Summer Fling

by Jean Copeland

  Didi buffed her fingernails on her chest, delighting in Amy’s acclaim.

  Kate grinned. “What’s this new life philosophy all about, Didi?”

  “We’ve talked about this, Kate. It’s about being,” Didi said. “Seizing the present, reaching that higher tier of consciousness about life and identity. It’s elusive to most people, but true fulfillment can only be found there.” She stood up and drew everyone in with her enthusiasm. “Life is like a carousel, ladies. Ride it as many times as you want. As Viv would say if she were here, ‘we up in dis bitch.’”

  Kate stood, too, as though Didi’s partner in the presentation. “A healthful alternative to the midlife crisis,” she said.

  “It’s what comes after the crisis,” Didi said, “in that moment of clarity achieved after you’ve gone through your Wellbutrin prescription and every flavor of Ben and Jerry’s. It’s the phoenix rising from the ashes of the former you.”

  “I feel something rising,” Kate muttered as she sat, and everyone broke into laughter.

  “True love and happiness exist, Kate,” Didi said, “whether you want to believe it or not.”

  “I believe in true love,” Jordan said.

  “You’re a kid. You haven’t been down in the trenches long enough.” Kate laughed, believing she’d made a sardonic observation, but Jordan looked like a mortally wounded deer and Kate, the hunter.

  “Jordan, see what you have to look forward to many years down the road?” Rhea said.

  “I have to use the bathroom.” Jordan got up and walked into the apartment.

  Suddenly, everyone was looking at Kate like she was the hunter, too.

  “You’re such an idiot,” Didi muttered.

  “What?” Kate asked innocently.

  “You called her a kid,” Amy said. “Kids find that very insulting.”

  “You better go after her,” Didi said.

  Kate continued professing her innocence with her eyes. “She’s using the bathroom.”

  “Go in there and wait for her to come out.” Didi shoved her in the direction of the door.

  “I think we’re ready for the lemon-lime ones now,” Amy announced.

  Didi said loud enough for Kate to hear, “If you don’t have a name for those, how about ‘foot in mouth’?”

  Kate stood like the Queen’s Guard outside the bathroom waiting for Jordan to come out. What was wrong with her? She made a living out of carefully organizing her thoughts and selecting her words before speaking only to say something totally inane and insensitive like that to Jordan.

  “Jordan.” Kate tapped lightly on the door. “Are you in there?”

  “Where else would I go to the bathroom?”

  “I mean is everything okay?” Kate asked.

  A toilet flush seemed to answer the question. Jordan opened the bathroom door after a few minutes, drying her hands on the hand towel. “Are you sorry you brought me here?”

  “What? No. Why?”

  “You don’t seem yourself tonight. You seem uncomfortable, especially when they were joking about age and stuff.”

  “If you ask Didi and Viv, they’ll tell you ‘uncomfortable’ best describes me in most situations.” Kate forced a laugh to lighten the mood.

  “You don’t seem that way when we’re alone,” Jordan said, looking deliciously vulnerable. “Maybe I should go. My apartment’s only a few blocks from here.”

  Kate grabbed her hand. “No. Don’t be silly. I don’t want you to go. Look, I’m sorry for that dumb joke. It’s not you. You’re just the first person I’ve brought around to the girls so, you know, I’m a little out of my element.”

  “Are you sure?” Jordan’s field-green eyes pleaded with Kate’s.

  “Yes,” Kate said with a reassuring kiss on her lips.

  “Hey, lovebirds, can I get some help in here?” Rhea called out from the kitchen. “Kate, can you take these outside?” She handed Kate a tray of quesadillas. “Jordan, you can help me finish the drinks.”

  After dropping off the tray at the table, Kate strolled over to the stone safety wall overlooking the green. The moon had drifted westward, perhaps to illuminate some other party under way on a different rooftop that balmy night. Didi joined her, cupping a handful of tortilla chips.

  “What do you think of Rhea?”

  “She’s a no-nonsense kind of gal, strong personality. She’s perfect for you.”

  “You think so?”

