by Lily Robins
“But I ain’t got no money,” Wyatt insistently said.
“Maybe you do,” Gloria Schiller said. “I’ll give you the monetary help you need in exchange for one solemn promise from you, Wyatt.”
Wyatt looked at Gloria as though she had fallen from an alien sky. “Why would you do that, Mrs. Schiller? I’m a nobody.”
“You are definitely a somebody,” Gloria responded. “I’ve been knowing you for over a year, Wyatt. You need a hand up, not a hand out. I’ll give you that hand up in exchange for that promise that I want from you.”
Roman looked down at Mona, at how she waited vigilantly beside Wyatt. For a moment, she softly panted, before she settled down to a crouched position. He turned toward Ben Housman to ask, “Could you get Wyatt’s belongings?”
“Yup,” Ben answered. “He’ll show me the way.”
Gloria Schiller lifted her purse from the floor and pulled out a packet of cash. “I had stopped at the bank this morning,” she said, looking at Wyatt. Staring back at the woman until he blinked, and then looking toward Ben Housman, Ben Girard, Iris Gilbert, and at Roman, Wyatt looked back at Gloria again and said, “I promise not to drink anymore.”
A plan to help Wyatt out of destitution began to take shape. Roman interjected his desire for Ben to stay in classes that would help him get a GED diploma. The classes were free to anyone seeking a Graduate Equivalency Degree from high school. Wyatt told Roman that he would stay to finish his preparation for taking the exam in a couple of months.
“From there, you were planning to go to trade school to learn how to be a plumber, Wyatt. That’s what we’ve talked about.”
“A long ways off,” Wyatt quietly said. “But I’m gonna try, Doc.”
Gloria and Ben Girard spoke together about getting a tow truck for Wyatt’s small truck. “A guy at work I know will haul it in for the price of the gas he uses,” Wyatt assured. “They’re good guys at work, and most of ‘em haven’t ever seen a 67 Datsun.” He looked at Wyatt with a grin. “We’ll get you runnin’ again, Bro.”
After the meeting broke up, and Roman asked Evan Ferguson to stay for a moment, he said to the newcomer, “I was told by our receptionist, Rene, that you called about the AA meeting we have every Friday morning. We’re glad to have you with us, Evan.”
“You’re a psych guy?” Evan asked.
“I am. I have a doctorate in clinical psychology,” Roman told him.
“Maybe I’ll come back.”
Roman looked at the man who had a full head of gray hair, much like Roman’s, and at the man’s eyes, that were deeply brown in color and had a strange, intense look about them. “I hope you will. Today’s meeting was more unusual that most.”
“Looks like these people are coming to Wyatt’s rescue.”
“This group cares a lot about each other,” Roman confirmed.
“I’m a drunk who still has money, doctor,” Evan said in a dispassionate tone.
“You’ve just accomplished the first step. How long have you been sober, Evan?”
Dispassionately, Ferguson answered, “A few hours.”
“Do you need to talk to me one-on-one?”
“Maybe. You’ve got time?”
“I’ll make time. Give me a few minutes.”
*****
In the privacy of his office, Roman called Jess.
“No one’s sorrier and I am,” he said after breaking his lunch date with her.
“You know it’s okay, Roman. You’re in the business of helping people and these things come up quite often, I’m sure.”
“I’ll still be at Aden’s practice and bring him home.” He knew his tone of voice reflected his grave disappointment. He said, “I’ll make it up tomorrow—if tomorrow ever the hell gets here.”
“It’ll get here, and you’re going to be fine, and I’m already okay. Now go back and do what you do, and we’ll meet up for pizza tonight.”
“I love you, Jess Wentworth.”
“I love you too, Roman.”
CHAPTER 28
“I’m a hedge fund manager,” Ferguson said. “My office is in Boston.”
“You commute, or have a place there?”
“Matter of fact, I do have a place there that I stay at during the week.”
“Are you married?”
“Divorced.”
“Kids?”
“One.”
“You said that you’ve been sober for a few hours. Care to elaborate on that?”
