by JQ Jones
“What brings you to these parts after a few decades?” Clint said. He glanced into the rearview mirror, taking his hands off the wheel without easing off on the brakes.
“I guess just wanted to visit isn’t going to work?” David said. He was very aware of the wrongness of him just dropping everything to visit the Davis ranch after he’d just had a holiday to Houston a little over three months ago. But since his return to London every conversation he had with Barbara made his skin tighten up and shrink from the thought of living with her. There was no love with any like he had for her eroding under her barrage of negative critiques and constant attempts to steer him to marriage.
He speculated about Magdalena more than he expected to. Where was she, who was she, why had she disappeared without saying good-bye or leaving her directions. She was a fantasy, but one that interrupted his determination to forget her and do what was right, even if it meant marrying a lesbian neighbor who didn’t particularly like him, his family, friends, job or sex.
He was a straight, theater set designer. To people, and people being his family, that all said that he was gay. His parents had asked him once. His non-answer convinced them the only woman of their circle he could ever hope to have was Barbara because of his peculiarities. Barbara, born and raised with David, would be understanding of his little peccadillo.
Clenching both his butt cheeks, his hands on the back of the front passenger seat, David allowed the motion of the car to sway his body as the ranch house grew larger and larger as they rocketed up the road.
* * * *
A small vortex of energy entered Manny’s kitchen, moving the air just by walking. Iona Davis flitted over the threshold of the kitchen and settled down on a chair at the kitchen island.
“CJ and his cousin, a real one, I think, are on their way from the landing strip. I don’t think you’ve met him, his name is David Smythe Davis from London. He said he’s staying for a few days before he goes on to San Francisco. David is so very cool. I like him a lot but his girlfriend is a whole different story,” Iona said. She peeled an orange and sectioned it but left it lying on the counter without eating it. Iona was a grazer. She stored food in piles all over the house and ate off it all day.
Since Iona moved in, Manny stocked up on plastic containers so when she spotted a stack of fruit or blocks of cheese and crackers, she collected them so that she could store the fresh and toss the rest.
“I’m a little peaked so don’t expect top-of-the-line food or service from me for the next few days,” Manny said.
“What’s wrong?” Iona tended to be introverted but if she became attached to you then you became her responsibility.
“Let’s talk about it after the house has cleared of strangers.” Manny wasn’t big or clumsy, she was only eight weeks pregnant, but she could tell the difference in what she had been and what she was. She was ready to reveal her secret when CJ arrived with his guest. She gave a smile before she opened the door into the hallway. She watched as CJ and his guest came in. CJ threw his bag at the end of the staircase while the other man sat his down on the floor to look around.
CJ continued shouting, eyes sparkling with mischief. His guest, a man just under six feet tall with a lean body in rumpled clothes, stood blinking in the high afternoon sun streaming into the house. His light brown hair curled around his ears and fell into blue-gray eyes that looked bigger because of the round glasses that made him look professorial. He stood in the foyer with a slight smile watching as CJ bellowed even louder.
“Where’s the Lil Bit?” CJ said.
Iona joined Manny in the hallway after the first bellow. She glanced at Manny with the unanswered question of what was wrong still hanging in the air. She shook her head and joined the dogs trotting out to the vestibule to meet CJ. They were an odd match, the blonde Norse-like cowboy and the petite, dreadlocked black business consultant. Since the time they first met they had somehow fit one another.
Manny started out to meet CJ and his guest and stopped in her tracks. CJ’s guest turned into better light. Manny faded back down the hall to the kitchen. She sat down with her head between her legs. CJ’s weekend guest was most definitely Hansel.
“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,” she said.
* * * *
Iona stood two steps up to kiss CJ. She met David halfway to return his awkward hello hug and cheek pecks.
“How are you, David? It’s good to see you. CJ, why are you shouting like you don’t have home training? Get out of the house right now, Cookie, Biscuit, Ruby, and don’t make me raise my voice,” Iona said. The dogs looked forlornly at Iona. They turned to try the same look on CJ when she didn’t budge. She shook her head and pointed to the doggy door. The dogs clicked their way back to the back of the house to lie outside the patio window watching for an opportunity to return inside.
CJ grabbed her and pulled her up until their foreheads touched.
“How are you, Lil Bit?” he purred. “Why are you kissing strange men?”
“Fine, CJ. Missed you. David’s not strange, just a little peculiar,” she said against his lips.
The kiss they shared was searing and long. David cleared his throat a few times. Finally he drifted out the patio door to stand by the pool. The dogs came over for a few minutes before something in the brush caused them to run off to investigate. It was hot and the early evening summer heat was unrelenting, making the concrete and tile surrounding the pool radiate heat up David’s legs.
A large patio umbrella covered the table set with dinnerware, thick and informal. A small hunched Hispanic woman scuttled back and forth between the table and what he remembered to be the door to the kitchen. The woman kept drawing his eye. She wore a large man’s shirt, baggy shorts that ended at her shins and flip-flops. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and thick large-framed glasses were perched on her nose. She placed a platter of food on the table and backed away, surveying it as she stood with her hands pressing the small of her back.