  “Sure.” Kate followed a faint trail of exhaust from a jet sailing across the sky, wondering if she should bother asking if Didi had noticed that Rhea was a horrendous flirt.

  “I like her a lot,” Didi said. “I admit I went into this with really low expectations, but she’s an exceptional woman, driven, fun, straightforward. And the sex…sweet Jesus.”

  “I heard that,” Kate said with a sober smile. “I’d almost forgotten what it felt like to be desired, to make love out of raw passion and not obligation.”

  “Do you think that’s the fate of all long-term relationships?” Didi said. “Obligation?”

  Kate pondered the idea. Even though that had been the case with Lydia and her, she wanted to believe it wasn’t the rule. “I think it’s different when you’re with the right person. It has to be.”

  “I know I haven’t known her long, but Rhea’s everything I’ve always wanted in a person but never thought I’d find.”

  Kate was about to broach the subject of Rhea’s flirting, but after observing the huge, mannequin-like grin plastered on Didi’s face, she decided to shelf it for a future discussion.

  Didi inhaled the night air as though it were recharging her soul. “Life is good, my friend.”

  “It has its moments.” Kate turned away from the city and faced her. “Didi, I need you to tell me the truth about something. When I’m with Jordan, do I reek of midlife crisis? Do I scream it like the ubiquitous bald guy driving out to the Hamptons in a Corvette convertible?”

  “What? No way. Listen, you are a living illustration of my philosophy. You’re finally allowing yourself to live by your own definition—or no definition at all. I can’t remember the last time I saw you this happy.”

  “Really?” Kate said, skeptical. “I feel more anxious and uncertain than anything else. I mean it looks so weird when an older person dates a much younger one. You have to admit they catch your attention.”

  “Yes. I’ve seen a few couples who take ludicrous to a whole new altitude, but that’s not you and Jordan. If someone stares at you, it’s only because you’re stunning.”

  “Overanalyzing again?”

  “Definitely.”

  “Thought so.”

  “You’re just lucky I have Rhea,” Didi said. “I’d be so jealous of you if I didn’t.”

  Kate smiled, mildly appeased.

  “Now if you’re finding this dalliance with Jordan too much of a burden, I’ll be glad to take her off your hands. I can handle both of them.”

  Kate chuckled. “I have no doubt you could.”

  The covert giggling at the wall drew Sheila and Amy over like the mosquitoes held at bay by wafting citronella.

  “Well, kids, the jury’s in,” Amy announced as she and Sheila approached on either side of Kate and Didi. “We think you both have fabulous new girlfriends.”

  “It’s so wonderful to see you both with someone,” Sheila said. “How did you manage to find them at the same time?”

  Kate raised her hands, denying all responsibility. “This one has Didi’s stink all over it.”

  “Would you listen to her,” Didi said, planting a hand on her hip. “Did I force you two to meet? Did I force you to invite her to lunch and then accept her dinner invitation for you?”

  “Yes, yes, and yes.”

  Didi nudged Sheila’s shoulder and grinned. “Kate’s right. I should stop being so modest. I’m the one who orchestrated this fairy-tale romance.”

  “Does this mean all the cradle-robbing jokes have to stop?” a tipsy Amy asked.

&
nbsp; “Amy.” Sheila admonished her.

  “That would be nice,” Kate said.

  “We should probably get back to the table so your girlfriends don’t come back and think we’re conspiring,” Sheila said.

  “Okay, but one last issue to settle,” Didi said as they headed back to the table. “Whose girl is cuter, mine or hers?”

  “Hmm,” Sheila said. “Rhea’s definitely the sexy sophisticate, but Jordan’s got the market cornered on exotic. Is she Latina?”

  “Half Greek on her mother’s side,” Kate said. “She definitely has a bit of the Greek goddess thing going.”

  “Kate, are you in love with her already?” Amy asked.

  “We just met. Nobody’s in love. This is just a casual thing.”

  “Maybe you’re not, but Jordan is,” Didi said. “I’m assuming.” She amended her statement after Kate shot her daggers.

  Amy and Sheila nodded in unison.

