by Sherry Wood
“I heard things – I did, swear. I know I can be dramatic, but not this time. I did hear things. They don’t have a cat, do they?”
“What? No, we would know that – Saphire…” he covered his face for a minute. Sometimes he just didn’t know what to do with her.
“Man, it would have been cool if you had stopped and gotten some wine…”
“I thought you were in trouble!” he exploded. She immediately started crying. “Oh…I’m sorry,” he came over to her and cradled her in his arms. “I’m just stressed, that’s all.” He stepped back and placed his hands on her face. “Stop crying, baby, I’m sorry I yelled at you. I’m sorry.”
She wept as she looked down at herself. “I thought I looked sexy – don’t you think…?” She turned around and he stared at her little physique before picking her up so she was over his shoulder. She cackled as he carried her off upstairs.
CHAPTER 17
John popped his head into the bedroom. Vanessa was on the bed, a notepad rested against her legs. She was brainstorming; it would be nice to write a short story.
“He’s going to listen to the CD…” John announced, hoping Vanessa would be happy for him.
“That’s great.” She offered as much pizzazz as she could. John approached the bed like he was about to try and pet a lion.
“I…told Morey…” he said. She stared down at her notebook, wishing she could create a world and get lost in it, a world like Liquid Floor. “He flipped out,” John went on, hoping she was listening and would understand. He paused. He took a deep breath. “He wants to come up here…” he watched as Vanessa got up and threw the notebook down on the floor.
“Oh, what is this?” John asked, frustrated.
“It's happening – it’s all just happening still. You don’t care – you don’t care about us. The whole point in this was to try and…I don’t know, reconnect. Do you know how I felt tonight when Rick complimented me? I never get compliments from you, it's like you don’t even recognize the fact that I’m a woman.”
John tried to calm down. He looked down at the notepad in her lap. “What are you writing?”
“Nothing.” She looked at him and said, hopeless. “I can’t write.” John was quiet. He could hear the ocean – that sweet, shy sigh. “I don’t know…” she looked around the room.
“You know how much I like St. Germain – the same with you and that author.”
“Catherine Mars,” Vanessa said.
“Right.”
“I know, I’m happy for you – I’m just scared for us.” There was a quiet then that seemed to run deep. John couldn’t even hear the ocean anymore. He leaned forward and ran his hand up and down her leg. “Everything’s going to be fine. A lot has happened in a small amount of time – we relocated,” he reminded. Vanessa cracked a smile.
“Yeah, I still can’t believe we did this.”
“We shake things up…we see what happens.” John smiled and waited for her to do the same. It was a small smile that made its way across her face, but it was genuine and sexy, and it reminded him of everything he liked about her.
CHAPTER 18
Saphire was lost in a deep sleep. Brian was jealous of how easily Saphire fell asleep all the time, and slept so soundly. He watched her for a minute before quietly slipping out of bed. His mind was wandering – mostly he thought of his mother. She didn’t look well tonight. He thought about going back. It was amazing how many things he thought about doing while he just stood by Vanessa’s writing desk. He thought about waking Saphire up and asking her if she was happy – what was behind those pretty blue eyes? That lazy, babyish voice? He wanted to ask her sometimes if she was even awake!
But he just stood there, and unfortunately desired a cigarette. He hadn’t smoked in a year. He remembered, as he stood there, the papers Vanessa needed. He glanced back at Saphire’s petite, tanned body asleep in bed. The little desk light, with its neatly contained light, surely wouldn’t wake her. He pulled on the dainty gold chain and looked around. Oh, she had a pack of Dunhills stored here. He fought off the temptation and saw a stack of papers on the shelf beneath the desk. He took them, turned the light off, and went downstairs.
He sat on the leather couch across from the fireplace and before he did the wrong thing and read all of what Vanessa wrote, he looked around the loft. This place embodied everything great about Chicago. It was spacious, just a little creepy, and definitely had a rock 'n roll vibe. He started to wonder why he ever left this city. Oh right, to be an actor. Good thing that worked out! He shrugged off his dark mood, picked the papers up and began reading.
