Games We Play (31 page)

She opened the door. “I was not waiting for you,” she said, allowing him to squeeze past her to enter.

“I didn’t say a word,” he said, then leaned in and kissed her, as if they were a couple and he was coming home from a long day of work. He was surprised that he could maybe handle that thought, that he was less bothered by the prospect of something long term.

“Where’s Myra?” he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her along behind him as he made his way into the interior of the house.

“She has company, actually, and they’re all waiting in the kitchen to talk to you,” she said, stopping and forcing him to stop too.

“Too bad for us,” he said. He kissed her lips softly again before turning away and walking toward the back of the house. He stopped when he reached the kitchen.

Myra was seated around the table, along with the Colonel, Luis, and the mayor.

“So what’s up?” he asked.

“Hi, Cooper. Have a seat. The mayor has something that he wishes to discuss with you. He thought we should all be present,” Myra said.

“Okay,” Cooper said, and sat in one of the remaining empty chairs. He pointed to the last one for Kendall.

“I’m good here,” she said, standing next to the door. Aunt Myra looked up. “Really, I’m good here,” she said. She didn’t want to start inserting herself into the group.

“Hank Ryder came to see me Monday,” Juan said, looking directly at Cooper.

“Okay, and that concerns me how?” Cooper said.

“He came bearing gifts, a proposal that he wishes to bring before the committee and, ultimately, the city.”

Cooper lifted an eyebrow. “He means to purchase the land to the left of the quarry, the piece that Hugo and Stanley own between them, and Tom Baker’s plot. Hank also wants the city to consider selling the golf course to him. He wants to build a resort and a retirement community here. He wants to bring in shopping, maybe even a movie theater, make everything like they’ve done up there in San Antonio, you know? But on a smaller scale.”

“I do,” Cooper said.

“He’s serious. We can’t blow him off, or lose his proposal in the committee, not that we would,” Juan said, although his expression indicated he’d clearly given it some thought.

“I have the right of first refusal if the city decides it wants to sell the course, and I’m not selling, so what’s the big deal? We didn’t need to have a meeting to discuss that,” Cooper said, looking at his watch.

“I hear Hank wants to purchase the home across from the old Cooper mansion.”

“It’s a free world. I don’t own it anymore, so if the new owner wants to sell it to him…” he said, letting his voice trail off as he looked around the table. “We don’t have anything to worry about here. Hank is here, and I guess he’s still mad at the world and at the Coopers.”

“What happens next?” the Colonel asked, directing his question to Juan.

“It goes to the committee. They’ll meet in a month to consider the proposal. It’s an informal meeting. Hank will be invited, as will Cooper,” Juan said. “If his proposal is approved then, it will be sent to the full council, but it really shouldn’t come to that. Not with Cooper exercising his right and removing the course from the deal. Maybe Hank will drop the proposal altogether,” he said, looking pointedly at Cooper.

“I’ve heard he’s approached Hugo and Stanley. Those two could use the money. Tom Baker has agreed to sell him his land, I’ve heard. Not everyone likes the direction this city has taken,” the Colonel said, clearly worried. The Colonel was Coopersville’s first gay elected councilman, so he tended to overworry in Cooper’s opinion.

“Some of the members of the council have called me already. Hank has gotten in touch with them personally, ginning up support for his plan,” Juan added.

“We’ve made so much progress in this town, and now this will only get everyone all riled up,” the Colonel said.

“It’s not as big as all that,” Cooper said.

“You watch. Mark my words,” the Colonel said.

“I still think you’re making too much of this…and way too much of Hank,” Cooper said as he glanced around the table. “If that’s all you’ve got to discuss tonight, then Myra and I have a date.”

“I don’t think you’re taking this seriously enough, Cooper,” the Colonel said, not ready to end the discussion.

“Needless worry,” Cooper said.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” the Colonel added, his final words to Cooper.

“I do,” Cooper said.

“I’ll keep you all informed as this thing progresses,” Juan said, standing up, along with the Colonel and Luis.

