for a later negotiation. I’ll show you first, so you’ll know how careful we would be. I will bring the gun—unloaded—for him to see one day soon.”

  She didn’t like the idea, but it wasn’t unreasonable. She relayed the promise to Aiden.

  The weather was still pleasant, so they ate lunch on a tree-lined deck. Teresa expected Aiden to insist on a hot dog, but when Frank opted for a grilled chicken sandwich, he wanted one too. It came with a slice of cheese, which he liked, and lettuce and tomato to satisfy her. She wanted him to have milk, but Frank chose Coke, so she let Aiden have one—“just this once.” He watched Frank eat and copied him, bite for bite, sip for sip.

  She couldn’t help laughing. “You little monkey!” she said. Even if they didn’t get married, this was so good for Aiden, in a way even Brett hadn’t been.

  Frank hadn’t noticed what was happening and grinned when he caught on. He met Aiden’s eyes and asked, “Are you having fun?” Aiden looked at her for the translation and nodded vigorously. “What’s your favorite animal so far?”

  He gave the question serious thought. “Tiger baby,” he signed.

  “T
iger cub,” she said, and spelled C-U-B for Aiden.

  “What your favorite?” he asked Frank very clearly. He glanced at his mother and amended it: “What is your favorite?” She had tears in her eyes she didn’t want either of them to see. A whole sentence, in a crowded public place, where she had seen curious stares for the signing!

  “Hmm…” Frank considered. “The rhinoceros,” he said finally. “I like its name.”

  Aiden frowned, concentrating hard and absentmindedly kicking the table leg. He held up one finger. “Tiger.” He held up two. “Rhine-oss-ur-us!” Frank put up his hand, and they high-fived each other.

  “Okay, what’s your favorite?” Frank asked Teresa. He managed a good approximation of the sign for favorite.

  “I’m not sure. Meerkats, maybe.”

  “What’s next?” Frank asked Aiden. “What do you like that we haven’t seen yet?”

  He kicked the table leg. “Polar bear,” he signed and after a moment’s consideration, “Tiger again.”

  ****

  On the way home, with Aiden in the back seat texting to Sasha, Frank said, “I have to work next weekend, but the week after, if the weather isn’t bad, we could drive to the coast and take Aiden with us. He could sleep in the loft.” She didn’t answer, and he gave her a quick glance. “I keep thinking about how wonderful it was in the hotel, with the sound of the surf, sleeping with you in my arms all night.”

  “I don’t think so,” she said. “Maybe just to Genoa to the aquarium and back the same day. We could go even if it rains.”

  “In that case, maybe we could take in a movie on Sunday. An animated Disney picture is playing at the theater here, and it’s supposed to be good. Might be time to try Aiden on the captions again?”

  “It would be worth a try,” Teresa said. “Even if he couldn’t understand everything, he would probably enjoy the movie. It would have to be in the afternoon, after church.”

  “Agreed, but it’s two weeks away. I could die of neglect in two weeks.” He glanced in the rearview mirror. “When can we make love again?”

  Teresa punched his arm playfully. “Is that all you ever think about?”

  “I think I’ve been very patient.”

  “Yes, you have.”

  “I’m sort of assuming I’m not the only one who wants this. Please tell me if I’m wrong. We could do lunch again. Skip the Spicy Burger—I’ll get takeout and pick you up. Or you have Monday mornings off, right? I could swing that when I work the weekend.”

  “I usually do laundry and things like that, and sometimes Alix comes over for coffee.”

  “Tell her you’re busy. You can skip the girl talk for once, and I’ll help you with the laundry.”

  “Help me get the sheets dirty, you mean?”

  Chapter 14

  “You know,” Alix said, when Teresa recounted the conversation at the zoo over coffee in her kitchen on Monday morning, “this is starting to sound familiar. The rushing, the exaggerated compliments, the rosy picture of the future. It’s possible Frank might be mentally ill.”

  “Oh, of course!” Teresa said, slapping her forehead. “How could I have missed that? He has to be crazy to find me attractive.”

  “You are attractive, Terror,” Alix said warmly. “I’d totally do you if I was a lesbian—which would be kind of cool, you know; no masculine ego to tend. Here’s what else is attractive about you: If he wants children, you’re already a mother, so he knows you’re fertile and good with kids. You have no close family in town to interfere with the relationship. You need everything he has to offer, so you’ll be grateful and let him have his way. Damn fine wife material!”

  “So you think he likes me because I’m needy?”

  “You need financial help, emotional support, a father figure for your son, not to mention the cochlear implant he could pay for, decent sex, somebody who’s good at fixing things, protection from the big bad world…”

  “Gee, Alix, are you trying to convince me to marry him or slit my wrists? Golly shakes, as Sasha would say!”

