Noel could’ve stayed until the place closed, but just before ten, Toni checked her watch and said, “I’ve got to get over to the station. Wanna walk me home?”
“I didn’t hear a siren.”
“If you had, I’d already be gone.” They walked toward the door, and when they got outside, Toni turned to the left. “Those of us without families stay at the station one night a week.”
“All by yourself?”
“Yep. It’s usually pretty boring, but somebody needs to be there. Besides Rehoboth, we help other towns when they need it. That doesn’t happen often, but we’ve gotta be here to get the alarm.”
“I think it’s cool that you’re a firefighter,” Noel said, knowing that her smile was goofy looking.
“To be honest, I think it’s cool, too.” Toni’s smile was lethally charming, and when she reached out to take Noel’s hand, there was no resistance. In fact, Noel considered starting a diary to mark the first time they’d held hands. Then she realized that was an urge she should have satisfied thirty-five years ago.
They didn’t have to walk far to reach the station. Toni stood at the side entrance and took out her keys, which were many. She snuck another look at her watch, and said, “I’ve got to get in and relieve my buddy, Rusty. I had a great time tonight.”
“I did, too. We’ll have to do it again.”
“That’s a very good idea.” Toni reached up and slid her hand across the neat French braid that Noel had fashioned. “I love your hair. No matter what anyone tells you, don’t cut it. Long hair rules.”
“I’ll remember that,” Noel said, gazing into Toni’s dark eyes, hoping she’d kiss her.
Toni closed the distance between them and when she was just an inch away she whispered, “Don’t be a stranger,” then pressed a gentle but surprisingly heartfelt kiss upon Noel’s lips. Noel stood, motionless, hoping for more, but all she heard was a soft chuckle, then the firehouse door opening and closing.
***
Rusty was waiting right by the front door. “I was just about to stick my head out and see if you were coming. Who’s the chick?”
“The woman,” Toni said, enunciating clearly, “is Max Carter’s daughter.”
“Wow. I couldn’t see her very clearly, but she’s tasty looking.”
“Yeah, she is. The more often I see her, the more she reminds me of Max.”
“I know you’re getting old, Hoop, and you probably need glasses, but she doesn’t look a thing like Max. Is she single?”
“Yeah, she is.”
“Straight?” He laughed, shaking his head. “You’ve always got to ask around here.”
Toni was used to his sense of humor, knowing his teasing was benign. “I don’t think so, but you could probably change her mind.”
“It’s not worth the trouble. You’ve probably already cast your net.”
“No, I haven’t. And I hate to break it to you, but I’m really not all that successful with the ladies.”
“Whatever you say, Hoop.” He was chuckling to himself when he left the firehouse.
***
Every day for the next week, Noel trolled around looking for Toni. She’d figured out that Toni didn’t take her truck to go most places around town, so not being able to search for the distinctive vehicle made things a little more difficult.
It had been years…perhaps never…since she had a crush like the one she’d developed on the fire-fighting handywoman. Still, she didn’t feel comfortable calling. She was a fairly confident woman in most situations, but she’d never had to chase someone, and it felt so unnatural that she wasn’t sure how to start.
Her breakup had knocked her off her pins in many ways, one of them hurting her self-assurance. While she wasn’t devastated any longer, she wasn’t sure enough of Toni’s interest to track her down. But if their paths happened to cross…
Sadly, that didn’t happen. She knew Toni would likely be hanging out in one of her two favorite bars, but she felt a little odd going into either alone. Stopping by in the late afternoon for a soda was one thing. Going on the prowl at nine p.m. was another.
So she went on three walks a day, figuring she’d run into Toni eventually. It was just that eventually wasn’t coming fast enough to suit her.
***
Toni had been engaged in the very same activity as Noel had. She usually knocked off work by four thirty or five, went home to shower and change, then left for dinner. Most of the popular restaurants were on one busy street, and each night she’d start at one end of the street and casually make her way down to the other end, looking for any sign of Noel. But a full week passed with their never being in the same place at the same time.
The following week, Toni and her friend Roxy went to Showtime, as they often did on Wednesdays. Roxy kept pointing out women that she thought would appeal to Toni, but Toni refused to bite.
“Why are you so picky?” Roxy asked. “You’re not gonna find much better than that cutie over in the corner.”
“No, I’m not interested. I think I’ll head home early tonight, and I’d just as soon go alone.”
Roxy gave her a suspicious look. “What’s going on with you? If you were in the majors, they’d send you down to Triple-A with your pitiful batting average.”
Toni smiled and rolled her eyes at her old friend. “I don’t think of this as a game. If I see somebody I’m attracted to, I’ll try to meet her. But I’m not into trying to score with someone just to prove that I can.”
Roxy elbowed her and laughed. “Since when?”
“Since always. It’s not that hard to convince some drunken tourist to go home with you. If I’m gonna spend the night with someone, I want to make sure we both have fun.”
“I always have fun when some sweet thing is cuddled up against me. You over think things.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe my tastes are changing.”
“Not mine. I’m always gonna like as many pretty women as I can get.”
“I think quality has to come into play too, Roxy.”
