by Gerri Hill
"What kind of name is Sambino?" he asked.
"Arnie, you are full of questions tonight," Susan said, apologizing to Kelly.
"It's okay. Sambino is Italian."
"That's where you get your dark looks, then," he said.
"That's about all. My family is not very traditional. No one speaks the language and certainly, no one can cook Italian," she said with a smile.
"Why not?" Susan asked.
"Oh, my father remembers a little, I guess, but it mostly died with my grandfather," she said, and Jo looked up then, curious. "My grandfather's family lived in New York, most of them barely spoke any English. He moved to California right out of high school and married the very non-Italian, 57
very blonde daughter of his boss. His family refused to accept his marriage and basically disowned him."
They were all quiet, waiting for her to continue, and Jo thought she was not going to, but then Kelly looked up and smiled. "That was in the early thirties. By the time their letters had crossed, with explanations from him and pleadings from them, she was pregnant with Aunt Isabel and the matter was settled. So, they stayed in California and he just lost his roots, I guess.”
"So do you still have family in New York?" Jo asked, surprising herself with the question. She was not at all interested in Kelly Sambino, she reassured herself.
"Oh, I imagine so. You know the reputation that Italian families have," Kelly laughed. "I've never had any contact with them, and I’ve certainly not met any of them. No one in my family ever has."
"That's sad," Jo said. She, on the other hand, had no one else in the world except her grandfather. Well, she supposed her father was somewhere, but she didn't even know his name.
"I guess. But that's the way they wanted it. My immediate family is close. My father has three older sisters and they all have four or five kids. I have a younger brother and an older sister and my parents are great. We have a very happy family."
"Both of your grandparents are gone?" Jo asked.
"Yes. My grandfather died two years ago at the age of 88. He was a wonderful man," she said, and Jo felt a lump rise in her throat. She saw Kelly in a different light and was touched by the gentleness with which she spoke of her large family. Jo envied her.
"You'll be going back to California someday, I guess,"
Arnie said.
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"I suppose. All of my family is still there and I don’t really have any attachments here. I like Texas, don’t get me wrong. But I'm not used to your summers and I don't think I'll ever be."
Jo couldn't help but laugh. She had been here her whole life and she wasn't used to them yet either!
“I know you graduated from Stanford,” Susan stated.
“And you were in the University of California system for a time. You obviously love teaching. But now you want to be a novelist?”
Kelly laughed. “Yes. And I know only a handful of writers actually make a living at it. But I really love to teach, too. I doubt I’ll ever get away from it completely.”
After dinner, Susan made coffee, but both Kelly and Jo declined. It was just too hot. Instead they both accepted a glass of wine and everyone went back outside to the patio.
The evening was pleasant, and they chatted quietly, listening to the crickets and cicadas in the yard. Johanna wondered why Kelly hadn’t mentioned to Susan and Arnie that they knew one another, though she was glad she hadn't. She would just as soon forget the whole thing anyway!
As they were leaving, Kelly opened the door to her Explorer and waited, looking at Jo across the hood of her car, a teasing smile on her face.
"That wasn't too bad, was it?" Kelly asked.
"Yes. It was a terrible surprise."
"Oh, now, come on, you enjoyed yourself, admit it."
"The meal was pleasant," Jo conceded.
Kelly shrugged and got in her Explorer, slamming the door. Jo stood and waited until Kelly’s window buzzed down.
"What are you doing here, really?" Jo asked again.
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"I was tired of San Antonio and when this position was brought to my attention, I took it.” Kelly smiled mockingly at her. "I didn't even remember that you taught here."
Their eyes held for a long moment, then Jo looked away.
"I really don’t want that night brought up again. Please,"
she said quietly. "It's bad enough I have to live with it without everyone else here knowing."
"Yeah, well, you should have thought about that before you seduced some stranger in a bar with those gorgeous blue eyes of yours," Kelly shot back.
"I did no such thing!" Jo protested.