“Nature of the work I do. High stress all the time.”
“So, you drink to relax, or drink while you make deals with people?”
“All of the above,” Ferguson said without the slightest change in his expression.
*****
He was still thinking about Evan Ferguson when he got on the ferry with Mona, the two of them walk-ons, since he intended to turn right back around after leaving Mona at his mother’s and head back in his vehicle to the high school. The man had given almost all short answers to what Roman had asked him, and he had not committed to reducing the consumption of alcohol, nor to trying to go cold turkey. Roman felt as though he were being scrutinized—something that new clients sometimes did initially. This was especially true with the more educated, financially well-off, those who could afford to go to any counseling service they wished, but who wanted to try the local service that was available to them before driving to either Portland or Boston. Speaking of which—Evan Ferguson could more easily have gone to someone in Boston. He had said that his home base was local, however, and Ferguson had paid Rene cash for his session with Roman.
He didn’t know if he would see the guy again. Ferguson was an odd duck and he had left Roman with a strange feeling that he hadn’t yet processed. That might well have been because he had given up the earlier part of his Friday afternoon—the part involving Jess and him—and he was left with the feeling of having accomplished absolutely nothing.
It was time to get beyond the work week, and as Roman got out of his vehicle and walked to the stands, he dismissed his and The Group’s first encounter with Ferguson. If the guy came back to AA, that was fine, but Roman wasn’t at all sure that he wanted to try to counsel someone who was so deliberately vague and non-committal, and who had easy access to a variety of therapists in a metropolitan area.
The baseball team was just coming out the door of the athletic building—or rather, running out of it toward the track area to begin their laps. Jack Lemming walked out with his clipboard in hand, along with his I-Pad, and ambled over to the stands. He had a whistle on a cord around his neck, and his assistants were bringing out the baseball equipment. The two men smiled at each other and bumped fists.
“Thanks for what you did the other day,” Roman said. “Danny Randall said no one’s uttered a peep since your tirade.”
“That’s a good word for it,” Jack admitted. “Two or three of these boys don’t have a clue about honor, or basic decency. I’m good to my word about watchin’ all this electronic BS.”
“Just what you’re doing—got one of your devices at hand at all times,” agreed Roman.
Jack chuckled. “This one’s got player stats, and other info pertainin’ to this year’s season. Say—I’m seein’ you and Mrs. Leitner together a lot now.”
“You’re seeing right, Jack.”
“She sure isn’t hard to look at. Looks a lot like that actress—Julie somebody. My wife said that.”
“Julia Roberts. Yeah, she does, especially because she’s tall and has long hair and a gorgeous face.”
“Man! You got it bad, dude!” Jack let out loud laughter.
“I’m a goner,” Roman admitted, laughing with Jack.
“Well, her son Aden—he’s an honest-to-god natural, Roman. And I’ve got him for four whole years. Thanks for the heads-up on him. He’s shinin’ already, and by the end of the season, people are gonna know his name!”
*****
Coach cut the practice a little short, and when Roman tol
d Aden that they were meeting his mom and Molly for pizza, he had assumed that the boy would not be too averse to the idea, but Aden took a whiff under his arms and said, “I might smell bad.”
“You got a girlfriend who might be hanging out at Panelli’s?”
Aden bit at his top lip and then blurted out, “Maybe.”
Keeping a serious look on his face, Roman said, “Don’t take your jacket off in the restaurant. First thing—hit the can and wash up your face and hands. Girls like guys’ hair a little messy. You shave yet?”
“Almost,” Aden said.
“What’s her name?”
“Evie—it’s short for Evangeline. Danny likes her BF, Brittany. I don’t know if she’ll be here or not, but she said she was hoping to be. Danny’s gonna be here in a few minutes.”
Roman had parked in the pizza restaurant’s lot and had turned off the engine. In another minute, Jess and Molly wheeled in to the space beside them, and Roman and Jess exchanged smiles through the vehicles’ windows.
Once everyone got out, Roman put his arm around Jess, and as they walked toward the entry, they managed a quick kiss. “How was your practice with Reverend Mannis, Molly?”