“You have your rules, I have mine. And if you’re not gonna take her, I’m gonna try to separate that brunette from the herd.”
“Happy hunting,” Toni said, slapping her friend on the back.
***
On her way home, Toni stopped in at Jackie’s, ostensibly just to say hi but also to see if Noel had been in. Toni made her way around the room, speaking to a few friends and checking out the scene. After she’d made her rounds, she went up to the bar and took a stool in the corner. Jackie looked for her signal, and when Toni shook her head, Jackie brought her some sparkling water. “On duty tonight?”
“Yep. What’s been going on?”
“Since last night?”
Realizing her line of questioning wasn’t getting her anywhere, Toni decided to be blunt. “Has Max’s daughter been in again?”
“No, haven’t seen her. I sure wouldn’t mind if she’d hang out here, though. She’d be good for business,” Jackie said laughing fiendishly. “She probably goes over to Showtime and hangs out with girly girls.”
“I don’t think so. I’m afraid she’s feeling a little isolated over at The Sandpiper. She doesn’t seem like she’s used to having to entertain herself.”
“I’d gladly entertain her. Any night.”
Smiling at Jackie’s fanciful offer, Toni said, “I don’t think you’re alone there, but she doesn’t seem like she’s all that interested in going out.”
“Have you tried to interest her?”
Feeling a little defensive, Toni said, “Not very hard. She had a bad breakup just a few months ago, and I think she’s still licking her wounds.”
“I’d be more than happy to lick her—” Jackie began before Toni hoisted herself up by standing on the lowest rung of the bar stool and clapped her hand over Jackie’s mouth.
Part Four
For the first time that summer Rehoboth Beach was hit with a wave of enervating humidity. Everyone in town whined about it,
which seemed funny to Noel, coming from Baltimore where summer humidity was an everyday occurrence.
She walked to a local restaurant and had dinner outdoors, having a salad and a glass of iced tea while she read a novel she’d picked up from her new friend Gloria. Her table was near the sidewalk, and she looked up sharply when someone gently tugged on a lock of her hair.
Toni was standing next to her, grinning happily. Judging by the gleam in her eye, Noel figured she was out for a night of lady killing.
Toni had obviously just showered since her hair still looked damp. She was wearing a white sleeveless linen shirt, and there wasn’t a wrinkle in it. The shirt was tucked into sky blue shorts, which were similarly pressed into sharp creases. Toni looked long and lean and cool—in both attitude and temperature. Noel eyed her carefully. “Are you just out pulling girls’ hair? Or do you have a purpose?”
“I don’t have much of a purpose. I don’t have air conditioning, so as soon as I got home from work I took a shower and thought I’d better head out.” She conspicuously eyed Noel’s book. “Could you tear yourself away to share some of your wine with me?”
“I don’t have any wine.”
Toni easily stepped over the low barrier and took a seat opposite Noel. She caught the waiter’s eye, and when he stopped by she ordered a bottle of Pinot Grigio. The smile she shared with Noel was both sexy and impish. “All set. I guess I should’ve waited for you to say whether you would’ve rather kept reading, huh?”
“There’s no need. My book will be here later, but you’re like a firefly. I’ve got to catch you as soon as it turns dusk”
“That’s a good one,” Toni said, her smile extending its grasp to reach her eyes. “Am I really hard to hold onto? That’s not how I see myself. Actually, that sounds more like you.”
“Right. Sure.”
The waiter delivered their wine, and Toni spent a moment going through the formalities of the testing and approval. Then she and Noel clinked their glasses together, and each took a sip. “This is delicious,” Noel said. “Just the thing for a hot night.”
“And I can have more than one glass because I’m off tonight.” At Noel’s raised eyebrow, she continued, “I get two nights a week off. If a cat gets stuck up a tree tonight, I don’t have to go.” She took another sip of her wine. “So tell me about how elusive I am. I think I’ve been kind of a pest.”
“Hardly. Why would you think that?”
“You’ve still never called me. Every time we’ve seen each other it’s because I’ve seen you somewhere or come by your house.”
“Yes, I have. I called you when you ran off to answer the fire alarm.”
Toni merely raised an eyebrow.
Noel’s smile showed just a hint of guilt. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been single. I think I’ve forgotten some of the rules.”
“There aren’t that many rules. All you have to do is show that you’re interested. Are you?” She wiggled both of her eyebrows now, making Noel laugh.
Noel leaned back in her chair and carefully assessed Toni, letting her eyes slowly scan her face. “If it’s just a matter of physical attraction, there’s no doubt. Yes, yes, and more yes.” She giggled, her blue eyes nearly closing with the effort.
“I don’t have a record, and I don’t mind if you run a credit check on me, so physical attraction should do it.”
“Yeah, it should.” Her forehead was wrinkled in thought. “I’m just very tentative about what I want.”
“In terms of women? Or is that just a general tentativity? Nice word, huh?”
“Very nice.” Noel sipped thoughtfully at her wine, then put the glass down and looked into Toni’s eyes. “No, I’m not usually very tentative. But, as I said, it’s been a long time since I’ve been out on a date.”
