Close Encounters (30 page)

“I spoke to your mother.”

She looked puzzled. “She told you? Why?”

Lee pulled on his earlobe and kept his expression vague. “Believe it or not, Ricca, she was concerned about how you were going to react. She’s well aware that you think you’re being squeezed out of your own home. That your life is being invaded by these alien people you don’t know. She’s trying hard to make it all work. It’s not easy trying to please everyone.”

Erica looked away, pouting. After only a moment she cast her father a thoughtful sideways glance. “It sounds like you’re on her side.”

“Honey, I’m on
your
side. But, well, your mother and I feel that maybe we should try and be friends. It’s a lot less stressful on everybody, especially you. Want to know what I think? Maybe you should give your stepbrothers a chance. You know, they might feel the same way you do. What on earth does their dad see in your mother? Why do they have to spend a day off from school visiting people they don’t know—and probably won’t like? How old are they?”

“Fourteen and ten,” she muttered.

“That makes you the oldest. The big sister. Why don’t you act like one? You know, set the ground rules and take charge. It’s your house and your room, but you don’t mind sharing it. Who knows, Ricca, you might actually like them. They could turn out to be fun to have around.”

“I don’t know,” she murmured.

“I don’t know either. But I think it’s worth a try.”

Her expression was no longer one of outright revolt. “Is that really why you think I should go home?”

“What other reason is there?”

“You have a date.”

Lee signaled for the check. “As a matter of fact I do,” he said. He looked the bill over and handed it back to the waitress with several bills. “I was already expecting that you were going home today, so I made one.”

“Oh.” She began to pull on her coat and to slide out of the booth.

Erica waited by the door as her father counted out a tip and left it near the salt shaker. Once outside, they rounded the corner to the lot where Lee’s car was parked, with her overnight bag already in the trunk.

They were on the road headed back to Erica’s house in Queens when she spoke again.

“Do you like her a lot?” she suddenly asked, turning to her father.

“Do I like who a lot?”

“The woman you have a date with. Is she pretty?”

Lee didn’t answer right away. He had already considered whether he should say anything to Ricca about Carol. Was it still too soon? What if Erica disliked his involvement with Carol as much as she had her mother’s remarrying?

“Dad?” Erica said, trying to get his attention. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“I was just thinking. Yes, Ricca, I do like her a lot. I happen to think she’s very special.”

“Well, how did you meet her? She’s not another cop, is she?” she asked with youthful disapproval.

“What’s the matter with cops? I’m a cop, remember? Would you like it if people disliked me just because I’m a cop?”

Erica sighed. “They already do.”

He didn’t have an adequate response to that.

Suddenly it made a difference to Lee what his own daughter thought about his work. It mattered just as much as what Carol thought.

Lee stared out of the windshield, knowing that he would eventually have to tell Erica about Carol.

“No, she’s not a cop.”

“Good. I hope she’s not like that other woman you were seeing. You know… that blond bimbo.”

“Erica,” Lee admonished her.

“I know it was just sex. It’s no big deal. But I wish you’d pick a woman with more class and brains.”

Lee cast a silent but surprised glance at his daughter. “The woman I’m seeing now fills the bill.” He took a deep breath. “As a matter of fact, what if I told you I think it could be serious this time?”

“Really?”

“It’s early yet, but I think so.”

“Wow,” she murmured softly.

Lee reached out and shook her knee. “I hope that was a good ‘wow.’ I wanted you to know. Right now we’re still getting to know each other.”

Erica shrugged. “Well, I guess this means I won’t be coming for weekends.”

“That’s not what my relationship will mean at all. I’ll always make time for you.”

“What if she doesn’t like me?”

Lee relaxed, smiling to himself. “I don’t think that’s likely to happen.”

Carol stepped out through the terrace doors and drew the blanket more tightly around her. There was a bite to the air, but there was no question that they were on the cusp of spring. It was a clear night. When she looked up, she was astonished to see a sprinkling of stars. To her left she caught sight of a small aircraft, flying low, that might just have taken off from LaGuardia.

