The Company You Keep

by Tracy Kelleher

  “Listen, I’m sorry I bumped into you like that,” she apologized quickly. “The hood of my jacket was pulled so low, and I was staring at my feet just trying to make a beeline to the bike rack. I didn’t even see you there. I didn’t do any damage, did I?” She looked up.

  “It was a low blow, but I think I’ll survive,” he replied, actually sounding charming—which despite his brother’s evaluation of his interpersonal skills, he was capable of being.

  He glanced briefly over his shoulder to check that Roxie was still poking around at the far end of the track before turning the full weight of his critical stare on her. He noticed Mimi’s lower lip was blue and trembling. “You look freezing. Can I give you my jacket? It’s a bit wet.” He lifted it by the lapel.

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” She waved him off, looking self-conscious. “It’s just lack of body fat—it tends to make me chilly. But enough trips to Hoagie Palace and I’ll be generating heat like a furnace.”

  He had to smile. Smile at her candor, her determination and her vulnerability all at the same time. He remembered his mother’s words from earlier this morning to avoid the Lodges.

  How could he?

  Then he looked over his shoulder nervously again.

  “Something out there?” Mimi glanced across the field.

  Vic pointed to the far end. “Just trying to keep an eye on Roxie. After my workout, I decided to let her off the leash and stretch her legs. Normally, she sticks pretty close, but this time, I don’t know. Maybe she’s picked up the smell of deer coming through here.” Roxie was wandering by one of the portals to the football stadium now, and Vic was in no mood to go after her. “If I start running after her, she’ll just think it’s some kind of game and take off.”

  Mimi stepped to his side. “Do you have any treats? Something to lure her back?”

  Vic glanced her way. The rain was easing up, but he noticed that several drops had beaded on the ends of her dark, spiky eyelashes. They were so long, he noticed. So dark against her pale skin. He was momentarily spellbound.

  “Treats?” she repeated. “Dog bones? Rawhide chews? Pastrami sandwiches?”

  Vic smiled. “Unfortunately, my goodies are at home or at the office. I hadn’t counted on her deciding to do a reconnoiter of the back forty.” He tried calling out her name, but all that elicited was a gentle wag of the tip of Roxie’s fanlike tail.

  Vic sighed. “Obviously this would happen when I was in a hurry.” He gave Mimi a look of exasperation.

  “I don’t know if this will help, but I guess it’s worth a try.” Mimi lifted her hand and, forming a circle with her middle finger and thumb, placed her fingers against her bottom teeth and whistled. It was the siren call to New York taxi drivers everywhere. And Roxie. The dog pricked up her ears, caught sight of Mimi and came running.

  Vic stared, truly amazed. “You know, I’ve always wanted to be able to do that.”

  Mimi looked sideways. “What can I say? One summer at sailing camp and I learned how to handle a rudder, blow smoke rings and whistle. Oh, and French kiss.” She seemed oblivious to Vic’s open-mouthed reaction.

  Mimi squatted down and let Roxie run into her open arms. Then she pulled back and ran a finger along the indentations of Roxie’s furrowed forehead. “Hey, girl, why the concerned face?”

  “Don’t take Roxie’s worrying personally,” he responded to her conversation with the dog. “She frets about the state of the world—everything, really. In fact, if you touch her the wrong way, or get too interested in a particular spot on her body—say, when I’m checking for ticks—she’s convinced she’s going to die.”

  “Poor Roxie. No one should have to bear so heavy a burden—especially when so much is out of your control anyway.”

  He watched the wrinkles in Roxie’s forehead relax as she lavished kisses on Mimi’s face. “It’s incredible the way she responds to you.”

  “It must be the smell of chlorine from all my time in the pool.” Mimi let Roxie have her go, and then she gave a final pat and went to stand up.

  Immediately, she grabbed the inside of her thigh. “Ooh. I can feel that. I thought I felt a tweak to my hamstring during the workout, but now it’s for real. Must be the cold. It should be an interesting bike ride.”

  “Then let me give you a ride. I can fit the bike in the trunk of the car. It’s a wagon, remember? Besides, Roxie will probably run off if she sees you leave without her.”