  “You guys are all nuts,” Kate said. “She knows we don’t have a future. I’m old enough to be her mother.”

  “Kate, change the song,” Didi said.

  “Look, we’re just dating.” Kate’s tone grew defensive. “And who even knows for how much longer. That’s all this is.”

  Didi and Amy exchanged looks of shame, but the tension lifted as Rhea and Jordan returned with the trays of margaritas.

  * * *

  As it neared one a.m., calmness floated in on a breeze. The ladies were still entertaining varying degrees of buzzes, but the conversation was waning, the lulls replaced by yawns.

  “We should hit the bricks now,” Kate said, peeling her legs off the chair.

  “Time to call it a night,” Sheila said, tapping Amy, who’d nodded off.

  Amy shook herself awake. “We lifer couples need to go to sleep early, unlike you passionate lovebirds who can stay up all night.”

  “There’s something to be said for longevity,” Rhea said.

  “You can keep your passionate, lovebird stuff,” Amy said. “I wouldn’t trade my cozy old pair of slippers here for anything in the world.” She crushed Sheila’s face in a robust hug around the neck.

  Kate’s evening glow faded, clouded over by the innocent flaunting of the partnership Amy and Sheila still cherished. It was tricky enough navigating the choppy waters of dating as a young woman, but starting over in her forties was a drag, especially when witnessing those playful moments between two people who knew every sunspot on each other’s skin and every dream in their hearts.

  “Anywho,” she said brightly. “I better get out of here before someone refers to me as an old slipper.”

  “Timeless, maybe, but old? Never.” Jordan caressed Kate’s back.

  Jordan’s remark elicited a round of woos and cheers that reverberated between neighboring buildings.

  “Come on, you,” Kate said, tugging Jordan by the arm toward the table.

  “This was a great time.” Rhea’s eyes fluttered toward Jordan.

  “We’ll have to do this again soon,” Didi said. She joined the group gathering glasses, serving trays, candles, and other leftover miscellany.

  Feeling the weight of Jordan’s stare, Kate looked up and realized from the way Jordan was looking at her that Didi’s assessment may have been spot-on.

  * * *

  Kate and Jordan walked the few blocks back to Jordan’s apartment off lower Chapel Street in unusual silence. Kate finally broke it with an affectionate punch to Jordan’s shoulder.

  “Why so quiet?”

  Jordan sighed. “I’m contemplating whether I should open my mouth about something.”

  “If it’s making you quiet, you probably should.”

  Jordan grabbed Kate’s arm and swung it as they walked. “I think Rhea might have come on to me when we were making the drinks.”

  Kate considered the statement for a moment. “Is this based in fact or supposition?”

  Jordan eyed her curiously. “Attorney Randall, are you trying to discredit the witness?”

  “No. Protect her. There’s a big difference between thinking and knowing. Opposing counsel would tear you apart if you said you ‘think’ on the stand.”

  “Okay,” Jordan said. “I suppose the comment about my thong when I bent over can be considered hearsay, but I’m going to have to argue that her attempt to help me get more chips down from the cabinet was a come-on beyond a reasonable doubt.”

  Kate giggled at her quick mastery of the courtroom lingo as she resumed the cross-examination. “What’s wrong with helping you get chips?”

  “She’s four inches shorter than I am. If I could barely reach the top shelf, how useful was she going to be?”

  Kate went silent.

  “Maybe I misinterpreted it,” Jordan said softly. “I knew I should’ve kept my mouth shut.”

  “No, no, I believe you. I’m just deciding if it would do any good to share this information with Didi.”

  “Let’s forget about it,” Jordan said. “If you tell Didi, and she doesn’t believe me, it will make things really uncomfortable, especially when we all get together again.”

  “If we don’t tell her, things could get really uncomfortable for you. Do you want to keep being leered at and who knows what else against kitchen counters?”

  “That depends on who’s doing the leering.” Jordan kissed Kate’s neck.

  “Then again, I’d hate to burst Didi’s bubble,” Kate said. “She’s so psyched about Rhea.”

  “In that case, maybe you should tell her. What if she catches major feelings for her?”