Toni’s eyes were sparkling in the glow of the table candle . “I bet women ask you out,” she said, nodding with conviction. “I bet you never had to ask anyone out.”
There was just enough of the fading sunlight to be able to see the pink glow that infused Noel’s cheeks. “I think…I might have…”
“Just as I thought,” Toni said triumphantly. “You’ve got beautiful-woman disease. You’ve never learned how to ask anyone out because you’ve never had to. Sad,” she said, shaking her head mournfully.
“I wish I had beautiful-woman disease. I think I’m just lazy.”
Toni grew animated, sitting up alertly in her chair. “No, no, I’m onto something. And you’re definitely beautiful. You’re the talk of the town, you know.”
“I am not,” she said, laughing nervously.
“You are too. A bunch of women were at Jackie’s the other night trying to decide who you look like. The winner was Heidi Klum.”
“Heidi Klum!” Noel’s mouth dropped open. “Heidi Klum’s third grade teacher, maybe.”
“No, no, I had to agree, even though you don’t have Heidi’s dark eyes. Your hair looks a lot like hers, and your face has some of her structure.” She reached out with a fingertip and gently brushed it under Noel’s cheek bones. “Right around there in particular. You have the same apple cheeks that she has.”
“There must not be much going on this summer if I’m the talk of the town.”
“There’s plenty going on. And I told everyone else that I called dibs, so you might not get any more proposals until I tell them that you shot me down.”
Noel reached out and interlaced her fingers through Toni’s. “What makes you think I’d shoot you down?”
“I’m not sure. But you’ve got to admit you haven’t been falling all over yourself to get in touch with me.”
Starting to trace along the tendons on the back of Toni’s hand with her thumb, Noel said reflectively, “I’m very attracted to you. I guess I’m trying to decide if I’m ready to start dating. My breakup was pretty bad.”
“You haven’t told me much. Do you want to? I’m interested.”
Neither Noel’s posture nor her expression matched her words when she said, “I don’t mind talking about it. It’s a pretty common story. We were together for ten years. I thought things were fine; she acted like things were fine, too. But she started traveling more and more with a young woman named Heather. At first it was Heather this and Heather that. They were on the same team, so it made sense they were together a lot.”
“Can I interrupt? I don’t think you ever told me her name, or what she did for a living. Did she play professional basketball or something?”
Noel gave her quizzical look, then shook her head, chuckling. “No, she’s in marketing. She travels a lot—all over the world, as a matter of fact. She worked with this older man for many years, but about a year and a half ago she got promoted into his job and a woman took her old job.”
“Heather.”
“The very one. I should’ve started worrying when she stopped talking about her, but Janet, that’s her name by the way, didn’t let on that a thing was wrong. Actually, I thought things were better than they had been for quite a while. That’s why I was a little surprised when she told me that she couldn’t go on faking it.” Noel was obviously trying to keep her tone light, and she was partially successful in looking like she was merely annoyed. But there was a deep sadness that suffused her eyes, and the most obtuse person would have seen it.
Toni didn’t say anything at first; she looked down at the table and let her hands slowly chafe Noel’s. When she finally looked up, she looked as though she might cry. “Whenever I feel myself getting jealous of my friends who are in relationships, I remind myself of stories like this. I don’t think I’ll ever understand how you can love somebody and be committed to them and then just…what? Get tired? Bored? How does that happen?”
“I don’t know. I certainly wasn’t tired of her. It doesn’t help that Heather is almost twenty years younger than I am.”
“Twenty years! Is she even legal?”
“Yeah,” Noel laughed softly. “I think she’s twenty-five or twenty-six. She s
tarted to work with Janet right after she got her MBA from Wharton.”
“Oh, great,” Toni said sarcastically. “So she’s new and young and smart. That’s a kick in the teeth.” She took a drink of her wine. “We have a lot of nerve for making fun of men with their trophy wives. I’ve heard more than enough stories like this in the last few years. It’s just sickening. People act like the only thing that’s worthwhile is tight skin.”
“That woman I saw you with the other night was a long way from getting Social Security,” Noel said, trying to keep any rancor from her comment.
Even though Noel didn’t know her very well, it was clear she had offended Toni. “There’s nothing wrong with dating a younger woman,” she said hotly. “I’m not involved with anyone.”
Grasping the hand that Toni tried to pull away, Noel said, “I was only teasing. There is nothing wrong with dating a younger woman.”
“There is something wrong with cheating on someone you’re committed to. That’s inexcusable. Cowardly.” There was a vehemence to her words that made Noel think she spoke from experience.
“I didn’t accuse you of that. Honestly.”
Toni swiped her hair behind her ear and took a breath. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I want to be perfectly honest with you—I’m afraid of dating someone who doesn’t do relationships.”
“I can understand that,” Toni said, her anger having evaporated quickly. “If you’re looking for what you had with Janet, you’ve been smart to avoid me.”
Noel grasped her by both of her wrists and shook them. “Come on,” she pleaded, smiling. “I haven’t been avoiding you. I just haven’t been chasing you.” When she saw the look in Toni’s eyes, she added, “I think somebody’s used to being chased.”
Susan X. Meagher - The Legacy Page 7
