A New Kind of Bliss

by Bettye Griffin

  We agreed that I would come in for at least a few hours on Thursday and Friday to get oriented and see a few patients with Gina, the pregnant P.A. I knew that meant that Gina would be observing me and report her observations and recommendation to Dr. Norman and his sons, and on Friday I’d either be asked to return after the Fourth or told that it wouldn’t work out, but I wasn’t worried. I was good at what I did, and patients liked me.

  I shared my good news with Aaron, who immediately suggested we have a celebratory dinner Wednesday at Euliss’s new—and only—five-star restaurant. I thought it might be better to do that on Friday, but I guess a table was easier to get without a reservation midweek. I’d barely known Aaron a month, and already I was getting the hang of this reservations thing.

  Besides, as it turned out, he had other plans for us for Friday. As we watched the sun set over the Palisades while we enjoyed a melt-in-your-mouth T-bone cut, he explained to me that intimacy was impossible at his home, as it was at mine, because of his kids and mother-in-law. “How do you feel about joining my family and me at my place in Sag Harbor for the Fourth?”

  That sounded great to me except for that part about his family.

  He must have noticed my hesitation. “I’m sending Beverline and the kids out on the train Friday. I hope you’ll consider spending Friday night at my house. We can drive out Saturday morning and come back late Sunday, after the traffic jams clear up. Uh…you’ll have to sleep in the guest room at Sag Harbor, of course, but at least we’ll have Friday.”

  My disappointment must have shown on my face.

  “The kids and their grandmother spend the summer at the house there. I usually go out on Friday or Saturday mornings for the weekends, but I’ve got a feeling that I’m going to be busier than usual this summer, if you know what I mean.”

  My apprehension turned into a wide, slow smile. I’d been wondering precisely how we’d conduct our newly established sex life, and I happily told him that was fine.

  My thoughts were filled with memories of last night’s dinner as I alighted from my car and walked toward the entrance of the medical building for my first day at work. Suddenly I realized that someone held the door for me. I quickened my steps, tossing out the memory of the coconut and mango and pineapple dessert I’d consumed last night, as well as Aaron’s good-night kiss, something he’s truly talented at. “Thank you,” I said to the man who held the door. Then I looked at the light brown face more closely, realizing I had seen it before. It came to me in a flash. “Teddy, is that you?” I’d known Teddy Simms since we were in the same third-grade class.

  He broke into a grin. “Yeah, it’s me. Where you been hidin’ yourself, Emily? I ain’t seen you in years. You look great, by the way.”

  “I’ve actually been in the Midwest for a long time, but I’m back in Euliss now, at least for the time being.”

  “I did hear your father passed. I’m sorry.”

  “Thanks.” I noticed he carried a white lab coat on a hanger, covered with plastic. “You work in the building?”

  “Yeah, I work for Dr. Jensen three days a week. I’m a denture technician.”

  I nodded. It was a small building, and I’d seen the dentist’s name on the directory. “I guess you stay pretty busy.”

  “Yeah, I do. I work Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for Dr. Jensen, and Tuesdays and Fridays for another dentist in Mount Vernon. All that stuff they told us about taking care of our teeth when we were kids was right on.”

  I instantly looked at his teeth, which appeared to be in pretty good condition. In fact, Teddy Simms looked pretty good all over. Most of the boys I’d gone to school with became better looking as they got older, Teddy included.

  Despite a forehead that was a little flat, Teddy had turned into a real cutie by the eighth grade, and that’s when I decided I wanted him to be my boyfriend. He’d even looked cool with glasses. He kind of gravitated toward me for about five minutes, but then he decided he liked Tanis better. It must have been the hair. Tanis had what was politely known as “a good grade,” thick with a natural wave, which back in the day she often wore loose. My hair was almost as long as hers, but too nappy to be worn loose. Anyway, being Tanis, she promptly forbade him to talk to me.

  God, I hated her even back then.

  “Have you moved back here?” he asked as we got into the elevator.

