When the five of us sat down, Geoff turned to Angela. “I don’t think we’ve met,” he said, holding out his hand. “My name’s Geoff Peterson.”
“Angela Castro,” she replied, giving his hand a little shake. “Pleased to meet you.”
“You have an interesting accent,” he said. “Where are you from, originally?”
“I was born and raised in Cartagena, Colombia, but went to university in Bogotá, before moving to Miami,” she said.
“University?” he asked. “What did you study?”
“I have a degree in media communications,” she replied, not recognizing the subtext of Geoff’s questions.
“She’s older than she looks,” I broke in. “In fact, she’s four years older than I am.”
“Seriously?” Geoff asked.
“Yeah,” Teddy Bear said, backing me up. “She graduated from college in 2012.”
“How would you possibly know that?” Stein asked, more from curiosity than any disbelief.
“I had dinner over at Leah’s place a few months ago, and we got to talking about how college studies might not have helped directly in our careers, but still made a difference. Like, Angela got her degree in media communications, right? She thought she would go into television, and got a job with Univision, but that didn’t work out. Now she’s modeling and doing that whole ‘social influencer’ thing on Facebook. Which is back to media communications. Me, I got my degree in English literature, but then started acting and now I’m finding myself more and more interested in work on stage- back to reading the great playwrights.”
“Huh,” said Stein. Turning to me, he said, “You know Jimmy will be pissed off you had a rock star party without him.”
Laughing, I explained that no, it wasn’t that sort of party, just a dinner and hanging out afterwards sort of thing.
Geoff, returning back to the earlier conversation, said, “I got my Bachelor’s in mechanical engineering. Out of college I went to work for a small company that made injection-molded nylon parts for other companies, mostly in the aviation field. Eventually, I became a VP, then the COO, so I really haven’t done any actual engineering in, I dunno, maybe twenty years now? But if I didn’t have that engineering expertise, no way could I run things the way I do. Your basic MBA simply wouldn’t understand the realities of our specific industry.”
“Exactly!” Teddy Bear said. “So we were discussing whether it’s your college education that sets you up for success in a specific field whether you recognize it or not, or whether your interests and abilities lie in a certain direction, and you choose your educational and careers paths in pursuit of your interests.”
“And you and Angela were having this conversation?” Geoff asked, amazed.
“Well, yeah, the two of us, and, um, Jenny?” Teddy Bear asked of me for confirmation.
“Jenna,” Angela supplied.
“Yeah, Jenna. It started off with Jenna complaining that her degree is doing nothing for her right now, and then the conversation just progressed from there,” Teddy Bear explained.
Geoff sat back in his chair, looking thoughtfully at Angela and Teddy Bear.
“I still want to know how my invite to this rock star party went missing,” Stein said. Stein was sharp, and I’m sure he picked up on the fact that Geoff had dismissed both Angela and Teddy Bear as shallow, only to have his preconceptions shattered.
Just then the waiter arrived to take our orders, and the conversation got derailed. When the guy left, Stein mentioned that he noticed we’d stopped at the viewpoint on Cerro.
“Pretty amazing views, aren’t they?” he asked.
“It was really impressive up there, on that ridge like that,” Angela agreed. “Sometimes you’d see way down to the valley, and other times you’d see off west and see all the mountains that way.”
“It’s a great road and there’s never any traffic on it, so you can really rail, which is great, but then you can’t really enjoy the views unless you want to do a Wiley E. Coyote move and sail off a cliff,” Stein said.
“So where do we go from here?” Angela asked.
“We just take the freeway back to Los Angeles,” Geoff answered. “The good stuff is all done.”
As lunch went on, it became more and more obvious to me that Geoff was doing his best to flirt with Angela. She wasn’t really flirting back, but her friendly nature might have seemed that way to him, for all I know. When we left the café and got on the freeway, I asked Angela about it.
