Small towns, green forests, and kudzu-covered hills spun by as Sarah jotted down five verses of “Slap My Face and Slam the Door” for Quentin. Despite his lack of sophistication, or perhaps because of it, he was a master at composing catchy tunes and rhymes about the mundane. The third album would be a success and Sarah’s job security assured if the music had anything to do with it. She kicked off her running shoes and stuck her feet out the window, crossing her ankles on the doorframe. What a relief, a whole day without high heels. The warm wind tickled between her toes.
An hour later, Quentin maneuvered his truck into an empty space in the nearly full parking lot next to a rambling brick restaurant, with Owen’s truck close behind.
“The Highway 280 Steak House,” Sarah read from the sign. “Did you eat here a lot growing up?”
“You could say that.” He took her hand and led her through a side door and between crowded tables, as if he knew the place well. Sarah wondered whether he’d worked here.
“I don’t see anyone eating steak,” she observed.
“They only serve steak on Wednesday night, after church. The rest of the time, they serve chicken. Except special occasions, when they serve Indian food.”
“Indian?” Small Alabama towns had no taste for the exotic. “Why Indian food?”
“Because my stepmother’s from Delhi,” he called over his shoulder as he pushed open a swinging door into the enormous, bustling kitchen.
Several women and men came away from their pots and knives to hug or shake hands with Quentin and shout greetings at him over the foreign pop music with strange percussion. A beautiful older Indian lady in a purple sari approached him, talking in heavily accented English or a foreign dialect—Sarah couldn’t tell which with the music blaring.
Quentin gave the lady a long hug. He said loudly over the music, “This is Sarah.”
The lady eyed Sarah’s hair. Then, smiling broadly, she leaned close. “You made Quentin drive.” She hugged Sarah hard, talking over Sarah’s head to Quentin in what Sarah assumed was Hindi.
Quentin responded, “No,” then, “Yes,” then, “Oh yeah? How many hit singles have you written? Everybody’s a critic today.”
Muttering something, Quentin’s stepmother released Sarah, then ladled stew out of a nearby pot and handed Sarah a plate and fork. Sarah politely prepared to try it.
“Don’t eat that,” Quentin warned her.
Sarah didn’t want to be rude. She opened her mouth.
Quentin took the plate and fork away from her and dumped the stew into the garbage. He handed the plate and fork to a passing worker, who took them without comment and headed for a dishwasher the size of a car. “When I tell you not to eat something that my stepmother gives you,” Quentin said, “don’t eat it. People from Schenectady don’t eat that part of the animal.”
“What is it?” Sarah asked, horrified. “An Indian delicacy?”
“Soul food. She makes it for Owen.”
Quentin’s stepmother unceremoniously plopped an enormous pile of wet herbs on the counter in front of him. Sarah didn’t know what they were, because she didn’t know one herb from another. He took a knife from a nearby block and began separating leaves from stems and chopping expertly.
“So this is how you learned to cook,” Sarah said, watching from his non-chopping side.
He laughed shortly. “There were seven of us, and I was the only one old enough to be of any use. And the restaurant didn’t do so well at first. Let’s just say I earned my keep.” He glanced at her. “Well, it wasn’t that bad. I was sixteen by then. I would call Owen to come get me and we’d go drink beer. When I dragged myself home again, she’d slap me in the back of the head, but it wouldn’t hurt so much.”
Sarah leaned closer, inhaling the spice of the herbs and watching his poker face. “You’re trying to tell me something, but you’re layering the jokes so thick that I don’t know what you mean. Was it bad or not?”
He stopped chopping and turned to her with a strange look. Finally he said, “It was good. I just didn’t know it at the time.”
The open moment passed. He scooped up the herbs and threw them into two bowls at the back of the counter. “This is baingan bartha in progress,” he told her. “One for me and one for the lightweights. Do you like yours hot?”
Sarah nodded, because Natsuko probably loved spicy food, the hotter the better. She watched uneasily as he chopped very small peppers and scooped them off the cutting board with the blade of the knife. He raked them, seeds and all, into the small bowl, and stirred. Tearing off pieces from a nearby pile of nan, he dipped out some for Sarah and some for himself.
