Finding Bluefield (3 page)

“Another time. I really need to get some sleep,” Barbara said.

“You still have to eat.”

“No. I need to sleep.”

“I understand.” Nicky stopped the car in front of Barbara’s apartment.

“The swim was really nice. Next time I’ll bring a suit.”

“How about Saturday?”

“I have to check my schedule. I’ll come by the diner.”

“Hey,” Nicky called, “don’t forget to register to vote. And as long as you think they’re all the same, vote for Kennedy. Virginia’s going to be close.”

*

On election night, Barbara didn’t leave the hospital till shortly after four a.m. There’d been a complication with one of her patients at the end of her shift, and she had stuck around to listen to the diagnosis and observe the procedures. The hospital staff had been following the voting results all night, posting returns at the nurses’ station. A couple of the doctors started a pool. When Kennedy was finally declared the winner, Barbara thought of Nicky and how she must be happy.

As Barbara neared her apartment, she spotted Nicky’s car. She’d been spending a lot of her time off with Nicky. Movies, meals, swimming. A couple of times Nicky took her for some night swimming, and they slipped through the water together, under the moonlit sky. Barbara approached the car and saw Nicky asleep in the driver’s seat. Barbara tapped the window. Nicky opened her eyes and looked up.

“Hi.” Nicky smiled.

“What are you doing?” Barbara asked.

Nicky sat up and rolled down the window. “Kennedy won.”

“I know. Why are you sleeping in your car?”

“Isn’t it great? There’s hope, possibilities. You never know what might happen.”

Barbara opened the door. “How long have you been here?”

“You weren’t home.”

“I was working,” Barbara said. “You’ve been drinking.”

“A lot. We were celebrating.”

“You can’t drive home like this.”

“I’m fine,” Nicky said.

“No, you’re not. You better come up for some coffee.” Barbara helped Nicky out of the car.

“I wanted to see you.”

“I’m tired and you’re drunk.” Barbara helped Nicky up the stairs, into her apartment, and onto her couch. “Stay there while I put up some coffee.”

As Barbara measured the grinds, she took a deep breath. All she wanted was to get Nicky home. Maybe she should let Nicky teach her to drive.

“I didn’t think he’d win,” Nicky said when Barbara came back from the kitchen. Nicky had slipped her shoes off and was watching a report from Kennedy’s national headquarters. She exhaled some smoke. “Look, there’s Jacqueline. She’s pretty.”

Barbara sat on the chair across from Nicky. “Where was the party?”

“At the Kennedy office. We were so anxious waiting for results. And then they called it for Kennedy and everyone started drinking. I was tired and hadn’t eaten, and it went right to my head.”

“But you drove here?”

“I wanted to see you. I was so happy.” Nicky crossed her legs up on the couch. “How about some music?”

“Drink your coffee.”

“What’s that album you were telling me about?”

“Sam Cooke?”

“Yeah, play that.” Nicky sipped her coffee.

Barbara shut the sound on the TV. “I made plenty, so drink up.” She removed the record from its jacket, blew dust off the vinyl, and set it on the player. She lifted the arm and lowered the needle onto the record. That’s when she felt a hand on her back. She didn’t move.

“Let’s dance,” Nicky said.

Barbara straightened herself up and turned around while Nicky’s hand slid around her hip. Barbara’s eyes met Nicky’s.

“What are you doing?” Barbara said softly. This was a moment she had imagined often and avoided resolutely.

“What would you like me to be doing?” Nicky put her other hand on Barbara’s waist and began moving her to the music.

“Are you trying to seduce me?”

“I’m hoping you want me to,” Nicky said.

Barbara placed her hands on Nicky’s shoulders and followed her lead.

“I’ve been waiting,” Nicky said.

“For what?”

“For too long.” Nicky leaned over and kissed Barbara.

“Why’d you wait?” Barbara said, catching her breath.

“I wasn’t sure.”

“Sure you wanted to?”