"No? Then who was that woman making such beautiful love to me that night until the early morning hours?" Kelly asked softly. "Until we were too sated for even one more kiss?"
Jo stared at her, speechless, her pulse pounding in her head.
"Hey, but don't worry. I have no desire to broadcast what an easy catch I was that night," Kelly smiled mischievously.
"I do have a reputation to maintain, after all.” She pulled away and waved out the open window, leaving a stunned Jo staring after her.
"See you around," she called, as she sped down the street.
"Oh, God," Jo fumed. "That woman infuriates me!"
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Chapter Seven
Jo had her usual Sunday brunch with Harry, then spent two other mornings with him, fishing. Once the semester started, she would have little time to visit, other than on weekends.
"How are you doing, Jo-Jo?" he asked suddenly, when they were cleaning the catfish they caught for dinner.
"I'm fine. Why do you ask?"
"You've just seemed unusually quiet, that's all."
She knew she had been preoccupied because she was worried. She hadn't been able to get Kelly Sambino out of her mind all week, and was dreading running into her at the college. It was going to be a long semester.
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"I guess I'm just thinking about work," she said. It wasn't all a lie.
Betsy called later that week, and Jo shoved a bookmark into her novel.
"You'll never believe who we ran into at the ball field,"
Betsy said.
"Who?"
"Kelly Sambino."
"Now, why doesn't that surprise me?" Jo muttered under her breath.
"What?"
"Nothing. So, did you talk to her?"
"Of course. She sat with us the whole game. Why didn't you tell us she'd taken a position at Austin City College?"
"I guess because I haven't talked to you. I just found out on Saturday myself."
"Well, it's great, isn't it? She's going to play third for us when the fall season starts."
"Yeah. Great," Jo said, thinking she wouldn't be making any more games this year.
"Why don't you sound thrilled about all of this?" Betsy asked sarcastically.
"Why should I?"
"I thought you said that nothing happened between you two."
"So? Does that mean I have to want to work with her?"
she snapped.
"Hey, sorry," Betsy muttered. "Who put a bee up your butt?” She hung up.
Jo replaced the phone, rubbing her forehead. She knew Betsy was not really angry. They had too much history between them for that.
She had first met Betsy Gannon in the girls’ locker room in high school. The new kid with the curly red hair had been 62
hurrying past Jo’s locker when she slipped and landed on her rear, practically at Jo’s feet. Betsy had laughed along with everyone else, reached for Jo’s outstretched hand and pulled herself up.
“Very graceful,” Jo remembered telling her. “I see the years of dance lessons have paid off.”
“Oh, great, a smart ass.”
They had become friends after that and had remained friends when Betsy had first confessed her attraction to another girl. Then, years later, when Jo was in college and struggling with her own attractions, Betsy had been there for h
er. Just like she had been there for Jo when Nancy had left. And Janis, too. They had been together so long, it was hard for Jo to picture a time when Betsy had been without Janis.
They had remained the best of friends throughout the years, and Jo had never hesitated confiding in them. But this thing with Kelly . . . Jo wasn’t ready to share it, even with Betsy.
The next week, two days before the first faculty meeting, Johanna went to her office, like she did each year. She prided herself on being organized, and she planned to take notes and begin her first two lectures.
Her office was immaculate: every book in its place, every paper put away. She could not work with chaos or disrup-tions. The freshman English classes she taught were really boring to her, after ten years, but the composition and rhetoric classes were more enjoyable. She loved to read, and she spent the morning going over her lists of books, deciding which ones her classes were going to review this semester.
A door opening and then slamming shut down the hall startled her. Soon, footsteps and then whistling followed.
She frowned, annoyed. The other faculty members were usually more quiet than that.
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A door opened again, just down the hall, then quiet, finally. She listened, then went back to her notes. Her head shot up at the sound of loud music blasting just a few offices away. The Rolling Stones? She closed her eyes.