It was delicious. Five seconds later, it was the hottest thing Sarah had ever put in her mouth. It was all she could do to keep from wincing.
“Not hot enough,” Quentin said. Sarah watched in horror as he chopped more peppers and dipped out a taste for them again. This time it was all she could do to keep from spitting it out in self-preservation. She realized now that Quentin was getting her back for the tequila shots that first night.
“I just can’t get it hot enough,” he complained innocently, chopping up more peppers and stirring them into the bowl.
Quentin’s stepmother reappeared, put her hand on Sarah’s shoulder, and scolded Quentin. Sarah feared the burn in her mouth might have charred part of the circuitry of her brain. But she thought Quentin was giving his stepmother lip in slow, deliberate Hindi with an Alabama accent. His stepmother reached up and slapped him hard on the back of the head.
“All right!” Quentin said. He put down the knife and motioned for Sarah to follow him to a huge refrigerator. He handed her a small carton of milk. She opened the carton and started drinking, watching him over the top. How could he stand the heat? Finally, with a wry smile, he reached in for his own carton of milk.
Sarah didn’t stop drinking until the milk was gone and some feeling had returned to her mouth. She gasped, “What did your stepmother say?”
He crumpled his empty carton in his fist. “Uh . . . ‘What are you doing to the pink-haired woman . . . Don’t you want her to have your babies . . . Get the hell out of my kitchen.’ Basically.”
Sarah laughed heartily. “That’s a hot game of gotcha you’ve got going.”
“Tit for tat.” He threw away the milk cartons and pulled her out of the kitchen, through the large, open restaurant, to a front entry with a counter and cash register.
Sarah would have recognized Quentin’s father right away, even if he hadn’t been passing into the dining room to seat customers. He was a few inches shorter than Quentin and had dark hair, but their muscular builds were similar and their green eyes were the same. When he saw Quentin, he beamed at him and nodded to a group of customers coming out of the dining room. Someone needed to ring up their check. Quentin slipped behind the counter and worked the cash register as if it was second nature.
While she waited, Sarah moved around the small room, examining the Cheatin’ Hearts memorabilia decorating the walls. In the most prominent spot was a huge poster of the back cover of Ass Backwards, signed by all four band members. Sarah agreed that this was a good choice for the restaurant, despite Erin’s red push-up bra, because it showed the band members’ faces and no naked butt.
She made her way around to the counter. Quentin watched her while she examined a framed family photo. A teenage Quentin, tall and thin, light brown curls even wilder than now, wearing spectacles. Holding his fingers in rabbit ears above his father’s head. His father with his arm around Quentin’s sari-clad stepmother. Two blond preteen girls and four small, black-haired children.
“You are the oldest,” Sarah murmured, fascinated. “I had you pegged for the youngest.”
“Why?”
“Because youngest children are the ones who join sex-crazed country bands. Oldest children and only children are the responsible ones with steady jobs. They tend to—”
“Dye their hair pink and move to Rio,” he said, pulling her pon
ytail. “Hey,” he called over her head to his father. Sarah stood back as the two of them embraced and Quentin’s father slapped him on the back.
“This is Sarah,” Quentin said.
His father took both Sarah’s hands and looked down into her eyes.
“Did that package show up?” Quentin asked.
“They just delivered it,” his father said without taking his eyes off Sarah. He motioned with his head toward a door behind the counter. “It’s in the office.”
“I’m going to check right quick,” Quentin told Sarah, “and make sure I got you what I think I got you for your birthday.” He disappeared through the doorway.
His father held Sarah still with his green eyes. He asked, fascinated, “How’d you get him to drive?”
“Dumb luck,” Sarah explained. She wanted to ask him what Quentin’s problem had been, but she didn’t quite dare bring it up and ruin the happy moment.
Quentin’s father raked his hands back through his hair in the motion of Quentin’s that Sarah was growing to love. “I’ve been trying to get him to drive for—” Quentin’s father shook his head, then threw his arms around her and hugged her hard. “Thank you.”