“He spent almost the entire time staring at my breasts,” she laughed. “At least he had the decency to look embarrassed when I caught his eyes, but he couldn’t help it.”
“I can’t say I blame him,” I said, putting my hand on her thigh. “That top of yours is so tight I can see your piercings.”
“That’s why I wore it today,” Angela confessed.
“So Geoff would stare at your tits?”
“Well, not him necessarily, but your friends,” she replied. “The others, they all know I’m your girlfriend, and I like to give them hints of what you get to unwrap when we get home.”
“You do?”
“Of course!” she said, surprised that I was surprised. “I like to dress really sexy when I’m with you and Emmy. That way people will look and be jealous.”
“And here, I thought you dressed sexy for me,” I said, pouting my lower lip out.
“I do! And of course, it has benefits for me, too.”
“What do you mean?”
“If I’m really sexy for you, you get very… excited, and I love the looks you give me. And sometimes, when we get home and you can’t stop yourself, things get very much fun.”
“We don’t have to wait until we get home,” I said, sliding my hand higher up her leg.
“Yes, we do,” she replied. “You just have to wait.”
“But Mom and Tiffany are at our place still, and so are Grace and her girlfriend,” I objected. “It’s hard to get any privacy.”
“We’ll just have to be quiet, then,” Angela said, crossing her arms over those boobs that had had Geoff so hypnotized.
Emmy was the only one home when we got back, to my surprise. She was practicing her guitar with her headphones on, but she saw us come in and set everything aside.
“Did you two have a nice drive today?” she asked, giving us each a kiss hello.
“It was good, but right now, we need to take a quick shower and then-” I said, but Angela interrupted me.
“Lots of hot sex!”
Emmy looked at Angela, then me, then back at Angela, then back at me. "I had a shower earlier, but I could stand another one,” she finally said.
Mom gave me a knowing look when the three of us emerged from our bedroom after our fun soapy time, but Tiffany seemed oblivious.
“I did not hear you two come in!” Emmy said when she spotted the two at the kitchen counter. “Do you two have any dinner plans?”
“No?” Mom said, making it more of a question than a statement.
Emmy suggested that we order from the Japanese restaurant downstairs, and everybody expressed enthusiasm for the idea.
Grace and Rosalie got back to the condo moments after the delivery guy left.
“I ordered you guys chicken yakisoba,” I told them. “I didn’t know when you were getting back in, and I figured that’s a dish that keeps pretty well.”
“That’s awesome! Thanks!” Rosalie said, her eyes lighting up. “This place makes the best Japanese food I’ve ever had!”
“There was this little hole-in-the-wall Japanese place up by where we lived in Palo Alto that was friggin’ amazing,” Grace told her as they retrieved their food from the fridge. “The food was so good up there, like you wouldn’t believe.”
It was a nice, low-key dinner, just family talking about family stuff. Grace and Rosalie had had a great visit and Mom and Tiffany had enjoyed their mini vacation away from Fallbrook, but everybody was going back home the next morning, which added a slightly melancholic touch.
Still, the conversation was light and plans were made for Christmas break. Grace and Rosalie would come out for another week, and Mom and Tiffany would come up Christmas Eve and spend the night in our new house.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“I can’t wait to see it,” Mom said. “It sounds like quite the place.”
“Just one more month,” Angela said. “We only get to move in in three weeks.”
“Only a week to settle in before Christmas?” Mom asked, dismayed.
“I’m glad we even get that,” I said. “I promised the builder a huge incentive if we could be moved in by Christmas, and he said his wife already has plans for that money, so he’d better deliver.”
“Isn’t that just an invitation to cut corners?” Mom asked.
“That’s a reasonable question, but in this case, I don’t think so. I haven’t seen anything questionable on the job at all, and the general contractor, he’s there on-site almost every day keeping things moving on schedule. He and I set the target date as ambitious but possible, so it’s not like it was too much of a stretch,” I explained.
