by Mara Jacobs
“For me,” Alison said. “I haven’t been to a good wedding reception in a long time.”
“Hey!” Lizzie said.
“Except for yours, Lizard, and that was months ago.”
“You’ll have to keep your dancing shoes in storage a little longer, Al, because we’re not going to do anything. I already did that once,” Katie said quietly. The table grew silent as they thought about that. Darío could see them each remembering Katie’s first wedding. Different expressions played over the different faces. Except for Finn, who only took another drink of his beer. Darío would have given anything to be able to read their thoughts.
As if Katie had conjured him up, Darío watched as Ron Lipton walked into the Commodore, carrying a baby. A woman – girl really – walked alongside him. He felt the moment Katie saw them, her body grew taut, the hand that had rested on his thigh pulled away. She pretended to use it to take a sip of her water, but when she put the glass down, her hand fell into her lap, not his.
“Jesus. Just what we don’t need tonight,” Alison said.
“Small town. Popular restaurant. What’re ya gonna do,” Finn said, shrugging. “You want me to go talk to him?” He looked as if that was the last thing in the world he wanted to do.
Alison seemed to like that idea, but Katie shook her head. “No. Don’t worry about it. It’s not an issue anymore.” She turned to Darío and smiled at him, but it wasn’t the warm, knowing smile he’d come to love. It looked forced and did not reach her eyes.
Darío knew the second Ron saw them. The second he saw Katie. He didn’t seem to notice anyone else at the table.
Darío watched Ron’s eyes caress Katie’s face, sweep over her body. He saw pain fill the huge man’s eyes. He saw Ron tighten his hold on his daughter, as if reminding himself that the bundle he was carrying was what he had gained when he’d lost the woman he loved. Finally, Ron’s eyes tore from Katie, it seemed reluctantly, and skimmed over the other people at the table. They stopped on Darío.
No shock registered. The man must have heard he and Katie were traveling together. Darío wondered how long after the day he’d golfed with Ron the man had found out about Darío and his wife. He felt a twinge of guilt for not having spoken up that day, for letting Ron vent his despair over losing Katie and not mentioning that he was now involved with her.
More than involved. Bewitched. Snared. Intertwined. He thought of the last few nights in Katie’s guestroom. Most definitely intertwined.
The girl with Ron saw Katie and her friends and came over. Ron followed.
“Mrs. Lipto- Katie,” the girl said, nodding toward Katie.
“Amber,” Katie nodded in return. She looked to Ron and then the little girl Ron was holding. “You have a beautiful child, Amber, congratulations.”
Darío felt a rush of pride that the woman he was marrying could handle herself with such dignity while inside… What? Was her heart breaking to see her husband, the man she thought, hoped, would father her children, carrying the child of another woman?
Was the child growing in her own womb salve enough to ease that pain? Was Darío enough?
The girl, Amber, was not gracious in her imagined triumph. “Isn’t she? Well, how could she be anything but with such a handsome daddy?”
“Oh, Jesus,” Alison said.
Finn and Darío had risen as they had approached the table. Finn and Ron shook hands and then Ron turned to Darío. Darío stuck out his hand, expecting a crushing grip from Ron, but the shake was firm and quick.
“Darío,” was all Ron said.
“Ron,” Darío responded. He could have called upon his years of making small talk during pro-ams. He could have asked about Ron’s golf game. About his swing. If the tips Darío had given him had helped. Instead he said nothing.
“You two know each other?” Katie asked.
The men nodded. Ron was the one to answer her. “I won the raffle to golf with Darío at Annie Aid. We played with Petey.”
Katie looked at Darío with surprise. Then she turned to Lizzie. “You didn’t tell me Ron won the raffle?”
“I didn’t see you after that. You left the next day,” Lizzie said. “Besides, I guess I assumed Darío told you.”
Katie’s head swung around again to Darío, her hair flipping over her shoulder, baring her long, graceful neck. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
Because he wanted her to think of him, not Ron. Because his thoughts were too consumed with being in her bed again. Because he was coming to terms with traveling with a woman he barely knew. Coming to terms with becoming a father.
