The Lesson (34 page)

“She doesn’t spend all her time studying. Don’t believe it,” said Kevin. He reached out and grabbed Julianne’s left hand and pulled it toward Gina. “See? She lies about spending all her time with her books.”

Julianne wore a petite but beautifully cut diamond engagement ring.

“Congratulations,” said Gina. “It’s really pretty. When did you get it?”

“Lawrence asked me earlier this month, but I didn’t get the ring until last night. We’ve been dating for a year and talking about it for months. The time seemed right.”

“Have you set a date?” asked Gina.

“We’ve set two dates,” quipped Larry. “I voted for two weeks ago and she voted for the summer after graduation.”

Everyone laughed, including Gina, but in the back of her mind a thought began to ascend slowly, like a hot-air balloon drifting silently toward the top of her mind. That voice. Larry’s voice. She had heard it before. That’s why he seemed familiar. It wasn’t because his face was like the Madison Avenue drawing on the paper towel package. She had never seen his face, but she had heard his voice. On the phone months ago. Larry was the mystery man. But Larry hadn’t brought her groceries when she was nearly out of food. She hadn’t even met Larry then. It had been Kevin. Larry was just his accomplice, making the phone call to conceal Kevin’s good deed. She was certain of it.

“How about we meet up again around one?” said Kevin. “I want to show Gina the shop.”

The couples chatted a little longer and then agreed to separate and meet again on the dock to drive into Vallejo for lunch.

After their good-byes Kevin escorted Gina to the shipfitter’s room or “shop,” because his job required him to spend a lot of time there. She put her purse down on a welding table and looked around at the heavy equipment, lathes and
presses, that Kevin operated during the day while she studied at Santa Clara. In some ways hands-on work could be more engrossing than abstract philosophy or musty religious studies, but Gina decided that she would choose abstract and musty above deck any day of the week over engrossing work below deck. She wondered how Kevin was able to work so many hours in that small, enclosed space hidden from the sun.

Kevin unlocked a cabinet and pulled out the tools he used the most and explained how he used them for repairs around the ship. The shop was very much like her father’s garage, a man’s man sort of place where handy guys made or fixed things using tools she couldn’t begin to identify. The shop wasn’t as unique as the rest of the ship with its peculiarly naval implements and big guns, though she did find it interesting to get a better picture of how Kevin spent a routine day. Kevin was proud of his work and Gina listened politely. But giving him one hundred percent of her attention was difficult. Besides the claustrophobia that urged her again and again to run up the ladder to the open air, an audio tape had been running in the back of her mind ever
since she had met Larry. She couldn’t turn off the thought that Kevin had brought her two bags of groceries the very night she had told him to stop coming around. She had rebuffed him more than once, yet he had not stopped extending kindness to her.

A new thought was percolating deep within: Perhaps Kevin wasn’t as presumptuous about her affection as she had first thought. Perhaps he genuinely cared about her welfare. The thought sobered her. Even after he’d gotten his high-paying dream job, Michael had never thought to make sure that she had food in her apartment. Kevin’s paycheck was paltry compared to Michael’s. Kevin had told her what a second class petty officer earned.

“You ready to go topside? I just have to secure the tools I took out,” said Kevin.

“I’ll get my purse and wait for you.”

Gina picked up her purse where she had left it on the welding table and walked toward the ladder to wait while he stowed the tools. She hoped Kevin couldn’t tell how anxious she was to get back on deck, up where there was sunlight and fresh air and a view farther than a few feet, or how thankful she was that they wouldn’t be returning to his below-deck quarters. The ship tour had been fun and definitely interesting, but she had had enough of living the life of a sardine.

Several other sailors were in the shop. One of them, a fellow about the same height as Kevin but at least fifty pounds heavier with hair cut short and
spiky like a Marine, moved quickly toward the ladder where Gina stood waiting at the bottom.

“Help you up, miss?”

