by Sherie Keys
Pat, the woman at the register, looked up and grew excited when she saw Brandy standing in her line. "Well, hello stranger! Look who's back in the neighborhood. It's nice to see you. How are you doing?"
Pat ran the items over the scanner and the scanner beeped at her. Brandy pulled her mother's twenty-dollar bill from her pocket and gave it to Pat.
"I'm good thanks, how are you?"
"I'm alright, thanks for asking. I will say though, I'm a little sore from working here all the time, and your mom said you were probably going to be starting down at Marge's, so I was thinking that if you had some time, I would come in and see you for a massage. Would that be alright?" The woman asked with a hopeful smile.
Brandy nodded. "Yes, of course, and thank you. If I start there, I'll let you know and we can get you set up for an appointment."
"Thanks, honey. Tell your mom and dad hello for me." She nodded as she handed Brandy her change and Brandy left. She made it home and gave the grocery bag to her mother, along with her mother's change, and then she headed outside to grab some of her boxes to bring them back into the house.
The day passed quickly and quietly, and before it was over, Brandy had her car unpacked. Some of the boxes were opened up and the contents put away in her room, and some of them were tucked into her mother's storage shed in the back yard, awaiting a day when she would have her own place again.
Dinnertime came, and so did Riley, right at six o'clock as he had been told. She hadn't seen Riley since high school and time had changed them both. It was surreal to her to see him as an adult; he had put on a little weight, he had grown a beard, and there were the beginnings of lines drawn on his face by time, as he looked at her and smiled with his hat in his hands.
They sat down to dinner, her mother and father, and she and Riley, and the conversation was kept light. They talked about the cold spring rain outside and how they hoped it would help hurry the blossoms along.
They talked about Oscar's job in the city where he had worked since Brandy was a baby. Brandy thought her father ought to retire, but he never talked about it, he just kept going into his office every day and that was that. Oscar was a quiet and simple man who listened all the time and barely spoke, but when he did speak, it was usually because he had something important to say.
His wife, Mary, filled in the banter for him most of the time, and it worked like a charm for them. They were like a well-oiled machine; a team that could not fail, and it was refreshing. Brandy looked at them during dinner as their little group was talking, and she let her gaze move to Riley, sitting there eating stew with them and talking about how he was going to inherit his father's garage one day and the changes he would like to make in it when it became his.
Brandy sat there and watched them all and realized as she did so, that she was looking at the rest of her life. She was looking at being married to Riley and years from then sitting at a table with her child and her husband, listening to him talk about the garage he would pass down to the baby growing in her. While she looked on, and talked about massaging Pat at the parlor that day, she could suddenly see how small and simple her life would be if she stayed where she was.
It suddenly became very important to her that she get the hell out of her parent's house and neighborhood as fast as she could. Her determination to leave made her understand that she needed to get a job that would pay her enough to allow her to move back to New York or maybe even Washington, D.C. She had to do something, she couldn't stay in their little area of Boston and grow old there with the same old people that had always been there.
"Honey, wouldn't you like to go with him?" Mary asked her, pulling her from her nightmare reverie.
"What? What was that, Mom?”
Her mother, father, and Riley were all looking at her expectantly.
Mary laughed lightly and waved her hand dismissively. "That's my little daydreamer. Honey, Riley wants to take you bowling after dinner. I said I thought you'd like to do that. You would, wouldn't you? Why don't you go bowling with Riley after dinner. Okay?" Her mother smiled at her and nodded, practically making the date for her.
Brandy felt as if she couldn't turn it down. "That would be nice. Thanks, Riley."
At least it would get her out of the house. They finished dinner and chocolate cake, and then Riley helped her into her coat and took her to the bowling alley. She laughed when she saw it, and Riley looked at her in surprise.
"What's funny?" he asked as he saw her mirth.
"Well, I haven't seen the old place in so long. It's great to see it again. We have so many good memories at this place from high school. It's strange and familiar all at the same time, you know? Like going back in time, somehow. It doesn't look like it's changed at all." She smiled at the nostalgia that the old place brought to her, and Riley coughed.
"Well," he said defensively, "They did get new shoes for everyone to rent, and there is a whole new rack of balls in there, too."
She turned and stared at him for a minute. "Well that's good. I'm sorry if that came out wrong, I just meant that it was nice to see something familiar from my childhood that I enjoyed so much." She sighed and climbed out of his old truck and they walked in together.
She rented some of the new shoes he'd told her about and they got a lane.
Riley pulled his own shoes from his bowling bag, and then he hefted out a shiny green ball. He held it up to her proudly. "Just got this baby. I've just been breaking her in at the leagues on Wednesday nights. She's a good one."
He pulled a chamois cloth from his bag and began to polish his new bowling ball, and when it was shined up just a little more, he pulled his shoes on.