“Sure you wanted me to,” Nicky said.

“And now?”

“Now I’m drunk.”

“Have you ever done this before?” Barbara asked, her head on Nicky’s shoulder.

“You want references?”

“You got references?” Barbara looked up at Nicky.

“I have great references. But I’m not sure—”

“That’s enough talk.” Barbara pulled Nicky closer and lowered her lips to meet Nicky’s. They continued to dance as Barbara brushed her fingers through Nicky’s light brown hair, traced the freckles on Nicky’s cheeks, circled her solid shoulders, slid down the hard curve of her spine, massaged the small of her back, and searched the insides of her back pockets. Nicky unbuttoned Barbara’s shirt, kissing each section of newly exposed skin as Barbara danced them toward the couch. Along the way, they lost pieces of clothes.

When the sun came through the window, they were still on the couch, still naked, and still awake.

“Shit.” Nicky jumped up. “I’m late for work.” She squashed her cigarette, drank some cold coffee, and ran to the bathroom.

Barbara put her glasses on, went into her bedroom, and got under the covers. She was trying to stop thinking. Where do we go? That was nice. What’s next? Who will find out? Who would have thought this would happen in Virginia? Do we end this now? Before trouble starts? As good as it was?

Nicky came in, hair dripping, and began to dress. “Damn, you look comfortable.” Nicky leaned onto the bed and gave Barbara a kiss. “Come in for lunch.”

“I’ll try.” Barbara pulled Nicky toward her.

“I’m really late,” Nicky said. “I can’t do this. I want to do this. I really want to, but I’m already late.”

*

Barbara had met Nicky’s father, Paul, on several occasions, but she had no interest in coming over for Thanksgiving to meet Carol-Ann and Richard and their kids. Nothing good could come of it, she told Nicky. “You come over to my place after you’re done with the family.”

“But I want you there. I want to show you off.”

“And there lies the problem,” Barbara said. “You want me there as your lover, but I can’t be there as your lover.”

“Then come as my friend,” Nicky said. “I really want you to meet Carol-Ann.”

“I can’t see that going well.”

“You went home with your college roommates.”

“They closed the dorms.”

Nicky inhaled deeply on her cigarette. “I bet you slept with some of them.”

“Not as many as I wanted to sleep with.”

“If you’re trying to make me jealous,” Nicky said, placing her arms around Barbara’s neck, “it’s working.” She gave Barbara a long kiss. “I’ll pick you up for breakfast.”

*

Nicky and Barbara hung their jackets in the mudroom. Barbara took a deep breath and followed Nicky into the kitchen where she was introduced to the family gathered about the table for breakfast. Carol-Ann was working the griddle, piling pancakes on a platter. Claire, the oldest, sat on her Grandpa Paul’s lap, and Richard, Carol-Ann’s husband, sat rocking the baby in her carriage. Bacon and eggs and potatoes and toast and juice and coffee filled the table.

“Want some help?” Nicky asked.

“I’m done,” Carol-Ann said. She flipped the final cake onto the platter. “Let’s eat.”

“Smells good,” Barbara said.

Nicky gave her niece Claire a kiss and sat next to Claire and her father. Claire slipped off her grandfather’s lap and onto Nicky’s. Barbara sat between Nicky and Richard. She held her coffee cup near her face with both hands as if she were trying to hide behind it.

“Nicky,” Richard said, “I was just telling your father that we’re moving next month.”

“Didn’t you just move into that house?” Nicky said.

“We’ve been there almost three years,” Richard said.

“We’ve been here for almost two hundred,” Nicky said.

“Richard just got another promotion,” Carol-Ann said. “They made him a vice-president.” She was making plates for Richard and Claire. “Eat up, everyone.”

“There’s more,” Richard said. “It’s not just my promotion. The new house has its own pool.”

“Maybe we’ll go for a swim at the pond later,” Nicky said to Carol-Ann.

“If it warms up,” Carol-Ann said.

