Stephan’s eyes had glazed over and he appeared ready to fall forward onto Lucy’s desk.
“Stephan? Hello?”
“I’ll think about it.” He pushed himself up into a stand, still not making eye contact with Lucy. “Don’t do anything until I’ve had a chance to mull it over.”
“Mull what over?” Lucy stood up to study her boss. There was something more funky than usual about Stephan this morning. Was he not getting enough sleep at night? Had the man started using drugs? What was that ugly phone conversation about? “I think this is a no-brainer. We could generate so much excitement-”
Stephan simply turned and left without comment, like a ghost, or a man who’d just realized he’d stepped into the wrong room and was lost.
Men. Lucy didn’t think she’d ever understand them.
Her phone rang. She picked it up and heard the unmistakable sound of Mary Fran in tears.
“My God! Frannie, what’s wrong? Is it the kids?”
“No. No. They’re fine.” More sobs.
Lucy figured she might as well give in to, the fact that today was going to be a doozy. Before most people could get their butts settled in their desk chairs, she had been publicly weighed and measured only to disappointment thousands; had learned without a doubt that Theo thought of her only as a friend; was dressed like a bag lady; had engaged in a nonsensical conversation with her borderline-insane boss; and had just been informed that her big sister was running away from home and moving in with her.
“You’re what?”
“I’ll be there tonight.”
“Fran, you can’t. What about the kids?”
“I told Keith I was leaving him and he’d have full responsibility for the children for as long as I decided to stay gone. We’ll see how long he survives.”
“Are you serious?”
“Well, no. Maybe I just need a wild girls’ weekend.”
“But Frannie-”
“Don’t try to stop me.”
“But-”
“I have to go. One of the twins just puked. My flight gets in at Miami International at ten.”
Lucy pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it. Mary Fran had hung up.
Chapter 6
May
Some nights, Theo didn’t think he did enough to earn five hundred dollars manning the door at Flawless. Other nights, it seemed they couldn’t pay him enough for this gig. Tonight was one of those nights.
The early crowd was already sloshed and rockin‘. Theo looked at his watch to see that it was eleven-he had five more hours of this before he could go home and collapse. He’d sleep in until about ten, then hit the books. His test was in three months and it weighed heavily on his mind.
Theo knew it was rare for someone to reenter medical school once he’d dropped out, especially after what would be a four-year hiatus. Sometimes he thought he was nuts for even trying. The brain absorbs information at an astounding rate in med school, and once you leave that environment, it’s like a stopper is removed and the draining begins. Much of what he’d learned had already hemorrhaged, and he was attempting to shove it all back in, trying to reacquaint his mind with the pounding demands of medical school.
It was the hardest thing he’d ever done.
The score on his readmission test would determine how much of his life he’d wasted. There was a distinct possibility he’d have to start all over again, from the beginning of his M-l year. It would be demoralizing, and he wasn’t sure if it would be worth it. But if his scores were high enough, he could start at any point prior to where he left off and maybe even pick up right at the middle of the M-3 year. That would be ideal, but he wasn’t counting on it.
“Hey, Theo, baby.” He looked up to see one of the club’s regular honeys sashay inside. For women like her, there was no cover. All she had to do was look gorgeous and occasionally dance on the bar, a huge mahogany structure built for just that purpose. No one sat at the bar at Flawless. Few people sat at all. It was just a writhing sea of techno dance music, sunbaked bodies barely covered in shamefully expensive clothing, and naked hunger.
It’s what South Beach was all about.
“Good to see you. Enjoy yourself tonight.”
“I’d enjoy myself more if I had you.”
Theo tried to smile. He’d seen this woman operate more nights than he could remember. Safe sex with her would require the use of a full-body condom. “Sorry, but I gotta work.”
When she pouted and shook out her hair, the glitter she’d spritzed on herself from eyelids to toenails twinkled in the lights. “Maybe some other night.”