"So you're on the bowling leagues?" Brandy asked with a smile.
He nodded. "I am. I'm the captain of my team, and we've won the league every year since they made me captain. I'm one of the best bowlers around."
She smiled at him. "That's nice, Riley." She meant it. He beamed.
"So what else do you do?" she asked him, wondering what he'd been up to in his own life since she left.
"Oh, not much. I work at dad's shop, I'm on the bowling leagues, and get real wild now and then and go down to Dukes to sing karaoke when I want to have a night out on the town." He winked at her.
He was a far, far, cry from the metropolitan class and style that Kyle had. She couldn't see Riley changing his jeans for linen pants and sitting down to enjoy a symphony or a ballet, nor could she seem him strolling through the little streets on the island where she had gone with Kyle.
She sighed and reminded herself not to compare the two of them. They were vastly different people leading vastly different lives, and she was caught somewhere in between the two of them, trying to find her own way and some way for the baby that was coming.
"You sing karaoke?" she asked with a little laugh of surprise.
He shrugged. "Yeah, well, it's just once in a while, and it's only for fun. I like to sing some of the old music we used to listen to in high school. It's a lot better than the crap the kids today listen to."
He laughed then. "You know, my old man used to say the same thing about the music I played when I was in high school, but he had the Beatles, and you just can't ever get as good as that, so I guess everything is downhill from there."
Brandy laughed and nodded her head. "I guess not." She went up to the line and threw her ball and it sailed down the lane, knocking down two pins. Riley smiled at her.
"Well, that's alright. You'll make the next one,” he told her encouragingly.
She collected her ball for the second throw and knocked down six more pins. She shrugged when she came back to the desk.
"It's been a long time since I bowled; I'm surprised that I was able to even get the ones I did get. I thought it would be a gutter ball for sure." She laughed a little nervously.
Riley shook his head. "It's alright. Don't you worry. I'll go easy on you tonight." He winked at her and she felt her face flush a little bit. He got a strike with his ball
on the first throw and then came back to her.
"Can I get you a beer?"
So he didn't know she was pregnant, she thought to herself. She had no idea how his mother hadn't told him yet, but she was grateful for the secrecy. "No, I'm alright Riley, but thanks. You go ahead and have one if you want it."
He ordered one and when he came back, she was up at the line, just about to toss her ball again.
"Wait! Wait a minute." He walked up to the line behind her. "You're holding it wrong." He came and stood directly behind her, pressing his body cautiously up against hers and she saw his breath catch as their bodies touched.
He reached his hand over hers and showed her how she was holding the ball incorrectly, and showed her how to fix it. "Here, just..." he breathed in her perfume, "just hold it here like this and then keep your wrist straight when you toss it."
She looked back over her shoulder at him and he raised his hand and rested it on her hip, his eyes locked on hers. "Just stand like this,” he said quietly as he moved her where he wanted her. "Then throw like I showed you."
She looked back at him once more and he became aware that his hands were still on her hips, and he coughed and let go of her, then walked back to the desk. She threw the ball and hit nine pins.
He nodded and the smile faded from his face as he watched her. "That's good, that's good, you'll get it on the next one."
The ball came back up and she pulled her arm back and let it fly down the lane. She missed the last pin, and he marked the score quietly as she came back to the desk.
"So why aren't you out with someone else tonight? Aren’t you seeing anyone?"
He shook his head and looked down at his shoes. "Nah. I was seeing Amy Gorman for a little while, but then she decided she wanted to have more than one man at a time, and I'm really kind of a one woman-one man kind of guy. Plus, it just wasn't right with her."
Brandy frowned. "Why not?" she asked curiously. "Amy's a nice girl, for the most part."
Riley shook his head, looking away from her and he smiled as if he knew something that she should know but which had somehow missed her completely.
He turned his eyes back to her and locked his dark brown eyes on her gray blue eyes. "It wouldn't work with her because she's not you."
Brandy stared at him. He smiled and walked to her, reaching his hands out to her waist and pulling her close to him as he gazed into her eyes. "There isn't anyone for me but you. Not really. No one would ever compare to you. I thought I might wind up with Donna Newman if you didn't ever come back. She likes me, always has, but she's not you either, and I thought well, maybe if I hit forty years old and no one else is around, and you aren't mine, then maybe I'd start thinking about Donna. Luckily, you came back and saved me."
He leaned close to her and smiled a little, parting his lips. "Just in the nick of time." He leaned in and kissed her mouth softly.
He tasted like beer, and she was going to pull away, but he held her closer to him and kissed her longer and deeper, finally letting her go and looking at her with complete satisfaction.
"Woo! You still got it, baby. You still got it." He pointed his finger at her and shook his head. "I'm never letting you out of my sight again. He walked over and picked up his ball, sending it sailing down the lane and crashing through every single pin.