CHAPTER 19
Vanessa woke up to the sound of her phone ringing. She slept late and hard – those margaritas at the taco place, she guessed. She sat up in bed. It was a glorious day out and the beach was right there. She had no reason to complain. She placed her feet on the nice, cushy rug and went over to her phone.
“Hello?” her voice was sleepy and pleasant. No one spoke on the other end. “Hello,” she said, smiling a bit more. Brian liked that – most people would get annoyed at the silence, or assume it was some creeper.
“You are a fantastic writer,” Brian said. He realized he hadn’t even said hello. “Hello,” he cutely added afterwards.
“Hello…”
“It’s Brian,” he said.
“Oh, Brian!” She touched her face, which was surely changing to all kinds of red. “Good morning.”
“Good morning.” His voice. Wow. It had that sexy morning scratchiness to it. Also, he’d caved and smoked a cigarette at dawn. “How are you?” Something about the way he asked that, like he had all day to talk to her.
“I’m good…man, I slept late.” She looked out at the beach. People were already lying out, walking their dogs, surfing.
“How is Izzy?” he jumped to ask.
“Fine,” Vanessa smiled. “She’s so active.”
“Oh good, so she’s not depressed. I miss her.” He looked around the quiet house, it just felt right for him to be here. “Is it strange…” his voice shyly picked up after a minute. “I came here to spend time with my girl and I miss my dog?”
Vanessa laughed a little. “A little…but I mean pets…they love us no matter what, you know?”
“I do – I just talked to my mom about this turtle I had when I was little.”
“Awe, a turtle. Turtles are cute.”
“My dad told me they were related to aliens.”
“Oh my god!”
He had a nice, husky laugh. She was very smitten. She walked down the spiral staircase to the first floor where sun poured in. She sat on the couch and rested her feet on the nice Italian marble coffee table.
“Thank you for what you said,” she said, now feeling more composed. “About my writing. I appreciate it.”
“I hope you don’t mind that I read it – I just couldn’t sleep.”
“Baby, I don’t mind.” Did she really just call him baby?! She was very quiet and so was he. Something had just changed in the air. She looked up as John came downstairs.
“Oh, I got those papers sent off – if that was what you wanted when you called.”
“I like talking to you,” Brian admitted. Vanessa stood up and went out by the pool so John, who was in the kitchen, couldn’t hear her.
“I like you too – talking to you,” she quickly added. Oh man.
“Can I tell you something?” Brian asked. His voice was so sexy she could hardly handle it.
“Please,” she said. She felt all warm and mushy – like the air surrounding the pool. She dipped her foot in it and saw John putting Izzy’s leash around her. He left to take her for a walk.
“I really related to almost everything you said,” Brian told her. “Wanting to discover the world below the floor, getting on your hands and knees to see if the floor felt softer, waiting for it to turn into water so you could just fall through.” His voice carried a little more enthusiasm with each word he spoke. “I just loved it
, Vanessa.”
“Well!” She was so giddy. “I hope the Tribune is just as thrilled!” She splashed warm water all over her body before taking off her clothes and getting in naked.
“Brian?” she said, her voice full of explosive emotion. What a way to start the morning! She kept thinking of that picture, of his puppyish face.
“Yeah?”
“I’m in your pool…naked.”
Brian was very quiet as he sat there in grey jogging pants. He had never cheated or even thought about cheating on Saphire, but there was something about Vanessa – she was sexy and…mature. She seemed to know exactly who she was, and could carry on a conversation without seeming like she was hiding things.
Vanessa was so embarrassed when Brian said nothing back. “So…I’m sorry – this is your pool, I shouldn’t be in it naked, god.”
“No, no, it's fine that you’re naked,” Brian said, just as Saphire walked up behind him.
“Who are you talking to?” she asked, rather crass.
“Nobody,” Brian said, regretting that – that Vanessa heard him call her ‘nobody.’