The patrons poured in. Theo had to turn away a female foursome with the lamest fake IDs he’d seen in some time. “Come back in a few years, girls,” he’d said to them.
Theo put up the rope at about eleven forty-five. From now till about two thirty he’d be cajoled and tipped and begged by those who knew it was uncool to show up before midnight but weren’t cool enough to make it through the rope after then.
He despised this game but smiled and joked to pass the time. He looked at his watch. It was just after midnight.
He recognized the voice long before he saw Gia. There wasn’t another person on the planet with that cackling laugh and that grating, fast, Spanish-laced speech.
She kissed his cheek. “Hola, Theo.”
He kissed her back. “You missed your appointment Wednesday.”
“You mad at me, or what? I forgot to tell you I had to fly to New York.”
Something in Theo’s brain snapped. He could swear he just got a whiff of Paradise Awaits and he sniffed at Gia, but it wasn’t her.
Then Gia stepped out of his face and his eyes landed on the most amazing sight. It was Lucy-two Lucys, really: the one he knew and a shrimpy version, standing next to two other women he’d never met.
“You gonna make us stand out here all night or what, Theo?”
He hardly heard Gia. He blinked. Lucy was wearing a sparkling silver top with tiny straps and a black skirt that fell well above her knees. He hadn’t seen this much of her skin since he dipped her in the hydrostatic tank. But she hadn’t looked like this back then. Back then she’d been a big, out-of-shape woman. Tonight, she stood before him a voluptuous, curvy, solid, glowing, slightly larger-than-average woman.
So he was shallow. He admitted it. All he knew was the Lucy standing in front of him, her eyes wide and her shiny hair falling free, was hot.
“I’m Lucy’s sister, Mary Fran. I’ve heard all about you, Theo.”
A soft little hand was shoved into his palm and broke his fixation on the real Lucy. The small Lucy began to shake his hand with gusto. “So is this when I tip you?” she asked, holding out a five.
Theo laughed, pushing the money back into her hand. It was amusing seeing someone who looked like Lucy but was so different. He raised his eyes to see the real thing smiling at him.
“And this is Veronica King and Maria Banderas,” Lucy introduced her coworkers to Theo.
“Please, come right on in, ladies.”
Lucy passed by last, and Theo inhaled-paradise indeed. “You look beautiful,” he whispered in her ear.
Lucy spun her head around, and a section of her hair slapped him across the chin. He loved it. Though he knew it would be the stupidest thing he could do, he wanted to reach out and grab that hair and crush his mouth against hers-just one more time.
“Thanks, Theo.”
Her eyes were beguiling. She stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his cheek. On the surface, it was exactly the same kind of perfunctory, social kiss that
Gia had given him just a moment ago. But it didn’t feel the same, and when Lucy’s warm lips touched his face he automatically turned toward the kiss, and the very corners of their mouths touched.
It was electric.
Lucy pulled back and looked away, running to catch up with the other women, already swarmed with admirers. Theo worried about Lucy in there. He worried she’d get hit o
n. He worried she’d not know how to protect herself.
Then he pictured her warrior princess stance on the Miami Springs High School track last month and knew she’d be OK.
Besides, there was no way he’d let Lucy out this door without knowing what time she left and whom she left with. He’d make sure of it.
Theo took a break about one thirty and decided to search for her. It didn’t take long-he found her dancing with a Latin lover type, her head thrown back as she laughed. Theo stood stock-still, staring at her hips. She was moving in a way that had nothing to do with building core strength and everything to do with seduction. He swallowed hard, just as Lucy turned to see him staring.
The song ended, and he watched Lucy shake her head several times, turning down whatever offer her dance partner had extended. Theo sighed in relief as Lucy sat down at a small cocktail table just to the side of the bar, alone.
“What are you drinking?”
She grinned at him. “Diet Coke,” she shouted over the music. “Is this a journal check?”
He laughed. “Nope. I was going to get you another one. Be right back.”
