A New Kind of Bliss

by Bettye Griffin

  “Oh, how very nice!” Mom exclaimed, and I had to agree. The rooms were bright, courtesy of two windows in the dining area and three more in the living room. The floors were covered with a tan carpet that looked like it had never been stepped on, and the walls were painted a stark but crisp-looking white.

  “It looks like it’s never been lived in,” I remarked.

  “It hasn’t,” Beverline said. “Not since Aaron and Diana bought the house. I understand that the previous owner had a live-in housekeeper. Shirley goes home when her work is done.”

  Aaron shrugged. “I suppose I could have rented it for extra income, but it never occurred to me.”

  Mom met my eyes. Because he doesn’t need the money, she silently conveyed.

  She walked to inspect the kitchen, which was compact, but well equipped. She opened the door to what looked like the pantry and let out a delighted squeal. I quickly moved behind her to see what had her so excited. Inside the pantry was a small washer and dryer.

  “Oh, Emmie, look at this!” she said, obviously forgetting herself. “I never had a washer and dryer before.”

  “You mean you have to take your clothes to the Laundromat?” Beverline asked incredulously.

  “You don’t have to make it sound like not having a washer and dryer is comparable to holding up a 7-Eleven,” I said. “Even some luxury apartments on the East Side of Manhattan don’t always have the proper hookups.”

  “I’ve never lived on the East Side. I’ve only lived in the suburbs.”

  “I don’t think too many people would call Camden suburbia, Mrs. Wilson.”

  Her mouth dropped open, and she looked accusingly at Aaron.

  “Yes, I told Emily where you used to live,” he said quietly. “You and I have had this discussion about your pretending to be something you’re not, haven’t we?”

  “Excuse me.” She headed for the door, and a moment later we all heard it slam shut.

  “I’m sorry, Aaron,” I said. “But I couldn’t bear listening to her sound like she held court at Buckingham Palace another minute.”

  He came up behind me and massaged my shoulders through my jacket. “Don’t worry about it. If she doesn’t like it, she can always move out.”

  I knew my chances of winning that Powerball jackpot they have in Connecticut were higher than the odds of Beverline ever leaving Aaron’s house.

  “So Mom, what’d you think about the apartment?”

  “Are you kidding? It’s much nicer than the place I’ve lived the last twenty-five years. And it’s less money. What’s to think about?”

  I chuckled. “And you don’t think New Rochelle is too far from Euliss?”

  “Well, I’ll probably join a church there, just so I can find out about their social functions. But I’ll still drive to service in Euliss, maybe once a month or so. Getting there on Sunday mornings won’t be a problem for me.”

  Like many a woman her age, Mom drove during daytime hours but avoided driving after dark.

  “But, Emmie, Aaron will have to give us a lease, and it has to specify that either one of us can keep the apartment. If anything should happen to me—”

  “Mom!”

  “Listen to me, now; I’m serious. I don’t trust that mother-in-law of his. At the first sign of a loophole, she’ll try to get him to throw us out. Not that I think Aaron would ever do that…”

  I had a vision of me having sex with Teddy and furiously blinked it away. But it did make for one hell of a violation, if Aaron should ever find out about it.

  “…but if something should happen to him, even. Not that I think it will.”

  I shrugged. Mom was certainly being a Gloomy Gertie this afternoon. If she had to kill someone off, couldn’t it be Beverline?

  “I take it Beverline left you with the same charming impression she left on me.”

  “What a bitch!”

  My eyes widened. The only questionable language I’d ever heard my mother use was, “Damn it!” and then only when she spilled or broke something. “I can’t believe you said that.”

  “Well, she is one. Going on and on about her daughter like that. ‘Not since Aaron and Diana bought this house,’” she mimicked. “The only thing her daughter did in terms of helping buy that house was marry Aaron. I know she wasn’t a doctor, too. Otherwise Beverline would have made sure I knew it.” She grunted. “I’ll bet she wasn’t anything else but a housewife.”

  “Yes, she was. She did teach for a few years, but Aaron said not since they had their first child.”

