Home Free (16 page)

He set the helmet down on the ground and took
my hand, pulling me up from the bench. “I should have done this a
long time ago,” he said.

“Batting practice?” I had to squint now, even
with my baseball cap and cool Nike wraparound shades on, because
the glare of the sun was harsh and aimed directly at me.

“Hunh-uh.”

He lowered his mouth and kissed me, and I
stopped squinting and closed my eyes altogether, and we stayed like
that for a long while. My knees felt a little untrustworthy, so I
pressed myself into him, just for support. Honest. He wrapped his
arms around me. I didn’t care that he was dripping sweat on my new
clothes. I thought about pie.

Once when I was about eight, my mom made a
key lime pie. It was the best thing I’d ever tasted, but Brian
didn’t like it, so she never made it again. I always remembered
that pie, and I would beg her to make it for my birthday, but she
never would. Finally, for my going away party before I left for
college, she said I could have any dessert I wanted. I asked for
the key lime pie. She made it, and I couldn’t wait to taste the
first bite. But it wasn’t anything like I’d remembered it. It was
sour and made my face pucker, and I couldn’t believe I’d been
pining away for this for almost a decade. The anticipation had been
so great that nothing could have lived up to it, I guessed.

Any worries I’d had that kissing Danny
wouldn’t live up to the memory of him were categorically laid to
rest. As amazing as the eighteen year old kid had been, the thirty
year old man put him to shame, and I agreed with his earlier
comment - he
should
have done this a long time ago. Through
the haze I thought I might still be pissed at him, and the proper
response was probably a swift kick in the shin, or an area a little
higher, but I couldn’t remember for sure if I
was
mad, and
if so, why. I figured I’d remember just as soon as some of the
blood returned to my brain, but I wasn’t necessarily in a big hurry
for that to happen. Our tongues were getting reacquainted, and they
seemed to have a lot of catching up to do. No sense rushing
them.

My purse began chirping the theme from
The
Sting
. Blood started to flow, and I remembered that I
was
mad, and the why, and I glared at Danny as I pulled away
and picked up my pocketbook. He smiled, smug, while I rummaged
around for the cell phone.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Alexis. I’m just reminding you about
the barbecue at two o’clock.”

“Hi, Mom. Don’t worry. I’ll be on time.”

“Good. See you then.”

“Bye.”

I put the phone away. Danny hooked his finger
in my waistband to pull me towards him. I flicked his hand
away.

“Cut it out. I’m still mad at you.”

“You didn’t seem mad a minute ago.”

“I wasn’t thinking clearly a minute ago. I
had heat stroke.”

He laughed the sexy laugh. “I have that
effect on women.”

I sneered.

We returned the gear and the remainder of the
quarters to the concession stand and yelled to Ted that we were
leaving. A couple of his employees had arrived by then, and we had
one of them open the gate for us. We got in the Mustang and Danny
drove home, the AC and stereo at full tilt.

“Want an iced tea?” he asked as the garage
door slid into place behind us.

“I told you, I’m still mad at you,” I
growled.

He laughed. “Don’t flatter yourself. I meant
a real one. I’m thirsty.”

“Oh. Yeah, okay.”

We pulled the lounge chairs into the shade
and sat, sipping our tea in easy silence. Danny had mopped the
sweat from his face, but his hair still stuck to his forehead in
little black circles. He had his eyes closed and he looked
relaxed.

“Thanks, Lex. That was a great idea.”

“Mmm-hmmm.”

A few minutes later, he said, “About that
night.”

I cut him off. “I’m not asking you,
Danny.”

“I know. I called my uncle Louie and told him
that someone had beaten up my girlfriend. I wasn’t sure exactly
what Louie would do with that information, but I knew he would do
something
, and that it would be violent and painful. If I’d
seen Derek that night, I probably would have killed him myself, but
I didn’t want to leave you alone. So I called Louie, because he was
meaner than my uncle Alex, and left it up to him. I wouldn’t have
been sorry if Louie had killed Derek, Lex. And I wouldn’t have
batted an eyelash when your mom came home and told us about it.