  “Didi’s been around the block enough to know a player when she sees one, if Rhea really is one. She could’ve just been feeling the margaritas. Some people are awkward when they meet new people. We shouldn’t judge her too harshly.”

  “I guess you’re right. I could’ve misread the situation.”

  “It doesn’t seem like it. You poor thing. You spent half the night getting insulted by Rhea and the other half getting harassed by her. I really threw you to the wolves, didn’t I?”

  “Yes, you did.” Jordan pouted. “Next time I’m not leaving your side.”

  They shared a laugh, and Jordan draped Kate’s arm around her shoulder as they strolled.

  “She actually mentioned your thong?” Kate said after a moment. “I didn’t even know you wore one.”

  Jordan giggled. “It was supposed to be a surprise for later.”

  “I see. Does that mean your friend, William, is gone?”

  “Yes. He crashes now and then when he pops in from the city.”

  “Then what are we waiting for?”

  Kate grabbed Jordan’s hand and started jogging down the street, Jordan shrieking with delight.

  * * *

  The next morning Kate awoke to the smell of coffee wafting into Jordan’s sunny bedroom. She’d been sleeping so well lately. Was it from the emotional exhaustion of fretting about a relationship with Jordan or from the sheer bliss of it? Whatever it was, leaving her bed seemed harder, and the days and hours between their dates, longer.

  Jordan poked her face into the room. “Good morning, sleepy.”

  “Good morning,” Kate said, rubbing her eye as she stretched.

  Jordan jumped onto the bed and started kissing Kate’s face all over. “Breakfast in bed or on the balcony?”

  “You made me breakfast?”

  “Spinach and asiago egg-white omelet and whole-grain toast with local honey. I figured it would keep you from running out on me so soon.”

  “It’s Sunday,” Kate said, brushing Jordan’s curls out of her eyes. “I’m not running anywhere.”

  “Good.” Jordan got back into bed and coiled her arms and legs around Kate as though she was guaranteeing Kate kept her promise. “Does that mean I have you for the day?”

  “If you want me for the day.” Kate squeezed her tight and kissed her head, feeling right at home.

  “I do,” Jordan said, and pecked at her lips. “I don’t care if we stay in bed all d
ay. I just want to spend it with you.”

  Kate sighed as Jordan nestled even closer, sliding her toes across Kate’s legs. She closed her eyes, as serene and steady as the flow of a stream in springtime. How thoughtful of Jordan to cook for her. Everything Jordan had done over the past month seemed to leave Kate feeling special, wanted, and appreciated. She was becoming accustomed to it. Too accustomed to it. What if she was slipping back into her old ways? Becoming emotionally dependent on Jordan—codependent. No, that couldn’t happen again. She wouldn’t let it. In fact, now might be a good time to check herself—to slow the velocity of their relationship down to something more manageable.

  Suddenly, Jordan’s head popped up, and she gazed at Kate as though she were about to make an announcement of national importance. As her lips parted, panic swept through Kate. Oh, please don’t say it, she thought. Please, not yet.

  Jordan smiled and kissed her instead.

  “Let’s have breakfast out on your balcony.” Kate scrambled out of bed and reached for her shirt from the night before. “It looks like a gorgeous day. Maybe we can take a ride and find a nice seafood restaurant later.”

  “Sure,” Jordan said, seeming confused by Kate’s abrupt shift in demeanor. “How about a hike or something after we eat?”

  “Sounds great.” She hauled up her pants and hustled out of the room like a busted poker player after a losing hand.

  Chapter Ten

  Overanalyze This

  “I was surprised I could snag you on a Sunday afternoon.” Kate twirled her linguini and clams around her fork at their outdoor table on Wooster Street, New Haven’s Little Italy.

  “Rhea had a few showings today,” Didi replied casually as she split a meatball in half.

  “Got another workaholic in your life, huh? You’ll see it’s the price we female entrepreneurs must pay for our success. Are you seeing her tonight?”

  “I’m supposed to. She said she’d call my cell when she’s free.” Didi then beamed at Kate. “Look at you. You’re positively radiant.”