She smiled without looking up, keeping her focus on the puzzle. "Sundays are challenging," she said with excitement in her voice.
Louise wore dark-rimmed glasses and a man's white dress shirt with long sleeves. Her bare legs were crossed and her hair fell randomly. She leaned forward to fill in a word.
"Is that my shirt?" Walter asked.
"No."
"Because it looks like my shirt," he said.
"Well, it WAS your shirt, but you left it here when you moved out, so now it's MY shirt."
"I didn't exactly move out!"
"Temporarily, you did!"
"At your request," he argued.
"It wasn't a request."
"Oh, you want to play it that way?"
"Yeah, I have a whole bunch of new stuff now," she said playfully. "Lucky me!"
"Well, I might just have to steal some of my stuff back, then," he said as he leaned in to give her a gentle kiss.
"You can try," she said kissing him back. "But I think you should leave me this shirt."
"Why?"
"Well, the last time you walked in while I was doing a crossword, you complained about me not wearing any clothes."
"I wasn't actually complaining," he said.
"Really?" she asked. "Because I seem to remember you giving me a hard time."
"Well, I seem to remember inviting you into the shower," he said. "And you asked for a rain check."
"Fair enough," she said. "When I finish my puzzle, I might just have to collect on that obligation."
"Great!" he said with a wink. "Work fast!"
"I shall!" she said with a smile. She kissed him one more time. "Oh, I have to take care of something this afternoon. I'll be out for a couple of hours. Is that okay?"
"As long as it doesn't involve horses or Ferraris," he stipulated.
"No! No horses and no fast cars," she assured him.
"And no Francisco?"
"Definitely no Francisco!" she replied emphatically, enjoying the slight tinge of jealousy. "I should be back by four or five."
"Okay," he agreed.
-
Jo was standing beside the entrance to the restaurant when Louise arrived. She looked as though she hadn't slept in days. Louise greeted her: "Hi, thanks for coming!"
"Thanks for calling," Jo said nervously.
"Do you want to sit outside?" Louise asked.
"Yeah, sure!"
"The weather's really nice today!"
"Yes, it is!"
A slender hostess guided them to a table near the sidewalk. The table was shaded by a large, green sun umbrella.
Louise and Jo looked over two oversized brunch menus. The waiter brought a basket of bread and two glasses of water. "I think I'm going to be bad and have bacon today," Louise said.
"Ooh, that sounds good!" Jo commented.
They placed their orders, and the waiter took the menus away.
"So," Louise began, "thanks again for coming."
"Thank you, Louise," Jo said. "I wasn't sure..."
"I wasn't sure, either," Louise interrupted, "but we're here, so let's enjoy brunch."
"Okay."
"I just wanted to say - and I have to get this out while I can..." Louise began with some hesitation.
"Oh, Louise, I'm so sorry!" Jo looked to be on the verge of crying. Louise put up her hand in a gesture asking for a pause in the discussion as she collected her thoughts.
"I just wanted to say," Louise continued, "that I know this whole thing must have been hard on you."
Jo listened intently.
"I had a couple of really bad days this week," Louise explained.
"I'm sorry!"
"It's okay," Louise continued. "But you've been carrying this thing around all this time. You couldn't tell me. You couldn't tell Terri, because she probably would have told me..."
Jo covered her mouth with her hand.
Louise continued. "I just wanted to say that, I realize that it must have been hard for you to deal with this on your own. And I feel bad for what you must have gone through after ... everything."
Jo started trembling. "I wish I could just go back and make it NOT happen," she said.
"I know!" Louise said trying to lighten the tension. "I wish I could eat bacon every day, but that's not going to happen, either."
Jo began to sob.
"But this is a special day," Louise continued. "So, let's eat something good and sinful and put some of these other things behind us. Can we do that?"
"Yes," Jo said. She was crying harder now and had to cover her eyes with her hand.
"Oh, honey, it's okay!" Louise assured her.
"I'm so sorry, Louise! I am so sorry!"
"Honey, I know. It's been rough on all of us."
"I just can't believe that you would want to talk to me," Jo said.
"I wasn't real sure," Louise explained openly, "and I'm sorry about that."
"No, of course!" Jo said through a sniffle. "I understand completely."
"But you are my friend," Louise said, trying to find the right words for the moment.
"And you've always been there for me," she continued, "and I've always tried to be there for you."
"You have," Jo confirmed in a whisper.
"This thing... Oh, shit, I don't even want to talk about it anymore!" Louise concluded. "Can we just do that? Just not talk about it anymore?"
"Yes," Jo agreed with a nod.
"Unless we need to," Louise continued.
Jo kept nodding.
"We'll talk about it then," Louise confirmed, "if we need to."
"Okay," Jo wiped her face with the large white napkin. Her eye make-up was badly smeared now. Eventually, she calmed down. They talked through the rest of the brunch, catching up on other subjects or commenting about people passing by on the sidewalk.
"Hey, guys!" It was Terri's voice.
"Hey!" they both said in return.
"I didn't know you were having brunch today," Terri said.
"It was kind of a last minute thing," Louise explained. "Where have you been? I tried to call you."