Later that night, after everybody else had gone to bed, Mom and I settled down with a bottle of wine in front of the fireplace on the balcony.
“Lee, I don’t say this nearly enough, but I really am proud of you- of what you’re doing with your life. You and Emmy have really accomplished some amazing things and it only looks as if things are getting even better for the two of you. And Angela,” she said, taking a sip of wine to give herself a moment to compose her words. “I really didn’t know what to think when you first told me about her. I was concerned, to be honest, that she would somehow come between you and Emmy.”
“If anything, she’s done just the opposite,” I protested.
“Yeah, I can see that now,” Mom agreed. “Honestly, it seems she fills a role that neither you or Emmy are really good at, but maybe both of you need. It’s obvious she’s crazy about the two of you, and she seems…” she trailed off, not sure how to phrase what she wanted to say. Eventually she continued, “Well, to be honest, too… simple- and no, I don’t mean simple like stupid, I mean simple like uncomplicated. She’s too uncomplicated and, um, guileless to have any sort of secret agenda. It just seems as if she loves the two of you, and that’s it.”
“I’m pretty sure that is what it boils down to,” I agreed, sipping my wine. “Angela wears her heart on her sleeve, you know? I don’t think she could fake it if she had to.”
“Well, you know what the great Mae West said, right?” Mom asked, then supplied the answer. “Honesty is key. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”
With a chuckle, I refilled our glasses, finishing off the bottle. It was nice, spending time with Mom, the two of us relating more as two adults than child and parent. Sure, she would always be my mom and I her oldest daughter, but on that couch it was more like two old friends with a lot of shared history. It was a new sort of companionship with the woman that had given birth to me, and I found it very pleasant indeed.
The next morning, Rosalie gave Angela, Emmy and me hugs goodbye. “This was, like, the best family visit I’ve ever had. Seriously! It was really great to meet the three of you and hang out here at your amazing place, and see LA- Seriously, like the best vacation I’ve ever had. I mean it.”
“We need to get going, too,” Mom said as she and Tiffany brought their luggage out from the other bedroom. “Lee, I’ll give you a call sometime in the next week or two to firm up the plans for Christmas.”
“It was great meeting you,” Angela said, giving Mom a hug. “And you, too, Tiffany. It’s been wonderful getting to know you.”
“Tiffany is the best!” Emmy declared, giving Tiff a big hug.
Once the condo cleared out, I flopped down on the couch. “You know, it’s funny,” I said. “As much as I was happy to have everybody visit, it sure is a relief they’re gone.”
“That is terrible!” Emmy exclaimed with a laugh.
“But true,” I replied. “I just want some peace and quiet for at least a little while, is that too much to ask?”
“No, baby, it’s not,” Angela said lifting up my legs so she could sit down, then placing my legs across her lap. “It isn’t wrong to want to not have to entertain visitors.”
Emmy knelt next to the couch and draped her upper body across mine. “If there is anything I can do to help you relax, please tell me,” she said with a kiss.
“This is helping. A lot,” I said. “Just having the two of you with me, like this, it’s heaven.”
“I think so, too,” Angela said, stroking my legs through my sweats.
We really did nothing the rest of the day, and I was perfectly O.K. with that. It was great to just lounge around, snuggling with Angela on the couch while Emmy practiced on her acoustic guitar, playing us some of the classical Spanish stuff she used to work on a lot when we were younger.
“Em?” Angela asked at one point. “Are you ever going to make a record of that kind of music? I really love the way you played Capricho Árabe- tan emocionante! I bet a lot of your fans would love to hear you play like this.”
“You think so?” Emmy asked, pleased.
“I would buy that album instantly,” Angela confirmed.
“You would not have to buy it- I would give you a copy!” Emmy said with a laugh.
Angela snuggled up into me a little bit deeper, but blew Emmy a kiss. “Come over here with us,” she pleaded.