"Who the hell is listening to the Stones?" she muttered, massaging her eyebrows and the bridge of her nose.
Johanna walked to her door, sticking her head outside briefly before slamming her own door shut. She sat back down, the music somewhat stifled. Turning to her computer, she tried to shut out the noise and concentrate. A short time later, a knock interrupted her. She scowled.
"Come in," she muttered.
Kelly Sambino stuck her head in.
"I should have known," Jo said under her breath.
"Hey, I didn't know anybody else was here.” Kelly leaned against the door, tan legs stretching out beneath her shorts. "What are you doing?"
"I was trying to work.” It had been nearly two weeks since she had seen Kelly, and Jo’s hungry eyes took her in.
"Oh. Am I disturbing you?"
"Yes. How can you possibly work with all that racket?"
"I work better with something for background noise."
"Well, I work better in absolute quiet!" Jo exclaimed.
"And you want me to turn it down?" Kelly asked, the ever-present mocking smile firmly in place.
"I want you to turn it off," Jo said pointedly.
"Now, Jo, you need to learn to compromise.” Kelly turned to go. "I'll turn it down a notch."
"Or three!" Jo called after her.
Kelly turned back and frowned at her. "What can you possibly be working on? Susan said you've been teaching here for ten years. You'd think you'd have it all down by now.”
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"Do you think I teach the same thing now as I did ten years ago?" Jo asked defensively.
"Has English changed?"
Jo ignored her and turned back to her computer. "I also teach a composition class."
"Oh, I hated that class," Kelly groaned.
"Well, now that you're a writer, I bet you're glad you had to take it," Jo shot back.
"No, not really.” Kelly shook her head. "I loved creative writing, though."
"They're practically the same thing."
"Far from it."
Jo glared at her with piercing eyes, and Kelly walked out, the mocking smile unchanged.
"Infuriating woman," she muttered, noting the door again standing open. Jo rubbed her forehead, trying to ward off a headache.
Her phone rang suddenly, and Johanna stared at it as if it were a foreign object. After the third ring, she heard Kelly yell from down the hall.
"Pick up the damn phone!"
Jo did and held it to her ear, not missing the amused chuckle on the other end.
"Do you want to go out to lunch later?" Kelly asked.
"No!"
"Okay. Your loss.” She hung up, and Jo held the receiver to her ear a little longer, then put it back. The woman was going to drive her insane!
At ten minutes to twelve, Jo heard the radio shut off and a door close. Whistling began in the hall, then stopped.
"See ya later," Kelly called loudly and continued whistling.
"Thank God. Maybe now I can get some work done."
But she found she couldn't. The quiet mocked her, and 65
after a few more minutes she left her lecture unfinished and snapped off the computer. It was going to be a very long semester indeed.
She picked up Chinese food that evening and drove to Harry's, stopping on the way for a bottle of wine. He greeted her with his usual hug, but she thought he looked tired.
"Hi. Are you okay?" she asked gently.
"Yeah. Just missing my Beth today."
"I'm sorry, Harry," she said and held him close.
"Two years, you'd think I'd be used to it by now," he sighed.
"We'll never be used to it, I guess.” She kissed his cheek.
"I love you."
"I love you, too, Jo-Jo.” He pulled away, wiping a tear from his cheek. "That smells good," he said with forced cheerfulness.
She peered at him searchingly. "You're not planning on leaving me, are you?" she demanded.
"No, honey. Not just yet," he said quietly. Then he gave her a crooked grin. "I've got to find you someone first."
"I'm fine.”
"I just want you to have someone to take care of you."
"I don't need anyone, Harry," she insisted, busying herself with dinner.
"We all need someone, Jo-Jo.” He carried their plates to the table as she brought the wine. "Don't let that fool Nancy turn you off love."
"You never liked her, did you?"
"I liked her because you did. Now, I don't have to like her anymore."
"Well, Harry, don't worry. I'm fine. I'm happy."