  “Well, not permanently.” I immediately thought of my blossoming relationship with Aaron and wondered, as I always did, just where it would take me. “A few months, at least. My mother shouldn’t be alone right now. So I’m filling in for Dr. Norman’s P.A. while she’s on maternity leave.”

  “What’s a P.A., an accountant or something?”

  Of course. I hadn’t been fair to expect him to know what it meant. The man was a dental professional, not a medical one, and there were light-years between the two. I knew next to nothing myself about dental work. I still couldn’t understand why there were so many fields of dental medicine: general dentistry, orthodontics, endodontics, oral surgery, pedodontics, periodontics. “A physician assistant,” I explained.

  He nodded. “Hey, didn’t I hear something about you marrying somebody from Chicago or something? How’s your husband feel about your spending an extended time in Euliss?”

  “Actually, it was Indianapolis, not Chicago. And I haven’t been married for years.” When Al and I got married Mom insisted on putting a wedding announcement in the Dispatch, so everyone would know I’d managed to snag a husband. They also ran birth announcements, but there was nothing broadcast when someone got divorced. “I stayed there after the divorce because I liked the city and I’d made friends there.”

  Teddy laughed. “Anyplace is probably better than Euliss.”

  I couldn’t help being curious. “What about you, Teddy? Are you married?”

  He shrugged. “I guess I’m destined to be a lifelong bachelor. Besides, who’d have me?” His eyes traveled approvingly down the length of my body, eliminating any automatic suspicions that arise about never married men over forty. No question about it, Teddy Simms was heterosexual, through and through.

  Who’d have him, indeed. He wasn’t particularly tall, only about five-nine, and not classically handsome, but he had undeniable sex appeal, with a neatly trimmed beard and full head of close-cropped hair. I’d jump on him in a minute…if Aaron wasn’t in my life, of course.

  The elevator stopped on the third floor, and he paused in the entryway, his palm preventing the door from closing on him. “You and I will have to have lunch sometime. Catch up.”

  “Sounds great. Anytime next week will be fine, assuming I pass my orientation, which is today and tomorrow.”

  “I’ll stop by. Good luck.”

  “Thanks, I’ll need it.”

  He stepped out of the elevator, and I continued on to Dr. Norman’s sixth-floor office, free to let my mind return to how great this weekend’s sex with Aaron would be.

  Aaron made light breathing sounds—no way could they be called snores—as he slept beside me, his arm extended so that his wrist rested in the crook of my waist, his palm against my abdomen. But I was wide awake.

  I had called him as I left work this afternoon and insisted he let me take him to dinner. I was in a celebratory mood, for all three Dr. Normans told me that I’d done a wonderful job in my two-day trial and that they wanted me to come back after the holiday as a full-time employee.

  Of course, I took him to an ordinary place, a bar in Riverdale where they have live entertainment and great burgers. We didn’t hang around after eating. I think he was as eager as I to get to his house. We held hands as we walked toward his front door, and I could feel my heart racing.

  We made love again, twice. But it was the same, the exact same as it had been last weekend in Indy. Now, there’s practically some kind of rule that says that the first time a man and woman have sex, he should be the one on top. But in my experience, the second time—which usually occurs very shortly after the fir
st—was done differently. When this didn’t happen last weekend I merely chalked it up to exhaustion after a plane trip followed by sightseeing. Now, every instinct in me warned that something was terribly wrong. I’d never had sex four consecutive times with no variation. Either I’d get on top, or we’d do it doggie style, or something. Surely in all those years Aaron spent with Diana, they’d done some experimentation. Not for one minute did I believe that people who married young remained sexually naïve. Like everybody else, they learned what their partners liked, played dress-up, shared fantasies….

  I’d already felt my excitement diminish a bit when Aaron positioned himself between my thighs. He always got me so excited with his skill at foreplay, and just when I started to think that this was the time we’d do it in a different position and really go at each other, it turned into the same old, same old.

  Don’t get me wrong. The sex was good. Aaron’s been blessed with a penis that can please any woman, and it’s a nice, tight fit. But it would be truly out of sight if we mixed it up a little.

