by Inmon, Shawn
The next few months were among the happiest of Dominick’s two lives. The only dark cloud on his horizon was trying to explain to his parents why he had set off from California to see the world, and, nine months later, had made it to Sheboygan, Wisconsin and no further.
Finally, a month after he and Emily had officially been an item—their official coming out occurring when they revealed their ‘couplehood’ to Melody and Sandy—Dominick knew he had to tell his parents too.
Gene Crow worked on Sunday afternoons, so Dominick always made his weekly phone call home during that time. Like clockwork, Crow would tape an itemized list of his calls with a total owed, to his blanket-door on the fifth of every month, with a handwritten note that said, “Due IMMEDIATELY.” When it came to matters of money owed, Crow did not muck about.
The third Sunday in April, Dominick called home. Connie answered the phone, and after hearing the rundown on her high school happenings, Laura came on.
“Mom, I’ve got something to tell you.”
“How bad is it? Are you in jail?”
“No, Mom, I’m not, but thanks for believing in me.” They both chuckled, then Dominick said, “I met someone.”
“Of course you did.”
“I ... what?”
“Of course you’ve met someone. Why else would you stay somewhere like that for so long? Wisconsin isn’t really the garden spot of the United States, especially over the winter. Your Dad and I have just been wondering when you were going to tell us.”
“But—no, Mom, we’ve only been together for a month.”
“You’ve only known her for a month?”
“Well, no. I met her right after I got here.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“You always have the knack for confusing me.”
“That’s because a mother always knows the truth. I know what you’re going to tell me before you even pick up the phone. So, when do we meet her? Are you bringing her home?”
“No way, Mom. We’ve only been dating a month. I’m not about to ask her to set out on a cross-country drive with me.”
Laura changed the subject, talking about how Sam’s apprenticeship was progressing and how people were so disappointed that they couldn’t bring their lawn mowers by for repair any more.
Dominick’s mind lingered on the idea, though. An image of he and Emily, riding in the Chevelle with the windows down and the music up, ran through his mind time and again.
That same night, sitting on the bed in Emily’s room, waiting for Melody and Sandy to stop by, he broached the subject.
“So, I called my folks today.”
“Yeah? All good?”
“Yeah. They don’t like it when I’m gone so long. They’re trying to get me to come home, at least for a visit.”
Emily reached out and took his hand. “I don’t love the sound of that, but I understand. So, you going?”
Dominick scooched closer. “How about you come with me?”
“What, to California?”
“Yes. If we don’t stop to gawk, it’s only a two day drive. We could take two days driving out there, stay a few days, so my folks are happy, then two days back. They’ll put my sister on the couch, you can have her room, and I’ll be just on the other side of the wall, with my brother. You’ll be out of school for the summer pretty quick, we could do it then.”
Emily leaned back against the wall, contemplating. A long moment later, she said, “No. How long have we been dating? Not long enough to set out on a trip like that together.”
“I figured you were going to say your parents wouldn’t like it.”
“They wouldn’t like it, that’s right, but I make my own decisions.”
I love you so, Emily, but sometimes I wish you weren’t so perfectly yourself. So damned level-headed.
Dominick dropped it, but the image of them driving fast over the open road with a warm wind blowing in their hair, didn’t dissipate easily.
ONE WARM LATE-SPRING evening, after they’d been together several months, Dominick and Emily sat on a blanket in Deland Park, looking out at Lake Michigan. More accurately, Emily sat on a blanket. Dominick stretched out in front of her, with his head in her lap.
Emily was telling Dominick about one of her strange dreams, where she was on a beach, getting what she called a moon-tan. “It was so crystal-clear real. There were half a dozen moons in the sky, and their rays were like a spiritual cleansing. Pretty weird, right?”
“No weirder than any of your other dreams. I think you have a future as a writer.”
Emily was running her fingers through his tangle of curls. She changed the subject. Quietly, she said, “You are a most unusual boy, Dominick Davidner.”
“You don’t know the half of it, but what do you mean in particular?”
“Well, we’ve been dating for months now, and you’ve never pushed me about sex. Believe me, that makes you a most unusual boy.”
Emily, I love you every way possible. Of course I want you like that, but this is so complicated. And, we’re young. We’ve got a lifetime ahead.
“It gets weirder. I’m a virgin.”
Emily giggled, which made her look even younger. “I think I knew that part of the puzzle. Don’t ask me how.”
“I love you, Emily.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh.”
Damnit. Too soon. I knew it.
He shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I know it’s quick. I can’t say I always fall in love fast, because I’ve never loved anyone else like I do you, Emily. But, it’s okay, no pressure.”
“Right. My boyfriend just told me he loved me out of the blue, but no pressure. I love you too, Dominick, I just wasn’t quite ready to tell you that yet.” She leaned over and kissed his upside down lips, long and slow.
They stayed in the park until the warmth had left the air and they had to wrap up in the blanket. Neither of them wanted to leave the sweetness of the moment. Even as dark descended, they stayed, watching the play of the lights on the water of the lake.
