Between Octobers Bk 1, Savor The Days Series (10 page)

“Your dad moved halfway around the world for
you?”

“No. He left when I was four, maybe five. I
don’t really remember him. I came alone, with Marcus.”

“He sounds like a very supportive
friend.”

“He is.” He flicked the ashes from his
cigarette onto the asphalt. The breeze carried them away. Evan’s
eyes crinkled as he stared with veiled amusement. “You know, I have
to be so guarded all the time, it’s odd to simply converse with
someone. I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve sat with a
person who knows nothing about me.”

“Feel free to change the subject,” I
invited.

“The fact that you don’t mind makes me all
the more comfortable. I never get to meet new people or sit and
talk. It’s nice—this ‘normal’ you’ve got going on.”

“
Normal is all I’ve got,” I shrugged,
“if you call scatter-brained and half-crazy normal.”

October
17
^th

Clips of his movies played in loop on the
giant televisions in Costco. He was all over countless magazines
near the checkout aisles at the grocery store. That signature messy
hairstyle and strong jaw line were plastered across billboards on
the sides of the road, on busses and buildings. Talk shows casually
dropped his name in their ‘what’s hot’ segments. YouTube had
thousands of hours of interviews and clips showing him being
stalked by dozens of strangers with cameras.

He was literally everywhere I looked. What
hole had I been living in that I never noticed?

I enjoyed Evan’s
company
as much as he enjoyed my tedious meandering.
His deprecating charm was just what I needed. It turned out that we
had a lot in common, too. I loved cooking and he loved eating. He
was very funny and I loved to laugh with him. He hated running but
loved kickboxing, which I could not get into. Who wanted to get hit
when they were working out? But we both loved to watch boxing and
Chris Farley movies.

The other day, he went with me to walk the
dog and retched as I scooped up Arnold’s poop. I laughed at how
easily he became nauseated. Everything grossed him out, whereas
nothing got me.

Anytime we’d run into one of his fans, he
was friendly and utterly charismatic. Unless they got creepy, which
was 50/50. In the last week, I’d witnessed at least a dozen
marriage proposals. Some were clearly kidding, but a few seemed
completely serious. Everyone had to give him something. And he took
it, without hesitating, even if it was weird. He received dozens of
scripts from hopeful writers, flowers, cards, tons of dirty
pictures, and several locks of hair. The only refusals went to one
girl who tried to give him her underwear—she took them off in front
of us!—and another who tried to give him a charm necklace that held
a small vial filled with her own blood. Other than that, it was
nice to see the interactions with his admirers and how deeply he
appreciated their support. I always offered to take the pictures
and even started carrying a black marker.

Evan liked to play combat games with Noah on
the Xbox and taught Caleb how to tie his shoes. Actually, he
thought he taught him how to tie his shoes. Caleb was pretending;
the product of pure laziness.

Marcus, Evan’s best friend whom he also
employed as a personal driver, had latched onto Lily. He was
clearly infatuated from their first meeting and she seemed to think
that Marcus was worth getting to know, too. I liked him. He was
very sweet and level-headed—the perfect best friend for my dramatic
Evan. The potential for happiness bubbled in my stomach.

I’d invited the three of them over for a
barbeque that evening. The fall weather was too lovely not to take
advantage. I smiled to myself, because it wasn’t even lunch time
and Evan was already here.

Bright beams of sunlight shone through the
sheer curtains of my bedroom window. Just beyond them, to the left,
at the edge of what used to be a gaping hole sat a silhouette. Evan
was in the back yard, examining the tile work of the new swimming
pool. His position, casually leaning to one side, resting against
his arm, reminded me of last week, when I brought him home before
we left for the movies.

While I was getting changed and easing
my conscience in the heart-to-heart with Noah, Lily was feeding
Evan. She was excited and babbling, suffering from a moderate case
of hero worship, which led her to follow him out to the back porch.
He to smoke, and she to make sure Arnold was shut inside the dog
walk. She then proceeded to start a conversation, hoping to obtain
some level of what she called
chemistry
. I took a small bit of umbrage when she
told me, but made allowances once she apologized. He was her secret
celebrity crush after all.