“Can I finish about the house?” Richard interrupted.

Nicky and Carol-Ann looked at each other and answered together. “Sure,” they laughed.

“Besides the pool, it also has five bedrooms and a maid’s quarter, so there’s plenty of room for visitors. And, of course, there’s room for the baby.”

“I thought Julia already had her own room?” Nicky said to Carol-Ann.

Barbara’s eyes shifted back and forth between the sisters.

“Yes, Julia does have her own room,” Richard responded. “But I’m talking about the
baby
,” Richard added with emphasis.

“You’re pregnant?” Nicky said to Carol-Ann.

Carol-Ann smiled. “Yes.”

“How many months?” Nicky got up to hug her.

“Two,” Carol-Ann said, retuning the hug.

“That’s wonderful,” Paul said, giving Carol-Ann a kiss.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Nicky asked.

“Richard wanted to wait and tell you in person,” Carol-Ann said.

Paul shook Richard’s hand.

“And that,” Richard said, putting an ending to his telling, “is why we need a bigger house.”

Nicky took Carol-Ann’s hands and kissed her cheek.

“Congratulations,” Barbara chimed in. She was ready to go home, but the day was just starting.

“Nicky, you better get to work if you’re going to catch up,” Paul said, sitting back down.

“She has too big of a head start,” Nicky answered.

“Are you seeing anyone?” Carol-Ann asked.

“She didn’t have time,” Paul said, cutting pancakes for Claire. “She was too busy getting Kennedy elected.”

“Well,” Nicky said, “he did win. So if you want to give me the credit, I’ll take it.”

“Or blame,” Richard said.

“So now you have time,” Carol-Ann said.

Claire slipped off of Nicky’s lap and announced that she was done eating.

“Come on, Claire,” Paul said. “Let’s go feed the animals.”

“Don’t get that child all dirty, Daddy,” Carol-Ann said, “I just bathed her.”

“We’re going to the barn, Carol-Ann,” Paul answered. “We’re on a farm. We most certainly will get dirty. Right, Claire?”

“Right, Grandpa.”

After everyone was finished, Nicky began to clear the breakfast table. Richard pushed the carriage out of the kitchen and into the living room where he turned on the TV. The sisters began work on Thanksgiving dinner.

“Daddy is going to ruin her shoes,” Carol-Ann yelled to Richard.

“Don’t worry about it,” Richard said. “It makes him happy.”

Nicky gathered ingredients from the cupboards and refrigerator and lined them up on the kitchen table. “He just wants to show Claire where you came from.”

“I’ll wash the breakfast dishes,” Barbara volunteered. “I’m not much of a cook anyway.” She was happy to have something to do that didn’t put her in the way.

“Nicky,” Carol-Ann said, “you look great.”

“I’ve been swimming a lot.”

“Well, it’s done you good,” Carol-Ann said, starting in on the mushrooms. “You even have that glow.”

“What glow is that?”

“The one you get when you’re seeing someone,” Carol-Ann said.

Nicky picked up a frying pan and used it as a mirror. “I don’t see it.”

“It’s there,” Carol-Ann said. “So are you seeing someone?”

“I do not at this time have a man in my life,” Nicky said. “New topic.”

“But they must be after you, the way you look. I don’t get it. You must be turning them away, like you did in California.” Carol-Ann turned to Barbara. “Did she tell you about all the great guys I set her up with?”

“You set me up with jerks,” Nicky said.

“That was just round one. There were others. I was working on it and you just left.” Carol-Ann turned to Barbara. “Do you have sisters or brothers?”

“Younger brother,” Barbara said.

“The younger ones are always hard, but brothers are easier. Does he listen to you?”

“If you don’t keep chopping, we’ll never be able to have supper,” Nicky said.

“Remember Peter Sumner?” Carol-Ann asked Nicky.

“Yeah, he was obsessed with his car.”

“He was just named top salesman. He’s very successful.”