  “You could put her on a leash?” Mimi pointed to the plaid lead in his hand.

  “She’ll whine like crazy, trust me.”

  Mimi held up her hand, palm up. “Look, it’s stopped raining.”

  “C’mon. You’ll only be injuring your hamstring more. It may have stopped raining—” it was true, the sun was winning the battle and peeking out from behind the clouds “—but your body’s still chilled.”

  She frowned. “I thought you said you were in a hurry for some meeting or other?”

  “How far out of my way can it be? Grantham’s not that big of a place,” he argued. “C’mon. Where are you headed?”

  “Bean World.”

  “Geez, Lodge,” he exclaimed, using her last name—jock to jock. Somehow that made it easier, more natural. “That’s only a few blocks out of my way.”

  She looked torn.

  He frowned. “Listen, if I didn’t know better, I’d say your refusal was personal. This makes twice in two days—not that I’m counting.”

  She rubbed her nose, sniffed, then sniffed again. “It’s not, really.” She raised her head to look him in the eye. “I mean, it’s personal, but not about you, that is…” She toyed with the strap on her backpack, searching for words.

  Vic arched an eyebrow. “If it’s not personal about me, are you saying it’s personal—meaning you?” He pointed.

  Roxie, sitting between them, gazed from one human to the other.

  “Mimi?” Vic prodded her when she didn’t reply.

  Mimi shifted her gaze to the wide expanse of sky. “Hey, look. A double rainbow. I can’t remember the last time I saw one. Maybe Mongolia when I was getting a demonstration on falcon hunting?”

  “Mimi?”

  “Or was it Reno?” She acted like she hadn’t heard him. “I remember eating at this Italian restaurant—not bad, actually—and coming out and looking across the street at a pawnshop, and overhead were two rainbows.”

  “Mimi? Look at me.”

  Mimi eyed him nervously.

  “It’s not me. It’s the car that’s got you spooked, isn’t it?”

  She nodded—barely. “No one ever said you were dumb.”

  “I don’t know—I believe you said as much twelve years ago.”

  “I said you were misguided, even pigheaded—but that’s definitely not the same thing as dumb—not by a long shot.” She paused, the muscles in her neck taut. “You’re right. Ever since I was kidnapped in Chechnya—I don’t know if you heard about that?”

  “It would have been hard not to,” he conceded.

  Mimi smacked her lips. “Yeah, I guess it got a lot of coverage. Anyway, I was abducted in a car, blindfolded and now I get kind of antsy—more than kind of, actually—about getting into one. I mean, I barely managed to let Press drive me from the Junction, and he’s family…whatever that means.”

  “Look on the bright side. It must save a fortune in taxis in New York,” Vic said positively.

  The corners of her mouth turned up a little.

  “Look, I promise you have nothing to worry about. Roxie will be there the whole time, and, trust me—she’d never let anything happen to you. Talk about loyalty at first sight—which has absolutely nothing to do with chlorine. And if Roxie can’t convince you, I’ll give you another good reason. My ex-wife—”

  “Bringing up your ex-wife is supposed to help me get over my irrational fears?” She was teasing him.

  Vic took that as a good sign, that she wasn’t quite as tense. “Your fears aren’t irrational. They sound pretty rea
sonable to me, considering what happened. If the same thing had happened to me, I’m sure I’d be holed up in my house, afraid to come out.”

  “Well, I’m not that far removed from that state.” She studied his face with a lopsided smile. “You’re a good guy, Vic Golinski, despite what I may have said about you. Okay, what I did say about you.” She paused. “And I just wanted to let you know, I’ve never told anyone else about my car phobia.”

  Vic was touched, like something important had just happened. But he wasn’t going to let it go to his head—at least, not in front of her. “So, are you going to let me finish or what?”

  She crossed her arms. “Okay, tell me about your ex-wife.”

  “Granted, Shauna—”

  At the mention of her name Roxie started whining.

  Mimi looked down. “Is she trying to tell me something?”