She dropped a napkin. David came up behind her to pick it up for her. As they bent down, their hands met and he felt the electricity course through him. A tiny gasp escaped her before she grabbed the napkin and thanked him in Spanish. She turned quickly and slipped back into the house.
Something about her didn’t feel quite right to David. But there was nothing he could put his finger on. He gave up pursuing the weird vibe when CJ and Iona finally joined him. As the evening progressed, the woman came out a few times to take away the appetizers, lay out the main course and then bring out dessert. The way she moved seemed so familiar to him but the last time he’d been to the ranch was over eleven years ago and the then-housekeeper-cook had been a middle-aged English woman. This person looked younger and was probably shapely under all those big clothes.
“What happened to Mrs. Landon?” David said.
“She retired eleven years ago. Manuela is Ernesto’s cousin, trained at the Sorbonne and worked in some of the best restaurants in the country before I talked her into coming her for a while. She’s a top-notch chef,” CJ said. He held Iona’s hand as they sat down at the table.
“Why isn’t Manny eating with us tonight?” CJ said.
“She said she has too much on her mind to be good company. She’s going to start her own restaurant but hasn’t decided where. I suggested London. David, can you talk to her later? I’m not sure what she wants to do exactly but you know people in the city who could help her,” Iona said. She sat close to CJ, allowing him to stroke her leg.
“I was in Houston a few months ago. Has she thought about going there? There are some really nice restaurants there,” David said. “I had quite a good time.”
“Manny lived there for a while but I don’t think she wants to go back. Did you like it?” CJ said.
“Without a doubt. I met a very nice lady there and she showed me the city. It was magical.”
Manuela slipped past the table and did a backward pickup of CJ’s plate. She dropped another fork on the patio fl
oor. David picked it up. He held her eyes in the dim twilight. There was a quick flash then it was gone. The setting sun shone off her thick glasses, hiding her eyes from him.
After CJ showed David his room on the other side of the house, he, Iona and David sat in the family room off the kitchen talking, mostly about David’s planned marriage.
“Why were you even thinking about marrying Barbara? When I see you together, neither one of you seem like you’re dying to spend the rest of your lives together,” Iona said.
“I couldn’t think of a reason not to. It’s been expected and from time to time I like to do what’s expected of me,” David said. They sipped scotch and watched the sun go down as the dogs lounged under the table picking up tidbits of food from Iona.
At sunset Iona and CJ excused themselves to go upstairs to their suite of rooms. David sipped his margarita and poured more from the iced pitcher in a small insulated basket on the table. He was surprised they lasted this long. It must be nice to come home to someone you wanted to be with.
David remained at the table surrounded by the dogs, draped as close to him as they could get. The stooped housekeeper came out to finish clearing the table before disappearing somewhere in the back of the house.
* * * *
There was no way Manny could have dinner with CJ and Iona as she usually did. She made herself a quick smoothie, grabbed some cheese and grapes before retreating to her suite off the kitchen. During dinner she kept her head down and her walk different as she cleared off the table. That one second of shock when Hansel (David) had handed her the fork had gone right to her pussy which was now throbbing in need. She considered masturbating but these days, if she started she might not stop. She was constantly horny, so much so in fact, that she’d stopped reading her erotic romances about six weeks ago. Before going cold turkey, she’d spent a whole weekend in her room with her favorite vibrator and a double pack of D-cell batteries.
A slight noise from the kitchen told her that someone was out there. She knew that Iona and CJ wouldn’t be seen for at least six hours or more. David must have come for a snack.
“Can I help you, senor?” she said. After using her abuela’s name, she had no hesitation on using her accent.
“I don’t need anything. But I do have a question. What have you done to yourself, Magdalena?” David said.
“Ah, shit,” Manny said.
Chapter Four:
Fahrenheit or Centigrade
As soon as she recognized him her plan, lame as it had to be on such short notice, was to keep her head down, speak Spanish with as heavy of an accent as she could, and get through the weekend. It was nice to see him and under other circumstances she would have looked forward to another weekend of fantastic sex. Now it was more important that she figure out where she and the Bean would live and what she would do for a living.
No one on the ranch would kick her out in the cold. It was the very opposite, that they would smother her in the efforts to help out. Hell, Iona was the youngest person in the family. The Bean would be the first one born on the ranch since Willie Mae and look at how spoiled she was. She was a sweetie but she thought the sun rose and set just for her. Luckily for Willie, her men agreed with her. She was their Princess and greatly loved.
Since moving her from Monterrey when she was eleven, Manny became a second mother to her cousins, including Clint and CJ. She projected efficient control in every situation she met, whether it was the death of her parents or keeping seven boys from running wild. She solved problems and never made any, she was a shoulder for comfort and never asked or was offered any in return. They weren’t mean, just oblivious. They were guys.