  Therein laid my dilemma. I lay awake wondering how I could possibly make the suggestion that we try a little variety. I didn’t want to scare the man off by boldly lying him back and mounting him like Lady Godiva. He’d already confided that Diana had been his only sexual partner. I didn’t want him to think that I was some kind of slut.

  Something about Aaron’s breathing and his arm wrapped around my waist soothed me, and my eyelids began to feel heavy. I fell asleep thinking, The key is not to rush him. He’s such a good match for me. If I concentrate hard enough I’ll be able to figure something out, make him think it was his own idea.

  We were on the road by eight A.M. and arrived in Sag Harbor at ten-thirty. Aside from an occasional firecracker, the street where Aaron’s house was located was quiet, with houses set back from the street, most of them fenced in with white picket or log fences. Aaron’s house had the former.

  Beverline sat in a white wicker rocker on the front porch reading a newspaper. I was sure she sat there so she’d be sure to see us arrive, although I wasn’t sure why. Maybe she hoped there’d be a change in plans and I wouldn’t make it, because her face still bore that constipated look.

  “Where’re the kids?” Aaron inquired after we greeted one another.

  “Oh, they took off on their bikes right after breakfast. They’re around the neighborhood somewhere.”

  How nice, I thought, to live in a place where you didn’t have to worry about harm coming to your children while they were riding their bicycles. In Euliss, many parents forbade their children to go outside unless accompanied by an adult.

  A whole new lifestyle, I reminded myself.

  “How was the drive out?” Beverline asked.

  “Not bad. I think most people came out last night if they weren’t here already.” Aaron held the screen door open for me. “Come inside, Emily, and I’ll show you around.”

  I admit to being a little surprised at Aaron’s summerhouse. For some reason I was expecting something along the lines of his New Rochelle house, large and imposing and elegant. The house in Sag Harbor was probably sixty years old or older, more like a cottage, like most of the other homes in the area, small and cozy.

  After thinking about it for a bit, I realized how silly I’d been. Aaron was wealthy, but he wasn’t a movie director or a star musician who could afford the upkeep on multiple homes, each one a mansion.

  The house, dark green shingled with white trim, was actually quite handsome. It had a front porch across its width, a relatively small living room with attached dining area, a nice kitchen that had obviously been remodeled, two bedrooms, and a remodeled bath on the main floor. When he showed me a bright corner bedroom with a double bed I looked at him quizzically, wondering if this was where I would sleep. “That’s Beverline’s room,” he said. “Diana and I used to sleep here, and the kids next door. I thought it would be better to let Beverline have this room after…”

  After Diana died, I thought. I had to get him off the subject of his late wife.

  “But surely there’s more than these two bedrooms.”

  “Yes. Kirsten and Arden sleep next door, and Billy and I sleep downstairs. There’s also a guest room down there. That’ll be your room.” He added in a sexy whisper, even though no one was around, “Right across the hall from me.”

  Well away from Beverline’s prying eyes. I started to feel better about the weekend.

  We traipsed down to the basement through an attractive open staircase, which gave the house more of a two-level feel rather than one level and a basement. Aside from the two bedrooms with a bathroom in between, it had a laundry room tucked into a corner, and a great room with a microwave and mini-fridge. Aaron explained to me that the great room was where Kirsten, Arden, and Billy entertained themselves and their friends.

  The nicest feature of the house was the backyard. It was spacious, with a large whirlpool tub, a detached garage, and grounds as beautifully manicured as in the front. Because I was a city girl, botany was not my area of expertise. I could identify only a rose, a daisy, and a black-eyed Susan, although if I had to guess the type of pink, white, and yellow flowers that had been planted in neat multilevel brick-bordered beds and gave a wonderful burst of color to the yard, I’d say they were lilies.

  I stood at the kitchen window, transfixed by the pretty scene.

  “Let’s go out and chat with Beverline,” Aaron suggested.

