A Table for Two (12 page)

"Maybe I should. I'd love to spend some time with Karen and Laurie."

"What about Ridley?" Tracy removed the ball of dough, patted it into a flat disc and wrapped it in plastic wrap. She put it in the refrigerator to chill and while she was there she grabbed another piece of dough she'd made earlier. "You enjoy spending time with her, don't you?" Tracy floured the marble counter and began rolling the dough out.

"So far, I've enjoyed her company very much." Dana leaned against the sink with her arms folded. "You're not going to start on that again are you?"

"No." Tracy looked up and met Dana's eyes. "You told me you used to love the shore."

"You'd have to do Sunday brunch without me," Dana reminded her.

Tracy went back to rolling the dough. "I don't mind. We agreed to cover each other, didn't we? We said we didn't want to work all the time and have no life, remember?" Tracy turned the dough clockwise and rolled it into a bigger circle. "It's not like I'd be here alone."

"I know, but we haven't done it yet." Dana knew Tracy was tossing out anything that came into her head that would persuade her to go. She also knew she should go. It had been too long since she'd taken any time off or gone anywhere with friends.

"Then it's time we did. How are we ever going to see how it goes? You know I can take care of things around here. Just plan the menu specials with me before you go and make sure we have everything we need. I'll do the rest."

"All right, if you're sure you don't mind."

"I don't mind because you're going to return the favor some time." Tracy laid the circle of dough she'd rolled out over a tart pan and pressed it into the bottom with her fingers. Then she ran the rolling pin over the top of the tart pan to cut off the excess dough. "I'm not going to spend the rest of my life working my ass off."

"Okay, you've convinced me and I will return the favor anytime you want me to." Dana went to the refrigerator and pulled out some leeks and carrots.

"Why don't you ride down with Ridley on Friday or at least think about going on Saturday morning with her? You told me she offered to wait for you, right?" Tracy poked holes in the tart dough with a fork and popped it into the oven. I can handle dinner on Saturday."

"I already made up my mind that if I decided to go I would drive down by myself on Sunday morning and come back on Monday. That's long enough for me and I want to be free to leave if I need to." Dana started peeling a carrot.

"Now why would you need to leave? Wait, don't tell me." The expression on Tracy's face mirrored the sarcasm in her next words. "You're thinking it might be difficult to have fun with good friends and spend time with an adorable lesbian."

"How do you know she's a lesbian?" Dana peeled another carrot.

"What? Give me a break, Dana."

"As a matter of fact, she is. I asked her," Dana said to annoy Tracy.

"You needed to ask? I swear, I think you've lost your mind."

"My mind's as sharp as ever." Dana paused and rested her hands on her hips. She looked at Tracy. "Now let's get back to me going alone. I'd feel better if I knew I could leave whenever I wanted to because I don't know what it's like there and I've never stayed with Ridley. Also, I don't want you to be stuck with dinner on Saturday. I know you're capable of doing it, but I'd feel better if I stayed."

"You know that's not the real reason."

"Okay, okay. God, it's a pain in the ass to have someone know you so well. I just think it's best to limit the time I spend with Ridley. I don't want our relationship, if we even have one, to get out of hand." Dana went back to preparing her vegetables.

"Why the hell not? Don't you like her?"

"That's the problem. I do like her and I don't want her to get the wrong idea."

"And what wrong idea would that be?" Tracy asked.

"The one where she gets it in her head that I might be interested in her. She's a very nice girl and it wouldn't be fair to lead her on." Dana felt a flush creeping up into her cheeks and that was always a dead giveaway that she wasn't being honest. She knew Tracy would notice.

"I think you really are interested in her and what's wrong with that? She's available and you're available and anyone can see she's interested in you." Tracy moved to the counter, next to Dana, grabbed a chef's knife and started helping her slice the leeks.

"Maybe she is interested in me, but you're wrong about me. I am definitely not interested in her, not in the way you mean. I swear I'm not."

Tracy stopped slicing for a moment. "Sure you're not."

"It's the truth, Tracy. You know I don't want to get involved. Besides, I..."

