Freefall

by Robin Brande

  Eliza sat down next to Daisy in the chair. Repositioned the dog so her head rested against Eliza’s thigh.

  She gently scratched behind the dog’s ear. And waited patiently for David to return and show her what he could do next.

  23

  It turned out three times was enough. Or at least all they could manage.

  Around dinner time, Eliza suddenly snapped awake.

  “My column.”

  “What about it?”

  “I was supposed to e-mail it to everybody by noon.” She draped her arm lazily above her head. “Although right now I can’t seem to care about that.”

  David took advantage of her nipple.

  “We can’t really stay in bed all day and all night, can we?” she asked.

  “I have food enough for a few days. Then I’ll have to go into the store.”

  “Did they miss you at work today?”

  “I’ll go in tomorrow,” David said. “People can manage on their own.”

  “Are you always like this about your business?”

  “It’s a special time,” he said. “I’m on vacation.”

  Eliza propped herself up on one elbow. “How long to you think this can last?”

  “As long as we want,” he answered.

  “You don’t seem very...”

  “Nervous?” he asked.

  “Worried,” she said.

  “I’m not.”

  She looked into his eyes. He gazed back at her and smiled. “Eliza, I meant what I said before: We can do whatever we want. I’m available for this any time, any day. All you have to do is come over.”

  It seemed so...secretive. And so easy. Like a boy telling a neighborhood girl to climb in through his window.

  “So I could come over tomorrow?” Eliza asked.

  “Or tonight,” David said. “Midnight. Or you don’t ever have to leave.”

  Eliza rolled onto her back. “I need to at least check in with Hildy. Let her see that I’m alive. And I should probably tell her about Daisy.”

  “Will you tell her about me?” David asked.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Afraid?” he said.

  “No, just...” She leaned up and looked at him again. “Have you ever had something all to yourself, and you don’t even want to talk about it because that would mean you have to share it?” She shook her head. “I’m sure that doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I do know,” he said. He stroked a finger down her shoulder, then kissed her parted lips. “This house is yours. My time is yours. My body...is obviously yours.”

  “Good. I like your body. I like the things you do with it.”

  “Which things?”

  “New things. I don’t know...” She lifted both arms above her head. “Surprise me.”

  * * *

  Four times was enough.

  “I can’t go back to Hildy’s smelling like sex.”

  “So you’d rather smell like you just took a shower?”

  Eliza sighed. “I see your point. What time is it?”

  “Eight-thirty.”

  “Can you take us home?”

  “Sure.”

  “Daisy hasn’t eaten all day.”

  “I should have fed you both dinner,” David said.

  “I prefer how you used your time.”

  “When you’re dressed,” he said. “I want to show you something.”

  She found him downstairs, standing by door leading out to the pool. He pointed to the box on the wall next to it.

  “This is my alarm. Here’s the code.” He pressed four numbers in succession. Then he handed her a key. “I meant what I said. You can come over any time. The cleaning lady comes on Thursdays from noon to four, but other than her, no one is ever here. Except Bear and me.”

  “What if you’re not here?” Eliza asked.

  “Then make yourself at home.”

  “What if you are here?” she asked, smiling.

  “Then lucky me.”

  Daisy had moved from the chair back to the dog bed in the kitchen. Now, at signs that they were leaving, she stretched and then gave her body a shake.

  “Thank you,” Eliza said. “For Daisy. And for...” She kissed him lightly at first, then deeper. They spent several minutes like that, propped against the wall.

  “Okay, then,” Eliza said, shaking her head the way Daisy had shaken her fur. “Head, cleared. Body, exhausted.”

  “Do you want some food to take home?” David asked. “I want to make sure you keep your strength up.”

  “Don’t worry,” Eliza said. “I’m in training now. I’ll eat something nutritious, get a good night’s sleep, and come back for another round.”

  “Tomorrow?”

  “I don’t see how I can stay away,” she said. “You’ve pretty much made that impossible.”

  David nodded. “Come on, Bear. Let’s take these ladies home.”

  * * *

  Eliza let herself into the house, knowing Hildy was probably waiting to pounce.

  But when she climbed up the stairs, she found her mother-in-law sitting in a chair in the living room, working out menus for her class.

  Hildy looked at her over her half-glasses.

  “Nice day?”

  “Very nice.”

  “Hungry?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “I left you some spaghetti,” Hildy said. “And a nice green salad. Was Davey nice?”

  “Very.”

  “That’s nice.” Hildy flipped over a sheet of paper and went to work on the next.

  Eliza stood watching. And waited for her mother-in-law to break.

  Hildy didn’t look up again, but she smiled.

  “He’s a nice boy, then, that Davey Walsh?”

  “He said he always liked you.”

  “What did you tell him?” Hildy asked.

  “That he shouldn’t have let his assistant call you.”

  “He shouldn’t have.”

  “I told him,” Eliza said.