Because, if he told her, he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t tell her the things Ron had said that day about losing Katie. About choosing to protect his child.
All of Darío’s reasons were true, were valid, but it was the last that stung.
Instead, he shrugged at Katie, “Does it matter?”
She looked up at him, her blue eyes clear and penetrating, searching for something Darío may have left out. He met her gaze, held it.
After a moment, she sighed. “No, I guess not.”
There was an awkward moment when Finn and Darío reseated themselves. The moment when either Ron and Amber would leave, or the group would ask them to join them. Neither happened.
Ron started to turn away, but Amber grabbed his shirtsleeve and yanked.
“What do you want, Amber?” Alison asked for them all.
Amber ignored Alison, never taking her eyes from Katie. Eyes filled with jealousy and venom, Darío thought.
“I just thought I could give Katie a friendly reminder about the divorce papers. Our lawyer says you still haven’t signed them and sent them to him.”
Darío felt Katie tense beside him, but it was Alison who answered. “Oh, Jesus. It never occurred to me you didn’t get them. I sent them to the hotel in Chicago over three weeks ago. They must have just missed you. I wonder where they are?”
“They’re lost? You lost them?” Amber said in a petulant voice, showing her youth.
“Calm down,” Ron said. Her mother’s voice, more like yelp, made the baby fidgety. Ron crooned something into the baby’s ear and she settled down, burrowing her little head into her father’s chest.
Darío watched Katie watch Ron and the baby. Darío’s instincts were purely male. He longed to put his arm around Katie, pat her flat tummy with pride, shout to the hulking man in front of them that Katie was to be his wife, was carrying his child. Instead, he did nothing, waiting for Katie to say something. Anything.
“I got the papers, I just haven’t signed them yet,” Katie said.
That was not what he wanted her to say.
Darío noticed several things simultaneously. Amber’s fierce look of mistrust directed at Katie. Lizzie and Alison’s exchanging of glances. Finn’s sudden attention to a piece of pizza.
But what he saw that terrified him most was the look of sheer hopefulness that played on Ron’s handsome face.
“Why not?” Ron softly whispered while Amber bellowed the same words.
Though it was the visiting couple that asked the question, Katie turned to Darío for her explanation. “I got them just as we were leaving Chicago. I put them in a side pocket I never use in my laptop case. I was going to sign them the next day and get them out.” She paused, leaned her head closer to Darío.
He could smell her shampoo, her light perfume. It would normally distract him, but what she was saying was too important. He shook away the thoughts of her in the shower, lathering up with the aromatic shampoo.
“Then we got to Akron,” she said, her emphasis not lost on Darío.
“So what? They don’t have pens in Akron?” Amber said, earning a stern glance from Ron, which she answered with a defiant grin.
Katie kept her eyes on Darío as she answered. “Everything changed in Akron.”
It was explanation enough for Darío. He nodded his understanding to Katie. She smiled, her soft, sweet smile. She brushed her hand across his arm, t
hen turned once again to Ron and Amber. “I’m sorry if I held anything up. I’ll look for them tomorrow.”
They were leaving for Spain tomorrow, but Darío kept quiet, as did the others at their table.
“No, it’s not that – ” Ron said, but was cut off by Amber’s “Thank you. We’d appreciate it.”
The couple started to turn away when Alison said, “Katie, why don’t you tell Ron your news?”
A mistake. Darío knew that Alison had made a mistake. He knew Katie well enough by now that her news was not something she would rub in Ron’s face in front of others. She would probably try to avoid that conversation altogether, assuming that the small town rumor mill would take care of it for her. Darío didn’t blame her.
But Alison was a woman who didn’t mind confrontation. Darío figured she’d probably been waiting for this moment – to strike back at Ron – since the man had hurt her best friend.
