These Foolish Things

by Thatcher, Susan

  Ty and Liz had debated whether to attend his firm’s party or to go to Joey DiNardo’s annual bash. Liz had been unable to persuade Ty to even consider just stopping in at Joe and Jenna’s, agreeing that, yes, as a named partner, he had certain obligations outside of office hours and as his girlfriend, it was her place to be with him. It had been a wrench to tell the DiNardos that, no, she and Ty wouldn’t be joining the celebration as they’d thought. Maybe next year.

  Joey had looked hard into Liz’s eyes. “Liz, you sure you know what you’re doing?”

  “Working for McCafferty? It’ll be a blast,” she had answered.

  “No. I mean Hadley. I know you love him and I know he loves you, but…,” Joey’s jaw had set and his eyes had taken on a steely glint. “He’d better treat you right, Sister Lizabetta or he’ll regret it.”

  Liz had hugged Joey. “Brother Giuseppe, how many Hail Marys do you think Angie’s going to make you say for that?”

  Taking her wine, Liz turned off the tap, slipped under the bubbles and closed her eyes. The scent was a blend of roses, orange blossoms and jasmine with, according to the ads, “a dash of liquid starlight.” Perfume ads were almost as ridiculous as wine reviews.

  Liz allowed herself to drift and dream. She saw herself in Ty’s arms as they lay in bed, smiling into his face. She saw the love in his eyes, felt his hands knowingly stroke her body, how quickly he had learned the ways to pleasure her as she had him. Ty brought out an eagerness and passion in Liz that she hadn’t known she had; the intensity was almost frightening. Ty encouraged her. They seldom went to sleep before the small hours of the morning, Ty reading John Donne’s love poems to her from a copy they’d found in a Hyannis bookstore on that magic weekend. She’d wake as she had in Hyannis, Ty holding her close as he slept. Liz didn’t sleep very well on the nights they were apart. Within a couple of weeks, she’d become accustomed to sharing her bed with him. Without him, the loneliness that had been her life seemed even greater and made their time together that much sweeter.

  “Ty, I love you so much,” she murmured out loud. “I just wish I could have more of you.”

  “You can have me right now, Counselor,” the real thing murmured in her ear.

  Liz sat up with a splash. “TY! DON’T DO THAT!”

  He was laughing too hard to respond, so Liz splashed bath water at him, soaking the front of his suit. His response was to set down his glass of Scotch, laugh even harder and strip.

  “Room for one more, Counselor?” he asked.

  “You’re going to smell like a perfume counter, you know,” she said as she made room for him. “No cannonballs.”

  He slipped into the tub next to Liz and pulled her close as he sank in. “Mmmm, I needed this.”

  “Bad day, Counselor?” Liz asked as she snuggled close.

  “Oh yeah. The usual year-end nonsense. I finally said, ‘Why am I here when Liz is waiting for me at home? Fuck it.’ So I left.” He kissed her, “That was one helluva a smile you were wearing, Sweetheart. What were you thinking about?”

  “You.” Liz saw the weariness on his face and stroked his cheek with a soapy hand. “Are you sure you want to go to this party tonight, Love? You look beat.”

  Ty smiled as he caught her hand and kissed it. “I’ll be fine and we can sleep tomorrow. I just need to catch my second wind and this helps.” He reached for the Scotch and drained it, then handed the glass to Liz, who set it down again. “How was your day?” he asked, stroking Liz’s thigh under the water. His hand moved inward and upward, fingers making little circles.

  “Actually, pretty good. They threw a going-away party for me and Win Lovell said I could come back if I wanted to.” She had a hard time sounding normal with the currents racing through her body at his touch. Ty knew it, too and slipped his hand to the cleft between her thighs, fingers slowly probing. Liz inhaled sharply and arched her back. Involuntarily, she dug her fingernails into him, spurring him on. A throaty gasp escaped her. Ty maneuvered himself into position and entered her under the water. Minutes later, still throbbing, Liz looked over the side of the tub. The floor of the bathroom resembled a small lake.