"Yeah, it's been a crazy weekend," Terri replied.
"How was your date with Riccardo?" Jo asked.
"Oh! The ballet was okay," Terri said, "but he wasn't able to make it. His clients needed him more than I did."
"Oh, that's a shame!" Louise exclaimed.
"Yeah!" Jo added.
"So, you went by yourself?" Louise asked.
"Well, me and nine-hundred fifty other ballet nuts," Terri joked. "But it was fine. It was a nice show. I had a good seat."
"Ooh, I'm glad!" Louise responded.
"Yeah, I'd go again," Terri confirmed. "You should come!"
"I'd like that," Louise said.
Terri noticed Jo's smudged make-up. "So, I see that you two are catching up."
"Yeah," said Louise in a relaxed tone. "We had a nice brunch."
Jo nodded. "Oh, I forgot," she said. "I actually have to run!"
"And where are you off to," Terri demanded.
"Well," Jo explained, "it turns out that Steve from my office likes horses."
"Really?" Terri exclaimed with a tone of disbelief.
"Yeah! I told him about our trip to the farm, and he called and scheduled a riding lesson for us. I have to be there at three," Jo said.
"At Francisco's place?" Louise asked.
"Yep," Jo confirmed.
"Whoa! So cool!" Louise responded.
"Yeah, that sounds like fun," Terri said.
"I hope so!" Jo said earnestly. "I'm sorry, I have to get ready. I'm... kind of a mess."
They all smiled at each other.
Jo looked at Louise. "Thank you!"
Louise stood up and hugged her. "Thank YOU for coming!"
"See ya!"
"Bye!"
"Bye!"
Louise felt relieved that their discussion had gone smoothly.
"Well, well, well..." Terri noted. "Steve from the office!"
"You never know about her," Louise observed.
"You know, I haven't even met Steve," Terri added, "and I'm already starting to feel sorry for him."
They looked at each other and laughed out loud.
"Oh, boy!" Louise exclaimed.
"So you talked?" Terri asked.
"Yeah," Louise said. "It was a little rocky, but..."
"It's still kind of soon," Terri noted delicately.
"Yeah, well, the first steps are always the hardest," Louise reasoned. "Hopefully, it'll get easier."
"And how's Walter?"
"Walter's good," Louise said confidently, but without showing too much emotion. "Thanks for asking."
"I'm glad that you're working things out," Terri added.
"Yeah, I'm glad, too," Louise confided. "He really is a good guy."
"Oh!" Louise said suddenly, "I need to tell you something."
"What?"
"I need to say 'THANK YOU!'"
"For what?"
"You know for what!" Louise said. "You were there for me. You've always been there for me."
"And you for me!" Terri argued.
"No, but you really saved me this time," Louise said. "I was a wreck, and you spent time with me and knew just what to say."
"Ah!"
"And I want you to know how much I appreciate everything that you do for me, that you've always done for me."
"Oh, stop!" Terri protested.
"I will NOT stop!" Louise argued. "You have been my one true friend through all of this, high and low, and I owe you big time!"
"You don't owe me anything, Louise!" Terri said. "What am I supposed to do? Turn my back on you when you're struggling?"
"I do owe you, Terr. I really do. Especially this time."
"Well, okay," Terri relented. "I'll tell you what. I'm starving. So since you're feeling generous today, buy me lunch, and we can call it even!"
"Oh, far, far from even, my friend!" Louse argued. "But I am happy to treat! Anything you want."
"Well what you had looks tasty."
"I was!" Louise confirmed. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear about your date with Riccardo."
"Oh, forget about it," Terri said. "I wasn't really interested anyway."
"Seriously?"
"I spent all of ten minutes with the guy," Terri said. "Not really enough time for sparks to fly. Although he was really good looking!"
"Seriously! And I'm sorry that it didn't work out."
"That's okay," Terri assured her. "Actually, I did meet someone recently, and I think it might have potential."
"Really?" asked Louise. "Who?"
"Just someone I ran into unexpectedly," Terri replied. "Apparently, he liked me, but he was waiting for the right moment to say something."
"Oh, that sounds romantic!" Louise said.
"Yeah, it kind of is!" Terri said with a smile. "Anyway, let me kick the tires. If it actually lives up to expectations, and I'll tell you all about it."
"You'd better!" Louise said. "I can't believe that you're holding out on me!"
"Well," Terri added, "you know how men are."
"Oh, do I?" Louise sighed. "Proceed with caution!"
They laughed again.
"Okay, and I'm sorry about this," Terri explained, "but now I need to ask you an indelicate question."
"It's okay. Shoot!"
"I'm sure that you and Walter have been having some talks."
"Yeah," Louise said. "Most of it's good."
"Glad to hear!" Terri responded. "Anyway, just so I don't say the wrong thing and get you in trouble - when you guys talked, did you ever tell him? I mean, about Antonio?"
Louise took a sip of her champagne and leaned back in her chair.
"Are you fucking nuts?"
-- End of Volume I --
Dedicated to K and her girlfriends - Thanks for sharing a glimpse of life through your eyes.
'The Horse Farm'
Copyright © 2013 Daniel R. South
All Rights Reserved
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