"Are you, honey?"
She met his eyes and forced a smile. "Yes," she said quietly.
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That night, as she lay in bed, waiting for sleep to come, she realized that she was far from happy. Something was missing in her life. She had her career, but that suddenly wasn't enough. Maybe it was her age catching up to her. Or Harry's. He wouldn't be around forever, she thought sadly.
And then who would she have? No one. Just her friends, who she rarely saw as it was. And most of them had partners. Why was it so difficult for her to find someone? Before Nancy, there had not been anyone special, and they had dated for years before Jo had finally allowed her to move in. Look where that had gotten her!
She felt very old suddenly. It seemed like forever since her huge crush on the basketball player, her first kiss from the cute little blonde in her chemistry class, her night with Jill Stanton, the first woman she had fallen in love with.
Her thoughts went to Kelly Sambino, and she tried to push them away, but Kelly’s image remained. She didn't even like the woman. But that wasn't entirely true. There seemed to be two sides to Kelly. One, teasing and infuriating. The other, intense and passionate. Jo had seen them both. Kelly was refreshing, she realized. She smiled a lot and seemed happy. It was one of the things that had drawn Jo to her.
She remembered that first time she had seen her, laughing and talking with the opposing team, with her own teammates. Then that night, much later, when they were alone and intimate, there was no teasing about her. She was serious and passionate. They had spoken little during the night.
Actually, Jo remembered, they hadn’t spoken at all. At least not with words.
She rolled over, staring at the clock as it ticked to midnight. She didn't want to remember her night with Kelly Sambino. She closed her eyes and thought of Adam’s Ribs, of Kelly talking to Sherry, of Christy reminding them that Kelly had lots of girlfriends, that Kelly went out a lot. She 67
thought of Deb’s words at dinner that night, how Kelly had a
reputation of dating several women at once. Jo certainly didn't need that in her life again. Nancy had had a reputation as a runaround and Jo had gotten involved with her anyway.
She had been seduced, and then abandoned. Four years down the drain. Another three feeling sorry for herself.
Where had the time gone?
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Chapter Eight
The first faculty meeting took place the week before registration, and Johanna was nervous. She had not seen or spoken to Kelly since that day in her office. Betsy had not said anything about their softball games, and Jo had not asked.
Now, as she walked in and took a seat, she looked for her. Her eyes scanned the room, seeing familiar faces, smiling at those who were her friends. She spotted Kelly across the room, talking to a couple of coaches, listening intently as they spoke. Her easy smile appeared often, and she launched into conversation, her hands moving, and Jo imagined her talking about softball or some other sport.
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People took to her, she realized. She was easygoing and friendly and not at all hard on the eyes! Kelly brushed her hair out of her face and caught Jo staring at her although Jo tried to look away quickly. Damn her!
The president opened the meeting, as he always did, commenting favorably about the last year and urging them toward another successful semester. He announced the recent retirements, then introduced the newest members of the faculty, and Jo watched as Kelly stood up when her name was mentioned. She was wearing shorts and a T-shirt and didn't seem in the least out of place among the dresses and suits surrounding her. It figures, Jo thought, as she squirmed in her pantyhose and tried to spread her toes in her too-tight shoes.
After endless speeches, they broke for lunch, and Susan grabbed her on her way to her office.
"Let's walk to Ralph's," she suggested.
"I've got work to do," Jo insisted.
"Nonsense. Classes are two weeks away and knowing you, you've already got your first month planned."
Jo couldn't help but laugh. It was true. She was boring and predictable. "Okay. A quick lunch," she agreed.
"Great. I've asked Kelly Sambino, too. You know, she doesn't know a lot of people in Austin yet."
Right, Jo thought. Just the entire softball team and probably half the gay women in town by now!
Kelly was waiting for them at the back door, and she greeted Jo with a genuine smile, then quickly replaced it with the mocking one that Jo had come to recognize. Jo ignored both of them.