  She half-laughed, half-groaned. “Time to swab the decks,” she said. Ty pulled her closer.

  “So, Counselor, you want more of me, huh?” he asked. “I can arrange it.” He kissed her deeply. “Move in here with me,” he said.

  Liz’s eyes opened wide. “Are you serious?” she asked.

  Ty regarded her lazily. “That I am. I want you here, with me. I want to know that this is your home, too. How can I wake up next to the love of my life if I’m here and she’s over 30 miles away? I don’t like being that far away from you and having to jump through hoops to see you. I mean it, Liz. I want you to move in with me and do it soon. Next weekend.”

  “Oh, God, Ty. I can’t organize a move that quickly. I know the crew has plans, like Millie and John are going to see his parents. Plus, I start with McCafferty next week and I’ll need to settle in there.”

  Ty wasn’t put off. “Two weeks, then.”

  “I can’t sort through and pack up my house in that time,” Liz said.

  “Rent it furnished. Am I sensing reluctance on your part?” he asked. Ty sat up. “Liz, I want to be with you so badly I can taste it. I thought you felt the same.”

  “I do,” Liz answered honestly.

  “So what’s the problem?” he asked gently.

  “Honey, this is an awfully big step,” Liz said. “We’re still just getting to know each other. I’ve...I’ve never done this before. I don’t know. I really need to think about this.”

  Ty reached forward and touched Liz’s cheek. “You don’t need to think about it. I do know. I promised that you could trust me and I meant it. Hell, if I’d had my way, you and your cat would have been installed here the night we got back from Hyannis. We’re not teenagers, Liz, we don’t have the luxury of time. This feels right. This is right. You’re the one for me.” There was a warm light in his eyes that reassured Liz. “We’re great together, you know that. We’ll be together every day and,” He pulled her close and kissed her again, “every night.”

  Liz wrapped her arms around his neck. She didn’t know what to say.

  “Ever since I met you, I’ve wanted to take care of you, spoil you and protect you. I need you next to me, need to wake up to your face,” Ty said softly, stroking his fingers down her throat. “You’re mine and it’s frustrating not to be able to reach out in the night and touch you, to know you’re still with me.” He traced the scar on her breast. “You’ve been hurt and sick and on your own before and that makes me angry. That’s not going to happen again. I want to be right there when you need me. This is the only way I know how.” He kissed her again. “What do you say, Liz? ‘Come live with me and be my love…’”

  “ ‘And we’ll some new pleasure prove,’” finished Liz, smiling.

  Ty kissed her forehead. “Buying that copy of Donne’s poetry was a great investment,” he murmured. “We won’t have to keep schlepping it between your house and mine if we’re together all the time.” He kissed her again.

  “You know, Counselor,” said Liz, “you can be irresistible when you choose.”

  “Where you’re concerned,” he answered, “It’s my ace in the hole. Is that a yes?”

  “It is,” she whispered. She ruthlessly quelled her misgivings.

  At the New Year’s Eve party, Liz hadn’t felt the same wall of hostility that she’d gotten walking in on Ty’s arm at the Christmas party. Liz had noticed that the Silicone Queen was not there to ring in the new year.

  Everything was top-shelf. The champagne was expensive, the food was catered by a five-star restaurant, everyone was dressed in designer labels. Yet while she was enjoying conversation with Ty’s colleagues, Liz was missing the casual-dress gathering at Joe’s, the arguments over which movies they’d watch, the board games, Angie yelling at “her” children, the warmth that came from being within the group. Here, the peopl
e were friendly, but it was a distant, detached friendliness born of career advancement.

  No sooner had they removed their coats but a couple of the junior associates pounced on Ty to talk about some pending cases. He had shrugged helplessly, kissed Liz and excused himself. Finding herself alone among virtual strangers, Liz squared her shoulders, held her head high and determined to charm and impress anyone she met, but the back of her mind was replaying Ty’s proposition. God, if she was still alive, thought Liz, my mother would have a fit. “Obviously, you’re not good enough to marry,” or something like that. Liz pushed the thought down. Not tonight. She didn’t need to run those old tapes tonight.

