John wasn’t sure if she was ribbing him.
“Never apologize for being a working man, hon,” she said. “Come on, I’ll buy you a cup of joe.”
She told him about her previous marriage to a New York City cop and how it had turned to shit the day she learned he was shaking down prostitutes for sex. The story had broken the same night she had a college exam that she wound up skipping to avoid the local news teams camped at the curb in front of her house.
“He was screwing prostitutes,” Melinda said. “Imagine?”
“He get in trouble?”
“Besides my going to a divorce lawyer the next morning? Yeah, but then he did some kind of plea bargain and only did six months. He did lose his job and pension, but I was the one who suffered. I must’ve taken two dozen tests for VD afterward. I swear it was when my first gray hairs started showing.”
“Where’s he now?”
“Who knows and who cares. Florida, I think. He had the nerve to ask me for a temporary loan, what he called it, the day he got out of prison, but I hung up on him.”
“Good for you.”
“Yeah, except I never felt like such a fool before. Prostitutes, for Christ sake. I had nightmares about venereal diseases the next five years.”
“Well, my divorce wasn’t as dramatic, but it had to do with cheating, too.”
“Hers or yours?”
“Hers, with her first husband, you can believe it.”
“I hope I can. I read somewhere that men use that as a pickup line, how their wives cheated on them. Some women like to hear that stuff.”
“You?”
“I don’t know yet,” she said. “Tell me more. How’d you meet?”
“I was doing the drywall in the building where she lived.”
“She younger?”
“Same age as me. Thirty-five, but her first husband was a couple years younger.”
“And?”
“We started talking one day and I asked her out. One thing led to another, but she never let me in on the situation with her ex or I might’ve paid a little more attention. She went down to Florida a few days before we were married. She said to see her grandmother. Her mother covered for her, but we spoke over the phone so I didn’t question it. She probably started cheating before we were married. That or she never stopped sleeping with her ex.”
“She sounds horrible.”
“She is, but we have a kid together so there’s that between us, too.”
“How old?”
“Nine. Gonna be ten soon. Name’s John also, but we call him Jack.”
“You get to see him?”
“Not as much as I should, but that has more to do with work. I think Nancy, my ex, would let me take him if I ever got my feet on the ground. I don’t think she much cares for being a mother.”
“Well, I never did finish college so he ruined that, too, for me. I am grateful we didn’t have kids, though. He couldn’t. I don’t know how I would have dealt with the situation if there was a kid involved. Sometimes I wish I’d had one anyway.”
“You’re still young enough, no?”
“I’m thirty-seven, John.”
“I wasn’t asking your age.”
“In case you were wondering.”
“I would’ve guessed younger.”
“Thanks. I’m also a good girl, though, in case you’re wondering about that. I don’t kiss on first dates, never mind the rest of it.”
“That’s twice you made that point.”
“I’m glad you’re counting.”
“I’m good until I run out of fingers.”
“How often do you see your boy?” she asked.
John lit a fresh cigarette. “Not enough,” he said. “Between driving during the week, at least until today, then having to deal with clowns like that asshole in the diner the other night, it doesn’t leave much time for recreation.”
Melinda was confused. “You knew those jerks?”
“One of them,” John said. “The big mouth. He gave me some lip a few hours before I met you the first time. It’s a long story.”
“Should I hear it?”
“Only if you wanna be bored.”
“Nobody wants that, but tell me anyway. How do you know him?”
John had to think of something to say.
“I borrowed money,” he lied.
“What do you mean?”
“I was short and he puts it out. I borrowed some.”
She leaned forward, both arms on the table. “Are you kidding me? He’s a loan shark? That’s what that guy was?”
John’s face flushed red.
“Jesus, how much did you borrow?”
“Not a lot. Enough, though. Enough so he could get loud when I come up short.”
Melinda was trying to gauge whether or not he was telling the truth, then thought why would he lie about it.
“Tell me I didn’t scare you off,” he said. “I’m not half the screwup I probably sound like.”
She was still trying to understand. “Is there a reason you needed the money? A good reason, although I can’t imagine any good enough to go to those people for anything.”
“My kid,” he said. “Child support, rent, his shoes, my shoes. Life, I guess. I didn’t have much saved when I was married and what I had she did a good job of costing me in court when we divorced.”
“Jesus,” Melinda said. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you’ll see me again. That’ll take some of the sting out of what I can’t believe I just told you.”
Melinda was suddenly uncomfortable. “You’re not some kind of gambler, I hope. They’re the people go to loan sharks.”
“Trust me, I’m no gambler.”
“Hold on a minute,” she said. “Let me ask Jill.”
“Who’s Jill?”
Melinda waved at one of the waitresses across the diner. A tall, thin redhead with freckles and green eyes joined them.
“Well?” Melinda said.
“He’s handsome enough,” Jill said.
“Yeah, I know that, but what do you think?”
“You promise to treat my best friend like the princess she is?” Jill asked John.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Watch that ma’am bit.”
“So?” Melinda said.
“Give him a shot,” Jill said. “You can always throw him back.”
“Ouch,” John said.
Melinda was looking into his eyes. He returned the stare until she pointed to her watch. “Okay, that’s it. Jill and I have a lot of gossip to catch up on.”
“Do I get a phone number?” he asked.
“Not until I get yours and I can check to make sure you’re not living with somebody like a wife you didn’t mention.”
He jotted his phone number on a piece of napkin. She gave him a wink as he pushed the napkin at her. He blushed one more time.
“Would you look at that, the way he blushes,” she said to Jill. “That the cutest thing or what?”
“Okay, then,” he said as he slid out of the booth. “It was nice meeting you, Jill.”
The two shook hands.
“Melinda,” he said, then shook her hand as well.
“Good night, John,” she said.
He went to take his wallet out, but she stopped him. “I have this,” she said.
He seemed embarrassed at the gesture and quickly left.
Chapter 10
“Where’d you get all that money?” Holly asked Louis. She noticed the twenties as soon as he paid for his espresso. “You go to the track again?”
He took a sip of the demitasse and set the cup down. They were sitting at a table in Café Reggio on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village. They had walked there after Louis picked her up outside the acting studio further west on Bleecker Street. Holly had ordered an Italian ice but couldn’t finish it. She’d also seemed distracted and kept glancing toward the street.