Theo helped himself to two sodas and returned to the table, hopping up on the stool right next to Lucy. He knew that conversation would be tough with the music, but just sitting by her side was better than nothing.
He let his eyes scan the club and saw Gia holding court on a red velvet sofa on the raised dais toward the back. This club didn’t have a VIP room, but the platform cluttered with sofas, chairs, and Persian rugs served the purpose.
His eyes fell on the miniature Lucy named Mary Fran, who was shaking her thing on the bar with Veronica and Maria. He raised an eyebrow in surprise.
“My sister is having a marital crisis!” Lucy shouted in his ear. “I think she just needs to blow off some steam!”
He looked down on Lucy’s glistening face and smiled. Without thinking, he brought his hand to her cheek and touched her smooth skin. Her eyes flew wide. Theo wanted to smack himself. Not only did he have to stop thinking about touching and kissing her-he also needed to stop doing it.
“Wanna dance?”
“I don’t think so.” She shook her head and took a sip from her straw.
“Why not?”
Lucy shrugged. “Too self-conscious, I guess.” She leaned closer to him, and thoughts of paradise clouded his mind. “I’m a little worried about what other people are thinking.”
Theo laughed. “You didn’t seem too concerned about that with Ricky Romance back there.”
Lucy laughed, too. “He wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
“Let’s dance.”
“No.”
“Sorry. Not acceptable.” Theo grabbed her hand and pulled her out onto the dance floor, all the while his brain was crying, Stupid, stupid, stupid! He told himself to shut up and snuggled her tighter, feeling every inch of her feminine softness against every hard place on his body, including the parts that seemed to be getting harder by the second.
It wasn’t exactly a slow dance number, but Theo didn’t give a damn. This was what he craved.
“Are you trying to camouflage me with your entire body, Theo?”
He laughed. “I’m only here to help.”
“This is not helping anything. Let me go.” Lucy tried to shove away from him.
“Hey, relax, Luce. I’m going to say something to you and it may sound harsh, but you need to hear it.”
He let her pull away enough that she could look up into his face. She was frowning. “What? I can’t even hear you!”
Theo took her hand and led her past the bar, through the kitchen, and out the back door of the club. Lucy gasped as they entered the serene little courtyard that led to the club owners’ apartment.
Theo motioned for her to have a seat on a cushioned lounge chair next to a potted fern. He sat in the one across from her.
“You have a habit of obsessing about what people think when they look at you.”
“Not accurate.” Lucy adjusted herself so she was poised on the chair edge, as if preparing for a quick escape. “That used to be one of my habits-obsessing over the fact that people were staring at me, then being pissed off about it and eating too much, then getting more obsessed and pissed off because I ate too much and people were staring at me. Fun, huh?”
She tried to get up, but Theo grasped her hand. “You’re a different person now.”
Lucy’s face softened. She nodded her head. “I’m trying.”
“Look, Luce. What I’m getting at is there’s a lot more to life than how much you weigh and what size you wear.”
Her mouth opened. She blinked at him.
“You need to get your mind off that crap for a while. It really isn’t all about what you look like.”
‘Thanks for the pep talk.“ She stood up, and Theo stood with her.
“All I’m saying is there’s a bigger picture. Maybe you need to expand your horizons a little.”
She cocked her head to the side and smiled at him. “Since when did you become a philosopher, Theo?”
“I think about three years ago. So what are you doing two weekends from now?”
“Nothing.”
“Then I’d like to show you someplace where nobody gives a rat’s ass about your percentage of body fat. Where nobody will judge you by your appearance. A place where you can stop judging yourself for maybe the first time in your life.”
The music stopped inside the club for an instant, and it got quiet out in the courtyard, so quiet they could hear the ocean.
“I don’t know any places like that, Theo,” she whispered.
“I do.”
Lucy shrugged. “All right. So what’s a girl wear to a place like that?”