She would leave the ranch before anyone noticed that she was pregnant. She would call them when she delivered maybe or when the Bean was in high school, shit, college would be better. Manny moved into the kitchen. She stacked the dishes in the washer and set it to start around five am so that the cycle would finish when she got up at six. The food, what little there was left, was put away, and she snapped off the light in the kitchen. They stood in the semidarkness with the space of the room between them.
“Why did you leave without telling me how to keep in touch with you?” David said. He stood in the patio doorway watching her work around the kitchen in her oversized clothes.
“Because we were being bad in an adult way but it was a thing. We had fun, we fucked, sucked and came like I don’t know what. I totally enjoyed it but then I came home and went on with my life. Let me know if you need anything. I have to go, I get up early to beat most of the heat. Good night, Hansel,” she said. David stood in the doorway in the dark watching her leave.
* * * *
Before the Bean, Manny’s internal clock woke her at five each morning. She could work, usually on recipes and new cooking techniques, until late into the night. With the Bean, she went to bed as soon as it was dark, tired beyond belief, and slept until the alarm went off at a quarter to six. Whatever the Bean wanted, she would give.
After a long shower that alternated between hot and cold in order to become fully awake, she slipped on her big clothes. Clint’s old summer shirt, either CJ’s or Moises’s gray sweat shorts and someone else’s flip-flops, the ones she usually wore rubbed her big toe wrong. The kitchen was bright with the morning sun. She assembled the ingredients for omelets with fresh fruit.
“Did you know who I was when we met?” David said. He stood in the same doorway from the previous night. Manny smiled at the thought of him standing vigil overnight.
“I still don’t know who you are,” she said. She began chopping basil, spinach, onions and mushrooms.
“I’m David Symthe Davis. I’m a friend of CJ’s, cousins as it were. We were at Oklahoma University for a year and became lifelong friends. I was able to convince my parents that studying at a nontraditional American university would add a panache that I could use in the business world. They were less than pleased when I decided to go into the theater,” David said. He sat at the island, watching as her knives flashed from one ingredient to another. She still had on glasses that covered half her face along with oversized clothes and horrible shoes.
“I’ve been here more than a few times and I’ve never met you. Why exactly is that?” he said.
“Depends on when you came. During the time CJ was in school I was doing the whole ‘the next great chef’ American tour. I worked in some of the best kitchen with some of the best chefs in America. I came here to get my head together before I opened my own restaurant. After ten years, I just got it together.” She peeled fruit and diced it into a bowl. Melons, mangoes and strawberries were tossed into a bowl where she added simple syrup after she pulled out about three slices of ginger.
“Have you made that ten-year decision now?”
“As a matter of fact I have. I plan on opening a small restaurant that serves simple food reimagined.” She folded a dollop of cream cheese into three eggs, added chopped shallots, garlic, salt, pepper and whisked it together. After adding a pat of butter to a pan, she added the mixture and once it started cooking she added mushrooms, spinach and cheese. After folding it, she slid it into a warm plate, added some fruit salad and was there right as the wheat toast popped out of the toaster. She presented it all to David along with a selection of jams and jellies and butter.
“Coffee, tea or mango juice?”
“Juice and coffee, please.”
He ate in silence as she continued to prepare breakfast for CJ and Iona. David watched, admiring the way that she flowed from one part of the kitchen to the other, effortlessly putting everything together. She was so sure of when everything would be ready it seemed to him that she could have done it in her sleep.
CJ and Iona came into the kitchen around seven, arguing about a contract. They bantered when they weren’t making love.
“You guys must have gotten up early,” Iona said. “I didn’t expect to see you up, David.”
“I was hungry and Manuela was kind enough to fix me
something. She’s a great cook,” David said.
“Thank you,” Manuela said. She ate a little salad as she cleaned up her work space. They exchanged small talk until CJ and Iona left to get ready for the day.
“Why did you leave that day?”
“Because you have your life and I have mine.”
“Can we…?”
“Absolutely not,” she said as she went back to her room.
* * * *
It was late in the afternoon and the sun was at its height. At this time of the day, Manny puttered around the house, cleaning this or straightening that. Mrs. McLean came in three days a week to clean but she was getting older and Manny didn’t want her to have too much to do.
For the rest of the day she watched TV in her room. She hadn’t done that since she had the flu a few years ago. She found herself enjoying the mixture of doctor, judge, and talk shows that all seemed to say the same thing, “Love yourself and the rest will follow.” She got up frequently to use the bathroom and to get more fruit from the kitchen. Mangoes were in season, and she couldn’t eat enough.
Iona knocked and came in around three. She sat cross-legged at the end of Manny’s bed, comfortable in the room. The two had become friends over the past three years sharing the house. Iona became accustomed to the support that Manny provided, while Manny liked talking to the younger woman who had flashes of absolute brilliance that solved complicated business problems but who was still young enough to be insecure about her place in the household.
“He’s the one?” Iona said. She stretched out on the bed to snag a piece of mango from Manny’s bowl.
