Messalina: Devourer of Men (11 page)

            And she is Jared’s ex.

The street Talley lives on consists of old trees and a hodgepodge of homes representing various eras, starting with the Victorian. Most of them are genuine whereas others have the ersatz antiqueness of a 1890s house built in the 1990s.

            But Talley’s home is a genuine A-frame structure from the 1930s with dove-gray painted brick and white trim. A small, curved, gravel drive and grass so green it looks painted complete the picturesque setting. As soon as Jared pulls the rental car into the drive, the front door opens and Talley Monroe steps onto the porch. We get out of the car.

            “Hey, Miss Firecracker!”

            “J. D.! You bastard, c’mere!”

            I will put Talley in the tall, blonde, Scandinavian goddess category. She wears flat shoes but stands nearly eye-to-eye with Jared. Her long, sand-colored hair is pinned into a loose roll. Two platinum- blonde highlights frame her face and complement her tanned skin.

            The soft pink blush on her cheeks comes from a healthy complexion and not artificial means. Her eyes are pale blue, almost gray, but not icy, they exude warmth similar to the kind I get when Jared looks at me.

            She wears a white scarf around her neck, loose white pants, and a pale yellow tank top showing off well-toned arms. I make it a point to appear confident in my navy-blue pedal pushers, pinafore top, and espadrilles, but I feel all that’s missing is an all-day sucker stuffed in my mouth as I meet the darling of the country club set.

            Jared and Talley make an attractive pair. They hug and kiss, but it’s Talley who notices me first.

            “This must be the poor girl who has to put up with you now.”

She nudges away from Jared to reach out to me. Her large, soft hand envelops mine and it’s cool despite the sticky weather.

            “How do you do?” I smile.

            “‘How do you do?” she teases. “You’re just so proper, ain’t you, girl?”

            “I try to be.”

            “Yeah. In public, at least.” Jared snorts. “Get her in a dark theater and she goes wild.”

            Talley grins. “Well, there’s no need for all that. Here in the South we just say, ‘hey.’  Hey, Eva.”

            “Hey, Talley.”

            “The girl catches on quick. I like that.”

            “She’s a doctor.”

            “You can’t be a doc of psychology; otherwise you’d steer clear of him.”

            I give a small chuckle, not really sure whether to take her seriously or not.

            “You two come inside before we all melt.”

            Jared shakes his head. “No, Talley, I can’t. I got a meeting at the Prestonwood Country Club in about thirty minutes.”

            Talley’s delicate lips turn into a frown. “For God’s sake, Jared. It’s Saturday. You bring this pretty lady all the way down here and you have the nerve to go do business?”

            She gives my hand a squeeze and pulls me close to her so we present a united front against him.

            “Yeah,” I chime. “The nerve of him.”

            “Honey, you’ll find Jared has more nerve than a bad tooth.” She casts a disapproving glance at him. “But we’ll forgive him this time.” She wags a finger in his face. “I’m surprised you’re not locked up in the hotel making this girl ride that monster of yours.”

            My heart stops and I feel the tops of my ears get warm with embarrassment. It’s bad enough to have Jared’s ex-girlfriend as my chaperone for the day without her referring to him and me in bed.

            “Aw, c’mon, Talley. Leave me alone. It was she who begged me to stop.” He winks at me.

            I can’t hide my disbelief, but he continues.

            “You’re right, though. If it was up to me,” he says, pulling me to his side so unexpectedly I feel like a rag doll, “we’d still be joined at the hip.” He looks at his watch. “I gotta leave.”

            He tilts my chin up and plants a kiss on my lips. His tongue takes possession of my mouth with such ease and command anyone would think we’ve been together for ages. When he pulls away to end the kiss, he snares me with those piercing violet eyes and says, “Take good care of her, Talley. Make sure she has a good time.”

            “Of course, J. D.”

            He reaches a hand down to squeeze my bottom and lowers his head for another kiss. When I kiss back, he makes a sound of approval.

            “All right, you two. Break it up. The last thing I need is a visit from my holy-roller neighbors.”

            He kisses the tip of my nose. “I’ll be back by four.” He heads for the car. “Eva, you be good!”

            “Yes, Daddy.” I stick my tongue out for good measure. As he drives away, I turn to my hostess. I don’t know what to say, but I’m determined not to act like some jealous female because of the awkward situation. I shrug. “Looks like you’re stuck with me.”

            “Aw, now I wouldn’t say stuck.” She links arms with me and we walk indoors.

            Stepping into Talley’s home is like stepping into a Mediterranean dwelling with arched entryways and marble tile. A domed skylight in the entryway makes the space bright and cool, and relaxes as it illuminates the muted pastel colors of sand, coral, and azure.

            Several objects are displayed on pedestals and pillars: Grecian amphoras, fragments of bas-relief, and parchment. The walls have frescoes depicting classical themes of feasts and festivals reminding me of what I always thought ancient imperial villas would resemble. An abundance of green plants and ivy, some with fragrant flowering blossoms, add splashes of color and a light, sweet scent to the air.

            The sound of running water makes me take a few more steps inside until I see a sunroom with an indoor stream, complete with fish, housed by smooth, flat stones. In the center of some strategically piled rocks sits a Grecian temple serving as the source of the waterfall.

            Talley, noting my interest, stands beside me, bends over, and explains, “If you get real close, you’ll see I’ve rigged it with lights and an altar, complete with a statue of the goddess.”

            “Which goddess?”

            “Whichever one I feel like worshiping at the moment.” She smiles and stands straight. “At night, it serves as a nightlight and glows with altar fires.”