“But even if I had known who was beating up
Sherry, which I didn’t, the situations were completely different.
She’s not my girlfriend, I was never in love with her, I don’t even
know her. If she’d come to me asking for help, I would have called
the cops to report the guy. I would have called her folks or helped
her find a shelter or rehab or somewhere else to go. I wouldn’t
have invited her to stay here, let alone kill a man for her.”

I nodded. I believed him. “That wasn’t my
motivation for coming here today,” I said.

“Uh-hunh. Let me guess, you just wanted to
see me get all hot and sweaty.”

I was thinking that if I wanted him all hot
and sweaty, there were far more satisfying ways of accomplishing
that than playing baseball. “I felt bad about the other day, and I
wanted to make amends.”

An evil smile started in the corners of his
mouth. “You want to make amends? I know a way - ”

“In your dreams, Salazar.” Mine, too,
unfortunately.

He switched gears. “So tell me about this
husband of yours. Kevin tells me you were married for quite a
while.”

Aha! So they
had
been talking about
me. “About five years. We went to college together and got married
a couple years after graduation.” I wondered what else Kevin had
told him about me and Max.

“He broke your heart?”

I shrugged. “We dated on and off in college.
Afterwards, we both got hired by the same design firm in Huntington
Beach, and we started dating again, then moved in together. Looking
back, I’d say we married each other because we were there and
neither of us was optimistic about getting anyone better.” I didn’t
tell Danny, but the truth was, the marriage had never felt
permanent to me, or I suspected, to Max. We were in Las Vegas for a
design show one time, got drunk and got hitched. I didn’t change my
name. We didn’t open a joint checking account. Evidently, he didn’t
stop dating. And it sure as hell wasn’t Max who broke my heart.

“And then what happened?”

“We bought a townhouse in Huntington Beach.
After a couple years, I quit the firm and started freelancing. A
few months ago, he left me for Raoul.”

“Raoul?” He had the good manners not to laugh
openly, but the twitch at the edges of his mouth gave him away.

“The pool guy at our condo.” I changed the
subject. “Hey, what kind of car does your brother have?”

“Cadillac, why?”

“Just curious. What color?”

“Black.”

There was no Caddy at the yard when Pauline
and I went by there, and I guessed maybe Junior drove one of the
company pickups when he was working. I set my empty glass on the
table and checked my watch. “I have to go meet someone.”

Danny groaned and rolled his eyes. “Christ,
am I going to have to buy a truck to compete with that guy?”

I sped into my driveway just as Angela and
Liz were pulling up to the curb. Jack’s truck was gone, and with
any luck he wouldn’t come around suggesting a lunchtime tryst while
I had impressionable, underage company. Angela introduced me to
Liz, and I showed them in. We had to step over Lucifer, who had
returned to his position on the welcome mat, and I was silently
grateful that he hadn’t brought me another treat. The fact that I
was relieved to see him annoyed me, as did the fact that I seemed
to have named him. I guessed he was a him, because Lucifer didn’t
seem like a girl’s name to me.

I gave Angela and her sister a quick tour,
ending in the office. I had gotten out some books for Angela to
take home, a couple on art history and one on designing fonts and
logos. Plus a big stack of drawing paper and a set of pencils
ranging in hardness from eight H to eight B, very hard to very
soft.

I handed her the books. “You’re welcome to
borrow these, even if you decide not to come over to play on the
computer. And take the drawing supplies. You’ll make much better
use of them than I will.”

Angela looked at Liz, and the
oh,
please
was loud, if unspoken.

Liz nodded, “It’s okay with me.”

“Is Monday good?” I asked.

“Well, I brought my bike with me, so I could
actually hang out now, if it’s okay with you. And then ride home
later. I took some photos.” She waved my camera at me.

We got her bike out of the car, and Liz drove
off. I noticed that Debbie had planted colorful banners along the
edge of her walkway, yellows and pinks and oranges, plus a big
sunflower flag next to her front door, and I guessed she couldn’t
come up with a current holiday either. Lucifer gave my leg a pat
with his front paw as I walked back to the door, and I
involuntarily reached down and patted his head, like a dog. He
purred. Angela left her bike on the porch, and I held the door open
for her, and Lucifer made no move to invade my home. Maybe he was
okay. For a cat.

