“Since we’re both still fully clothed, I have to believe it was something of a disappointment.”
Mary suspected Ellis’s light tone was mere camouflage and laughed from deep in her gut. “Talk about years of wasted fantasies.” She used her free hand to run her fingers along Ellis’s jawline. “But the holding hands part was really sweet.”
“Say what?”
“Right after you had your pill, when I got back into bed, you reached over and took my hand and held it the rest of the night.” Mary withdrew her fingertips from Ellis’s face. “I suppose it might have been to keep me from groping you, but I’ll never know for sure.”
“Let the record show, I’d never stop you from groping me.”
“My conscience would never let me take advantage of a woman with a bum leg.”
“My leg will heal.”
“Not soon enough.” Mary gathered her courage, hoping she didn’t falter on her first attempt at kissing a woman. Her lips were within an inch of Ellis’s.
The bedroom door flew open. Mary and Ellis jerked away from one another like matching magnetic poles.
“Hi, Mom. Sam and I have already been outside. I’m hungry, and so is she. When’s breakfast?”
“Natalie, I’ve told you a thousand times to knock before you come charging in here.”
“Why? I’ve seen you in your undies a million times. I’ve even seen you out of your undies a million times. And this time, you’ve got all your clothes on.” Natalie giggled, but stopped when her mother’s irritated gaze apparently registered.
“Sorry, Mom.” Natalie retreated a couple of steps. “I’ll give Sam a scoop of dog food from her bag and get some cereal for me.”
Mary jumped out of bed and hugged Natalie before she could leave the room. “I didn’t mean to sound so cross. You just surprised me, that’s all.” She squeezed her daughter again. “Don’t get them mixed up and put your cereal in Sam’s bowl.”
“Yuk. That would mean I’d have dog food with milk in mine.” Natalie broke free from the hug. “You’re so weird sometimes.”
“Love you, too, Nat.”
“I’m not going to say it back.”
“You don’t have to. You said I was weird. That’s the same as ‘I love you.’”
“Oh, Mom. You are so weird.”
“And I still love you, too.”
Natalie raced out of the bedroom with Sam on her heels.
Mary closed and locked the door, then sat on the edge of the bed. “Welcome to my idyllic, romantic world.”
Ellis smiled wanly. “What can I say?”
“For one thing, please tell me I didn’t just blow my only chance to kiss you.”
“Do you see me wearing a catcher’s mask?” Ellis opened her arms expansively. Mary eased onto the bed and folded into Ellis’s embrace, careful to avoid bumping her injured ankle.
She rested her forehead against Ellis’s chest. “I don’t know how to do this.”
“You must. I’m betting Natalie didn’t get here by osmosis.”
Mary relaxed, but then tensed again as she felt Ellis’s hand caress her back. “No, she got here because her father is a very persuasive man.”
Ellis wrapped both arms tightly around Mary. “I can’t wait to hear that story.”
“As soon as I remember how to breathe so that I can put three sentences together, I’ll tell you.” Mary gulped a breath. “Am I supposed to feel like every square inch of my skin is dancing the Macarena?”
“I don’t think anyone ever wrote a how-to book for this.” Ellis moved Mary’s long hair so that it was all falling to one side of her head.
“Damn. I really need some pointers.”
“Go with your instincts, and you’ll be fine.” Ellis kissed the top of Mary’s head. “I like the way it feels to be close to you.” Her voice was little more than a whisper. She ran her index finger over the top of Mary’s ear. “Yesterday at the hospital when I was asking you about your first impressions of me, you said something that was so true.”
“What?” Mary moved a little higher up Ellis’s torso.
“You don’t know how right you were when you said you thought I’d fallen for you.” Ellis placed a soft kiss on Mary’s cheek. “I just wish I hadn’t torn up my ankle in the process.”
“As I recall, I said ‘hoped you’d fallen,’ not ‘thought,’ but this isn’t the time to split hairs over semantics. I’m sorry you’re in pain, but from my perspective, it’s turned out pretty well.” Mary exhaled loudly. “Heaven only knows how long it would have taken to get you into my bed if it weren’t for that detour on LaVista Road.” Mary lifted herself enough that she could look into Ellis’s eyes.