She drew in a deep breath of the night air. It smelled of damp grass and leaves. She loved it that Lee had a view of the Hudson River and the double string of scalloped lights that outlined the George Washington Bridge.

She curled her fists into the blanket and pulled it closer, her hand brushing the bit of raised flesh over her left breast. Her wound had healed. She no longer thought of herself as damaged. Mostly, she decided, as the breeze lifted her hair and cooled her face, she was just feeling very happy.

The door slid open behind her and Lee stepped through, silhouetted against the interior light. He didn’t have on a stitch of clothing. He reached behind him to turn out the light. She couldn’t see his face in detail, but knew that he was smiling at her. She slowly spread her arms, holding the blanket open. Lee accepted the invitation to share it and came close until their bodies touched, her silken skin against his hairy legs and sinewy chest.

Lee tunneled his hands around her back and held her. He kissed her upturned mouth. She enclosed him in the blanket.

“What are you doing out here?” he asked. “It’s cold.”

She nestled under his jaw. “I’m not cold at all. I wanted to see the view.”

He kissed her lingeringly. “Cold lips,” he said.

Carol grinned. “Warm heart.”

“I agree.” He sighed, hugging her. “I ordered Chinese, if that’s okay. I had a pizza with Ricca last night, and I’m maxed out on mozzarella and pepperoni.”

“I don’t mind. How is that going?”

“You mean with Ricca? Pretty good, I think. I really enjoy having her here. She’s good company, and we have very interesting conversations.”

“That’s a euphemism for funny, weird, and educational.”

“That’s about right,” Lee agreed. He squeezed her briefly, his teeth nibbling on her earlobe. Carol giggled, pressing herself against him.

“Have you told your parents about me?” Lee whispered in her ear.

Carol pulled back so she could look into his face. “What brought that on?”

“Have you?” he prompted.

Carol massaged his chest with her palms. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Why should I?”

Lee laid his hand against the side of her face. Out of habit, his thumb teased the cleft in her chin. His gaze was intense, his brow furrowed. “I’m not taking what’s happening between us lightly, Carol. Sooner or later other people are going to find out.”

“Has… has anyone said anything to you? Does Erica know?”

Lee pursed his lips, played with her hair. “I told Erica I was dating someone.”

Her expression was wry. “Is that what we’re doing, Lee? Dating?”

“We didn’t come together in the usual way. You and I are making it up as we go along. I want to take you away for weekends with me. I want to go to Central Park and to the movies. I want to work our way through every restaurant in Manhattan.”

She smiled wistfully. “I’ll get fat.”

“Not a chance. I have the ideal weight-loss and exercise program,” he said, wiggling his hips against her.

“I bet you do.”

“Come on, let’s go back inside. I’ll show you.”

“Lee—” she said, preventing him from releasing her. She momentarily clung to him, kissing him with sudden urgency. He returned her embrace as if he understood what she was trying to express.

“I—I don’t want anything to change yet.”

Lee stroked her, soothed her, trying to reassure her. He didn’t share her fears, but he knew exactly what they were. “It’s already changing.”

They entered the living room, the blanket draped loosely around their shoulders. Carol stepped on one of the trailing ends and Lee’s momentum pulled it from beneath her foot. She twisted off balance, her arms flailing. Lee swiftly reached to grab her, but they both toppled onto the sofa, rolling together off the edge and onto the floor.

Carol ended up on top. The breath was knocked out of her, but they both began to laugh as they attempted to untangle themselves.

Lee heard the scraping of a key in his door before Carol did, and she was stunned by his swift movement as he kicked free of the blanket and crouched low on his feet.

“Carol, stay down,” he hissed, pushing her back to the floor as he reached over to where his gun lay holstered on top of the sideboard.

He shook off the holster and already had the gun aimed when Carol finally realized the door was opening.

“Hold it right there! I have a gun,” Lee commanded.

“Shit!” a female voice gasped in surprise. She stood perfectly still before flicking the wall switch next to the door and flooding the room with light.

Karen Sorano stood in disbelief at the weapon being pointed at her. She looked past the gun to Lee, who was staring at her, equally stunned.

“You’re naked,” she said calmly.