“It was good,” Molly replied with her typical cheery elation.
“She loves Dr. Mannis,” Jess added as they went inside the aromatically to-die-for pizzeria.
They managed to snag a longer table and hadn’t even sat down when Aden headed for the men’s room. The place was beginning to jump and jive, with pop rock music blaring, and the kaleidoscopic sounds of the video games and arcade machines resounding from an adjoining room through a wide pass-thru. Just as someone came by to take their drink orders, Cheryl, Eli and Danny walked in. Everyone but Danny took off their jackets and gave their drink orders as they took seats. Danny asked where Aden was, Roman told him, and the guy zipped toward the men’s room.
“What’s going on with those two?” Cheryl inquired.
“Girls,” Roman informed them.
“Girls?” Cheryl and Jess said in unison.
Roman and Eli smiled at the women’s reactions.
“Patrick’s out with his girlfriend,” Cheryl announced. Shrugging, she remarked, “Can’t stop time from marching on.”
Eli prophetically said, “One of these days, Sugar-Babe, we’ll be in our empty nest, wonderin’ what happened to the time.”
When the server came with their drinks, they ordered three large pizzas, and Jess was the first to look around for Aden among the throng of people. Roman noticed that and stood, his six-five height enabling him to see above heads to the arcade area where a lot of the real action was occurring. The place was swamped, something that happened at Panelli’s every Friday and Saturday night. He spotted both Aden and Danny playing video games, while a couple of young girls stood nearby watching them. He sat back down and said to Jess and Cheryl, “If I’m guessing right, Miss Evangeline and Miss Brittany are making eyes at our two budding Casanovas.”
Both Cheryl and Jess quickly stood up, both standing on tip-toes and craning their necks. Molly, sitting quietly in her seat beside Roman, asked, “What are ‘casanomas?’”
“Skin disorders,” Eli dryly answered, not bothering to stand and look.
Molly’s eyes popped wide. “From girls?”
Roman and Eli both howled with laughter. After another minute, Jess sat down again and meekly said, “Well.”
“She looks like you, Mom,” Molly said.
Jess leaned in front of Roman to be closer to her daughter, and asked, “How do you know that?”
“Aden’s got a picture of her taped to the inside of his backpack, and I’ve seen it.”
“Aha! Mata Hara at work!” said Eli in a low, deep voice.
“She looks like you,” Molly repeated to her mother. “Except she’s a whole lot younger.”
Noticeably, Cheryl winced. Jess sat stone-faced, and Roman tried soothing her, taking hold of her hand and kissing her cheek. She looked at him and said, “Talk me through this, Counselor.”
*****
Saturday involved taking his mother to do her marketing. Roman actually liked doing it, and his mother surely suspected that he did. There wasn’t any ice on the hill coming down from her house, nor on the street between her driveway and the short distance to Mayer’s Fresh Market. He knew she probably had some extra items to buy for Molly’s visit with her, but he would have wanted to help with toting bags for her no matter what.
Besides that, he shopped for two large and tender steaks that he would pan fry, along with baking potatoes, and all sorts of vegetables to add as a healthy side dish. He had spoken with Jess earlier that morning to let her know that he was bringing dinner that he would cook at her house. He chose the type of red wine they both liked, and he bought a spring bouquet of flowers for her.
With time left in the day before he drove over to her house, Roman did his laundry and straightened the house a bit. Finally, he took a long, steaming shower, shaved, and dressed casually in jeans. He noticed that the slight paunch he had developed over the fall and winter was now gone.
He and Jess together took Molly to Julia’s house. Molly had looked forward to going all day, enthusiastically anticipating learning how to make homemade bread. Roman insisted on carrying her small overnight bag in, and she and Julia greeted each other as though they were…well…grandmother and granddaughter. Julia had an apron laid out for Molly, and when the girl saw that Julia had embroidered her name on it, she and her mom were quite moved by the loving gesture. Mona greeted everyone with a happy dance, knowing that she would be spending the night too.