“In the immortal words of Mary Chapin Carpenter, shut up and kiss me.” Ellis cradled Mary’s face in her hands and pulled her close.
Their lips touched, lightly, then with more force.
The knock at the door all but lifted Mary off the bed.
Natalie’s muffled voice came from the other side. “Mom, we’re out of milk!”
∗ ∗ ∗ ∗
“Hi, I’m Nathan Kimbrough. I’m here to pick up Natalie.” Nathan had let himself in through the kitchen door. He strolled into the living room and extended his hand to Ellis who was, once again, propped in the corner of the sofa with an ice bag on her foot.
“Nice to meet you,” Ellis said as she told him her name. “Thanks for taking care of those shrubs for me yesterday.”
Nathan sat in the glider that was in its new spot near the sofa. “Glad to do it. Mary told me you’re going to be laid up for a while.”
“About three weeks, according to the doctor. Good thing it’s my slow time of year.”
“Not that there’s ever a good time for a sprained ankle.”
“Right.” Ellis couldn’t help but wonder what the nice-looking man chatting with her would think if he knew she had kissed his ex-wife a few hours earlier. Ellis sized him up. She guessed him to be only slightly taller than Mary. His short, light brown hair had a few flecks of gray at the temples, and his eyes were—like Mary’s—a nice shade of blue, but they lacked the expressive highlights that made Mary’s eyes so intriguing. He was handsome enough, pleasant enough, and obviously good-hearted, since he had done a mercy trimming of Fredrick’s hollies the day before. While accepting his firm handshake, she had noticed that his hands were rough and calloused—a workman’s hands. She wondered what he did for a living.
“I’m a linesman for Georgia Power,” Nathan said, as though he’d read Ellis’s mind. “I’ve had a lot of practice trimming trees. Those bushes on Ponderosa were kid’s play compared to the pines I’m usually dealing with in my cherry picker.”
“I bet. Thanks again for doing that.” Ellis cast a glance down the hallway, then realized Nathan had seen her do so.
“I told Mary I’d be here at twelve-thirty.” He looked at the LED readout of the time on the DVD player. It said twelve-forty. “I’ll never know what takes Mary so long to put a couple of things in a backpack so that Nat can spend the night with me. You’d think she was going on a month-long trip instead of spending one night at my apartment.” Nathan rubbed his hands together nervously, then jammed them in the pockets of his pants.
Since Ellis knew precious little about how or why Mary did anything—with the possible exception of kiss delightfully—she was at a loss for a reply. Two more silent minutes rolled slowly by. Finally, Natalie roared up the hallway and into the living room.
“Hi, Daddy. Can we eat at McDonald’s tonight?” She wrapped her arms around Nathan’s neck and perched on his lap, which was no easy task, given her long body.
“We haven’t even had lunch yet. What’s the rush for picking where we eat tonight?”
“No rush. I was just asking.”
Sam trotted into the room and went directly to Nathan and Natalie. “This is Sam,” Natalie said.
“I know. I met him yesterday.”
“Not him, Daddy. Her. Samantha.”
> “Oh. My mistake.”
“I forgive you.” Natalie slid off his lap and stood by the chair. “We should go.”
“We can’t until your mom brings us your backpack.”
“Oh, right. I’ll be out in the backyard with Sam.”
Girl and dog sped toward the kitchen door.
Nathan raised his voice in hopes of being heard before Natalie was out of earshot. “Don’t get dirty, or you can’t go to the movies.”
“It’ll be dark in the theater. Nobody will know.” Natalie and Sam dashed outside.
Nathan said, “She’s always got an answer for everything.”
Ellis heard his fatherly pride. “So it seems. It’s hard to believe she’s only nine.”
“Nine, going on twenty-seven, most days.” The look on Nathan’s face left no doubt of his adoration for Natalie.
