She smiled and opened the microwave door.
“Seriously. Brownies are one of my favorite things. I’d never heard of them ‘til I was twelve, and we visited the states.”
“Were you vacationing here?” She stirred the caramel and set the timer for another twenty seconds. The room filled with the buttery sweet smell.
“My mum’s best friend, Anne, married an American. We used to visit her every few summers. She lives right here in New Jersey, close to the shore. She made brownies for dessert one night. I thought they were the best thing I’d ever eaten. Yours are even better.” He popped the last bite into his mouth, already considering grabbing a second.
“Thanks. You know, you’re right, I lived in Oxford for a while when I was a kid, and I don’t ever remember seeing brownies.”
“Oxford?” he asked. “As in England?”
“Yes,” she said. “My father taught at the university as a guest lecturer for two semesters when I was twelve.”
“Oh my God. My mother worked at the university, in admissions. I practically grew up on campus.”
Marienne’s eyes grew huge.
Daniel realized his mouth was hanging open. “Did you ever go to the toy shoppe in Westgate shopping center?”
“Over by Oxford Castle?”
“Yes,” he said.
“I loved that store. What was it called. I can still see the awning….”
“Hawkin’s Bazaar.”
“Yes,” she said.
“Because Life’s too Serious,” they both quoted the slogan, then burst into laughter.
“Oh my God, that’s too bizarre.” She shook her head.
“You mean too Bazaar…”
“Both.”
“That was my favorite shoppe,” Daniel said. “I would beg my mum to take me there. I loved looking around, even if I didn’t buy anything.”
“Me too.” She paused. “I wonder if we were ever there at the same time.”
“It’s certainly possible.” Daniel tried to imagine a young Marienne, browsing through the aisles.
“Wow. That’s crazy. I wonder if we’d have become friends if we’d met.”
Daniel was about to answer, but Frank and Justine returned from their game. The look on both their faces made it clear that Frank had won this time.
“That’s more like it.” Frank popped a piece of pineapple into his mouth, grinning proudly.
“Lucky shot.” Justine scowled. She took a skewer of pineapple and swirled it in the caramel sauce. “Oh that’s good.” She closed her eyes as she chewed. “We have to have you over more often.”
Marienne smiled. “That reminds me, I was going to ask if you wanted to have dinner at our house next Friday. We don’t have a pool table, but we could watch a movie.”
“If you’re cooking, I’ll be there.” Justine dipped another piece of pineapple, cupping her hand beneath it to keep the caramel from dripping.
Daniel was still astonished by the coincidence. “Me too.”
****
Justine closed the back door after Frank and Marienne left. “Well, that was more fun than I expected.” She took the last few sips of her wine.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” Daniel polished off his fourth brownie. “Did you have to tell them about your stress reduction techniques?”
“I enjoyed that too. It made Frank miss his shot.”
Daniel shook his head. Too much.
“You know what I’d enjoy now?” Justine sidled over and pressed against him. Her hand slid up his chest.
He bent forward and kissed her. The flavor of wine on her lips mixed with the chocolaty taste in his mouth. “Mmmm.”
“Come on.” She tugged him toward the stairs.
He followed willingly.
****
Frank unlocked the back door and tossed his keys on the counter. “What’d you think?”
Marienne got a glass down from the cupboard. “They’re nice. You want water?”
“Sure.” He kicked off his shoes and wandered into the family room.
Marienne filled two glasses then joined him on the couch. He was already channel surfing. “Did you know they both went to NYU at the same time I did?”
“Yeah, I thought I told you that.”
Marienne shook her head. He really doesn’t tell me anything. “And Daniel grew up in Oxford. I lived there for almost a whole year. Isn’t that weird?”
Frank shrugged. “I guess, but shit like that happens all the time. Justine sure is a pistol.”
“I felt bad for Daniel when she told that story.”
“Bad for him?” Frank laughed.
“He was uncomfortable.”
“Well maybe his hot wife will blow him to ease his tension.”
She could tell he was already zoned into the TV. “I’m going upstairs to do some work.”
He didn’t even look up as she left the room.
Marienne walked up the stairs and headed to her studio. The room was glowing blue from the moonlight that filtered in through the window. She left the lights off and went to sit on the window seat. Her eyes were drawn to the lit windows at Daniel and Justine’s house. Now that she’d been inside, she could tell which rooms were behind each window.
She smiled thinking back on the evening. Frank might not have found the coincidences odd, but Marienne found them astounding. She wondered what else she and Daniel had in common. Without thinking she picked up her sketch book and reached over to grab a pencil from the desk. In the quiet of the moonlit room, she began to draw.
Chapter Four
Daniel took two steps higher on the ladder as he reached over to hammer another nail into the porch roof. Marienne stood below him, handing up nails and boards as needed. The set was really starting to take shape.
“So,” she said, looking up at him as he worked. “Have you always been this handy?”
“Not at all. I tend to take things apart and not get them put back together. Ask Justine. She’ll be happy to complain about all my half-completed projects. That pet peeve is probably near the top of her Bad Husband Traits List.”