  I sat in the second rocker on the other side of a matching glass-top table, while Aaron perched on the railing. In an attempt to be pleasant, I said, “It’s so lovely here,” unwittingly opening the door for Beverline to go after me the way a rabid dog would tear up anyone it could sink its jaws into.

  “I suppose you’ve never been here before, Miss Yancy.”

  Aaron spared me from having to answer. “Now, considering Emily has lived in Indianapolis for the past twenty years, that would be an awful long way to travel for the weekend, wouldn’t it?”

  “I knew that. I just thought she might have friends who summer here.”

  What she actually thought, and what she wanted to hear me say, was that I didn’t have friends with summerhouses in the Hamptons. “First of all, Mrs. Wilson, please call me Emily. And in answer to your question, no, I believe the people I know spend the summer on the Vineyard, or at least they used to.”

  I loved it when she was caught off guard, and she clearly hadn’t expected to hear me say that. The look on her face was priceless.

  “I see,” she said, resorting to her old standby.

  “I know Tanis has a place up there,” Aaron added.

  Having Tanis’s name come up had to be my punishment for feeling so smug about besting Beverline. “Yes, she does,” I said. Naturally Mavis had told Mom when Tanis and Rob had bought a summer home.

  “Emily, do you know Tanis Montgomery?” Beverline asked, her voice pitched a little higher than usual.

  “All my life. She and I went to school together.” I added pointedly, “In Euliss.”

  “Oh, is she from Euliss? Somehow I thought she was from New Rochelle.”

  “She was born and raised in Euliss,” I said, almost crankily. “Her mother and mine have played cards every week for as long as I can remember. Some people like to hide where they’re from if their hometowns are a little on the shabby side.” I paused for effect. “As if a person is automatically grungy just because he or she comes from a grungy place. That makes as much sense as always voting for a white male, regardless of his politics.”

  Beverline shrugged. “It hardly matters. Tanis is just an actress, and a not terribly successful one at that. She’s hardly of the caliber of Ruby Dee,” she said, naming one of New Rochelle’s more famous residents. “It’s probably just as well that she goes up to the Cape. She probably wouldn’t fit in well here. Businesspeople find more acceptance in the Hamptons.”

  I didn’t bother to hide my contempt for that way of thinking. “Having an MBA or a PhD
doesn’t make one person better than anyone else.”

  “That’s technically true, Emily, but people’s attitudes aren’t necessarily fair and equitable. Sometimes they feel that certain people just aren’t in the same class as they are.” She turned to Aaron. “Like those friends of yours. What are their names again?”

  “Ballard. Thais and Lucien Ballard. You’ll meet them later tomorrow, Emily. They’re having a barbecue, and I told them we’d be by.”

  “Ah, yes,” Beverline said with a nod. “That soap opera actress and her husband, the gardener.”

  Aaron’s features hardened. “Soap opera work is perfectly respectable, and so is gardening, but it so happens that Lucien Ballard is not a gardener. His family owns the service that did my landscaping, and that of a whole lot of our neighbors. They’ve lived here for generations. You’re starting to sound like a real snob, Beverline, and you and I both know you haven’t a leg to stand on when it comes to that.”

  He sounded really angry. I’d never seen this side of him before. And what was that about Beverline not having a leg to stand on?

  “That was uncalled for, Aaron,” she said, trying her best to sound dignified as she stood. “It isn’t right for you to speak to me this way…especially in front of a stranger.”

  I lowered my chin to my chest. I might be a stranger to you, but your son-in-law and I know each other real well.

  Beverline was opening the front door to the house when Aaron spoke to me. “Come on, Emily, let’s see if we can find the kids.”

  I obediently got up and walked down the driveway with him to the street. “Are you okay?” I asked. “It seems like your mother-in-law kind of got to you there.”

  “Sometimes she really pisses me off. Putting on all those airs, and baiting you the way she does. Don’t think I don’t plan to speak to her about it.”

  “I can just imagine her reaction when you told her you were bringing me with you for the weekend,” I said grimly.