Again, Ellis was left with nothing to add.
At last, Mary joined them. “Sorry you had to wait, Nathan. I wanted to send Natalie’s library book with her, and I couldn’t find it. For reasons known only to her, she’d put it between the mattress and box spring.” Mary handed a bulging backpack to her ex.
“Couldn’t quite get her desk and bicycle in, huh?” Nathan stood and hefted the small rucksack.
“Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.”
Nathan chuckled. “In case you don’t recognize it, Ellis, that’s the overprotective, worried mother’s motto.”
Ellis grinned. “Somebody should put it on Tshirts and sell them at Toys“R”Us.”
Nathan looped his arm through the strap of the backpack. “Only if they’re made with flame-retardant fabric and the proceeds go to Mary’s latest charitable cause.”
“I’m cautious, not overprotective, and there’s nothing wrong with wanting to help people who are less fortunate.” Mary placed both hands on Nathan’s back and gave him a little push. “Get the yard ape and hit the road, bubba.”
“On my way. We’ll have to hustle if we’re going to make the next showing of The Santa Clause 51 at the buck and a bucket theater at North DeKalb Mall.” Nathan started toward the kitchen.
“It’s only The Santa Clause 3,” Mary said as she left the room.
Ellis listened in on their conversation, hoping to get a better understanding of their relationship.
“Give ’em another year or two,” Nathan said. “The sequel will be out before this one’s on DVD. They know a moneymaker when they see it. This is at least the fifth time I’ve taken Nat to see it. Good thing the tickets only cost a dollar. The popcorn is making a pauper of me.”
Mary followed Nathan to the door. “Enjoy it while you can. Prom dresses and college will be here soon enough.”
He gripped the doorknob, and the door gave a creak as he opened it. “I’ll have her back by dinnertime tomorrow night, okay?”
“Sounds good to me.”
Nathan opened the door and summoned Natalie from the far corner of the backyard where she and Sam were playing tug-of-war with a stick.
“Behave yourself at Dad’s,” Mary said.
“I always do.”
“Right. And I’m Miss America.” Mary blew a kiss to her daughter. “Love you.”
“You’re weird.”
Ellis heard the tires on the driveway and saw Mary wave from the doorway; a car horn honked in response.
∗ ∗ ∗ ∗
“Sweet freedom,” Mary said as she and Sam rejoined Ellis in the living room. Sam stretched out full length on the floor beside the sofa and fell instantly asleep. Mary repositioned the chair before sitting down. “I don’t know how I’d survive if Nathan didn’t take her as often as he does.”
“And I don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t rescued me and my dog yesterday. Thanks for everything.” Ellis shoved the sleeves of her sweatshirt up, then tugged them back into place. “Nathan seems like a good guy.”
Mary rocked back and held the chair in place while she spoke. “He is. Sometimes I wish we could have made our marriage work.” She rocked forward.
“How long have you been divorced?”
“It’ll be five years in March.”
“So Natalie was just a little shaver, not that she’s exactly ready for Social Security now.”
“Right, but I’m pretty sure there’s no such thing as a perfect age to tell a child that her parents aren’t going to be together anymore.”
“What happened between you two? It looked to me like you and Nathan get along all right.”
“Odd as it may sound, nothing happened between Nathan and me.” Mary grinned dourly. “And if you were to ask him, Nathan would tell you that was about ninety-nine percent of the problem.”
“Nothing happened? Care to elaborate?”
“Oh, we took walks, went to movies and concerts and plays, worked together in the yard, gave each other nice presents on our birthdays, almost never fought, shared chores around the house, took turns caring for and playing with Natalie. We looked like the perfect family.”
“But?”
Mary chewed on the corner of her lower lip. “But I’d rather have eaten razor blades than go to bed with my husband.”
“Oh.”
Mary watched Ellis’s face as the impact of her confession set in and wondered if Ellis would ask for more information.
“So Natalie…?”