She sat with a devious smile on her face and Darío mused that the man who ended up with Alison would have to be very sure of himself, very strong, or else this small woman would walk all over him.
Alison looked at Katie, raising an eyebrow, only shrugging as Katie shot her an “I’ll deal with you later” look. Darío thought it was a good thing for Alison that they were leaving the next day.
She looked at Ron. He seemed to steel himself for what she was about to say. His eyes slid over Darío as if he suspected he were a part of it.
Katie took a deep breath, let it out. “Ron, I’ve decided to sell the house. I just thought you’d want to know.”
The sigh of relief from Ron was audible. As were the gasps from Lizzie and Alison. “No, I meant – ” This time Alison shut up at Katie’s warning look.
Ron looked at Alison, hoping she’d slip, but she kept still. He turned to Katie. “But you love that house. We worked so hard to get it just right.”
Katie only nodded, she didn’t say a word.
Darío thought of the mansions he could buy her. Would she love them as much as the little house she’d shared with Ron?
If the nursery of her new home were full, the answer would be yes. Again, Darío thought about the one thing Katie could get from him and not Ron. Her child. Their child.
Mansion. Shack. Florida. Spain. The Copper Country. It didn’t matter to Darío where they made their home. Just as long as their child was safe, protected, loved. He knew Katie felt the same.
Ron searched Katie’s face, but it was still, serene, beautiful. “Well, thanks for letting me know. I guess we should let you guys get back to your dinner.”
They all made overly polite goodbyes and the new family went to a table out of hearing distance, but not out of sight, from the group’s table.
Katie gave Lizzie and Alison warning glances. Alison stewed while Lizzie, God bless her, drew everyone in to listen to a story about one of her newest clients.
They finished their dinners, each telling their news or stories. None of them mentioning the family across the restaurant.
Darío, Katie and Lizzie were at the side of the table that faced Ron and Amber. As soon as they’d sat down, Amber had gotten on a cell phone while Ron got the baby settled in a high chair wooden thing the waitress brought. He pulled toys out of a diaper bag, entertaining the baby while they had their dinner.
As the fivesome got up to leave, Darío heard Lizzie say quietly to Katie, “You’ve got to admit, he is great with that baby. ”
Katie nodded, glancing at Ron and his child, then down at her purse as she gathered her things. “That’s not surprising. I always knew Ron would make a great father.”
Darío felt a stab of jealousy, then quickly pushed it away. Katie would see. He’d be a great father, too.
“It’s a good thing, too. Because it looks like Amber doesn’t have a lot of maternal instincts,” Lizzie said.
Katie shrugged. “She’s young. It’ll come.”
They made their way from the restaurant, Katie not looking back.
But Darío did. He couldn’t help himself. He met Ron’s eyes. Blue, just like Katie’s. There were so many emotions going through them that Darío took a step back, startled. He turned and walked out of the restaurant feeling a strange sense of guilt.
Chapter Twenty
It was a friendly divorce. She left me the piano and the lawnmower.
I couldn’t play either one.
- Lee Trevino, professional golfer
Katie replayed the scene in the Commodore over in her head as she packed her final bag later that night. She heard the moan from the pipes as Darío took a shower down the hall.
She tried playing it over with herself in Amber’s part. She and Ron and their baby walking into the Commodore, seeing Lizzie, Finn and Alison. Sitting down. Ron playing with the baby as she gossiped with Lizard and Al.
It was fuzzy, the image unclear, as if she couldn’t bring the lens of her daydream into focus.
Instantly she knew why. Darío wasn’t in the picture. And he should be. She wanted him to be.
She saw him so clearly, his brown eyes, warm, shimmering at her. His smile, crooked, lopsided, as if he knew a secret. The scent of him. The way his skin tasted after being on the golf course.
He was crystal clear, and thus the daydream, with him in it, became whole.
She put the packed bag next to her laptop case, reminding herself she needed to get the divorce papers out. She herself had felt legally free from Ron the minute she received them. And she’d felt bound to Darío ever since Akron. The papers were just a formality to her, but they were important for everyone to get on with their lives.