She described the encounter as Evan sitting
on the bench in the backyard, leaning on his arm, flicking ashes
into the dirt, much the same way he was slouching outside near the
empty pool. She sat next to him, purposely invading his personal
space. As her shoulder brushed against him, he got up and walked to
the edge of the patio, asking about the giant hole in the dirt. She
took the hint and gave up.

A smile crept to my lips.

To alleviate her bruised ego, Lily
introduced him to Arnold, my bull mastiff, whose sheer size was
intimidating to many a pet owner. She opened the gate, releasing
him from the dog walk, while Evan asked her not to. He shoved
himself back inside, only to be assaulted by Caleb and his
hyperactive mucous membranes.

It was like being sucked in by a tractor
beam—I couldn’t help how much I wanted to be near him. I strolled
back to the kitchen, playing casual as I cleared the table, holding
in my extreme delight while Lily and Marcus chatted on the living
room sofa. Once the breakfast table was cleared of plates, I
stepped out to the backyard.

The sound of the glass door had Evan turning
his head. He watched me make my way over with a small smile. The
sun was shining brightly on him, highlighting the copper tints in
his brown hair. Sitting close, purposely invading his personal
space, I rested my head on his shoulder and stared out at the empty
pool. “It’s going to be ready the day after tomorrow.”

He rested his head against mine, placing an
ear across my temple. “Good.” My stomach jumped as he stretched his
arm around my waist. “Do you mind that Marcus is here?”

“I wanted you to invite him to the barbecue
today, remember?” I lifted my face towards the sun and closed my
eyes. “It’s so sunny.” The air was chilled, but the clear sunlit
sky rained down my joy from above.

I peeked at him. “Doesn’t it seem like we’ve
known each other longer than a week?”

“
It feels like much longer.” His
expression turned to exasperation but his voice held sufficient
humor. I shoved him and he laughed.

The glass door opened. Lily asked if we were
interested in going out for lunch. I wiggled my arms under Evan’s,
cuddling around his waist. “Do you want to?”

“
Off we go,” he answered and tightened
his hold on me.

I told Lily we’d be in as soon as we were
done talking, and then realized that we weren’t really saying
anything.

“We’d better go in before they leave without
us.”

“I am kind of hungry.” He smirked.

“What’s with the mischievous grin?”

“You’re awfully affectionate today,” he
noted, using his elbow to nudge my clasping arms.

I was doing it again—sending out those
signals. My stomach knotted and I scrambled up, taking a hurried
step toward the door. Evan swooped in front of me. His long legs
reached further than mine as they swung around in front of me,
blocking my path. I looked up as he arched his neck. He stopped at
the sound of my gasp, but didn’t pull back.

“
I have no idea what I’m doing.” One
side of his mouth curled up.

“Me either.”

“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, but
. . . I’m mesmerized. By everything you do and say, the way you are
with your family—it provokes me. You’re gravity, Gracie, and you’re
pulling me in.”

It was poetry, the way he spoke sometimes.
Storybook confessions splashing their unreal colors onto my drab
little page. I felt the cool air in my mouth and closed it.

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m not.” He flashed an award-winning grin
and took my hand. “Off we go.”

That first night after the movie, when we
sat in my car, that fire . . . the nonsensical effects . . . I
wanted to push him away, but froze like a deer in headlights. Now
I’m holding him—pulling him in?—and totally unprepared for the
result.

No one had touched me before or since
Solomon. I’d never really thought about it until I touched Evan and
I wondered if that was something that bothered me all along. The
lack of physical contact. I hugged my kids. Lily. My dog. Once in a
while, I’d run into someone from church and shake hands, but that
was it. The other day, our fingers touched when Evan passed me a
napkin—I had to leave the room. Every tiny encounter with him felt
so intimate. My stomach twisted into wonderful, terrifying
knots.

After dinner, during
post
-barbeque clean-up, as Evan dropped a pile of
plates in the sink, he whispered in my ear, “You look
beautiful.”