  “She does have a way with words. But seriously, he doesn’t just find you attractive; he thinks you’re the goddamned love of his life. I’m not saying he’s certifiable, but I used to work with a cook when I was waitressing who would have these grandiose plans for buying real estate and spend a lot of money on antique furniture and be on the phone for hours doing fabulous deals, and then he would crash and be depressed and stare at the walls. He got fired, of course, but I heard he was doing fine after he got on the right meds. Frank might be in the manic stage of bipolar disorder—high functioning, if his job hasn’t been affected, and I’m sure the police department keeps a close eye on those things. They probably do random drug tests and wouldn’t have hired him if he was on medication. He might not need medication. He might be fine without it, just a little exuberant—but don’t get too committed until you’ve seen the other end of the spectrum.”

  Teresa sipped her coffee and waited. She didn’t know what she was waiting for. An argument to counter with? For Alix to say she was joking or take it back? A sense of clarity on the whole question? What if she was right? What would be best to do? She had been pretty honest with Frank about her feelings—he had asked for no bullshit. Should she present him with this theory and see what he would say? Or run like hell for her safety and Aiden’s?

  “Say something,” Alix prompted.

  “You’re practicing psychiatry without a license,” she said.

  “Yup,” Alix agreed. “You got me. So…besides the predictions of wedded bliss, did you have fun?”

  “Yes,” Teresa said emphatically, not without a sigh of relief. “It was so good for Aiden, and I didn’t think it was possible this soon after Brett.”

  “Yeah, Frank is a charmer. I’ll give you that.”

  ****

  His charm was very much in evidence on Thursday when he picked her up at the Rosey Lane Veterinary Clinic at lunchtime. He was in a very good mood and obviously pleased to see her, kissing her lovingly before he started the car. “You look great,” he said and kissed her again. He was in uniform, or half in uniform—black trousers and long-sleeved shirt with PCPD above the pocket and a SWAT patch on the sleeve. She was wearing the sea anemone T-shirt, which she hadn’t worn since the Sunday at the coast. It wasn’t exactly her style, but it was flattering, and he would know she had worn it for him. He had the radio on—Willie Nelson singing “You Were Always on My Mind.” Something smelled good—Chinese takeout containers on the back seat. He caught her looking and said, “Chinese chicken salad. I didn’t think you’d want anything with onions or chili peppers.”

  “Perfect,” she said.

  They had talked on the phone the night before, but he asked, “How are you? Everything okay?” He was edgy in an excited, upbeat way. She couldn’t help remembering Alix’s bipolar diagnosis, but maybe it had more to do with the fact that they hadn’t had sex in two weeks and were presumably about to.

  They ate lunch first, sitting at his kitchen table, not rushing, but not wasting time, since she needed to get back to work. The salad was delicious, with crispy noodles and sweet, spicy sesame sauce. They talked easily, very comfortable with each other now, and Frank had trouble keeping his hands off her. He touched her hand, brushed her hair back from her face, let his fingers drift toward the deep V of her neckline. “So, Halloween tonight,” he said. “Will you still be at the grill for dinner?”

  “Yes, we’ll go trick-or-treating after. Two guesses what Aiden’s costume is.”

  “Tiger? No? Zookeeper!”

  “No, Frank. Think about it. He’s going as a police officer.”

  His hand went to his heart. “No shit? Would he like to borrow a badge? Nothing else would fit him, I’m afraid.”

  “Oh, Frank, he would love that!”

  “Don’t let me forget to give it to you when we leave.”

  When they got to the fortune cookies, they proved to be chocolate-covered, something she had never seen
before. “They’re from this little place where they make them to order,” he explained. “Any flavor you want.”

  He handed her one, and she automatically split it. She had seen some pretty bizarre fortunes and was ready to laugh and shake her head, but this one said Will you marry me? Apparently the fortunes could be made to order too.

  She hadn’t seen it coming, and she should have. She was stunned into immobility, and when she looked up, he was smiling, eager. “I love you, Teresa.” He touched her face and leaned in for a kiss. “You have such a beautiful name,” he said. “I think Teresa McAllister has a nice ring,” and he held the ring up, offering it to her.

  She took it slowly, numbly. It was exquisite, a tapered channel-set diamond band with a cushion-cut center diamond. His tendency to exaggerate every compliment might have led her to expect this to be overdone too, but it was not far off what she might have chosen herself if she could have: clearly expensive but not gaudy, the diamond not so large it would overwhelm her slender finger. When he was sure she’d had a good look, he took her hand and slipped it on. Teresa was not immune to the drama of the occasion—she tilted her hand so the gems would catch the light. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed.

  She expected him to press her for an answer, but he took her into the bedroom instead. Teresa sat on the bed and started to take off her shirt—they had no time to waste—but Frank said, “Let me.” He pulled it off over her head and kissed her. She reached behind her back, but he said, “Leave your bra on.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know; I just like it that way.” She remembered she had worn a halter top the first time, and hadn’t removed her bra last time, either. As a quirk, she much preferred it to handcuffs. It wasn’t as if he didn’t like her breasts—his fingers were inside the bra, and he kissed her intensely, easing her back against the pillows to kiss her everywhere.

  He took off her shoes, and she lifted her hips so he could pull off her jeans. “I love making love to you,” he said. “There’s something mysterious, almost aloof about you, but your body is so responsive, so sweet all over. Your mouth, your breasts…”