  As time closed on midnight, Liz looked around for Ty. He had finished business with the junior members of the firm and was talking with one of the named partners. Liz approached the men and slipped her hand into Ty’s. Without missing a beat of the conversation, he squeezed her hand, but that was the only acknowledgment of her presence Liz got for a couple of minutes. At five minutes to midnight, a waiter came by with champagne and Ty finally broke off the discussion.

  “C’mon,” he said as he led Liz towards the crowd waiting for the countdown. He and Liz slipped arms around each other and joined the countdown.

  “Three, two, one, HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

  Instead of rowdy cheering and everyone singing “Auld Lang Syne” in his or her own key, here there were polite murmurs of “Happy New Year” and hand-shaking. Ty took Liz in his arms and kissed her as he had at the Barrister’s Ball.

  “May we be together at this time next year,” he murmured.

  And, two weekends later, Liz and Millie were watching professional movers empty her house onto a truck. Liz had managed to find a tenant for her place, students starting the second semester at Salem State who were happy to take the place semi-furnished. However, it seemed to Liz that a lot of stuff was headed for storage with no definite date for getting it out again.

  “You know, this is your life going onto that truck, Liz,” Millie remarked. “Ty wouldn’t allow any of it and you just smiled and said ‘Fine’?” she asked incredulously. “Doesn’t sound like the stubborn bitch I know.”

  “You’ve seen the house, Mill. It’s gorgeous. None of this would go with it. It’s not that Ty didn’t allow me to bring my furniture, it just wasn’t needed,” Liz replied.

  “Uh huh,” said Millie, “and where is Prince Charming today?”

  Liz shot her a sharp look, “Working. Millie, am I going to have a problem between you and Ty?”

  Millie shrugged. “Probably not. I’m just pissed because I’m not going to see you at work anymore, you’re moving to Wellesley and it just feels like he’s taking you away from us.”

  Liz didn’t say anything, but she’d had the same thoughts. “Well, I see your point. But, Judge McCafferty allows me a lot of freedom to do my job, just as long as it gets done on time. We can get together for lunch in the city and we can still do things together. Besides, I know you’re going to start bitching soon enough that we’re getting on each other’s nerves as we put this wedding of yours together. Let’s face it, Mill, you’ve already taken steps to more or less dump me for a man. I’m just returning the favor.”

  Millie laughed and punched her arm. “Fine. Be that way. I will say, though, the two of you are hot together. It’s clear you guys are in love with each other.”

  “That’s the last of it, Ma’am,” a mover interrupted. “Sorry to interrupt you ladies, but it’s wicked cold. Where are we going?”

  With a smile, Liz gave him an address on Route 62 for a self-storage facility. She and Millie put on their coats, took a last look around and stepped outside, closing and locking the front door. They followed the truck to storage and observed the unloading. Once the movers rumbled off, Liz turned to Millie.

  “Come on down this afternoon. We’ll have a moving-in party.”

  Millie shook her head. “I’m sorry, I can’t. John and I have an appointment at the Danversport Yacht Club about the reception and the menu.” She hugged Liz. “I’m sorry, but we can do brunch tomorrow.” She looked at Liz’s face. “It’s scary, I know. But you’ll be fine.” And she left.

  Liz got into her car and turned over the engine. From force of habit, she uttered a quick prayer, “Please Lord, let it start,” but unlike the old Rabbit, the Mercedes never gave her a problem. She eased out of the parking lot and headed south to her new home.

  Beanie had gone to Wellesley the night before. Fortunately, he had the soul of an explorer and going for a ride in the car didn’t require drugging him. Even a trip to the vet clinic was routine and calm. Beanie had sat in his crate, nose and whiskers twitching as he took in the new car smell, occasionally stretching a paw out through the mesh covering the front of the crate. Liz would reach over and gently hold the paw, feeling it flex as Beanie tried to pull her hand back to his face for a lick.