In full dark, they finally gave up, folded up their blanket, and walked hand in hand back to the Chevelle. Way too soon for either of them, they arrived back at Emily’s.
“Good things come to those who wait, Nicky,” she said, and jumped out of the car and ran into her house.
Dominick drove home slowly, meandering along, letting his mind drift. Eventually, he pulled into his regular parking spot and let himself in through the side door. In his room, he didn’t even turn on the light, just stripped down to his boxers and slipped into bed.
He laid there for a long time, tossing one way, then turning the other. His brain was filled with Emily, and sleep would not come. After an hour, he was ready to turn on the light and just read until he couldn’t hold his eyes open any longer, when he heard a tapping at the window above his bed.
He bolted upright. Listened intently, and heard it again. He kneeled on the bed, unlatched the window, and it slid open all the way. Emily tumbled through the window and fell, head-first onto the bed before tumbling onto the floor, where she collapsed in a fit of giggles.
Dominick scooped her up, helping her onto the bed. Before he could say anything, she put a finger against his lips.
She stood, grace restored, and pushed the sundress she was wearing off her shoulders and let it fall to the ground. Moonlight through the window silhouetted her. Dominick let out an involuntary sigh. She pushed him back against his pillow, then climbed under the covers with him.
“It’s cold in here. Keep me warm.”
A few minutes later, Emily reached up to touch Dominick’s face in the dark. It was wet with silent tears.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
No one ever saw a rainbow without a little rain, and even in the summer of Dominick’s greatest contentment, there was the occasional thunderhead. He and Emily were perfectly compatible, as he had known they would be, because they already had been. They liked much of the same music, movies, books, and people. Even more importantly, t
hey disliked most of the same things.
The only area they ever fell into disagreement was when Dominick wanted to go rushing headlong into the future, blazing a trail that Emily was not yet ready to walk down. Dominick was not a jealous man, and he trusted Emily completely. Still, he managed to goof up from time to time.
On the 4th of July, a whole group of friends gathered at the park to blow off steam before the summer evaporated when they weren’t looking.
It wasn’t just the tried and true foursome of Dominick, Emily, Melody, and Sandy, but another half dozen friends the girls knew at the UW. They took over two of the picnic tables at the park and spread out pizzas, chips, and of course, illicit beer and cheap wine. One of the other men at the gathering was a dark-haired boy named Felix who seemed to know Emily very well. When she first saw him, she ran up to him and threw her arms around him, then brought him over to introduce him to Dominick.
Felix shook Dominick’s hand, and said, “You, my friend, are a lucky man.”
You know, I already know that, and I don’t really need you pointing it out.
Someone brought a Frisbee, someone else had brought some grass, and after an hour or so, everyone had loosened up and was laughing and telling stories about classes and college professors who, of course, Dominick did not know. He did his best to stay involved in the conversation, but his mind wandered.
It will be better when our frames of reference catch up to each other, and we all know the same people, and have some history behind us, instead of having it all in front of us.
Dominick threw the Frisbee around with a guy named Bruce, and worked up a sweat. When he came back, looking for something to wipe his face off, Emily was sitting on Felix’s lap on the bench, surrounded by other friends.
She smiled at Dominick, and reached a hand out so he could help her up. “Having fun, baby?”
Dominick just stood looking at her, then looking at Felix, who seemed to be enjoying his discomfort. Instead of helping Emily up, he ignored her smile, her hand, her greeting, and turned and walked down toward the lake.
Emily let him pout by himself for quite some time, but eventually came down. She was no longer smiling.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
Dominick shrugged and looked out over the water.
“If you want to tell me that you’re having some sort of a medical emergency, and came down here to die alone, that’s fine. If you want to tell me that you’re jealous of me hanging out with friends I have known for a long time, we need to have a serious conversation.”
Uh-oh.
“It was just kind of a shock to walk up and find you sitting on someone else’s lap.”
Emily nodded as if she understood completely.
Uh-oh again.
“Oh, sure I get it. Your girlfriend, who you own, was showing affection to another man. Who wouldn’t get upset by that?”
I forgot how sarcastic she gets when she’s pissed off. How did I used to cool her down?
“It’s not like that, Em.” Dominick reached out for her hand, which she jerked away.
Okay, not like that.
“Oh, it’s not? Okay then, Dominick, tell me what it is like? When you come up to me, and I smile and reach for you, and you turn your back away and storm off, what exactly is it like?”
It’s like I screwed up. It’s like I saw you with another man and lost my mind for a minute. Wait. Why not just tell her that?
“Okay. You’re right. I saw you sitting on another guy’s lap, and it killed me. You know me. I’m not the jealous type. But it hurt more than I can probably admit. I walked away to cool off.”
“And what’s that message to me? When I do something that pushes your buttons, you’re just gonna storm off and leave me alone to figure it out?”
“No,” Dominick said, as if to himself. He looked Emily in the eye. “No. I messed up, Em. I’ve felt like I was on the outside looking in all day, like everybody knew everybody but me, and I let it get to me.” He reached out, put a hand on her shoulder. She didn’t pull away. “I’m sorry. I’m an idiot.”