  “Good.”

  Hildy hummed a little tune.

  “I’m going to feed Daisy and warm up the spaghetti. Thank you for saving me some.”

  “Any time you want to talk...” Hildy said.

  “You’ll be the first to know.”

  Hildy took off her glasses and looked Eliza squarely in the eyes. “I’m happy for you, honey.”

  “Don’t say anything more—”

  Hildy held up her hand. “Won’t say a word.”

  Eliza waited for it.

  “Except—”

  “Hildy...”

  The old woman smiled. “Still waters run deep. It’s the quiet ones who always turn out the best.”

  “Okay, thanks,” Eliza said. “I’m going to the kitchen now.”

  “Lizzy?” Hildy called out a few moments later.

  “What?”

  “Are you seeing him again?”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Want some advice?”

  “No.”

  Eliza had to admire her mother-in-law’s restraint. She waited until Eliza was seated at the table and eating before she finished her sentence.

  “You need to be careful with that man.”

  “Why?” Eliza said. “He’s nice. He’s not going to hurt me.”

  “No, but I know what he was like as a boy,” Hildy said, “and you could hurt him. I’d hate to see that happen.”

  Eliza swallowed a bite of pasta. Her throat felt narrower than before. “Thanks a lot.”

  “Not on purpose,” Hildy said, “but maybe if you’re not careful.”

  “I’m not going to hurt him,” Eliza answered defensively.

  “Good. That’s all I wanted to say.”

  * * *

  Eliza turned on her laptop.

  She opened the column she’d written that morning.

  She moved it into a different file. Save As: Documents/Extras/Fraud.

  Then she returned to the list of other documents in the Ex
tras file.

  She reread one, then a second, then made her choice. She reformatted it, saved it, and attached it to the e-mail she sent to all of the editors of her newspaper clients.

  Then she printed out a hard copy for Frank Sawyer of The Careyville Independent. She’d deliver it in person, as usual, and give him the chance to brag about his grandson, but this time she wouldn’t let him pry anything out of her about her love life.

  She’d meant what she said to David: This was private. Just hers and his alone. It was like writing, she thought: Sometimes if you talk about an idea too much, you take all the heat out of it. You don’t ever end up writing it because it feels old now, familiar, like you’ve already heard it too many times before. So the only way to feel excited again is to move on to the next new idea.

  She didn’t want that to happen with David. She wanted to keep all the heat right where it was, bottled up and protected in that vast house of his.

  Eliza took a shower, sorry, almost, to wash away the effects of the day. There’s always tomorrow, she thought, and the next day, and the next...As many as she wanted, according to David. She knew people got tired of each other—even she and Jamey were sometimes happy for his separate trips—but she’d enjoy David as long as this affair of theirs—or whatever it was—lasted. And then...then she’d deal with the “then” when it happened.

  Eliza almost didn’t mind the humidity this time as she stepped back out of the shower. David’s house was so cold with air conditioning, at one point she’d cuddled up to him like it was winter.

  She slipped into her robe and returned to her bedroom. Then automatically reached into her dresser and pulled out her summer pajamas: a pair of Jamey’s boxer shorts and one of his long T-shirts. She put them on and was about to get into bed when she caught sight of herself in the mirror.

  She stood there for a moment, staring at her reflection, then opened her dresser again. This time she pulled out one of her own T-shirts and a loose pair of underwear. She changed into them and folded the set of Jamey’s clothes back into the drawer.

  Then she added one more thing. She stood there for a long time trying to decide whether to do it. But it didn’t feel right, otherwise. She couldn’t do what she’d done with David—what she intended to do again and again—still wearing her wedding ring on her finger.

  She gently twisted it off. And stowed it at the back of her underwear drawer.

  Eliza slid between the sheets of her bed. Daisy waited until she was in position, then hopped up beside Eliza and settled into her regular spot.

  Eliza turned out her bedside light, and lay staring at the dark ceiling.

  Wondering how early was too early to go back to David’s.

  * * *

  She tried to time it so she’d be there just as he got back from his run. Even though he’d told her to make herself at home, she felt odd being in the house too long, not knowing where to sit, not wanting him to catch her in some room where she might have given in to some impulse to snoop.

  Eliza unlocked the gate to the pool area and stood for a moment remembering the scene from yesterday: David bathing the dog in cool water, complete disregard for his clothes. Eliza felt a little ashamed of herself for having taken the time to remove her shoes and take out her phone—

  “Did your phone get wet?” she asked him when he entered through the gate fifteen minutes later.

  “Yes.”

  “Is it ruined?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “David! Why didn’t you say something?”

  “It doesn’t matter. My assistant ordered a replacement. It’ll be here today.”

  He stripped off shirt, his shoes, socks, and his shorts, and dived naked into the pool.

  “I have an early meeting,” he told her when he resurfaced.

  “Oh.” Eliza tried not to show her disappointment.