Myra stood too, waited for the three men to walk out the front door, then stayed there a few minutes, watching them as they drove away.

Cooper looked over to Kendall, who was still standing just inside of the kitchen. “Nothing to say?”

“I don’t know Hank,” she said, leaning against the wall, arms folded across her chest, looking good enough to eat, decked out in shorts and a small T-shirt, her feet bare.

“Old history that won’t die, apparently,” he said, his only explanation, eyes back to hers now.

Myra came back into the room and stood next to Kendall.

“Don’t worry, Myra. I know what you’re going to say,” Cooper said, standing up, leading the way to the back porch. He took a seat on the couch.

“Time does not heal all wounds,” she said, and sat down next to him.

Myra and Cooper had gone into the garage. Kendall’s aunt had asked him to look at something, and they’d walked over immediately following their TV program, leaving Kendall alone on the couch.
They’re discussing Hank
, she thought.

She stood, deciding to wait for Cooper on the front porch. It was good and dark out, so maybe they could fool around like teenagers before he left. They hadn’t connected since Monday night, and she was in the midst of an internal debate with herself regarding how aggressive she should be toward him.

They’d agreed to call if either one of them wanted to connect. She’d held off, waiting to see if his version of all summer looked like her freaky every-day-works-for-me plan.

She stood on the porch, leaning against the railing. It was cool out, and her aunt’s ceiling fan spun overhead, helping to circulate the air.
This is a nice town
, she thought. She was surprised by how much she liked being here. She wasn’t sure how this Hank person’s proposal would come to impact Coopersville. Not in any negative way, she hoped; she would hate to think of this place changing.

She was still trailing behind her aunt daily, still meeting new town people. She and Myra were heading up to Austin tomorrow to talk mobile homes with Sandy again; it was time to complete the financing paperwork. The screen door opened, interrupting her thoughts, and she looked over, watching as Cooper walked over to stand beside her.

“So who is this Hank?” Kendall asked.

“Just dive right in, don’t you?” he said, chuckling. “An old friend,” he added, scanning the street. It was dark out here except for the full moon, which was making its slow ascent into the night sky.

“Not much of an old friend if he’s here to change the town.”

He shrugged.

“Not going to tell me?” she asked.

“Why waste this perfectly lovely night discussing Hank when we could do other things with it?”

“So are you going to fight him? Or allow the city to sell the course to him?”

“Hell no,” he said, pulling her closer. He looked into her eyes and smiled, set his lips to hers. His hands slid down to her hips, and he gave himself over to the kiss, the way she made him feel—wanted, attractive, sexy.

“Okay, what other things do you have in mind?” she said, smiling.

He pulled away and turned to the street, scanning it before he turned his gaze to Myra’s home. It was dark inside, and the only light was coming from the TV room.

“Myra is watching the news, and she takes her news watching seriously,” he said, leaning in to taste her lips again, pulling her close to his body. He ran his hands up her body, stopping below her breasts, and lightly grazed their undersides.

Kendall moaned, her lips against his. “Okay,” she said.

He pulled away again, secured her hand in his, and started down the steps.

“Where are we going?” she asked, following him as he made a left across the grass, eyes still searching the street.

“What are you doing? Where are we going?” she asked.

“You’ll see in a minute,” he said. She stood with her back to the hedges, the very tall hedges located to the left of Myra’s home. He moved forward, forcing her to walk backwards, until her back hit the side of the house. He found her mouth then, his tongue inside a few seconds later, his hands tugging at her shorts, considering what to do with them, off or over. He decided on over.

Kendall’s hands found his zipper. She lowered it and moved her hands inside, running her fingers softly over him while his hands slid her shorts and underwear aside, and then he was at the entrance of her. A few moments later he thrust up and into her. He’d meant to go slow, but he dropped that idea the moment he felt her moist walls close around him, so now it was just hurry up and move. He thrust up again, holding her hips, her legs wrapped around his waist. She moaned into the night.