“But if I did that, I would not be able to play the guitar for you,” Emmy said with a smile.
“Well, when you’re done, then,” Angela said, sliding her hand up under my shirt.
Emmy returned to playing her guitar, while Angela played with my abs, running her hand up and down my belly.
“I love this,” she sighed.
“I’m pretty fond of it, too,” I agreed. “This is about as good as it gets.”
I went to the fight gym early the next morning, even though Jody was still out of town.
A guy I’d seen around came over while I was working the heavy bag.
“Um, hey,” he said. “Um, I know you work out with Coach Jody, and he’s been on vacation for weeks now, and I was thinking, um, if you need somebody to spar with…”
Just then Eddie hustled over, having seen and heard the conversation enough to know what was going on. “Kid,” he said. “Richie, right? Hey, look, you don’t wanna spar with her. I know Jody told everybody to steer clear, and I’m repeating it. Nobody except him spars with her. Nobody.”
“I mean, I was just, you know, trying to help her out, since Coach Jody is out of town. I figured she could use something better than that bag, you know?” Richie said to Eddie, but he was unconvinced.
“Kid, you don’t want to see the inside of an emergency room. Let this one go.”
“Seriously?” Richie asked.
“As a goddamned heart attack,” Eddie said. “Just go back to your workout.”
“Richie?” I said as he turned to leave. “Thanks for the offer.”
“Um, maybe you want to get coffee after you’re done here?” he asked, hopeful.
“Thanks for that offer, too, but I’m gonna have to decline. I have to get to the office.”
“Maybe next time?”
“Maybe,” I said. I didn’t want to encourage the guy, but I didn’t want to be a bitch about it, either.
The following Wednesday Richie repeated his offer, so I figured I’d just go ahead and have that coffee, but make it clear that was as far as it was ever going to go. He’d caught me just as I was heading to the locker room at the end of my workout, so I said, “Give me ten and I’ll meet you by the front desk.”
I took my usual quick shower and put on my work clothes and was out by the gym entrance before Richie was.
He hustled out of the men’s locker room a minute later, a look of surprise on his face when he realized I’d gotten ready more quickly than he had.
“You showered and changed that fast?” he asked, looking me up and down.
“Military training is hard to unlearn,” I said with a shrug. To my surprise, he didn’t comment on that, just shrugged and asked if I knew the coffee shop around the corner.
When I told him that I didn’t, he said I should follow him.
He threw his gym bag in the passenger seat, then climbed into his paint-spattered old Dodge truck. I tossed my bag in my trunk, then pulled the BMW out and followed him the three blocks to the coffee shop.
I was pleased to see it was a little independent place, and not one of the big chains. I found a parking spot before Richie did, so I entered instead of waiting outside. The little old-school bell on the door rang charmingly as the smell of freshly roasted beans greeted me inside.
Richie joined me a moment later, while I was busy staring at the menu board. “They do a really good light roast here,” he suggested.
When we got to the front, I ordered an Americano with a blueberry muffin and said, “And whatever he’s having.”
After ordering some sort of caramel macchiato and a scone, Richie said, “Thanks!” when I paid.
We found a little high table, and while we waited for our order Richie said, “I asked you out for coffee- I should’ve been the one treating.”
“Yeah, maybe,” I admitted. “But I’m not big on those sorts of rules.”
Just then the barista called out my name, and I got up to grab our stuff. Richie followed, and it was a good thing since I would have had a hard time juggling the two coffees and the pastries at the same time.
When we sat back down, Richie asked what he’d obviously been dying to know. “So, um, Leah, was it? Nobody at the gym even knows your name. Well, I guess Coach Jody does, and Eddie must, too, but they don’t talk. All the guys are, well, you know, really curious about you. But like I said, Coach Jody doesn’t talk. All he’s ever told any of us is that we were not supposed to approach you at all.”
“And yet you did,” I said, amused.