“Sensible shoes and sunscreen,” he said, smiling.
“I’m Buddy, Theo’s brother. I have mental retardation and I’m a track star.”
Lucy had barely made one pass around the University of Southern Florida stadium before she found the brothers Redmond, or they found her. She’d really had no idea what to expect-Theo had told her only that Buddy was sixteen and had Down syndrome and that Lucy should come to Tampa for the weekend to watch him compete in the Florida State Games.
And now Buddy stood very close to her, his face on fire with delight, his smile very wide and a little wet, and he was staring at her through thick glasses, waiting for her response.
“Cool. I’m Lucy,” is what she said, and they shook hands.
Theo hung back, relaxed and hunky as always, in a red polo shirt with the words Special Olympics Miami-Dade Coach stitched on the left upper chest. Theo was a Special Olympics coach? Why hadn’t he mentioned that?
“I know who you are, Lucy.” Buddy gave her a slow nod. “You’re the pretty fat lady Theo goes on TV with. Your butt looks a lot better now than it used to.” He kept going. “I weigh one hundred twenty-six pounds and I don’t eat junk, except on nights Theo’s too tired to cook, so I can win in competitions. My mom wouldn’t let me get fat like a lot of Down syndrome people.”
Lucy had no idea how to respond to all that.
Just then, a pack of four teenagers strolled by, all in different-colored T-shirts, all obviously Special Olympics athletes, and they pulled Buddy into their group with excited hugs and loud greetings.
Theo hollered after him, “Meet me at the main registration tent at four! Do not be late-we’re having dinner with Aunt Viv and Uncle Martin before the opening ceremony!”
“You got it, stud!” Buddy waved at Theo, winked at Lucy, and was swept off into a sea of people walking toward a banner that read: Olympic Village.
Theo turned to her and grinned. “He can be a little direct sometimes.”
“And you said nobody here would care about the size of my butt!”
He laughed, putting his arm around her shoulder and giving her a friendly squeeze. “So how was your drive? Did you enjoy Alligator Alley?”
There was little to enjoy on the highway from Miami to Tampa
via Naples-unless you reveled in endless desolate swampland and no mobile phone coverage. “It was relaxing. I listened to some good tunes and got here in no time.”
“Great. Do you think you would be comfortable staying with us this weekend? It would be much better than a hotel.”
Lucy frowned at him. “Us who? You and Buddy? I don’t think that’s-”
“My aunt and uncle’s best friends have a winter home here but are already back in Boston. They gave us the place for the week.”
Whoa. Lucy had planned on the Red Roof Inn, not living under the same roof with Theo and his family.
“There’s more than enough room for all of us. And Viv and Martin would love to meet you.”
She shook her head. “I could never impose like that.”
Theo laughed. “Don’t be silly. I’d love your company, and that house is so big we could lose each other in it. Plus, it’s staffed, as in there’s a maid, a cook, a gardener, and a pool man. Come enjoy it with us.”
She felt her eyes go wide.
“Please say yes, Luce.”
Theo was looking down into her face with such adorable tenderness that Lucy nearly lost her breath. She couldn’t be angry at him, she supposed-he obviously had no idea what he did to her with those sea blue eyes, how he confused her with his affection, excited her with his touch, left her feeling lost when she wasn’t in his company.
The man squeezing her shoulder so tightly was her friend. Her trainer. Her business partner. Yes, she’d been ga-ga over Theo since the moment they met. But he was not her lover, and despite the sparks she felt in his presence, he seemed to be happy just being friends.
The faster she could come to grips with that, the saner she’d be. And the more she could just enjoy her next date with Tyson.
“Sure, Theo. I accept.”
Theo had led her to a big blue-and-white-striped tent where dozens of volunteers handed out badges.
“Theo!” An older lady in a hat decorated with an array of fishing lures smiled warmly at him. “What can I do you for, handsome?”
He Loves Lucy Page 11