  Vic laughed softly. “Roxie was not a fan of my ex, and the feeling was mutual.”

  Mimi lifted her head. “I have a feeling I have nothing to fear, then.”

  Vic cleared his throat. “Anyway—” he glanced down at Roxie “—she who shall not be mentioned was, as she used to say, ‘Committed to Feng Shui.’ I don’t remember much about it except that she was constantly changing around the furniture in our condo to create better peace and harmony.”

  “Did it work?” Mimi asked, her head cocked. Arms still crossed, she tapped her fingers on an elbow.

  “Right up until the point my contract wasn’t renewed. After that, the karma never seemed to align.”

  “And how is this supposed to give me the courage to get into your car?”

  He held up his hand. “Let me just finish. Anyway, according to Sh—” he stopped himself in time “—according to you-know-who, a double rainbow is apparently a sign from the cosmic universe, indicating something wonderful is about to happen. Not only that, one good thing will lead to another—’cause there’re two?” He made an arching shape with his index finger. “So, what do you say?”

  Roxie was the one to react first. She rose and grabbed the leash dangled from Vic’s hand. Then she batted her long lashes at Mimi and wagged her fanlike tail.

  “See, how can you say no to that?” Vic looked from his dog to Mimi.

  Mimi nodded. “Wow, I wouldn’t want to disappoint Roxie. Besides, she can help in what psychiatrists call desensitization—helping me re-experience the scary thing thereby making it less scary. Basically, she just needs to sit close to me—real close.”

  “Honey, the dog would Velcro herself to you, if you let her.”

  Mimi laughed.

  He took that as a yes. “Shall we?” he offered. “I’m just parked in the lot, one of the first rows. I’ll wait while you get the bike.”

  She hitched up the backpack on her shoulder. “Okay.”

  He watched her walk gingerly to the bike rack—obviously her leg was hurting her more than she wanted to let on. Then she leaned over to undo the lock and unconsciously shook her head, like a dog drying out its fur after a quick dip in a stream. Vic noticed how the dark brown, almost black strands were sculpted back from her face and had taken on amber highlights. They haloed her pale skin, emphasizing her high cheekbones and long, attenuated nose.

  And that’s when he experienced one of those unexpected flashback moments. He was young and sitting in the old Polish church in Trenton. He saw the devotional paintings hanging on the walls of the side chapels in their gilt frames and the way the rows of votive candles in the tall metal holders cast a flickering, mysterious light on them. Going to church had never held any special religious significance for him, but the mystery, the exotic nature of the icons in the smoky light, had been fascinating for their magical beauty.

  He stared, unable to take his eyes off her. She had that same mystery to her. Not that his reaction was devotional by any stretch of the imagination.

  Mimi wheeled the bike next to him. She frowned, then looked around before focusing her lush mahogany-brown eyes back at him. “What?”

  “Your hair.” He blurted out the first thing—well, the first censored thing that came to him. “It dries quickly.”

  She ran a hand through the slicked-back strands, messing them. “Yeah, I know. It’s serviceable, but that’s about it. I just can’t deal with the whole stylist-salon scene right now.”

  “Actually, I was going to say it was sexy.”

  He’d come a long way from church in Trenton.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  THAT SAME MORNING, Press lay in his bed, trying to decide if it was worth getting up. He was supposed to get together with Penelope at the Rare Book Library, but that wasn’t until after lunch. She had emailed him something about a Reunions show featuring manuscripts that dealt with time and memory.

  “I look forward to hearing all about your studies,” she had written. “I know you will be excited to see Woodrow Wilson’s diaries that he kept while at Grantham University. Then there are some delightful folios from a volume of Diderot’s Encyclopédie depicting time piece mechanisms. But the manuscript of St. Augustine is truly the piece de résistance. Do you think anyone will appreciate it except you, Amara and me? Only time will tell. That, by the way, was my attempt at a joke.”

  That was so Penelope. Some people never changed. As opposed to his good buddies—Matt who was a no-show, and Amara who seemed to do nothing but talk about Matt.