            The stream culminates in the center of the room but is rigged to go under a pair of double doors and into the backyard, where it meets another water garden with more fountains and waterfalls. And you needn’t worry about missing the journey of the fish, because the tiles on the floor in front of the French doors are transparent.

            I notice two cats, a calico and a gray longhair, watching the fish from their perch, a slab of sandstone jutting out alongside the stream at the base of the waterfall. Every now and then, a bit of water splashes up and the cats shake their heads with annoyance, but they don’t move.

            “That’s Clio and Electra,” informs my hostess. “Those two are crazy. They’ll sit there for hours batting at the fish, sometimes catching a few. On a good day, I get the fish back in the water in time.” She frowns. “Other times, I’ll be walking along and step on something crunchy only to look down and see a half-eaten fish under my foot.”

            I laugh—until I see something small and pink scamper into the cracks between the stones. “What the hell was that?”

            “What was what?”

            “I thought I saw something beat a quick retreat down there.” I move to the stream for a closer look. “Something with legs.”

            Talley shrugs. “Probably a gecko. Or a salamander.”

            I bite my lip. Obviously the woman doesn’t mind having small reptiles running around her house. I decide to watch my step. Frankly, I’m surprised Talley would have all this water around her in a climate so humid and I tell her so.

            “Hey, I’m from Louisiana,” she says. “Near Lake Pontchartrain. This ain’t nothin’, girl.” She looks at me. “Would you like something to drink?”

            I follow Talley into her kitchen and sit at the island bar as she gets out the glasses. Her windowpane cabinets display all of her plateware, most of which are painted in bright, primary colors and geometric designs.

            “I’ll make us some adult lemonade.”

            She pours two tall glasses of lemonade and splashes in a shot or two of whiskey. Me and her are gonna get along just fine.

She cuts a few sprigs of mint from the window box before joining me with a plate of sugar cookies. 

“Tell me something, Eva.”

            “What?”

            “How did Jared really get you to come here with him?” She starts to laugh a deep chortle, the type that surrounds a joke told in bad taste. “He said it was for sex.”

            I bite my cookie and look away.

            “Wait a minute . . . it’s true?”

            “So what if it is?”

            She smiles and pats my hand. “No offense meant, girl. Jared can charm the sap from the trees. It’s just that . . . never mind.”

            “No, tell me.”

            She sips her lemonade. “You’re really smitten by him, aren’t you?”

            She’s evading my question but I let her. “To tell you the truth, Talley, I don’t know what I’m doing. Here I am in Texas, with no clothes, no money, as the last-minute traveling companion for a man I just met.” I turn in my barstool to face her. “This is our first date!”

            My saying this out loud makes me freeze. When I woke up the day before, if someone told me I’d be going to bed somewhere in Texas that evening, I would’ve made them take a sobriety test. But Jared has rekindled a spirit in me that I haven’t felt since grade school. He makes me feel mischievous. Unpredictable. Naughty.

            “Well, Eva, for your next date, may I suggest Cancun?”

            I laugh. Ex-girlfriend or not, Talley reminds me of Ana with her attitude.

            “Get your skates on, girl. You’re not gonna be in our fair city long before you leave for the frozen tundra of the North.” She takes my plate away. “Let’s get you out and about. Show you a few stompin’ grounds.”

            I hurry and finish my lemonade, forgetting about the alcohol until I stand and get a head-rush. I don’t drink whiskey too often. Talley puts our dishes in the sink and then, linking arms, we head out of the kitchen.

* * * *

            We ride in Talley’s white 1970 Chevy Impala convertible with the top down. “This is one cherry I still have!” she laughs, with that short bark of hers: the kind that only a man or a woman of her stature can pull off. Seems both she and Jared have a love for classic muscle cars. I’ve never ridden in a convertible, but since meeting Jared, I’ve done many things I haven’t done before.

I feel chic against the snowy interior with my eyes covered by opaque sunglasses and the wind whipping my hair about like a black cloud. The car’s smooth suspension and Talley’s breakneck driving create a lulling effect on me. She drives me around their old neighborhood in Oak Cliff and by their old high school.

            “This is where we met,” she says as we drive into the empty parking lot. She turns the car off.  “Yes, ma’am,” she says with a sigh. “Class of ‘85. Haven’t set foot in the place since.” She looks at me. “Neither has Jared, as far as I know.”

            “High school years suck.”

            “Yeah, but they suck more for some than for others.”

            I peer at her over my sunglasses. “What d’you mean?”

            “I mean,” she says, starting up the engine and driving out of the lot, “high school, more often than not, scars you for life. People just don’t want to admit it.” She looks me up and down. “I bet you were one of the popular ones, eh?”

            “Hardly.” I laugh. “But I wasn’t lonely for company, if that’s what you mean. We had two thousand students in my school.”

            “Shit, girl!” Her exclamation corresponds with her slamming on the breaks at a four-way stop. “If our school had a thousand kids in my day, we were pushing it.”

            “You and Jared were loners?”

            She purses her lips together. “Not exactly. We were fringe-dwellers.”

            “Let’s hear it for the fringe-dwellers! Woo hoo!”

            Talley gives me a part-amused, part-confused glance. It’s the Jack Daniel’s talking.

            “Hmm, I think it’s time you had some lunch.”

            I prop my arm on the door and rest my head on my hand. “You probably think I’m pathetic, huh?”

            “How are you pathetic?”

            “Gee, let me guess. I come down here for sex. I get tipsy off one drink. And now, I’m being led around by my date’s ex-girlfriend. Put it all together, that spells
pathetic
to me.”

            “If that’s what you think, baby girl.” She laughs and prepares to light a cigarette. “You are wrong.”