TJ began talking fast. “It wasn’t hard at all, Ronnie. You could have kept in touch yourself if you wanted to. The Baumgartners still live in the same house, and Gretchen is still their nanny. Well, I imagine it’s more like cook and housekeeper and stuff like that, now that the kids are teenagers. I just called the number in the phone book and asked for Gretchen. It was easy.” Easy. So the Baumgartners lived about twenty miles away from us, in the same house? I tried to imagine them, Doc and Mrs. B. And Janie and Henry, all grown up! My mind refused to wrap around the idea.
TJ took another gulp of wine. “Well, it’s kind of funny how it all fell into place. Mrs. Baumgartner was thrilled to hear from me, and wanted to know all about how you were doing. Apparently, they’re going on their annual trip to Key West over the holidays next week. I think that must be same the trip they took when-”
“You talked to Gretchen?” I stood, taking my glass to the sink.
TJ continued as if he hadn’t heard me. “-when you went with them, the one you told me about? Yeah, I talked to Gretchen. She insisted on seeing you, wanted to call you, talk to you, but I thought… well, I thought it would be better to meet face to face.”
I poured the rest of my wine down the sink, rinsing the glass and setting it on the counter next to the hamster cage. “You thought I’d chicken out and not meet her at all, didn’t you?’”
“Maybe.” He poured himself another glass of wine.
I turned to him, crossing my arms over my chest. “So you just decided to invite her to dinner without talking to me?”
“Honey, she practically invited herself,” he replied, avoiding my eyes and taking another gulp from his glass. “There wasn’t a lot I could do to stop it.”
“TJ…” I sighed. “What did you think? She’d come over and we’d have a threesome on the kitchen table?”
“No.” He laughed, standing up and putting his arms around my waist. “I just thought it would be nice for you to see an old friend.” I rested my head on his chest, putting my arms around him. “I just wish you’d… consulted me?” I lifted my head, suddenly aware of the quiet. “Where’s Beth?”
TJ looked sheepish. “At your mother’s.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh come on! I haven’t seen a setup this obvious since Sidney Poitier showed up for dinner with Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracey.”
“I don’t think they had a threesome… did they?”
I pinched his waist, making him yelp and jump. “You know what I mean.”
“I’m not up to anything. I swear it.” TJ hugged me, kissing the top of my head. “I just thought you two would like to be able to talk about… well, whatever came up. Without having to worry about Miss Big Ears hanging around.”
“Still, you didn’t have to hide it from me,” I said with a sniff. “It feels… icky.”
“I-” I could tell he was about to deny it and he stopped. “I’m sorry. I can call her and cancel. I will if you want me to.”
I raised my eyes to meet his. He was up to something, even if he was pretending he wasn’t. Still, the thought of seeing Gretchen again made my skin tingle and my face feel warm. Did I want to cancel? The truth was, I wanted to see her again. The truth was, now that he’d opened the door, I wanted to see all of them again-Doc, Mrs. B, Janie, Henry. It was like some irresistible Pandora’s Box.
“Let’s just…take things slow,” I said, my voice and eyes soft. “See what happens-” I pressed my cheek against his chest again, shaking my head.
“Okay,” he agreed, hugging my shoulders.
“So, when is she coming?” I pulled away from him and went to retrieve my purse from the chair. “How much time do I have to get ready?”
“Only about half an hour,” he admitted, looking at his watch. “She’s supposed to be here by six.”
“Well, then, I better hustle!” I flashed him a smile as I passed, heading for the stairs, already wondering what I was going to change into.
“Ronnie,” he called, pouring himself another glass of wine. I stopped, watching as he poured another, too, leaving it on the table. “There’s one more thing.”
“What?” I asked as he lifted his glass to the hamster cage.
“Here’s lookin’ at you, Taffy,” he said, drinking it and looking like he was wishing it was a shot of whiskey. Somehow I knew what he was going to say, although my breath caught anyway and my heart hammered at his words. “The Baumgartners have invited us to Key West with them over the holiday break.” He tapped on the glass, trying to look nonchalant, and the hamster yawned, showing its long teeth before turning and snuggling back into the little nest it had made for itself in the cedar.
I didn’t say a word. I couldn’t. I just turned around and went upstairs, wondering just what I was going to do now.
CHAPTER TWO
There wasn’t any preparing myself, even if I told myself there was as I stood in front of the mirror and double-checked my hair and make-up, smoothed the brown silk skirt and tucked in my blouse. I was glad I was upstairs when she rang the doorbell. Just hearing her voice made my hands tremble and I pressed them to my thighs to keep them still as I paused at the top of the stairs.
“So nice to meet you!” Gretchen’s smile was for TJ, but her look was just for me, and I knew it. She took a step toward the stairs, meeting my gaze with hungry eyes. I couldn’t help my smile, even though it felt goofy on my face as I came the rest of the way down.
“Gretchen!” Her name felt familiar in my mouth, even after all this time.
“You cut your hair!”
She laughed, snaking an arm around my neck and pressing her cheek to mine. “All of them-probably several hundred times since you last saw me, sweetie.”
It was a very brief thing, that hug, but I could smell her hair, still white-blonde but cut into a short bob now, making her thin, pale face look fuller. She smelled fresh and sweet, like clover and oranges. How old was she now? I was doing the math in my head and came to the sum of thirty-four. Five years older than I was. There were the faintest lines around her eyes when she smiled, but she was still Gretchen.
“Come on in out of the cold.” TJ shut the front door against the wind and snow, offering to take Gretchen’s coat. Her dress was short, shimmering black in the lamp light as she shrugged her shoulders and let her coat slide off into TJ’s hands. I knew she’d dressed for me, just like I’d dressed for her-and I think she knew it, too, the way her eyes moved over my blouse, unbuttoned into a suggestive V. She still had much more than I did in that department, the black fabric gathered between her breasts showing quite a bit of cleavage. I noticed TJ
noticing as he poured wine and we sat around the kitchen table.
“Oh my god, Ronnie, you look so amazing.” Gretchen smiled a thank you as TJ handed her a glass of wine. “I don’t think you’ve changed at all.”
“You haven’t seen my stretch marks.” I laughed, wrinkling my nose when TJ handed me a glass and setting it aside. “You look the same too-except all your hair is gone!”
“I got too old to get away with it anymore.” She winked, taking a sip and turning appreciative eyes to TJ. “Mmm, this is good!”
“It’s a petite syrah,” TJ said with a nod.
Gretchen raised her eyebrows at him and lifted her little snub nose into the air in a delicate sniff. “And something smells fantastic. ” Her eyes were the same bright green, just as mischievous and not likely to miss a thing. Every time she looked my way, I felt it, like a familiar ache.