I took Angela in the office and started up
the computer. The phone rang. I answered it as I pulled out the
Photoshop tutorial book and the digital camera owner’s manual. I
handed the books to Angela.

“Hello?”

Another hang up. The blocked call display and
the persistent hangups all suggested Brian was using a private line
from his office to annoy the fuck out of me. It was working.

“I’m sorry, I have to leave. I’m late for a
thing at my parents’,” I rolled my eyes. “You can plug the camera
into this doohickey here and follow the instructions to download
the photos. Just don’t delete any of my existing files, and
everything will be fine.” I dug a spare key out of the drawer in
the hall table and handed it to her. “Lock up when you leave, and
hang onto this so you can come over when I’m not home. If a really
tall guy in an enormous truck shows up, don’t freak out. He’s the
contractor, and he has a key and comes and goes at odd times. But
he’s harmless. No one else usually comes by except my brother, and
he’s going to my folks’ as well, so you shouldn’t be bothered. And
help yourself to whatever food or drink you want from the fridge.
Well, not the beer, okay?” I squinted my eyes at her, trying to
look stern.

“Okay.”

“Have fun.”

I looked at my watch. If I hurried, I had
just enough time to pee before I had to go to my parents’. And with
a little luck, perhaps the hair dryer would fall in the toilet and
electrocute me.

The cord wasn’t long enough to reach from the
wall to the toilet, and I couldn’t find an extension cord, so I
found myself driving, once again, to my childhood. I parked on the
street behind the Mom Mobile and made my way to the gate. It was
hot, but I guessed it hadn’t broken one hundred yet, so maybe the
weather was finally changing. Still, sweat was clinging to my skin,
and the back of my shirt was wet.

In the back yard, Dad was working the grill.
Mrs. Brian and the kids were sitting at the table while Mom and
Pauline set it. Brian and Kevin were talking near the ice chest. I
reached for a soda. I kept coming up with beer cans and diet sodas.
Finally, my hand numb from the ice, I settled on a beer.

“So it’s my fault I’m a suspect, even though
I had nothing to do with any of it?” Kevin was clenching and
unclenching his fists and his jaw, and I wondered what I’d missed.
I popped the can and waited.

“You have to take responsibility for the kind
of people you associate with, Kevin. You’re not a kid. It’s not
okay to just hang out with the neighbor, or some guy on your
baseball team, or whatever. You have to think about how being seen
with someone will affect your reputation.”

I was pretty sure that if Kevin would hold
him down, I could beat the shit out of him.

“So it doesn’t matter that Danny Salazar is
also innocent? I was with him all evening, he didn’t leave to go to
the bathroom, let alone to set up a complicated explosion.”

“He’s a Salazar.” He shrugged, as if that
explained everything. As if Danny was nothing more than a clone of
his father and his brother, and that fact alone was enough to
convict him.

“He’s a fucking fire captain,” I snarled, and
they both looked at me, surprised. They had been so engrossed, they
hadn’t seen me come in.

“Was a fire captain.” Brian turned back to
Kevin. “It’s like I was explaining to Alex, having Jack Murphy over
at all hours calls her character into question and reflects badly
on the rest of us. You need to be above reproach, both of you, for
your sakes as well as the rest of ours.”

“Fuck you and your election,” I said and went
in search of Pauline.

“Oh, Alexis, come and help Pauline and me
bring out the food,” my mom said as I approached. I looked at
what’s-her-name, sitting on her ass, and wondered why she couldn’t
get up and help. I glared at her. She looked a little shifty to me,
and I wondered if she was above reproach.

“Hi, Alex,” she said. She seemed friendly,
but I knew it was just a ruse.

When we were in the kitchen, my mother looked
at me over her bifocals and said, “Orange shorts? I didn’t know
those were in this season.”

“Yeah, and nipple rings. Want to see?”

She shook her head and handed me a bowl of
Caesar salad. “Do you talk to your mother that way?” she asked
Pauline.

“I don’t talk to my mother,” Pauline
answered, winking at me and carrying out a basket of hotdog
buns.

“See, at least I talk to you.”