Brandy tried her best to keep him at a distance that night, but every chance he could, he got close to her and either held her or tried to kiss her again. She was careful and tried to keep herself busy and away from him just enough that it wasn't convenient for him to get to her.
They had fun and closed out their night, and just before they walked out of the bowling alley, Riley cornered her by the door where it was quiet, and he pressed her up against the wall and looked deeply into her eyes.
"Do you want to go out for a drive? Or... maybe come over to my place?" He nodded toward the door he was keeping her from opening. "I got a nice apartment over by the high school. You could come see it." He smiled at her meaningfully. "I am saving up to buy a house, but I wanted to wait until I settle down to do that so I only have to do it once. It'd be nice to have a wife to help me pick it out."
Brandy's life flashed before her eyes again and she sighed and shook her head. "Well, maybe another night. I'm still tired from the move back up here and Mom’s waiting up for me, so I better go,” she said with a pseudo look of disappointment on her face.
He leaned close to her. "Your mom's not waiting up for you. Your mom is hoping that I can sweep you off of your feet and make you fall in love with me, just like I am." He leaned in again, pressing his lips to hers along with his body as he held her tightly.
There was absolutely no chemistry or fire for her, just the feel of his cool wet lips on hers and the taste of beer on his breath. His hands felt like they were glued to her in one spot, unable to move as he held her fast. He didn't really move his mouth over hers, he just sort of held his lips in one place and closed his eyes, and then let her go slowly when he felt it was time to let her go. She leaned back from him and he grinned again.
"See that? Look at that magic between us. Are you sure you don't want to go back to my place with me? We could really get things going, if you know what I mean." He gave her a deliberate and obvious wink, and she sighed.
"No, I really think I better head back to my mother's house."
He sighed and let her go, looking closely at her as she headed for the door. "So you're going to play hard to get, then? Well, I can do that. I've been waiting a long time for you, Brandy, I can wait just a little longer and win you over."
Brandy was disappointed to hear the sound of an accepted challenge in his voice. She had known him for as long as she could remember, and she knew that when he had a challenge made up in his mind or even if it was actually presented to him, he didn't give up on it until he got it. She'd have a hard time getting him to give up if he had made his mind up that getting her was a challenge and he had to succeed.
Riley took her home and she climbed out of his truck and raced to the front porch in the rain, waving at him from the door and then closing it quietly behind her. She sighed heavily and was just walking up the stairs when her mother emerged from the kitchen and looked at her expectantly.
"Well?" She smiled bright at Brandy. "How was the date? Did you have fun?"
Brandy nodded. "It was fine, Mom. Thanks." She yawned loudly. "I've got to get going to bed now. I'm really tired."
Her mother nodded at her and waved as she made her way up the stairs. "Goodnight, honey!" she called up after Brandy.
Brandy collapsed in her bed and groaned as she closed her eyes. The path of her life was becoming more and more plain to her, and it was clear that if she stayed for very long at all, she would wind up in a little humdrum life, just like her parents and Riley and his parents, and it just wasn't what she wanted at all.
It was an easy out, and it was something that she knew she could have at the flick of a switch; Riley would marry her in a minute, and very likely adopt her baby, raise it just like it was his, and buy her a house. He would get her talked into bowling leagues on Wednesdays, and believing that he was her own personal love god, when in fact kissing him was more like giving CPR to a dead fish.
Her alternatives were dim, and out her line of sight just then. She had no idea where she could go from where she was, she just knew that she had no way to go back to New York and she had no desire to stay in her parents' house, or in Riley's.
The next morning dawned brightly; the storm had passed in the night and the sun had found its way out. Brandy woke up and checked her phone and was delighted to see a text message from Alice on it.
“Missing you terribly. Hope you aren't busy today because I'm already on the train on my way to Boston.”
Brandy squealed with excitement and found the energy to get out of bed and get ready for her visitor. She helped her mother spruce up the guest room and her mother even grew excited at the prospect of meeting one of her friends.
"You know, I don't think anyone has used this room since your Aunt Rose came in from Florida three Christmases ago. Remember that?" Mary asked brightly as she fluffed pillows and smiled at Brandy.
Brandy nodded. "Yes, I remember. That was the year I tried to make your fruit salad and failed at it miserably."
Her mother laughed. "It wasn't that bad."
Brandy stopped in the middle of gathering up the old sheets from the bed. "Yes, Mom, it was that bad."
Mary laughed again and nodded subtly. "Well... perhaps it was a little... ah... yes. So what time is your friend coming in?" she asked, changing the subject quickly.
Brandy looked at her watch. "Oh! In about half an hour. I'm going to go down to the station and pick her up."
"Okay, honey. I'll have dinner ready at six tonight, in case you two want to spend some time downtown, okay?"