“Well, he’s been gone on vacation,” he said, making finger quotes when he said the word ‘vacation’, “for weeks now, and there’s some talk he might not ever come back. I figure, when the cat’s away…”
“You don’t think he’s on vacation?” I asked.
“Well, the, um, story going around is that the military called him back for some sort of special mission. You know he used to be a Navy SEAL, right?”
“Army Green Beret,” I corrected. “Not a SEAL.”
“He told you that?” Richie asked.
“We talk,” I said.
“Is that where he is? Back in the Middle East somewhere?” Richie asked, hoping to hear confirmation of the rumors.
“Not unless you count Canada as the Middle East,” I replied. “He’s in Toronto.”
“Huh. So it really is vacation, after all,” Richie said, leaning back. “Well, I’m gonna hate to burst everybody’s bubble…”
After a few bites of his scone, he asked, “So what’s your story? Like I said, everybody in the gym is curious, and the only guys who might know aren’t saying a word. You’re there before the gym even opens, and it’s obvious you spend that time in the ring, but when the doors open and the rest of us are let in, you go and work the weights or the bags or something all by yourself and never talk to anybody.” After another bite of his scone, he continued. “And then, the other day, when Eddie told me to buzz off, he said you’d wipe the floor with me, like it wasn’t even a question.”
I took another sip of my coffee before answering. “I do get to the gym early, and Jody and I do work pretty much exclusively on technique, that’s true. I don’t need him to help me with the strength training, but I can’t very well fight by myself.”
“But nobody else has seen you fight,” Richie said, leaning forward. “And everybody is, y’know, curious, like I said. Are you good?”
“I guess Eddie thinks so,” I said.
“You really aren’t going to give me anything, are you?” he asked, leaning back and chuckling.
“You said the guys at the gym are curious about me,” I said. “What do they think is my story?”
“Well, some things are obvious, right? You’re there for what, two hours before the rest of us are let in, and then work out for a couple more hours, right? And, you know, your workouts are freaking intense. So, hour three, hour four, and you’re still going harder than pretty much anybody else in the gym when they’re fresh. Anybody can see you’re fit AF, and you’re, like, built, but not like a bodybuilder,” Richie said, looking me over again, but in an appraising way that didn’t feel sexual. “You’re lean, and all muscle- like a real fighter.
“And then you take the world’s quickest shower, and dress like you’re going to work doing investment banking or something. And your car- that thing wasn’t cheap. So nobody has any real clue. I mean, there’s plenty of speculation, but it’s all just, well, wild shit.”
“Like?”
“My favorite is that you’re some kind of, like, secret government killer or something. You’re here to train with Jody while you wait for your next mission.”
“I like that one,” I said with a laugh.
“Yeah, so the story is that after the gym, you go spend a couple of hours a day at the shooting range practicing your sniper skills.”
“Well, there are a couple of really obvious flaws with that story,” I said. “The most basic is that real secret government assassins are average-looking people, who can blend in anywhere. There aren’t a lot of crowds I could blend into.”
“No, I guess not,” Richie said, looking crestfallen that his pet theory was shot down so easily. “So what’s the second flaw?”
“After I leave the gym, I go to my office where I sit behind a desk. No gunpowder residue on me at all.”
“So you say,” he countered with a smile. “We all know that’s just your cover.”
That got a genuine laugh from me, I will admit.
“You know,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “Now that you’ve figured it out, I’m gonna have to kill you.”
“Can I have a last request?” he asked with a smile. “Can it be death by snu-snu?”
“Dream on,” I said.
“Oh, I already have!”
“Don’t make me spit up my coffee,” I growled, chuckling at his comic ploy. I appreciated that he had a sense of humor, but he still wasn’t ever going to get anywhere.
When I told Emmy and Angela about it that evening neither of them understood the reference, so I did a search and we watched the episode of Futurama together. Of course, both proclaimed that death by snu-snu was definitely how they wanted to go when it came time…