Lee lowered the gun. He stared at Karen as if he couldn’t credit that she was actually there. “What are you doing here?”

She closed the door and waved a ring of keys in Lee’s face. “I came to get my things. I left my favorite black dress here, I think. Don’t you want to cover yourself? You’re going to catch a chill.” Her amused laughter faded abruptly as Carol rose slowly from the floor behind Lee. “Did I come at a bad time?” Karen asked guilelessly.

Lee doubted that Karen’s arrival was as innocent as she would have him believe. Her timing was perfect if she aimed for her presence to be very awkward and hard to explain. He put the safety back on his gun and returned it to the sideboard.

“As long as you’re here, you can leave the keys.”

Karen looked at Carol. “Hi, I’m Karen Sorano, Lee’s … friend. I bet he hasn’t told you a thing about me.”

“I’m Carol Taggart,” Carol said smoothly. “I’m his friend, too.”

Carol couldn’t help staring at the other woman, not because it was so obvious that she was one of Lee’s lovers, with that air of entitlement about her, but because she was so stereotypically the trophy girlfriend. Very pretty, very thin, very blond … and very young. But what was even more unnerving was that this Karen person didn’t seem all that surprised to see her, Carol realized. She couldn’t see Lee’s face from where she stood, but she sensed his shock. As to what she herself was feeling…

“I don’t want to tell you your business or anything,” Karen said, addressing Carol, “but going with a cop is really weird. They have no other life, and they
don’t
know how to have a good time.”

“Look, Karen, I’m not particularly interested in your opinion,” Lee interrupted. “Your things are in the hall closet.”

“And they don’t even like the people they’re supposed to be helping. Ask him. Oops!” Karen said with mock regret. “I hope you’re not involved in one of his investigations.” She shook her head. “Not a smart idea.”

“You should have called,” Lee told Karen bluntly.

She walked further into the room, assessing the scene. “Don’t worry, I’m not staying. You can go back to whatever you were doing on the floor.” She laughed carelessly.

Carol stepped forward to stand a little away from Lee, although she kept her gaze on Karen. Running through her mind in that moment was one thought:
This is the competition.
She knew that Lee was looking at her, trying to read her expression, trying to figure out what to say. It didn’t bother her that he was standing openly naked in front of two woman he’d slept with. But it did bother her that he might have chosen her for different reasons than the ones that had drawn her to him.

Carol felt his hand on her back, and it annoyed her that she responded so strongly to his touch. She wanted his reassurance right now. But she was furious. And embarrassed.

“Carol, listen to me…” he began.

She shook her head to forestall an explanation. If there was one thing she had learned in her adult life, it was that the story that came after the fact was never as interesting as what she witnessed with her own eyes.

“I’m sure Lee will be happy to tell you all about what we were doing on the floor,” Carol told Karen.

She let the blanket fall from her shoulders until it trailed on the floor and she too stood naked next to Lee.

“Carol,” Lee tried again.

She handed the blanket to him and he took it. With more dignity and poise than she’d thought herself capable of under the circumstances, Carol walked out of the living room into Lee’s bedroom and quietly shut the door.

Lee’s first thought was to get rid of Karen as quickly as possible and then see how much damage had been done with Carol. He suspected it was considerable.

“Surprise!” Karen smiled as soon as Carol was gone. “She’s pretty. I never would have figured you to get mixed up with a black woman. Especially the way you cops treat blacks. Are you just curious, or do you actually care about her?” She walked past him into the living room.

Lee regarded her calmly. She was dressed in close-fitting black stretch pants and a burgundy chenille mock turtleneck sweater, cropped short at the waist. As usual, she unself-consciously wore no bra. The outfit was visible through her open coat, and without a scarf or hat and gloves she appeared fresh and vibrant and exciting.

But she was in sharp contrast to Carol.

From the closet he removed the dress she’d left behind and handed it to her. “There’s no reason for you to come here again, or to get in touch with me.” He held out his hand and she dropped the keys into it.

Karen laughed lightly. “God, you men are so obvious. What is it you think she’ll give you that I couldn’t?”

“If I cared what you thought, Karen, I’d go down the list, beginning with she’s honest.”