  “The nerve of that woman, looking down on us just because we come from Euliss!” Mom continued. “Especially considering that cabbage patch she came out of.” Then she sighed. “But I do feel a little sorry for her.”

  I took my eyes off the road long enough to give her a dubious look across the console. “Whatever for?”

  “Because she lost her child. I can’t imagine how difficult that must be, whether you had one or ten, or whether they were a baby, five years old, or fifty, for that matter. It takes a tremendous amount of strength to be able to bury your child and go on.”

  “Yes, I suppose it does,” I conceded. “And Diana was Beverline’s only child. She’d already lost her husband.”

  “And if that weren’t bad enough, now she has to watch her son-in-law get involved with another woman.”

  As the other woman in question, I felt compelled to defend myself. “Well, Mom, it’s not like Aaron’s cheating on Diana. She’s dead, remember?”

  “Of course I remember. And it’s not reasonable for her to expect a healthy man like Aaron to go without…female companionship.”

  I rolled my eyes. She meant that as a euphemism for sex. I knew there were some things mothers just couldn’t accept from their unmarried daughters, even if they were over forty.

  “I suppose that if I were in her shoes I’d be resentful of any woman whom I perceived as trying to take over my late daughter’s life,” Mom concluded.

  “I did consider that myself,” I admitted. “But the way she acts makes it awfully hard for me to be sympathetic.”

  “You do realize it’s going to be a challenge living so close and probably seeing her often. But do try to be patient. She acts that way because she feels threatened.” Mom paused. “I noticed Aaron’s daughters didn’t come downstairs, and I’m sure little Billy told them you were there. I suppose they feel a little threatened themselves.”

  I sighed. “They’re teenagers, and they miss their mother terribly. Besides, they probably feel Aaron is too old for things like se—female companionship.” Hmph. Maybe there were things this unmarried daughter felt uncomfortable discussing with her mother, as well.

  I had plenty on my mind that I didn’t want to discuss with Mom. Aaron’s revelation made me want to work out the sex angle even more. But it had to be deftly handled, and five months into our relationship I still wasn’t sure how to do that.

  Chapter 21

  Teddy looked like he didn’t believe me. “I don’t get why you felt you had to meet me for coffee and announce we won’t be seeing each other anymore. You’ve said that before, Emily, under far less dramatic conditions.”

  “I know I have.” I cursed myself for being such a weakling. “But things are truly different now, and I can say with absolute certainty that it’s over between us.”

  He studied me, and I knew my unyielding expression showed I meant business. “There’s something different about you, Emily.”

  “Yes. I’m in love.” My smile was as bright as the day was gloomy.

  “Hmph. So I guess I’m out of the running, huh?”

  I didn’t have the heart to tell him he’d never really been in the running.

  I was about to excuse myself when Teddy’s cell phone rang. He answered it right away. “Okay. I’ll get my jacket and be right out.” He flipped his phone shut. “I wish you well, Emily.”

  I took that as a dismissal, and I scraped my chair as I pushed back from the table. We rode up
in the elevator together to our respective offices.

  As glad as I was to have the unpleasantness of breaking it off with Teddy over, I was curious about whom he was meeting outside.

  My small office faced the north side of the building, which was lined with parking spaces, including the one Teddy usually parked in. I picked up the chart of my next patient and brought it over to the window, looking outside under the pretext of pretending to study the chart.

  A brunette with full, straight, shoulder-length hair stood leaning against a sleek red sports car that was parked directly next to Teddy’s Santa Fe, driver side to driver side, smoking a cigarette. Something about her belted trench coat and the way her asymmetrical bangs covered part of her face gave her a mysterious air, like something out of a film noir. My curiosity grew as Teddy appeared, ambling over to her and kissing her cheek. Who was this chick, anyway?

  I stood watching for the next few minutes. They talked for about three or four minutes before she stubbed out her cigarette. They embraced briefly, and then they got into her car, him behind the wheel, and drove off.