Mary rubbed her jaw. “I don’t want to say she was a mistake. She wasn’t. I always wanted kids, and I think I got a great one—I won’t even pretend to be humble when it comes to how I feel about her—and I wouldn’t trade her for anything in the world, but I’m an old-fashioned girl. I think kids do better in a family than as an appendage to a single person.”
“Half the kids in this country come from broken homes.”
“Statistics only apply to other people’s children, not mine.”
“So why didn’t you stay with Nathan?”
Mary frowned. “Lord knows I wanted to. For that matter, Lord knows Nathan wanted me to stay, too, but he wanted a whole wife.” Mary made a sound between a laugh and a snort. “Let me rephrase that, and forgive me if this sounds crude. Nathan wanted a wife with a hole, and try as I might, I couldn’t convince myself that having sex with him was something I could do—at least not anywhere near as often as he wanted me to.”
“I see.”
“On our honeymoon, I kept telling myself I only hated it so much because I was so new at it. I was sure if I got a little practice at it, I’d figure out what made all the dames on the nighttime soap operas fall in the sack with every guy who’d crook his finger at them.”
Ellis squinted at Mary. “Let me get this straight. You were a virgin on your wedding night, and you got pregnant on your honeymoon?”
“Right on all three counts. Straight, virgin, honeymoon.” Mary ticked off each word on her fingers as she spoke it. “So right off the bat, I told Nathan ‘no sex while I’m pregnant.’”
“How did he take that?”
“Not well, but there wasn’t much he could do about it.” Mary held her arms in an X across her chest. “The store was closed.”
“And after Natalie arrived?”
“That kid’s head was the size of a watermelon. It took months for my episiotomy to heal. Then she had colic for her first year. We were exhausted. It was all we could do to even make the bed, let alone think about making love.”
Ellis murmured sympathetically. “But the incision healed, the baby outgrew her colic, you caught up on your sleep.”
“And the gods answered my prayers.”
“How so?”
“Nathan went to work for Georgia Power as a linesman. Right from the start, he was put on a schedule that had him working four days—and I mean on call twenty-four/seven for those four days—then off for three days. We’d go for days at a time without even seeing each other because he was at work. And if there was a wind storm or an ice storm, he might be gone for a week or more cleaning up downed trees. He could almost
always have as much overtime as he was willing to put in.”
“But what about the days he wasn’t working?”
“On his off days, he was so weary, he’d sleep eighteen hours a day. Any energy he did have went to playing with Natalie.” Mary wrapped her arms around herself and purred the next words. “Pure heaven.” She smiled ruefully. “For a woman who wanted to avoid having to dodge sexual advances, that is.”
“Since you’re divorced now, it obviously didn’t work forever.”
“No, after about three years of having sex maybe twice a year, Nathan started making noises about having an affair.”
“Him or you?”
“Both, actually. He accused me of having a lover and threatened to find one for himself if things didn’t change.”
“I can’t believe I’m asking you this, but we seem to have gone from zero to sixty in five seconds as far as telling each other everything, so here goes. Were you having an affair?”
“Does it count if I pretended?”
Ellis laughed knowingly. “You and Jimmy Carter—lusting in your hearts.”
“Remember, he confessed to lusting after women in his heart. He and I were peas in a pod in that regard.”
“Another nosy question—if you knew you were attracted to women, why did you marry Nathan in the first place?”
“One word. Mother.”
“You wanted to be a mother?”
“Well, yes, that’s true, I did, but what I meant was I did it to shut my mother up.”
“Kind of an emotionally costly way to put a gag on someone, isn’t it?”
“If you only knew the half of it. Someday when you’re plagued with insomnia, I’ll show you my wedding album.”
“It would probably just make me jealous.”
“You wanted a big wedding, too?” Mary couldn’t keep the surprise out of her voice.
“Hardly,” Ellis said with a scoff. “I’d be jealous of Nathan.”
Mary found herself too tongue-tied to respond, so she looked at Ellis and hoped the expression on her face wasn’t too stupefied.
Ellis’s voice dropped as she spoke. “Sorry. I guess I stepped way over the line again.”
Detours Page 5