A well of emotion pricked the backs f my
eyes as I thanked him quietly. He simply passed into the living
room.

A second later he came back. “Do you mind if
I leave these here?” He set a paper grocery sack on the
counter.

I glanced inside. “Wow. That is a lot of
liquor.”

“I’ll take it when I go, if you don’t want
it in the house. I know you aren’t a drinker.”

Something in the way he made the assumption
ticked me off—though it was more true than false. “I didn’t know
you brought it or I would’ve served drinks with dinner. And who
says I’m not a ‘drinker’?”

His overall tone implied that I was
uptight. Now, I’ve been many things in my life: naïve, lonely,
slightly weak, perpetually forgetful, over-confident and extremely
self-conscious. I’d even admit to being a life-long prude, but
I’d
never
been
uptight.

“Please,” he scoffed, raising his voice to
make sure everyone heard, “I know a lightweight when I see
one.”

Lily and Marcus walked in from the living
room where they’d spent the last half hour sorting through the CD
collection. Mary Wells played softly in the background.

Marcus cheered, “Tell’m, Ev! We are English,
our forefathers invented binge drinking. We’ve been laggered since
nursery school.”

“Is that a challenge?” Lily cast a loaded
glance.

“I hope it is.” I thanked her with my eyes,
grateful for the times she’d forced me to practice her favorite
game. Although, we usually used apple juice. “You know, Lily and I
were playing a drinking game just the other night.”

“With what, grape juice?” Evan tucked an arm
around my shoulder, clueless at how close he came to the truth.
“Tell us about your little game.” His patronizing tone was equally
parts humorous and irritating.

“Quarters,” Lily bubbled. “I’ve been playing
since eighth grade and I’m undefeated.”

She was bragging, but rightfully so. Any
woman possessing as much beauty as Lily had to know how to handle
booze and men. She could hold more liquor than anyone I knew and
she was excellent when it came to quarters. In all the years we’d
hung out, I‘d only seen her lose once. It was New Year’s Eve, about
six years ago. She played against Sol, who’d taken advantage of the
fact that she wasn’t quite sober when it started. Lily never
counted that as a loss.

Marcus greedily rubbed his hands together.
“Right, then. I don’t know what it is, but I’m sure Evan and I can
out-drink you two.”

I had no doubt about that, either. “As
soon as Caleb goes down for the night, it is
so
on,” I announced. Lily chuckled and gave me a
high-five.

I rushed to finish cleaning up while Lily
assisted Caleb in the bath. When Noah returned from his friend’s
house, he decided to go to bed early. His allergies were bothering
him and the pills he took for the symptoms made him sleepy. I
kissed him goodnight, tucked Caleb in his bed after prayers, and
turned on the night-light. When I emerged from the back of the
house, everyone was already gathered at the dining table.

My mouth pulled into an unwilling smirk.
“Are you two ready to lose to a couple of lightweights?”

Evan’s eyes sparkled. “If there’s anything I
can do better than anyone on this planet, it’s drinking. If I could
act half as well as I can tolerate alcohol, I’d be the best that
ever lived.”

“That’s pretty big talk. Let’s hope you can
back it up.” Lily’s unassuming tone was highlighted by the look she
gave Marcus.

The smack talk intensified as I set up the
game: one quarter and a shot glass in front of each of us. In the
center of the table, I set the double shot glass. Normally, we’d
shoot the coins into the standard size, but the guys were
beginners. Lily shook her head at the unknown charity.

“Nice set,” Evan remarked.

“Thank you, we got them in Vegas a few years
ago. Remember, Lily? You and Sol and I went up there for a boxing
match? What was the name of that guy?”

It was about four months after her divorce,
and the memory of that trip made me want to laugh, though it was a
bit of a nightmare to her. She met some guy, and by the end of the
first day she hated him. It might have had something to do with him
not mentioning that he had a girlfriend. They had a huge fight in
the middle of the casino. She almost got arrested and Circus Circus
banned her for life.