Actually, she welcomed it. There were no visiting hours at the hospital this particular night. It would break up the monotony between work and the loneliness of the apartment without Archer.
Over their cocktails, she mentioned the loneliness to Reb without revealing anything of her marital situation. He nodded his sympathy. “Yeah, I live alone too,” he told her. “Of course I can always go visit my folks; they don’t live very far from me. But sometimes I don’t feel like doing that, and when you’re single being lonely’s the alternative too many times.”
“Oh, but you can always make a date,” Llona pointed out. “A girl has to wait to be asked, but a fellow’s always got the option.”
“I suppose. But you know, sometimes you just don’t want to have to go through all the ritual even though you feel like being with somebody. So you end up eating alone and maybe taking in a movie by yourself, and then maybe you’re sorry you didn’t make a date.”
“And I guess money’s a consideration too,” Llona sympathized.
“It sure is.” Reb grinned engagingly. “For instance, I’d love to take you out to dinner tonight, but to be honest, payday’s still two days off. I hope you’ll take a rain-check.”
“We’ll see.” Llona was purposely non-committal. She liked Reb a lot, but she just didn’t know how she was going to feel about Archer and things in general from one day to the next. She kind of wished he had asked her for tonight when she had nothing to look forward to but going home to an empty apartment.
“Do you like pizza pie?” Reb’s eyes sparkled.
She found herself laughing as she answered. He looked just like a little boy planning something particularly mischievous. “Sure I do. Don’t you?”
“And how! I’m nuts about it the way you can only dig something you never tasted until you’re all grown up and discover what you’ve been missing. The first pizza I ever had was only about a year ago. Now I go ape for it.”
“How come? I mean, how is it you never had it before?”
“I was brought up kosher. My mother’s Jewish, very Orthodox. But listen-—” Reb was bubbling with enthusiasm and it was catching. “I have some wine up at my place. We could pick up a couple of pizzas and have them there. What do you say?”
“All right.” Llona found that she was as filled with excitement and anticipation at the prospect as he was.
They were both still laughing for no particular reason as they left the cocktail lounge and started down the street. They joined hands and swung them between them like a pair of adolescents on their way to the high school picnic. After they picked up the pizzas, they ran to his apartment so that they could eat them before they got cold. People seeing them smiled at their exuberance. When they got there, Llona collapsed on Reb’s living room sofa, out of breath, while he went into the kitchen to take the pizzas out of the box and open the wine.
They ate like greedy children, chuckling all the while at the elastic cheese stretching from their mouths. When Llona got some tomato sauce on her chin, Reb dabbed at it with a napkin and teased her about being sloppy. She retaliated by dipping her fingers in the wineglass and flicking droplets of the purple chianti at him.
“Uhuru!” Reb jumped up on his chair and pointed his finger down at her sternly. “Do you realize that you have assaulted the dignity of one who is descended from African kings?”
“A thousand pardons, Your Highness!” Llona fell in with the play and cowered in mock fear. “Please don’t throw me to the rhinoceri!”
“Rhinoceri are herbivorous, you ignorant wench!”
“They are not! They eat meat! I know that. I saw it in a late show on a Tarzan movie!”
“Edgar Rice Burroughs! Bah! What does that goy know about the eating habits of wildlife indigenous to black Africa?”
“Are you going to tell me those African kings were kosher too?”
“Of course they were. The Queen of Sheba picked it up from Solomon himself!”
“I don’t even believe you are descended from a king. I’ll bet your ancestors were plain old peasants, same as mine.”
“They were all rabbis and kings. Dare you doubt it?”
“I dare!”
“For that you’re going to pay!” Reb jumped down from the chair and advanced on Llona menacingly.
“Oh, Tarzan! Where are you? Save me!” She ran squealing into the living room.
“Boy, are you ever in the wrong jungle!” He chased her and cornered her behind the couch. “Uhuru!” He grabbed her by the elbows, lifted her over the back of the couch, dropped her on it and then dived on top of her, pinning her there. “Now, Paleface, you’re going to pay!”
“Oh, Noble Savage, what are you going to do to me?”
“Let me think about it.” Reb rested on his elbows. “How about a fate worse than death?” he asked after a moment.
“Are you asking me, or telling me?” Llona giggled.
He kissed her. It was a long, deep, expert kiss. “I’m telling you.” He smiled down at her when the kiss was over.
“Barbarian!” Llona purred contentedly. She had really enjoyed the kiss. It had been warm and tender and -- well, friendly -- as well as exciting. She hadn’t felt so relaxed in a long time.
“Ku Klux propaganda!” He kissed her again. “It’s the black lover’s greatest asset. The trouble is you always wonder if you can live up to it or not.”
“You’re doing fine,” Llona murmured.
“That’s the Jew in me. That’s where the hot blood really comes from.”
“I’ve never been kissed by a Jew before.” Llona’s eyes danced. “Do they always taste of mozzarella?”
“Look who’s talking!” He kissed her again. “Mrnm, that garlic!” He smacked his lips.
“That’s not fair! My mouthwash let me down. It’s you and your damn pizza pie.”
“I’m not complaining. I like the way it tastes.” He proved it.
“I think you got all the oregano,” she told him breathlessly.
“And you obviously got all the crust.” He jabbed her gently in the stomach. “Don’t you know you’re supposed to leave it?”
“You are not.”
“You are so.”
“You are not. I’ve been eating pizza all my life and you’re just a parvenu. That’s what you are, a pizza parvenu! The crust’s the best part.”
“I bow to your expertise.” Reb stood up and made a sweeping bow.
Llona couldn’t resist it. She kicked him lightly in the rear as he bent over. “Oops! Sorry, Your Highness!” She giggled.
He grabbed her and pinned her arms behind her back. “For that you get thirty lashes!” He sat back down on the couch and turned her over his lap. “One!” He smacked her round bottom soundly.
“Oh, no! Please, no!” Llona wriggled.
“Two!”
“Please stop. I really bruise easily. I’ll be bright red. I probably am already.”
“Three!”
“Oh! I can feel it. I’ll bet I’m the color of a lobster.”
“Really? Let’s see.” Reb reached under her skirt and found the elastic of the black bikini panties.
“Savage!” She pulled free of him and scampered to the other side of the room.
“You could always depend on a shiksa to get ethnic.” Reb shook his head sadly and rocked back and forth.
“You know that hurts.” Llona rubbed the injured spot.
“Fun’s fun, but I won’t be able to sit down tomorrow and everybody in the office will be able to see it too. Can you imagine the kidding I’ll take?”
“Come here.”
“Why?” Llona was suspicious.
“So I can kiss it and make it better.”
“I don’t trust you; you’ll probably bite it.”
“Are you anxious, or eager?” Reb laughed. “Your trouble is your skin’s too light,” he told her. “If it was darker, the marks wouldn’t show.”