  Right now, Liz’s car was filled with boxes. Clothing, her most treasured kitchen paraphernalia, her computer and her pictures. Ty was at work. At the time she was heading to Salem to oversee the move, he was heading into Boston for a strategy session. They had each filled travel mugs of coffee and clinked them together in a toast. Liz had started to set hers down, when Ty stopped her.

  “It’s bad luck to toast and then set down the glass without drinking.” She had sipped some coffee. “Liz, I’m sorry I’m not going to be there to help you out,” he had started.

  She had waved him off. “Don’t worry about it. You got me hired muscle and I’m just supervising. I’ll be fine and be unpacked by the time you come home.” It had felt odd to use that phrase and know that by the end of the day, her definition of where home was would change. And that home wouldn’t be solely hers anymore, either. Rather, she was joining another established household. This was going to take some adjusting.

  Ty had smiled and lightly kissed her. “After tonight,” he said, “no more barriers between us.” He took Liz’s hand and started to lead her into the den. “I have a surprise for you and for Beanie.”

  The den was one of Ty’s favorite rooms. It was elegantly appointed, but with an eye towards creating a space where people felt free to relax and unwind. The sofas were overstuffed and long enough for a tall man to stretch out comfortably. There was a coffee table topped in green marble that Beanie had already claimed as his domain. A top of the line home theater system had been installed and Ty had an extensive library of movies, stored in an oak cabinet.

  The prize, however, was the rug covering the floor. When he had first showed her the room, Ty had moved a sofa out of the way to show the rug to Liz. During his Rhodes scholarship period in England, Ty had befriended a young man from one of the sultanates of the Middle East also studying at Oxford. The boy had been struggling with his classes because of the language difficulty. Ty had tutored him in English. He found out later that his friend’s father was a powerful advisor to the sultan when two large men from that country’s embassy to Britain had arrived at Ty’s dormitory room with the carpet and a letter of gratitude from the father.

  The rug was beautiful. Liz had felt the surface, expecting to feel the prickly sensation of wool. Instead it was smooth and soft. “It’s silk,” Ty had said as he stroked the surface with pride. The colors in the rug did have the shimmer that only silk can lend and those colors were rich and deep. Jewel tones of ruby red mixed with clear blues and forest greens in an intricate geometric pattern.

  “You know, Liz, I’m not into possessions. I have stuff and I like to have good stuff, but I don’t get off on having it. This, however,” and he picked up the corner of the rug, “really means something to me and I love seeing it on the floor in my house.” He had carefully laid down the corner of the rug and gently replaced the sofa where it had been.

  Next, Ty showed Liz something in the corner of the den. She laughed, “Ty, you are going to spoil that cat.” Beanie was already perched at the top of a floor to ceiling kitty jungle gym in front of a window. Its branche
s were topped with small carpeted platforms in a variety of shapes. Liz could hear him purring from across the room. Ty walked over to the corner and Beanie reached down from his perch to playfully slap Ty on the head. Ty laughed as he darted a hand back to Beanie, who caught it and licked it. Liz watched the two of them play.

  “I guess you’re officially in if he’s already bopping you on the head,” she said.

  “I found a catnip mouse in my shoe this morning,” Ty said. “Does that mean anything?”

  “He’s made himself at home and he wants to share his toys with you,” Liz answered.

  Ty withdrew his hand from Beanie and stepped over to where Liz was standing. He encircled her waist in his arms and asked, “Does he consider you one of his toys? You’re the only thing I care about him sharing” and he’d pulled her close, kissing the top of her head.

  Liz smiled as she remembered the scene. They’d left on their separate missions shortly afterwards, exchanging a long, deep kiss at the door. The one problem had been that Beanie had made a successful dash out the front door and recovery was complicated by the presence of a squirrel. Ignoring Liz’s calls, Beanie had taken off after the squirrel, almost getting into the street before Liz caught him. On the way back into the house, Beanie had watched the spot where he’d last seen his prey and struggled to get out of Liz’s arms and finish the chase. Liz had barely managed to get him inside.

  And now, she had to unpack the car and keep Beanie from escaping. Simple, she thought, I’ll just throw him in the den and shut the door. He’ll be happy.