  It was inevitable that they would grow apart, he supposed, with him being so far away and doing completely different stuff. Maybe he had only himself to blame for being the worst correspondent possible. Besides, it’s not as if he had encouraged Amara to keep in touch, either. At Reunions last year, he had been the one to give her the cold shoulder when she practically threw herself at him.

  But she had been a kid, just about to graduate from prep school, whereas he was four years older. Two different worlds, two different paths. Anyway, like he was boyfriend material? His idea of commitment was to watch a movie from start to finish. As for relationships? It wasn’t his style. True, the hook-ups that were so common at college these days seemed pretty bloodless to him. But the alternative—pledging your trust and loyalty to one person—seemed destined for failure, especially if his family’s history was anything to go by.

  So, okay, she hadn’t appeared to be pining after him. He could live with that. But did she have to latch onto Matt like he was the next Messiah? Hopefully, he and Matt would be able to get together soon before they both took off again, and then he’d find out what was really going on.

  Speaking of Matt, Press glanced at his cell phone to see if he had texted him. Nothing, but then it was probably too early. He’d only woken up because he was totally screwed up with the time difference. Maybe if he was lucky, he could roll over and get some more sleep. He’d just get up to close the blinds and block out the sunlight. It was gray outside, but still light enough that it interfered with sleep.

  He pushed back the quilt that he’d had since prep school and got up. His bedroom was pretty much untouched from when he was younger—the autographed baseball posters, the ship model and the Grantham University banner with his grandfather’s class year tacked up over his dresser. On his desk sat an old computer that looked primeval, and he couldn’t imagine what kind of software it ran. Needless to say, his laptop was on the floor by his bed, charging. He stepped over it and reached out for the cord by the window.

  And that’s when he heard the loud gagging noise. His first thought was Mimi. He forgot all about the window and went running out of his room and down the hall toward her bedroom in nothing but his boxers and the T-shirt he’d slept in. He flung open the door.

  The room was empty.

  “Mimi?” he called out and walked to the center of the room. The double bed was neatly made, a beige comforter pulled up tautly under a mound of pillows. He pivoted around. The armoire doors were shut, the dresser, covered in a white lace runner had a brush and comb placed just so, a bottle of perfume positioned directly to the side. He continue
d to survey the room—her suitcase open on the blanket chest, a pair of opened-toed flats lined up to the side.

  “Mimi,” he said out loud again and craned his neck to look in the bathroom that her room shared with Brigid’s farther down the hall. But that was empty, too. Maybe he’d imagined it… .

  The noise started up again. Press backed out and listened carefully. It was coming from the side wing of the house.

  Confused, he walked gingerly toward his father and Noreen’s bedroom around the corner. His fingertips traced along the country French toile wallpaper with farm animals and gamboling farm maidens. He hesitated.

  And heard the retching noise again, this time louder.

  Press picked up his pace, then stopped at the partially closed bedroom door. He knocked.

  There was no answer.

  Only another bout of gagging, louder.

  He pushed the door wide open and strode into the room. “Hello? Is anyone there?” he asked. Well, duh? There has to be somebody, but who?

  He crossed the carpeted floor, past the giant canopy bed with miles of gauze and mounds of embroidered pillows, the clothes tossed over delicate chairs, the bottles of lotions and perfumes. “Hello?” he inquired tentatively,

  He stopped at the threshold to the en suite bathroom and stuck his head inside. He gasped. “Noreen?”

  His stepmother was squatting next to the toilet, her head over the toilet bowl. She weakly lifted one hand and flushed. Then she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and slowly looked over her shoulder. “Press? How long have you been standing there?”

  He shook his head. “Not long, but long enough to see…that you’re sick.”

  She slumped to a sitting position, bracing her back against an enormous claw-foot bathtub, and leaned her head back. She inhaled slowly through her mouth, her eyes shut.

  “Is there anything I can do? Should I call Dad?”

  She shook her head and opened her eyes, focusing on him. Her skin was pasty and moist. Her hair had half fallen out of her ponytail and a lock was plastered to her cheek. She unzipped her warm-up jacket and slowly stretched out her legs.