"Please don't tell me you still want Sarah?" Tracy slammed her chef's knife on the counter and turned to face Dana. "It's been over for two years for Christ's sake. You have got to get on with your life."

"Don't be mad at me," Dana whispered.

"I'm not mad at you. It's just that you make me crazy sometimes." Tracy took a deep breath and blew it out. "Sarah was a shit. Can't you see that? She never knew who the hell she was or what the hell she wanted. You should know better than to get involved with someone who isn't clear about their sexuality, especially when you are."

"I know, I know. It only leads to trouble. My head tells me you're right, but my heart tells me a different story. I loved her, Tracy. I planned my life around her. I can't switch it off just like that." Dana snapped her fingers in the air.

"But that's just what you need to do. Everyone deserves to be happy, Dana, even you, and you seem to have forgotten that. Please don't pass up this chance for happiness."

"I haven't forgotten a thing and I do want to be happy." Dana felt her eyes fill with tears.

"You're my best friend. I can't bear to see you alone and it breaks my heart to see you avoid relationships. You're too special to be doing that."

Dana gained control over her emotions and blinked away any trace of tears. "You worry about me far too much. I'm happy with the way things are." She went to the sink and filled a huge stock pot. "I like my life and I'm going to drive to the shore on Sunday morning all by myself. That's the way I want it and that's all I can deal with."

"Suit yourself. I guess it's a miracle that you're going at all. Just promise me you'll give some serious thought to what we talked about. You can't go on living in the past."

"Look, Tracy, I'm going, okay? What more do you want? And I intend to have a good time. Right now, I can't think of anything beyond that point."

"RIDLEY, WHAT TIME did Dana tell you she'd be here?" Laurie asked as they sat around the kitchen table at the shore house on Sunday morning. They were drinking coffee and eating freshly baked blueberry muffins they'd picked up that morning from a local bakery. "I wish she could have come yesterday so we would have had more time to spend with her."

"We all do," Ridley said. "But when I called her on Thursday, she told me she preferred to drive down by herself on Sunday morning. I could tell she had her mind made up, so I didn't try to talk her out of it." Ridley had left straight from work on Friday afternoon to beat the rush hour traffic out of the city. That gave her time to unwind once she got there and make sure the shore house was ready before her friends arrived the next day. Every year she looked forward to her annual trip to the shore with Laurie and Karen on Columbus Day weekend, but now that Dana had agreed to join them for part of it, she could hardly wait for her to come.

"She was probably worried about the restaurant and maybe she felt a little shy about joining us for an entire weekend and staying somewhere unfamiliar. She seems more cautious than she used to be, but then we all get more wary as we get older, don't we?" Karen stood at the stove, stirring a pan of scrambled eggs. Next to her, on the countertop, she had a pound of crisp bacon strips draining between paper towels.

"She admitted to the first part and I think you're right about the second part, too, although she never actually said that," Ridley said. "And to answer your question, Laurie, she should be here any time now. She promised she'd get an early start."

"Is it all right if we go ahead and eat without her?" Laurie asked.

"I don't see why not?" Ridley answered. "Who knows when she'll get here and if she didn't eat, we can always make her something."

"Knowing us, we'll be eating again before too long," Laurie said.

"That's true." Ridley took another muffin from the white bakery box, peeled the paper off and took a big bite. "Why am I so hungry? Every time I come down here, I'm hungry all the time. Do you guys feel that way or is it just me?"

"It's not just you. I feel the same way. I think it's the fresh air." Karen brought the frying pan over and divided the eggs into three portions. Then she put the pan back and joined them at the table. She stretched her arms far above her head and yawned. "I love it here in the fall. It's so peaceful. Work has been so busy and it feels so good just to mellow out."

"If you get any more mellowed out, you'll be in a coma," Laurie commented.

Karen gave her partner a brief but meaningful stare and then turned to her food.

"It's my favorite time of year," Ridley said between bites. "People who only come to the shore in the summer don't have any idea what they're missing."

"It's nice of your mother to let us use the house," Laurie said. "She's very..."

