“Your master’s voice,” Leila said, and started to load her groceries into her car.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he said angrily.
“Leila, is this fellow bothering you?”
She turned to see the man from the store. He had pulled up next to them and rolled down his window.
Sam looked so dismayed, it was all she could do not to laugh out loud. “No, he’s an old friend,” she said to the man. “He was just going back to his car to help his girlfriend.”
They all turned to see Marietta stomp her foot in impatience.
“Girlfriend?” the man said. “I only see his daughter.”
“Oh, no,” Leila said, unable to stop the laugh. “That’s his girlfriend.”
“Now see here-” Sam began, but fell silent as the man opened his car door and stood next to it. He was at least six inches taller than Sam.
He extended a hand. “David Kerr,” he said amiably.
Sam shook the hand awkwardly. “Sam Barrington,” he mumbled. To Leila, he said, “I’ll call you later,” and excused himself.
“Thanks for the rescue,” Leila said to David, when Sam had left.
“A pleasure. As your knight in shining armor, do I deserve to know your last name, Leila?”
“Leila Anderson,” she said. “It was going to be Leila Barrington before that sweet young thing happened along.”
“You’re hopelessly stuck on him, aren’t you?” he asked.
“I’m afraid so.”
“Well, we’re two peas in a pod. My ex-wife shops here with a fellow I call ‘Junior’ on Tuesdays. If you want to return the favor, I’ll meet you here tomorrow night at six.”
Leila laughed and agreed to see him there the next evening. She said goodnight and whistled as she drove home.
On Thursday night, Leila invited Alice Grayson to dinner. They giggled like schoolgirls over Leila’s recounting of the last three days. Tuesday night, David’s ex-wife had ignored the young man she was dating, nearly pushed Leila aside and said flat out that she missed David and would like to see him for dinner sometime soon.
David had thanked Leila, and they promised to keep one another posted on their progress.
On Wednesday, Sam had stopped by her office to ask her to go to lunch, an unprecedented event.
“I’m worried about you, Leila,” he had said.
“Why?”
“How well do you know this David Kerr?”
“Not well at all.”
“That’s what I mean! And you kissed him in the store!”
“I believe he kissed me.”
“You’re mincing words and you know it. Okay, so you were kissed, but you allowed it. Right in front of everybody! That’s so unlike you!”
“Maybe I’ve changed, Sam.”
He sulked in silence for a moment, then said, “I’m not sure I like the change. I liked you the way you were before.”
“You dumped me the way I was before.”
“Leila! That’s an unkind way of putting things.”
“It was an unkind way of doing things.”
He had the good grace to look guilty, but said nothing.
“It’s true, Sam. You all but said I was passionless. And I can see why you thought so. It’s my fault, really. I hope Marietta gives you all the passion you can bear.”
“There’s more to life than passion.”
“Really? Such as what?”
“Stability, reliability, companionship.”
“Don’t forget faithfulness.”
He turned red and looked away. After a moment he said quietly, “I really hurt you, didn’t I?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, Sam. Thanks to you, I have a whole new life.”
“With David?”
“No, probably not with David.”
He seemed about to say something, but he hesitated. She decided not to wait for him to make up his mind to tell her what it was. “I’d better get back to work, Sam.”
“Yes, I suppose so,” he answered distractedly.
As they stood outside the door to her office building, he suddenly hugged her, nearly throwing her off balance. “Listen, I’m really quite fond of you, Leila. We are friends, aren’t we?”
“Of course,” she said, freeing herself from his embrace. “Goodbye, Sam.”
“Excellent!” Alice exclaimed. “Although I’ll warn you, Leila. Watch out for Marietta. From what you’ve told me, she won’t take any of this very lightly.”
Leila invited Alice to come over on Saturday afternoon. “I’ll be planting the roses in the back corner. I called my friend, Arnie, and ordered another loveseat. He’s going to try to find one similar to the old one. He thinks he can have one here by Monday, so I need to get the roses in place.”
On Friday, Sam came by her office at lunch time again. Leila had already agreed to have lunch with some of her coworkers, and summoning all of her willpower, she told Sam she would not be able to join him. “Let me take you to dinner, then,” he said.
She hesitated. “What about Marietta?”
“She’s got an aerobics class until ten. She has aerobics every night,” he added glumly.
“All right, I’ll meet you for dinner. Where?”
“Café Camillia at eight?”
She smiled. The restaurant was a favorite of hers, and Sam knew it. “Fine.”
That evening, she put on a rather daring dress, one she had bought on impulse. Impulse, she thought, liking what she saw in the mirror. What a heady new feeling this occasional obedience to impulse had given her! When she arrived at the restaurant, Sam was already there, nervously wringing his hands. When he saw her, he looked as if someone had just sent enough electricity through him to light Manhattan.
“Leila?”
“Yes, Sam, what’s the matter?”
“You-you look lovely.”
“Why, thank you.”
But throughout dinner, Sam hardly spoke a word. He looked unhappy. She began to think that the whole evening was a miserable failure. Maybe he was wishing he hadn’t invited her to dinner.
“Sam?”
He looked up at her, startled.
“Sam, are you regretting this?”
“Oh. No, not at all.”
“You don’t seem very happy.”
“I’m not.”
“Why? Have I done something wrong?”
“No, I have.”
“What do you mean?”
He shook his head. “Forgive me, Leila. I haven’t been good company this evening. I’ve got some thinking to do.” He glanced at his watch. “Marietta will be home soon. I’d better go.” He motioned for the waiter and paid the check.
He walked her to her car. Suddenly, he said, “Leila, do you still care for me?”
“Yes, Sam. You’re still my friend.”
“I don’t mean as a friend. I mean, do you think you could still care for me?”
She smiled at the anxiousness in his voice. “I think you already know I do.”
“What do you see in me, Leila? I’ve cheated on you, broken our engagement, been a cad. I didn’t want to admit it before, but I have been.”
“I agree. But I think it has been for the best. We each had things to learn, didn’t we?”
“I’m just afraid the tuition may have cost me too much.”
“Talk to Marietta. I admit I don’t like her much, but she deserves to know how you really feel. Then come and tell me how you feel about me. But not until then, all right?”
He nodded, then watched as she drove off.
Leila had just finished mixing a huge bag of mulch into the garden soil when she heard the sound of the gate opening. At first, she thought it was Alice Grayson, but she turned to see an odd vision of Marietta, taller than usual, gliding toward her. Then she realized Marietta was on skates. Of course, Leila thought, the latest fitness craze. They were a fancy, in-line pair, with fluorescent pink wheels. As Marietta drew closer, Leila saw that her face was a hard mask of fury, and she was flying toward Leila like a Valkyrie on Rollerblades.
“You bitch! You miserable old bitch!” she shouted, and tried to grab on to Leila.