“Oh, you’ve gone crazy,” Saphire joked. “Just talking to an imaginary friend – a naked, imaginary friend?”
“No.” Brian was at a loss. “Hey, uh…” he spoke into the phone. “I’ll call you later.” He hung up and turned around and looked at Saphire.
“Okay…” how was he going to explain this? She waited, her cute little face bunched up in a frown, her hand on her hip. “Vanessa…wanted to know if it was okay if she went skinny dipping.”
“Absolutely not!” Saphire cried out, horrified. “That’s my pool!”
“We’ll have it cleaned, it’s no big deal,” Brian said.
“They’re…city…people,” Saphire gasped, making them sound like zombies. She walked around, covering her face and shaking her head. “This was such a bad idea, oh my god, what have we done?”
“Just calm down,” Brian begged. He looked for a magazine to hide his erection. Vanessa had gotten him excited, but unlike Saphire, Vanessa didn’t seem to collect fashion magazines. The buzzer suddenly rang.
“Who is that?” Saphire asked. Brian had no idea, he was just thankful for the distraction. Brian walked over to answer.
“We’ll see who this is and then we can go get brunch or something,” Brian said. Saphire just gave him a look because his hand was over his crotch. He turned to the intercom.
“Hello?” he spoke into it.
“Hi! My name is Chelsea, I’m a friend of Vanessa’s and said I’d pop by on occasion.”
“Oh…okay…” Brian thought that was a bit odd. He buzzed her in and Saphire got up, excited to meet someone new. Maybe someone to go out and have fun with in this city, since Brian was always worried about his mother. They waited by the door until they heard Chelsea’s excited knock. Brian pulled the door open and saw the grown-up version of Shirley Temple standing there with a strange little plant in her arms.
“Hi!” Chelsea smiled, showing off her cute little teeth.
“Hello,” Saphire said.
“Hello.” Brian smiled that charming smile as he moved away from the door and Chelsea walked in. She gave a quick glance around the place, making sure everything was cool.
“Vanessa said you guys left them a bottle of champagne and that was sweet so she asked me to get you a little gift. I went to my favorite plant store on Michigan Ave.” Chelsea never stopped smiling, ever. Brian wondered if her face ever hurt.
Brian looked down at the plant before relieving her of it and taking it into the kitchen. Saphire wanted nothing to do with it and looked down at Chelsea’s footwear with great envy.
“Where did you get those shoes?” Saphire sounded like her life depended on finding out.
“Oh, Neiman Marcus on Michigan Avenue – I like live on Michigan Avenue.”
“You do?! I want to go there. Brian, let’s go shopping,” Saphire said, walking up the two steps into the kitchen where Brian was watering the plant.
“Maybe later,” Brian said.
“You are handsome,” Chelsea said to Brian. “Vanessa was right about that.”
“Oh was she?” Saphire said, trying to start a fight.
“Why don’t you two go?” Brian suggested. He sounded like he wanted to say, ‘Why don’t you two go to Mars?’
“Fine,” Saphire shrugged. Chelsea smiled as Saphire walked over to the door. “I know a great place for brunch,” Chelsea said as she closed the door behind them.
Brian stopped fiddling with the plant and walked back to the couch and picked up his phone.
CHAPTER 20
Vanessa had swam a few laps in the pool and was feeling great. She came up from underwater and saw her phone blinking over in the corner. She got out and quickly dried off.
“Hello?” she answered, pulling the sliding door open and walking outside. It was the perfect day – 86 degrees and cloudless.
“Are you still in the pool?” Brian asked, picking up right where they left off.
“No, I got out to get my phone. What are you doing?”
“I’m…nothing. Your friend Chelsea came by and took Saphire out shopping.”
“Ah, yeah, makes sense, I could see them getting along.”
“I…” Brian struggled to say what he wanted to say. “Wish I could…see you.”
“Yeah?”
“Get back in the pool.” The words just shot out of his mouth. Vanessa was beside herself. She saw John coming up the beach with Izzy.
