Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places
Chapter Seven
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At first sighting Vera was mortified. She wanted to get up and just run -- run far far away.
This can’t really be happening; it has to be a nightmare. Pinch me, please and I’ll gladly wake up.
But the figure across from her, that receding hairline, the metal-rimmed glasses, the oh-so-familiar face, and, the grin from cheek to cheek, (yes, he was smiling!) -- there could be no mistake -- no, not at all. It was Jason, her husband, the man she’d been planning to deceive.
He’d strolled over unhurriedly without a bit of hesitation. Glancing quickly at the book on the table and the solitary long-stemmed rose atop, (her credentials for the clandestine meeting), he uttered a quick “May I?” then pulled out the chair and silently sat down.
She couldn’t run. She couldn’t hide. It would be totally inane – after all, she’d have to face the music and her husband eventually.
But wait a minute – hold on! -- she suddenly realized: If he was sitting opposite her – why then, he was guilty of the same transgression; damned if he wasn’t looking for a lover!
Everything stopped like a freeze-frame in a movie: The din of honking horns from street traffic, the dialogue from nearby tables disappeared. Even the clanging of dishes as a bus boy cleared a nearby station -- all of it was drowned out by this awkward moment as the two of them seemed frozen in time.
“Hell!” Jason knew what this scene meant; just why Vera was sitting there with that pitiful book on sex and the rather low-cut dress. Damned if she didn’t look good. He’d have to utter something – speak first. After all, he was a gentleman. But what could he say? This was an absolutely grim state of affairs. He felt like a total fool.
Shit! What kind of story can I make up? Vera considered. None, none that won’t make me look even worse.
It was at least a full agonizing minute, sixty long seconds – go on, count them -- before anyone spoke. “I’ll be the first to admit it -- this is – well -- almost laughable,” Jason said. “Talk about dumb and dumber.”
Vera laughed uneasily. Then Jason. What else could they do? It’s said that laughter is the shortest distance between two people and at this moment, they needed to bridge the abyss that had brought them to this incredibly embarrassing episode.
At that split second, Vera and Jason dissolved into two people who had to confront a cruel reality -- their marriage was in real trouble. By some peculiar quirk of fate, they were at this outdoor café, having assumed false identities and, worse, possessing a rancorous raison d'être for this get-together. Now, sitting at the same table – looking into each other’s eyes – they both knew they’d have to muddle through it, all the way to the truth.
“Would you like a drink?” he asked her.
“If I don’t have one soon, I think I’ll faint,” she answered, shakily.
“Me too.”
Jason waved the waiter over. “Two martinis, dry, please.”
“Now you never drink when you’re working and you do have to go back to your office, I assume…?”
“Never assume anything, my dear. I have the afternoon off.”
She wondered if that meant he thought whoever he was meeting was going to be a quickie, a meet-and-make-love-in-the-
She bit down on her tongue to keep from lashing out at him. “I mean when you think about it, this ass hole could have slept with someone who had herpes and then foisted it upon me, the bastard!” Vera was seething, quietly enraged. But then anger could mask shame, and she was feeling guilt at being there. No! She’d suffered long enough from his ignoring her, from the lackluster love making. She didn’t feel at fault -- It was really more embarrassment at being found out.
“Hey, hon., I don’t want to sound like a smart Alec quoting the Man – Albert Einstein -- but Einstein once said that only two things are infinite – the universe and human stupidity. I am certainly guilty of being stupid – so now, don’t you feel too bad,” he said, placing his hand on top of hers.
“Have you – have you ever done this before?” she asked with trepidation
“No, no, no, this was my first time…I didn’t know what to do…I knew we were in trouble; that you weren’t satisfied, I know it sounds crazy Vera,” he whispered, “but I wanted to see what someone else thought.”
“A seal of approval?” she asked facetiously. “Whatever."
The drinks arrived. Thank God. Vera didn’t hide how she felt as she swallowed most of it in just four swigs. She had to calm her nerves.
“Let’s get out of here,” he suggested. “We have to talk, but not in this public arena.”
“Okay, we could go back to the apartment, talk there?” she suggested. “Splendid idea.”
Jason took out a ten dollar bill, left it on the table, took Vera’s arm to guide her through the tables and out to the street where he hailed a taxi.
While she felt shattered and he was thoroughly embarrassed there was a hint of hope in how they both felt at that moment; that maybe this was a good thing - - their discovering each other’s cry for help. At least, they could talk, and there would be no recriminations. After all, they’d found each other out.
*****
Vera crossed the threshold of the den, ignored the blinking answering machine, and headed straight to the bar. Hell! They could both do with another drink. Jason was right behind her; tossing off his jacket as he entered the room. He’d purchased the Brooks Brothers Tweed with the suede patched elbows to evince a more casual look, but somehow he knew he hadn’t pulled it off. Maybe it was the white shirt he wore? Maybe he didn’t look that sharp? What the hell was he thinking about? As if how was what really mattered. Jason realized his judgment was way off the chart. How could he really explain putting up that personal ad? He hoped he could handle what ever was next.
Vera walked over to the sound system and turned it on – music to mellow the tension in the air might make this easier. She chose an oldie – Bobby Short singing at the Carlisle -- a recording she’d obtained recently after the café society singer had died. She thought his witty versions of most songs would be up tempo enough for this grey afternoon – a point in time where the truth would be exposed, where they’d have to confess to their mutual sins. But instead of one of Short’s more upbeat numbers, the first track that played was the tear-jerking “Everytime We Say Goodbye….” one that usually evoked within her that old fear of abandonment, maybe because her father had died when she was so young.
The Cole Porter lyrics were haunting: “Everytime we say goodbye, I die a little, Everytime we say goodbye, I wonder why a little, Why the Gods above me, who must be in the know. Think so little of me, they allow you to go.”
Jason strolled over to her, touched her arm tenderly and said, “Let’s dance.” ****
When you're near, there's such an air of spring about it,
I can hear a lark somewhere, begin to sing about it., There's no love song finer, but how strange the change from major to minor, Every time we say goodbye. The song played on. And as they did, long ago feelings of love emerged.
How did things change so suddenly? Where did the passion come from?
They hadn’t danced in years and now there they were clinging on to one another and feeling an intimacy they hadn’t felt for far too long a time.
After, they sat down quietly, neither of them saying a word.
As they disappeared into the yielding velvet sofa, he touched her leg, then her inner thigh. All of a sudden she felt excited. They were supposed to be talking. But instead they both felt a longing for one another, an impulsive need to be physically close.
Without saying a word Jason picked her up, carried her into the bedroom, and almost ripped off her top in his urgency to touch her breasts, to fondle her all over.
She could feel his erection, hard, strong, and for the first time in maybe forever she wanted to touch it, to let him know that she wasn’t afraid of how it felt. She unzipped his pants and rubbed it gently, ever so gently as she heard him breathe even harder.
This was incredible, magical, totally unexpected that the two of them would find themselves in the heat of passion, making amazing love. There was an ardor, an excitement neither had felt before that had them almost whirling, spinning out of control. The sex was good and getting better as he kissed her all over her body and she for the first time in their marriage -- she leaned down and kissed him down there -- put her tongue there, let him know she wanted him, wanted him badly.
They made love feverishly and it was so good, so really good that Vera came, came even before Jason did. Would wonders never cease.
She turned over, sighed, and said, “We should advertise more often.”
“I’ll second that,” he laughed.
And they both fell asleep.
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