  David smiled. “Are you coming in?”

  * * *

  Like a lovesick teenager, Eliza thought as she exited David’s car. No, not lovesick, sexsick.

  I’m okay with that.

  David rolled down the passenger window. “I’ll be home around six.”

  “Is that an invitation?”

  “You have an open invitation,” he said. “I already told you that.”

  “Would you like me to cook something?” Eliza asked. “In return for the omelets?”

  “I’m not keeping score,” he said, “but yes. Whatever you want.”

  A car slowed as it passed them. Carolyn and Katie Jackson both waved. Eliza saw Carolyn look to see who was behind the wheel of the car in front of Hildy’s house. David was still turned toward the passenger side, talking to Eliza, so she wondered if Carolyn got a good look.

  Do I care?

  Yes, I care.

  People are going to find out.

  Not yet.

  Why do you care?

  Because this is special.

  You think you’re the only two people who have ever had sex?

  No, Eliza continued to reason with herself, of course not. But this is different.

  Why?

  Because David is different. He’s private. He’s shy.

  Does David want to keep it secret?

  I don’t know.

  You’re allowed to make love to someone, you know. You’re not betraying Jamey—

  “Eliza?”

  “Hm?” She realized he’d been talking. She hadn’t heard a word.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “So I’ll see you tonight? I have to go.”

  “I’ll see you tonight.”

  He rolled the window back up and continued on down the street. As soon as he turned the corner, Eliza went inside the house.

  Daisy barked and raced down the stairs. Eliza had let her out into the back yard that morning, but hadn’t taken her on a walk.

  She knelt beside the dog, whispering so that Hildy wouldn’t hear. “It’s too hot. I’ll take you out tomorrow, but we’re only going on short walks from now on. No more death walks for the rest of the summer, all right?”

  Daisy panted. It was a normal sound, not at all like the day before.

  If not for the death walk, Eliza thought, none of this would have happened with David.

  Would it? Eventually? Eliza used to wonder that about Jamey: What if either one of them had ended up in a different freshman English class? Would they still have met somehow? When? That year, two years later—when? Or would they both have found other people, and some other woman would have been Jamey Shepherd’s wife, and maybe she would have convinced him not to go that day, and he’d still be alive. And Eliza would probably never know, and never care...

  For want of a nail, the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe, the horse was lost.

  For want of a heat-stroked dog, David Walsh was lost. For want of David Walsh, Eliza Shepherd was...

  Lost?

  Yes, she supposed, in a way.

  And what was she now?

  Different, she thought. Happy, she was willing to admit.

  Willing, period. And that was a change.

  It reminded her of the column she’d written months ago, back when she’d first moved there, and the most daring thing she could think of was to go cut her hair.

  I put forth this challenge to myself and you: Do something different today.... You and I are going to wake up and be involved in our lives again.... Creativity will blossom. Joy might even creep in.

  Was this joy? Eliza wondered. Or just sex?

  “We can do whatever we want.” David said.

  Including, Eliza thought, not overthinking it.

  24

  “Will she ring the doorbell?” Eliza asked about the cleaning lady.

  “No, she has her own key.”

  Eliza groaned. “All right, then. We need to get up.”

  It was just after noon on Thursday, their ninth day together, and Eliza and David had stretched out their time in bed as long as possib
le. David had arranged his schedule that morning to work from home. Which meant phone calls, e-mails, Eliza. E-mails, phone calls, Eliza.

  They dressed again, and Eliza insisted on making the bed.

  “She’ll redo it,” David said, but Eliza didn’t care.

  Downstairs, Eliza looked nervously out the windows. “Which door will she come in?”

  “The pool door, same as you,” David answered. “What are you so worried about?”

  “She’ll see me.”

  “And?”

  “And...she’ll say something.”

  “I doubt it,” he answered, “but so what if she does?”

  “So I’ll be embarrassed.”

  “Why?”

  The man was maddening.

  “Because...we’ve been in bed all morning.”

  “Eliza, I really don’t understand the problem.”

  And she wasn’t sure she could explain it.

  “I just feel...”

  “Ashamed?” he asked.

  “No! I feel...”

  And just then, Teina made her entrance.

  “Hi, David. Hello,” she greeted Eliza.

  “Teina, this is Eliza. Eliza, Teina.”

  “Hi,” Eliza said, wishing she hadn’t wasted the last few minutes talking. She could have been up on the path behind the house by now, walking in searing, oppressive heat. That sounded much more pleasant.

  “Well, bye,” she said to them both, and aimed herself toward the pool.

  “Eliza, I’ll give you a ride.”

  “No, that’s okay—”

  “Eliza.” David turned to Teina, exchanged a few words with her, then told his dog and the cleaning woman goodbye. Then he followed Eliza outside where she stood waiting in the shade.

  “May I give you a ride now?” he asked. “Please?”