Marienne laughed. “Something tells me there’s not too much on that list.”
Daniel chuckled. “It’s more than a list. I think it’s becoming closer to a chapter.”
“Stop it. I can tell you’re a great husband.”
“Well, I try.” He continued hammering. “Definitely better at being a husband than I was at being a boyfriend.”
“What do you mean?”
“In my dating days I was…” He hesitated.
“You were what?” She tilted her head.
“I’m afraid I was a dick.” He felt sheepish.
“I doubt that.” She stepped back so he could come down a rung on the ladder.
“No, seriously,” he said.
“Did you cheat on your girlfriends?”
“No.”
“Did you lie to them? Make them fall in love with you just so you could dump them?”
“No.”
“Force them to do things they didn’t want to do?”
“Of course not.”
“So what exactly did you do that was so awful?”
“Well, by those standards, nothing. I’d just get bored and not call anymore.”
“That’s it?” She raised her eyebrows.
He nodded.
“Then you weren’t actually a dick, you just acted like one from time to time. Guys who are dicks are only out for themselves. Guys who happen to occasionally act like a dick still have potential.”
He smirked. “So, I was a dick with potential?”
She laughed. “Interesting choice of words.”
He felt his cheeks color. “That’s one of the benefits of teaching English—they encourage you to learn to use all the words.” He put down his hammer and walked over to the cooler. “Coke?”
“Sure.”
He dried off a can with his shirttail and popped it open before he handed it to her. She s
miled as she took it.
“That’s it.” He pulled on his shoulder. “I’m done for the night.” He took another swallow then crouched to put away the tools. “Are you heading out too? I’ll walk you to your car.”
“I walked tonight.”
“You shouldn’t walk home alone at night.”
Marienne shrugged. “After living in the city for so many years I don’t think much about walking anywhere alone. Besides, I was planning to stop at the park. I like to go there at night. It’s quiet.”
“Well you’re not walking alone tonight,” he said.
Marienne snorted and stared at him.
“What?” He looked puzzled.
“Nothing,” she said, a smile tugging at her lips.
“Tell me. What?”
“I’m just thinking that guys who are ‘dicks’ don’t ever insist on walking a woman home.” She turned and walked over to get her jacket, catching sight of the smile that spread across his face.
****
The night air was cool, but the hint of humidity from the day kept it from feeling chilly.
“That.” Marienne pointed up. “Is why I’m going to the park tonight.”
Daniel followed the line of her arm and glanced up toward the sky. It was an amazingly clear night, the stars twinkling, and the moon a perfect sliver overhead.
“Wow.” He craned his neck back and turned in a slow circle as he walked out into the parking lot.
“Exactly. And it looks even better from a swing. Come on.” She headed off toward the park. He followed, glancing up at the sky again.
“So,” he said, “do all women think men are either total dicks or dicks with potential?”
“I can’t speak for all women. Most of my closest friends have been guys.”
“Why do you suppose that is?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m more comfortable with guys. I’m usually out of step with other women. Guys get my sense of humor. Besides, girls can be catty and mean.”
“Point taken.” He held his arm out to keep her from tripping over a stray branch that had fallen on the darkened sidewalk.
“Thanks.” She glanced up at him as she stepped over the branch. “I didn’t see that.”
Daniel could see why Marienne would get along better with men. She wasn’t like most women. She wasn’t at all self-absorbed or judgmental. In fact, she seemed to be quite the opposite, much harder on herself than necessary. He found it fascinating, but Justine had found it odd. She’d even commented about it after their first meeting, saying that Marienne was ‘unusual and had a bizarre fashion sense.’ He wondered if that was the reaction most women had to her.
“So,” he said, “these guys who you were close friends with, they were good to you?” He sensed that perhaps the answer might be no.
“Sometimes…”
“Ahhhh, and other times, let me guess, dicks. Hence the theory.”
She laughed. “Hence the theory.”
“Am I asking too many questions?” He glanced at her.
“No.”
“How about now?”
“No.” She giggled.
“Good, because I have more.”
He turned to look at her as they continued to walk. Her head was down, looking out for more branches he guessed. Her left hand was shoved into her jacket pocket; the other carried her Coke can, which she sipped from occasionally. She seemed at ease and he was glad. He didn’t feel like going home to a quiet house. He was wide-awake and very much in the mood to talk. “Who was your first guy friend?”
“Timmy Berkus. Kindergarten. When I was a kid, my guy friends were the ones who shared their Oreos with me and protected me from the mean girls on the playground.”
“Ah, chivalry.”
“Yes. A lost art.”
“When did guys stop being chivalrous?”
“Right after we moved back from Oxford.”
Daniel smiled, still marveling at the coincidence. “What happened?”
“Not much. That was the problem. I spent all four years of high school madly in love with a guy named Todd, who only thought of me as a friend.”
“But you wanted more….”
“Yes, and he didn’t. Or at least not until senior year, when I finally got a boyfriend.” She sighed.
“That sigh sounded significant. He hurt you. I can hear it in your voice.”