  I actually felt a little jealous. It hadn’t occurred to me that Teddy might be seeing someone else. He’d obviously been balancing her along with me.

  But whatever was going on between Teddy and this woman, it clearly wasn’t any of my business.

  Our class reunion was approaching fast, and preparations were right on time. Rosalind, Valerie, Tanis, and I split the cost of food, and we would share whatever profits the cover charge brought. I brought in a fifth participant as well—Marsha. While she couldn’t contribute financially, she offered to assist with the preparation. Even if we got stuck with a lot of leftovers, at least it was food we all liked: chicken drummettes, scallops wrapped in bacon, meatballs. Casualties would likely be things like the large tubs of potato and macaroni salads or the sheet cake.

  By the time Marsha and I arrived at noon, Rosalind was already busy, stirring a lobster pot full of pasta and chopping onion and green pepper. Valerie, whose daughter had given birth to a baby girl, was doing her preparations at home and would bring the food with her to the party tonight.

  “You’re the early bird,” I said after we greeted each other.

  “I knew it would take this water forever to boil. I wanted to get the pasta cooked for the baked spaghetti first.”

  Marsha glanced around the kitchen. “Are you going to bake it now? I don’t see a microwave here for heating, not that you could fit that huge dish into one anyway.”

  “No, I’ll mix it up, cover it, and put it in the fridge. I’ll put it in the oven tonight, and it’ll go straight to the table. I think everything else can be heated up.”

  Marsha nodded. “Yeah, like the mini chicken wings I’m gonna do.”

  “Where’s Tanis?” I asked.

  “She’s cooking at home.”

  Marsha rolled her eyes. “She can’t come here and work with the rest of us? What, she thinks she’s too good to work in the kitchen of a bar? Sounds like a position she’d take. She always did think she was cute.”

  Marsha had never really liked Tanis. I think it was because she was jealous of Tanis’s long, wavy hair and nice wardrobe. If I’d been in Marsha’s too big shoes I’d probably feel the same way. Marsha had always been prettier, but her looks were hidden by ill-fitting clothes and raggedy hair.

  Rosalind may have had the same thought, for she tried to cover. “It kind of makes sense, Marsha. She makes her meatballs from scratch, and she said it’s messy, plus her daughter likes to help. She’s doing half barbecue and half Swedish. I brought my Crock-Pot so she could use it to keep them warm, since she has only one.”

  Personally, I believed what Rosalind had told me on the phone a few months ago, that the task of making meatballs would probably be assigned to Tanis’s housekeeper.

  Rosalind’s explanation seemed to mollify Marsha, who asked, “Rosalind, do you think a lot of people will show?”

  “I think so. It’s only ten dollars a head, and we put up flyers all over Euliss. We even got them to announce it on the local news. So a lot of people know about it.”

  “If not, we’re going to have a whole lot of food to take home and we won’t be getting any of our money back,” I remarked.

  “Hey, Emily, is Teddy coming?” Rosalind asked.

  Marsha perked up like someone was talking about large sums of money. “Teddy Simms? Will he be here? What’s he up to? Is he married?”

  “He’s a denture technician,” I said. “He works in a dentist’s office in the same building as me, at least a few days a week. The rest of the time he’s at another dental office.”

  Marsha nodded thoughtfully. I knew she was trying to figure out how much a denture technician made. The thought of her making a move on Teddy made my throat constrict. I wasn’t being fair, and I knew it. But I also knew that Marsha was about to be disappointed if she saw Teddy as the answer to all her problems. With that rent increase that had just gone into effect this month, he’d barely be able to afford to take her to dinner.

  It soon became apparent that the reunion would be a success. People started coming in so fast that Wayne joined John on door duty to help out. Rosalind and John had both brought their old yearbooks, and people were looking at our pictures and cracking up. It was rather funny. So many of the white girls looked like Marcia Brady, with long center-parted straight hair. Most of the black kids had Jheri curls, which really looked ridiculous through twenty-first-century eyes. The music was playing, the bartenders were mixing drinks, and we were about to put the food out. By “we,” I mean Marsha, Rosalind, Valerie, and myself. I felt rather guilty for having recruited Valerie to join the reunion committee just to lie for me about having dinner with her the night I was with Teddy. She had a lot to do, what with having a newborn baby in the house and the traveling her lucrative career required of her.