She started to reach for the bag, the papers, when she heard Darío yell from the shower, “Gata, come here, I have a very special place that needs personal washing.”
There was music in his teasing voice. Katie left the bedroom, shedding her clothes as she walked down the hall.
Katie listened to a couple seated down the row of airport chairs from her. They spoke both a smattering of English and Spanish. She closed her eyes and listened to the lilting voices, sounding so sensuous, even though they were probably only speaking of unpaid bills or who remembered to turn off the coffee pot that morning.
She realized she now equated spoken Spanish with words of arousal, words spoken in passion. Darío only spoke Spanish with her when they were alone, in bed. Words he whispered low in her ear as he entered her. Words he panted against her neck as he thrust deeply inside her. Words he could barely mutter as he climaxed within her.
Words she didn’t understand.
Oh, she understood their meaning. At least, she thought she did. But, he could be reciting the rules of golf while whispering what she assumed were sweet nothings.
She looked across the gate area of the airport to see Darío in the newsstand, still trying to decide what book to buy. She liked that he was giving so much thought to his literary choice, even if his selection was limited to five or six bestsellers. She did the same thing. Whenever she got out of the Copper Country, the first thing she did was find a Barnes and Noble or some other bookstore and spend hours in the giant bookstore, surrounded by the written word.
Taking advantage of Darío being engrossed at the book rack, Katie rose and walked over to the couple who had been speaking both Spanish and English.
They were in their mid-forties, Katie guessed, both wearing wedding rings. Nothing made them stand out in any way. They were neither attractive nor unattractive. Just your basic, nondescript couple sitting in plastic chairs in an airport, waiting for their flight.
Katie sensed an ease about them. This was a couple that had been together for a while. A couple used to traveling together. The man held the tickets, the woman both their books. It was a system that had been practiced many times, and Katie found herself envious of them. She and Darío did not have any sort of flow about them when they traveled. Yet.
“Excuse me,” she said. When she had their attention, she gave them her friendliest smile, which they retur
ned. “I couldn’t help but overhear and realize that you’re bilingual.” The couple both nodded. “I was wondering if you would be so kind as to translate something for me?”
“Yes, of course,” the man said, as the woman nodded her mutual assent.
Katie hesitated. What if what she wanted translated was too graphic for these nice people to translate? She didn’t want to embarrass them. Or herself. She chose the one phrase that Darío seemed to use the most often. Several times he had whispered it to her while he thought she was napping. When he’d brush her hair back from her face with such tenderness that she’d think maybe she’d imagined it. Surely that wouldn’t be something along the lines of, “my, what big hooters you have”. She was hoping for something like, “your skin is so soft”.
Committed to asking, Katie said, “I would like to know what te quiero means.” Her accent was not bad, considering she’d never spoken Spanish before. She had certainly heard Darío say those words often enough to give a passable rendition.
The man gave her a bright smile. “Ah, that is an easy one. Te quiero means ‘I love you’,” he said.
He loved her! Darío loved her!
If he loved her, he must trust and believe her, right?
No, not necessarily, she told herself. If she was completely honest with herself, she had to admit that she still loved Ron, although she certainly no longer trusted him. Didn’t even like him, really. But still loved him. Sometimes those old feelings never entirely go away, they’re just pushed to the back by new ones.
There would be love in her marriage. To know he loved her filled her with joy.
Wanting to digest this information – that Darío had told her he loved her, albeit in a language she didn’t understand – she told the couple thank you and made to return to her seat.
Something about the expression of the woman made her stop.
“Is there more?” she asked.
The woman looked at her husband, and then gave Katie a soft smile. “Well, it is true that te quiero means ‘I love you’, but it is meant in more of a…” she struggled for the words. She finally seemed to try to make her point using body language. Her hands curled into fists and her arms pulled into her chest, in almost a fit of angst. “It is more ‘I want you’ than ‘I love you’. Does that make sense?”