While Jess tied the back of the pinafore apron on Molly, Roman told his mother in a low voice, “We’ll be local.”
“I already knew that,” Julia whispered with a magnificent smile. “Don’t forget that I was in the market today too.”
“I can never get a darn thing past you,” he said.
Julia said, “If you do, I find out about it later on, Dear.”
*****
They were preparing dinner while drinking wine, and pop rock songs from the sixties and seventies were playing on the stereo. He told her about Iris Gilbert’s tiny pup, Genevieve, relating the pee episode, knowing that she was going to laugh with him. He simply adored how she laughed. There was a bit of a snort involved that he loved hearing her make, endearing her all the more to him.
“I feel like we’ve been waiting for weeks to have this time alone,” he said.
“Months,” she amended, watching him toss a combination of vegetables into a pan while turning the steaks in another skillet. “I’m starving.”
“Me too,” he admitted, referring not only to the food.
“I bought massage oil while I was in Boston.” Enticingly, she smiled at him.
“Oh yeah?” he enthusiastically responded. “Like in about thirty minutes, when we’re done with this meal?”
“Uh-huh.”
While eating a delightful dinner, she said, “This morning, I realized that the footboard on my bed isn’t going to work for us. How did you even manage to sleep there the other night?”
“Carefully,” he admitted. “Lying on one side, or the other, keeping my knees drawn up.”
They remedied that when they spread two soft blankets onto the thick area rug in front of the gas-log fireplace. On top of those, they spread towels that made them both chuckle at their intended purpose. She made sure that all of the drapes were closed, turned out the lights, leaving the soft glow and warmth from the logs to set the tone for more of their romantic evening.
When she looked at him, she could clearly see love shining brightly from his eyes and through his warm smile. Jess stepped into his arms and held to him as tightly as he was holding her. As he removed her clothes, he stopped to admire parts of her naked body in the firelight, passionately kissing her lips and other parts of her lithe body.
“I’ve just opened my present from you,” he murmured, gently moving his lips over her brea
sts.
“I catch myself daydreaming about this,” she softly replied.
Once he had removed his clothes too, she surprised him by playing a selection of music that she had chosen for the occasion, straddling the back of his legs to work the massage oil into his back muscles.
Captain and Tennille sang, Do That to Me One More Time…once is never enough with a man like you…
“Aaaah…oooooh….uuummm…”
…I can never get enough of a man…like you…
“Now turn over…” she softly coaxed minutes later.
I can never hear enough…say those words again…like you just did…
“Oh baby…down a little more…Oooooh yes…aaaahh…”
He felt slicked up, and so mellowed out…that he barely withstood the sensations that were overwhelming him. One part of him remained as hard as granite as he began administering to her.
“Aaaah…ummm…”
In her sultry voice, Carly Simon sang Nobody Does It Better…makes me feel sad for the rest…
“Oh…god,” she breathed. “Yeeesss.”
Nobody does it half as good as you…
Ms. Wentworth erupted with a mighty orgasm that Roman achieved with his fingers and his mouth. As soon as he took her to the end of that ecstatic realm, he caressed her long legs before pulling them over his shoulders to be able to penetrate her deeply.
“Oooohhh…” she gurgled. “Oh…yes.”
Nobody does it quite the way you do…why’d you have to be so good?
*****
They lay in one another’s arms, his over hers, both softly panting.
When he could, he said, “Score a big ten for message oil.” He kissed her sweet-smelling head, feeling her heart rapidly beating against his.
She kissed the hollow of his neck, feeling his pulsing heartbeat against her lips.
CHAPTER 29
What’re you seeing?”
“Just gulls and razorbills.”
“I’m almost ready.”
Jess was sitting at the top of a boulder that had fallen eons ago from the eastern cliffside of Whittler Island. She finished screwing the f/4G ED VR lens onto her Nikon D-810 FX digital camera while the gulls and coastal terns swept inland to feed. Dressed all in brown like the rock she sat upon, she executed slow movements to attempt to become one with nature.