"Very what?" Dana poked her head into the kitchen and looked around. "You don't know how relieved I am to see that I'm in the right place, because I just walked straight through the entire length of this house and if it wasn't yours, I'd die."

"Hey, look who's here," Karen said.

"Did you knock on the door?" Ridley asked. "Sorry, we didn't hear you."

"I tried, but no one came and I saw the cars in the driveway, so I just came in." Dana looked at Laurie.

"What were you saying when I so rudely interrupted you?"

"Very generous, that's what I was saying when you came in," Laurie explained. "I was talking about Ridley's mother. She's nice to let us come down here and take over her shore house several times a year for our get-togethers."

"My mother loves that we come here," Ridley chimed in. "She cleaned the place before she went back home on Thursday and she left us food and beer and she left me a nice note telling us all to have a good time. She's the greatest." Her eyes met Dana's and it was enough to spark the first stirrings of desire. This attraction wasn't going to leave her alone, just as she had feared. She smiled at Dana and said, "I'm glad you're here."

"So are we. Laurie and I were thrilled that you decided to join us," Karen said.

"What a nice greeting," Dana said. "Now I'm really glad I came." Dana sat at the table. "It's nice to see all of you."

"Too bad you couldn't have joined us for the whole weekend," Karen said. "We were all saying that before you got here."

"Maybe next time I will."

"Did you have any trouble with the directions?" Ridley asked.

"The directions were very easy to follow and once I got close to the Pine Barrens there were hardly any cars on the road. Of course, I didn't expect there to be that many people out that early on a Sunday morning."

"Especially this time of year," Ridley added. "I always like it when I get to the point where the landscape starts to change. The dirt at the side of the road turns into sand, the terrain flattens out and those scrubby little pines stretch out in every direction as far as the eye can see. Then, when you get to the marshlands, the air's infused with the smell of fish and brine and decaying vegetation and you know you're close to the bay."

"I like that, too," Dana said.

"Can I get you some coffee?" Ridley asked. "Did you eat breakfast?"

"I ate before I left, but I'd love some coffee."

Ridley took her last bite of eggs, stood and picked up her coffee cup. "Stay there. I need another cup myself, so I'll get you one while I'm up. What do you take in it?"

"A rounded teaspoon of sugar and a splash of milk will be fine."

Laurie pushed the bakery box over to Dana. "Try one of these blueberry muffins. We just bought them at the bakery this morning and they're great."

Dana lifted the lid and peeked inside. "They look great. Maybe I will try one." Dana took one out of the box and put it on a plate that Laurie had placed in front of her. After Ridley brought her coffee over and set it in front of her, she blew on it and carefully took a sip. "This is excellent coffee." Dana took a bite of her muffin and washed it down with more coffee. "What have you been up to so far?"

"The same things we always do when we're down here," Ridley told her. "We hang around, talk our heads off, ride around the island, browse in the shops and walk on the beach." Ridley carried her coffee to the table and sat next to Dana. "Did we do anything that I forgot to mention, Laurie and Karen?"

"You forgot to tell her we do plenty of eating and drinking," Laurie said.

"And last night we went out to eat and took a ride along the bay," Karen added.

"Are a lot of restaurants still open?" Dana asked.

"More than you might think," Ridley said. "But mostly on the weekends."

"I remember a seafood restaurant I used to love, but I can't remember the name. It was in Harvey Cedars, I think--a small, very crowded place. They had the best French fries and their fish was always fresh."

"That would be the Harvey Cedars Shellfish Company. It's still there and it's open on the weekends. We could go tonight if you want to." Doing whatever made Dana happy had taken its rightful place on the top of Ridley's list of important things to do in life. "Is that okay with you guys?" she asked Laurie and Karen.

"I'd love to go there," Laurie replied. "What about you, honey?"

"That's always fine with me," Karen said. "I love that place." She got up, rinsed her coffee cup out in the sink and started to gather up the breakfast dishes. "I'm surprised you want to eat out, Dana. We all thought you'd be dying to cook dinner for us on your days off."