Emily tilted her head to one side.
She always seems to be looking right through me when she does that.
“You’re not an idiot. Sometimes you just act like one. Most of the time, you’re a pretty cool guy. That’s why I’m with you, you know?”
Dominick nodded, reached down, grabbed her hand and kissed it.
“Come on,” she said. “The pizza’s cold, but it’s still good. Somebody rolled a bunch of joints, so the food will all be gone soon.”
They held hands on the way back to the picnic.
Chapter Forty
A month later, Dominick drove to Emily’s house. She had phoned him earlier that day—which brought on a warning from Gene Crow—and asked him to come over. When he pulled up, he saw that Melody’s car was already parked in the driveway.
Just as he stepped up onto the porch, the door swung open, as if by a ghost?
“Umm... Hello?” Dominick said.
The only answer was a giggle from behind the door.
“Ah, it is the ghost of Melody, dearly departed all these years gone by.”
Dominick pushed against the door a little and heard an “Oof” from the other side. “Pretty corporal for a ghost, though.”
“Smart ass,” Melody said, pushing her way out. “Everybody loves a little ass, but nobody loves a smart ass.”
“Duly noted,” Dominick said, following her down the hall to Emily’s room.
Inside, Sandy and Emily were sitting on the bed, surrounded by papers.
“Did I suddenly time travel?” Dominick asked. “That looks a lot like school work.”
“Well, yes and no,” Emily said, seriously. “It’s my application for UW-Madison.”
“Ho—hold on. You said you were going there for your third and fourth year.”
“I know I did. But, when I was registering for classes at UW-Sheboygan, what they had to offer was just so limited that I went in and got a catalog for Madison. What they offer there is amazing. Everything I want. So, I’m thinking of going there a year early. Then, I can finish my prerequisites, but I can also start taking some of the classes I really want to take.”
Dominick plopped down into the bean bag chair.
“I don’t even know if I’ll get in.”
“Of course, you’ll get in, Em. Has there ever been anything you’ve gone after that you haven’t got?”
“I never got that pony I asked for every year.”
“I would hate you being so far away.” Dominick tried not to sound like a pouty child, but failed.
“It’s only two hours. I’m going to go up and find off-campus housing, so you can come up and visit, and sometimes I’ll drive down just to snuggle in your blanket fort.
“What about the cost?”
I’ve been working at the insurance company part time all year. They gave me full-time hours over the summer. I’ve got enough saved up to get me started. Plus, once Mom and Dad saw that I was really serious about this, they agreed to pay part of the cost of housing, too.”
That’s what I mean, Emily. You are an unstoppable force. Once you set your sights on something, you’re going to find a way to make it happen. So, why am I fighting it? This is a long game, so if I need to be patient for a while, I will. Or, hell, there’s nothing holding me here. I can get a gas station job in Madison just as easily as I did here. Might not be able to find another apartment where the walls are made out of old wool blankets, though.
Dominick stood up, wiggled his way in between Emily and Sandy, and took her into his arms. “You’re right. You’re right, of course. I should just get a tattoo that says, ‘Emily’s right,’ that you can point at when I am tempted to disagree with you.”
“That would be a very good idea, except for, ick, tattoos.”
Just shows you can be wrong sometimes, too, Em.
A FEW WEEKS LATER, Emily got the expected news—that she was
part of the last group to be accepted into the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the fall semester of 1978. She didn’t want to wait until the last minute to secure her housing, so she, Sandy, and Dominick made the drive to Madison.
She found a great house—no creepy landlord, actual walls in her bedroom—immediately. See, her eyes said, looking at Dominick, everything is falling into place.
Dominick hadn’t told Emily, but he had already given his notice at the gas station, and he tucked several other rooms for rent numbers in the back of his jeans pocket so he could call them when he got home.
Whither thou goest, and all that stuff, Em.
Class was scheduled to start on September 25th, but Emily wanted to go up a week early, so she could familiarize herself with the town and the campus. They made a caravan going down to Madison—Emily’s little Pinto, Dominick’s Chevelle, and Melody once again driving her dad’s Bronco. She only had a single room in a boarding house, but she had her desk, and lamps, and quilts, and her artwork and an electric pot to heat water in, and her record player and boxes of other miscellaneous stuff that she just knew she couldn’t survive without.
Within an hour of walking through the door, her bedroom looked almost like an exact replica of her room back in Sheboygan, minus the Andy Gibb and Shaun Cassidy posters she had outgrown.
Sandy and Melody said goodbye first, making an excuse to get out and let Dominick and Emily spend a few minutes alone.
Dominick held her tight against him.
Why do I have this irrational fear that I am going to lose her? I know she loves me. I know what kind of person she is, but there it is, anyway. I need to get it together. I am a fifty year old man. I’ve gotta grow up.
“Enjoy your new digs, Em. I know you’ll need to get a few weeks to get settled in, then I’ll drive up and see you.”
“Yes, sounds perfect. It means a lot to me that you’re able to give me the space I need, Nicky. I love you.”
“Love you, too.” He held her face in his hands, kissed her softly, and let himself out of her room.