“I know,” he whispered, kissing her, and then it was fast and hard, his lips moving roughly over hers, his tongue dueling with hers in time with the hard thrust of his hips, his two favorite parts of her anatomy in his palms, moving her up and down to receive him, again and again, and they were racing fast, both moving toward a climax, a crawling-up-through-his-bloodstream climax, blocking out any thoughts but here, the rightness of this, of him inside her, the way she felt surrounding him, and he moaned into her neck, pushing her back into the wall, staggered by the strength of his release.

She wasn’t much better. She had his neck in a death grip, her arm wrapped around it, holding him tightly to her as she moaned out her pleasure into his hair.

It was quiet, with no sounds other than the rustle of hedges and their labored breathing, heavy and fast into night, and then slower and slower as their bodies returned to normal.

“Wow,” she said, and they both started laughing at the urgency, at the power of their releases.

He shook his head and kissed her again.

Friday evening

The Proctor brothers were at their usual place in the Coopersville Brewpub, seated at the bar. They kept an eye on the place, considering it part of what they owed to Senior, a man like no other and one they’d admired tremendously. They missed the old days, missed messing with those niggers. Missed the time when they knew their place, and the idea of a black president would have been dismissed as absurd. WTF happened to this great country to make that even possible?

They came by once or twice a week to visit what they considered to be Junior’s place, not some kind of cooperative that everyone owned a piece of. It belonged to Junior as far as they were concerned.

They loved the beer Junior brewed here. They were glad he’d gotten the idea to start it up. He was what they’d like to call a beer musician. He was the best. But mostly they were here to keep an eye out for Cooper. Made them feel like they used to in the old days, when they’d been Senior’s go-to men and had looked out for Junior too.

They’d seen Cooper’s new addition, that African American woman, the niece of the old black woman Junior thought he had to look after.

The Proctor brothers were seated beside the Colonel tonight, a queer of a man, who loved the beer here too.

Niggers and queers
, Stanley thought,
what has the world come to?
Had to be the end times, is all he could figure, although he wasn’t big into that whole church deal.

“So how’s it going, Colonel?” Hugo asked.

Stanley smiled at his brother, amused that he was starting a conversation with the army queer, taking the bull by the horns, just as Hank had asked them to do. Who knew that a skinny runt like Hank would turn out so good? He’d started life as such a timid, scary little thing.

“Good. You?” the Colonel said, clearly surprised that they’d deigned to speak to him this evening. A first. Usually it was all hard glares and staring.

“We’re fine.”

“I hear you’ve been approached to sell your land,” the Colonel said, taking this opportunity to get a sense of them. His worries about the town’s future and the new proposal hadn’t abated any.

“We have. We know the fella that’s heading it up. Hank, he’s one of our local boys that made good.”

“You thinking about selling?”

“We might. Might like to change things around here,” Hugo said. “Hell, we might even be able to get Cooper to join us, sell his golf course back to Hank. You know he and Hank used to be like brothers back when Senior was alive.”

“Yep, those two were thick as thieves,” Stanley said, eyeing Kendall as she entered the bar and walked past them, heading to Cooper’s office like she owned the place.
Uppity nigger
, he thought, and he didn’t care if she knew how he felt. He made no bones to hide his disapproval, and if Junior kept it up, he’d have to speak to him about it too.

“No, I didn’t know that,” the Colonel said.

“Well, they were,” Hugo said.

“You don’t know Cooper like you think you do,” Stanley added. “That boy has a history, if most folks knew of it,” he said, shaking his head, as if he knew a story too sad to tell. “I bet they wouldn’t be so fired up and raring to get into his good graces. His daddy was old-school, and he ran this town in the old-school manner, with an iron fist. He didn’t allow no riffraff with new ideas to enter it. Taught his boy all he knew,” Hugo said.

“Really? Well, it looks like Cooper must have decided to go his own way. He seems to be a much more tolerant man.”

“He hides it well is all. His daddy taught him everything he needed to know,” Hugo said, and he and his brother started laughing, some secret they shared between them apparently.

“I hear that Hank’s proposal would be good for the town,” Stanley said, his attention on the Colonel now. “You’re a councilman, so I bet you’ve heard about the proposal,” he said.