“Gross,” Quentin said beside them. “I start driving and everyone turns to mush.”
A large group came in and Quentin’s father went to seat them. Quentin led Sarah to a table where Erin and Owen leaned together in intimate conversation. Martin sat beside them, arms folded on the table, chin on hands, eyes closed. He stirred, then closed his eyes again as Quentin’s stepmother appeared with a cart of food and handed bowls to Quentin to pass around the table.
Sarah still felt apprehensive about facing the Cheatin’ Hearts again after her outburst the day before, but bravely she moved forward, pulled out a chair, and sat beside Erin. Then, partly because she wanted to test how angry Erin was, and partly because she really was completely confused, she asked Erin quietly, “Does Quentin speak Hindi?”
Erin giggled. “It’s pretty weird hearing that come out of his mouth, isn’t it?” But she took a bowl Quentin’s stepmother passed her and didn’t elaborate, as if an uneducated country boy speaking Hindi was weird, but not that weird. She elbowed Martin and tried to hand him the bowl. “Are you going to sleep all day?”
“No,” he said matter-of-factly, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
To change the subject from Martin’s conspicuous napping, Sarah said truthfully, “This food is so delicious. Amazing.”
“Isn’t it?” Erin agreed. “It’s even better than Q’s.”
“I know,” said Quentin. “I think my stepmom’s holding out on me. She’s putting something in it that she isn’t telling me about.”
“Why would she do that?” Erin asked.
Sarah said, “She wants you to keep coming back.”
She felt Quentin staring at her. When she glanced up at him, he looked like she’d given him a revelation. She smiled and resumed eating.
Then she felt Erin staring at her from the other side. Erin was pissed. Sarah filed this information for future use. Erin minded a little when Sarah touched Quentin, but she minded a lot when Sarah made inroads or gained insight that Erin didn’t have. Convincing him to drive. Commenting on his stepmother. It was okay with Erin for him to have sex with someone else. It wasn’t okay for him to fall in love.
Sarah thought it wise to concentrate on her food. This was another rare occasion when she ate until she was stuffed. She wasn’t sure what most of the Indian dishes were, but Quentin didn’t stop her again, so she figured they were safe to eat. Later, when Quentin and Owen finally finished, Quentin’s stepmother cleared away the empty bowls and brought out a white birthday cake decorated with Sarah’s name. Quentin’s stepmother and father sat down at the end of the table.
Erin and Owen handed Target-wrapped gifts down the table to Sarah. Erin’s was straw stacked heels that tied around the ankle—the countriest, sluttiest shoes Sarah had ever seen. “Welcome to my side of the fence,” Erin said with a wink.
Owen’s gift was a silver toe ring with heart cutouts. Sarah thought Erin must have picked it out, but Owen actually smiled at Sarah when she opened it, as if he wished her well for once. She wasn’t sure what to do. What the hell? She stood and hugged him. Kindly he whispered, “Happy birthday,” in her ear.
She sat down to a small, flat box. This must be the emerald from Quentin. He leaned over expectantly, watching her. She opened what she thought would be a gold chain with a small emerald pendant.
Everyone gasped.
The whole thing was emeralds. Lots of emeralds, large and small, set in circles. The necklace was narrower in the back, cascading to a pendant in front.
Erin looked grim.
Owen’s sarcasm returned. “Look, the royalties for ‘Come to Find Out.’ ” He slapped Quentin on the back. “Good thinking.”
Sarah looked to Quentin in horror. Quentin shook his head and smiled. When he motioned, she turned around obediently so he could clasp the heavy necklace around her neck.
“Looks great with your tank top,” he said.
She put her lips to his ear and whispered, “I can’t take this.”
“I’m rich,” he whispered back. “If you were my girlfriend, you’d shut up and kiss me.”
She sat back to gaze into his laughing green eyes. Then she put her arms around his neck and kissed him like a girlfriend who’d just gotten a very expensive, very beautiful birthday present.
Quentin’s father leaned over Sarah to flick a lighter to the candles on the birthday cake. Just as Sarah was taking a breath to blow them out, Quentin’s stepmother said something in Hindi.