“I…”
“Naked,” Brian said, he sounded like he was on his knees, begging. Such a puppy, Vanessa thought.
“Can we do this later?” she rushed to say before John came close enough to hear. She smiled and waved at him, trying to act innocent.
“Sure.”
“I’ll call you around ten tonight,” Vanessa said.
“Yeah, okay.” Brian’s voice was full of nothing but want.
“Bye,” Vanessa said, hanging up and tossing her phone on a pile of beach towels. “Hello,” she greeted John, hoping she didn’t sound strange.
“Hey,” John took the leash off Izzy and she ran off into the kitchen where her food was. “Who were you talking to?”
“Oh, Brian, he called to say he sent off my work.”
“Oh cool.” John sat down on the edge of the pool and dipped his feet in. Vanessa already knew what he was about to say.
“So I talked to Morey this morning, and…he would like to come up in Friday.”
“That’s fine,” Vanessa said. John was expecting something more, some passive aggressiveness, but she seemed absolutely fine with it.
“Yeah?”
“Yup.”
“I was thinking we could have Germain over and have a cookout – it’ll be
fun.” Vanessa headed over to the door that opened to the kitchen, she wanted to say hi to Izzy.
“Sounds great, really. I’m going to say hi to Izzy and go for a walk on the beach.” John nodded and watched Vanessa pet Izzy before walking down to the water.
CHAPTER 21
Brian took the warm cup of soup over to his mother. She was sitting out on the back porch. It was sundown – her favorite time of day.
“So I decided to come back for that CD I made for that girl, remember? Alice.”
“Yes, I remember Alice,” Louise said, fixing her sweater around her. It was not cold.
“You okay?” Brian asked, worried.
“Yes, just feel a chill in the air today – maybe it's your father,” she laughed. Brian watched as she slowly lifted the spoon up to her mouth. He looked out at the garage.
“Mama?” Brian called out.
“Yes?” she replied, blowing on the soup. She dropped the spoon and started to pick it up.
“I’ll get you a clean one,” he said, getting up to go inside the house. He was very flustered. All he could think about was Vanessa. He picked up the CD and went outside with a new spoon and handed it to h
er.
“Thank you,” she said. She seemed grumpy today. She glanced up at her son.
“It’s you,” she said.
“What?”
“You seem troubled, so I’m troubled.”
“Oh, I’m not troubled,” Brian shook his head, in denial.
“You’re ruffled,” she said, certain.
“I don’t know where my girlfriend is,” Brian finally said. Louise lifted her head, worry clouding her eyes.
“Well my goodness…”
“Not like that, she left with someone to go shopping. I don’t know…being back here,” he looked around. “Has me feeling like…I could be living an entirely different life. I look at this CD…” he held it up. “And I remember everything I put into it, and the day I gave it to Alice, and how she just didn’t care – I don’t want my…”
“Now honey, that girl was stupid,” Louise interrupted. “You just have to get a smart woman. I don’t know much about Saphire, but from what you said…”
“We never talk about things – we never talk about the future. She just wants to have fun.”
“Well,” Louise gave a little laugh. “Sounds like she’ll keep you young – trust me, you want to stay young.” Louise started coughing. She picked up the napkin and coughed into it.
“Sweetie, I think I need my nap.”
“Of course.” Brian stood up and helped her out of her chair.
CHAPTER 22
The sun had finally fallen. Brian felt like he had fallen with it. He drove back to Lincoln Park and on his way there, he rolled the window down and tossed the CD out of it. It was almost ten o’clock. He walked into the apartment and saw a note on the fridge. Went out dancing with Chelsea ;) See you later – Saph
Brian snatched the note down and tossed it into the trash. He opened the fridge and took a beer out and walked over to the couch. He picked up the phone and hesitated for a minute before calling.
“Hello.” Vanessa’s voice was soft and pleasant.
“Hey…” Brian sounded a little nervous. He didn’t know what to say next, how to do this. “So you should get the papers tomorrow…”