  Tanis, on the other hand, had volunteered to help out but hadn’t even arrived yet. I couldn’t say I was surprised, given that her offer came out of trying to be nosy. The rest of us poured the hot foods into big foil pans and put them over lit disposable chafing dishes. The cold foods were placed in foil pans over slightly larger, ice-filled foil pans. The Crock-Pot Rosalind had brought for Tanis’s meatballs sat empty.

  I recognized most of the attendees on sight; no one had changed all that much in twenty-five years. Tracy Turner showed up in a simple scoop-necked black dress. Always a big girl, about Rosalind’s height but heavier, like most of us, she’d put on weight since graduation, but her dress had a slimming effect. Her thick hair had been texturized with waves and styled in a sculpted updo that I’d seen on many a fashion model. On the models it looked fashionable, but Tracy had too much hair to carry it off. The result made her look like a cross between the Bride of Frankenstein and Marge Simpson.

  I had to look twice at James Hardy, who wore striking Marine dress blues. James had moved to Euliss when we were in the fourth grade and was put in our class, even though he was eleven years old at the time, more in line with a sixth grader. He struggled through school with barely passing grades and disappeared after graduation.

  Valerie’s sister, Wendy, was in town as well with her husband, an average-looking brother who, like many of the men present, wore a sports coat and a mock turtleneck. Wendy barely said five words to Valerie. Their lack of interaction made it hard to believe they shared the same parents.

  A small number of white classmates attended as well, all of them now living here in New Rochelle or in nearby towns like Larchmont and Mamaroneck. I was surprised to see how many former brunettes had gone blond. Elias Ansara would have a field day.

  One dark-haired woman who looked vaguely familiar said, “Hi!” with so much enthusiasm that I was certain she spoke to someone else.

  I turned around, but when I saw no one there I turned back. “I’m sorry, were you talking to me?”

  “Yes! Emily, isn’t it?”

  I was embarrassed to not know her identity, e
ven though I felt certain I’d seen her somewhere. “Yes?”

  “I’m Shelly. My last name was Muldoon in high school.”

  Recognition slowly dawned on me. This was Shelly Muldoon? She looked so different from what I remembered.

  “Yes, it’s me.” She laughed. “I know I’ve changed some since then.”

  I’ll say she had. The Shelly Muldoon I remembered had been a big, strapping girl, second only to Tracy Turner. This woman, in her long-sleeved red dress with a skirt that molded to her hips, was slim enough to be a fashion model. But the light brown hair, the dark eyes…they hadn’t changed, other than the hair being a lot shinier.

  “You look great,” I said in a restrained voice.

  “Thanks. You, too. Do you still live in Euliss?”

  Already I was weary of being asked the same questions over and over again. Fortunately, something caught Shelly’s eye, and she didn’t appear to be paying much attention to me. Out of curiosity I turned to see what she was looking at, and in doing so it came to me where I’d seen her.

  She was looking at Teddy.

  She was the woman in the trench coat with the sports car.

  Uh-huh.

  I kept waiting for Aaron to arrive, but I saw everyone but him. I had hugged yet another former classmate, and after she moved on I finally saw him…with Tanis. Instinct told me they’d come together. He carried something wrapped in a brown paper bag, holding it lengthwise in front of him. No doubt it was a dish of meatballs.

  Tanis wore a cream-colored silk pantsuit with no blouse. She didn’t wear her hair as long as she had as a girl, but it still fell just past her shoulders. She looked quite lovely…and that’s what bothered me.

  Contrary to Valerie’s hopes, Tanis’s new TV show had turned out to be successful, one of a handful of new offerings that was a bona fide hit with the public and critics alike. Everyone knew she was on the show, and she happily stopped every few steps to accept congratulations and answer questions about the show’s leading cast members.