“I was just thinking the same thing,” Sarah said. This day seemed so foreign and yet so right.
Quentin laughed and laughed his musical laugh. Finally he choked out, “Make a wish.”
Sarah looked around at the faces smiling at her. Her eyes lingered on Quentin. She wished that he wasn’t in love with Erin, and that he and Sarah could be together. She blew out the candles.
They spent the afternoon at a huge modern house tucked among shady trees along the lake. Sarah was apprehensive about changing into her bathing suit along with Erin in the bathroom. She was afraid Erin would take the opportunity alone with Sarah to share exactly what she thought of her and the emerald necklace.
But the tension melted when they saw that the red bikini Sarah had bought at Target was identical to the one Erin wore, and with their country heels and toe rings on, they looked comically like they’d planned to dress as twins.
Erin giggled. “I guess country floozy and rock ’n’ roll floozy aren’t all that different.”
Sarah agreed, “Not in a bikini.”
Laughing together, they passed Martin sleeping on the living room couch and walked down the lush lawn to a sandy beach and a pier. Quentin and Owen were setting a large ice chest down on the wood. Owen reached in for a beer.
“I thought it was Erin’s turn to get drunk,” Quentin said.
“I traded with Owen,” Erin said.
Sarah thought again, uneasily, Erin hides sobriety from men.
“Look at you,” Quentin said to Sarah. He held her arms away from her body and examined her midriff, then her breasts. He took her hand. “Come with me into the lake,” he growled at her, “or I’m going to pick you up.”
Sarah rather wanted to be picked up. But she let him pull her into the water, which was clear in the shallows and warm as a bath. Then he picked her up anyway, wrapped her legs around his waist, and kissed her deeply.
They kissed for a long time, standing in the lake, dappled in bright sun and shade from the overhanging trees. Quentin was erect against Sarah, underwater where no one could see. She got a thrill rubbing against him with Erin and Owen lying in the heat on the dock twenty feet away, and with motorboats passing by out in the river channel. She wondered if he caught the buzz, too.
“This is great,” she said, voicing all her appreciation for the long, hea
dy crotch rub with her handsome friend on her birthday. “Is the house yours?”
Quentin was kissing just above her bikini on her chest. He said without raising his head, “Owen bought it for his parents.”
“Where are they?”
He kissed above her other breast. “Last week he sent them to Australia for their anniversary.” Kiss. “At least, that’s what he said.” Kiss. “I think he just wanted to get them out of town because of Erin.”
Her eyes darted to Erin, lying unaware on the pier with her hand on Owen’s back. “Why?” Sarah asked. “What about Erin?”
Quentin kissed his way up Sarah’s neck. “Erin in general. Parents don’t like Erin.”
“Owen’s parents, or your parents?”
“All parents,” Quentin said in her ear. “I wish you could have heard what my stepmom said about her at the restaurant. Of course, you did hear it. I’m glad y’all don’t speak Hindi.” He sucked Sarah’s earlobe.
“Why don’t parents like Erin?”
He stopped and gazed over at the pier. “Are you kidding? Look at her. She looks like trouble.” He turned back to Sarah and slid his hands down to her ass. “Of course, my stepmom only had nice things to say about you, and look at you. This is how I like my women. Barefoot, pink ponytails, bikini, emerald necklace.” He stuck his tongue in her ear.
They spent the long, hot afternoon alternately lying on inflatable rafts in the water and lying on towels on the pier, spreading sunblock provocatively on each other’s hot skin, making out, and talking. The sun sank lower in the sky, and the four of them devoured the leftovers Quentin’s stepmother had packed from lunch.
Then Quentin and Sarah lay down together on the pier once more, and Sarah reviewed what she’d found out in the last few hours. They liked the same TV shows—and he told her about a few intriguing ones that had debuted while she’d been in Rio. They liked the same movies. They had voted for all the same presidential candidates. She had hidden her surprise that Quentin had voted. If she hadn’t known better, she would have basked in the glow of falling in love with him. She’d felt this way at first with Harold, except they’d never had the intense physical connection she and Quentin shared to back up the mental one.
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