Marienne paused, letting out a breathy chuckle. “You’re right, he did. Todd got jealous, which seemed ridiculous since he was the one I was in love with. One day we were studying together, like we’d done for years, and out of nowhere he kissed me.”
“Sounds like he thought of you as a bit more than a friend.”
“At the moment, I guess. But everything went wrong.”
“The kiss?”
“No, the actual kiss was quite nice. But the guy who I was dating walked in on us.” She winced.
Daniel groaned. “That couldn’t have gone well.”
“That’s an understatement. He had some choice words for us and ran off. Then Todd told me he was sorry he’d kissed me. He’d been jealous, and it had been an impulse. Things were never the same between us after that. I lost my boyfriend and my best friend in one afternoon.”
“Total dick,” Daniel announced.
Marienne shrugged. “I’ve had worse.”
“Worse?” He glanced at her again.
“I didn’t have the best luck or judgment when it came to boyfriends. My first serious boyfriend was secretly dating his high school girl friend the entire two years we were together. He was using me to make her jealous.”
“Ouch,” Daniel said. He couldn’t remember the last time anyone had spoken so freely with him. It felt nice to be trusted, and he felt unexpectedly close to her.
“The next guy I dated was fun, for about three weeks, then I came home from class and found him in my bed having sex with the girl who played guitar in his band.”
The idea of someone hurting her made him surprisingly angry and protective. “What instrument did he play?”
“Drums.”
“Ahh, that’s too bad, if he played keyboard I’d have suggested we create a new category for him—’Total Pianist’.”
Marianne giggled. The sound sent a thrill of pleasure through Daniel.
“Surely you must have met some nice guys.”
“Yes, I just didn’t date any of them. At one point I was ready to give up dating altogether, but then my friend Kevin confessed he’d been in love with me for years. I already knew we got along great, so I thought ‘why not?’ But I wasn’t in love with him, and after a few weeks I told him we should go back to being just friends. Then things got a little crazy.”
“Crazy how?” The annoyance he felt towards these guys bubbled inside him.
“I can’t believe I’m telling you all this.”
“You don’t have to answer if I’m being too nosy.”
Marienne smiled. “You’re not being nosy. I’m the one babbling. I don’t know why anyone would want to hear all this.”
“I’m curious by nature,” he said. “Besides, my own life has always been so painfully boring that I like to live vicariously through other people’s stories.”
“I find it hard to believe your life has been boring,” she said.
“Oh, dreadfully. First girl I ever slept with seduced me then told me I really wasn’t very good.”
Marienne snorted.
“True story,” Daniel said then quickly added, in a Monty Python voice, “I got better.”
Marienne laughed, and he was relieved. Did I really just tell her that the first woman I had sex with said I wasn’t very good at it? He’d never told anyone about that. No one.
The conversation paused and Marienne took a deep breath. “He tried to kill himself,” she said, her voice quiet.
“What?”
“You asked how crazy, that’s the answer, he tried to kill himself…after the begging and stalking, and threatening didn�
��t work.”
“Oh my God.” He tried to imagine what that must have been like. Anger surfaced protectively again. “That must have been awful.” What a complete and total dick.
“It was. I felt like it was my fault.”
“It wasn’t. You can’t blame yourself for other people’s actions. He chose to do all those things to try to bully you into doing what he wanted. I can’t imagine anything more defining of a complete dick. I’m sorry you had to experience that.”
“Thank you for saying that.” The breathless sound of her voice made Daniel smile.
“So, no crazy stalker chicks in your past?” Ahh, she’s trying to change the subject. “Not really. There was one who became convinced that I had a thing for this girl in our art history class who had these red streaks in her hair. She offered to dye her hair the same way if I’d keep going out with her.”
“Impressive.” Marienne nodded. “Clearly this must have been after you ‘got better’.”
“Clearly.”
“And the girl with the red streaks, were you into her?”
“No,” Daniel said. “That’s what made the offer even more bizarre.”
“So, your girlfriend really didn’t know you at all.”
“I guess not. I never thought of it that way.”
Marienne pointed to the playground. “Here we are.”
Daniel hadn’t even realized they’d gotten to the park; he was too caught up in Marienne. The silver playground equipment glowed blue in the moonlight, and the sand beneath it shimmered, resembling the beach. He watched as she headed straight toward the dome-shaped monkey bars. Her dark hair gleamed as she passed beneath the swing set, turning to see if he was following.
“Come on.” She motioned with her hand. The light reflected off her face as she smiled at him. He was incredibly drawn to her. So much that he paused before following her, thinking perhaps he shouldn’t. She was Frank’s wife, he was Justine’s husband…and she’s just a friend. He watched as she stepped up two rungs then turned and lay back against the bars. He walked past her, careful not to knock over the Coke can she’d planted in the sand, and climbed up to join her.
It was the clearest night he could recall in ages. “Wow. That’s fantastic.”
“See? And you thought I was crazy to be coming to the park at night.”
“No.” He corrected her. “I thought it was crazy for you to be coming to the park at night alone. Not even crazy, just risky. Does Frank ever come with you?” Daniel tried very hard to remind himself again that she was Frank’s wife.
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