How courteous. Gina smiled at him. She was about to say, “No thanks. I’m waiting for someone,” when she heard a scuffling noise of someone rushing toward them. She turned and saw Kevin. His face was red with anger and his jaw was set. He ignored her and went straight for the courteous sailor, who was standing at the foot of the ladder looking stunned. Gina couldn’t figure out was going on. Clearly Kevin was angry, but she didn’t know why. He drew himself up, all his muscles rigid with adrenaline, and stood just inches from the other sailor, locked in a face-to-face stare-down. The two men said nothing, which was as disconcerting as their threatening body language. Gina didn’t take her eyes off them; she could see the lightning bolts flashing between them, and for a moment she feared that one or the other would start hitting. The courteous sailor had lost his stunned look and now appeared to be as angry as Kevin. She took a step backward and clung to her purse. After a few seconds the other sailor backed away, scowling, and returned to the shop.

“You okay?” asked Kevin. He was calmer but still wasn’t his jovial self. He was breathing hard.

Gina nodded.

“I’ll be right with you,” said Kevin. “Stay here. Don’t go up the ladder without me.”

“I won’t,” said Gina, still in shock.

Finally they were back on the main deck. All was as bright and sparkling as if nothing black and terrible had transpired below deck. Jets were screaming overhead to the delight of sailors and their families. The music and general excitement in the air and the smiling faces all around seemed unreal after what Gina had just witnessed. She hated to bring up anything unpleasant, but she was anxious to know what had happened below deck. Between the screaming jet noises she leaned and whispered into Kevin’s ear.

“Kevin, what was that all about?”

“Some scumbags hang around the bottom of ladders when female visitors board. They just want to get a look up your skirt.”

“Oh!”

#

They chose a Japanese restaurant in downtown Vallejo because both sailors wanted to get Bento boxes like the ones they’d purchased in Tokyo when the Shasta visited there on their first tour together. Neither of the girls knew what a Bento box was, so they were intrigued, and Gina had never been inside a Japanese dining room before. The abundance of stained wood furnishings, deep ocher walls, graceful and clean oriental art, and stiff napkins folded expertly in unusual shapes were like nothing she had ever seen. Everything was understated and elegant, very unlike the busy bric-a-brac feel of the home she’d grown up in. She was still taking it all in when they gave their orders to the waiter.

“Must be nice to be the one giving the order instead of taking it,” said Julianne.

“Yes, very,” said Gina.

She looked at Larry and Julianne across the table. They seemed perfect for each other; they certainly looked happy enough. If Larry didn’t have his arm around her he was holding her hand or pecking her on the cheek. Julianne did nothing to discourage him. Obviously they were crazy about each other. So why had Kevin brought Julianne into the restaurant months ago if she had been dating Larry all this time? She wondered if Larry knew about that strange lunch and shopping date. Kevin and Larry were best friends, but even best friends didn’t like to share certain things. She decided it might not be a good idea to make reference to the event in front of Larry.

“I have to visit the ladies’ room,” said Julianne.

“I’ll go with you,” said Gina.

“Now don’t go talking about us,” said Larry as he scooted out of the booth so Julianne could get up.

“Nothing but,” said Julianne. She smacked him on his head affectionately with her purse as he sat back down.

Julianne came out of the stall as Gina was washing her hands. She might not get another opportunity to get her questions answered. She decided to grab it.

“I was surprised to hear that you had been dating Larry all these months.”

“Why? Because I came into Big Bick’s for lunch with Kevin?” Julianne was smiling.

“I didn’t mean it exactly like that,” she lied. But then Gina’s conscience got the better of her. “Well, maybe I did mean that.” Both girls laughed.

“That wasn’t a date, if that’s what you mean. I was totally wrapped up in Lawrence at the time. Even though we weren’t engaged yet, I knew he was the one. Lawrence introduced me to Kevin more than a year before, but for me it was always Lawrence. Kevin and I were just friends. Kevin called me when he was in San Jose one Friday afternoon and asked me if I’d check out this girl he’d met. He said he was crazy about her and planned to propose.”

“But that was months ago! I hardly knew him then.”

“He planned to propose the first night he saw you sitting at the breakfast bar at that Bible study in Cupertino.”

Gina’s mouth opened spontaneously in shock. She caught herself and shut it. She was embarrassed that Julianne knew so much about her relationship with Kevin. And if Julianne knew, doubtless Larry knew too. Gina remembered when she and Kevin had stood in the center of that shadowy garage after their first date, the Gilbert and Sullivan show at Montgomery Theater. Even then it had seemed to her that he had planned everything he had said to her. Her intuition had been right. Likely he would have proposed that night if she hadn’t been so upset
by his candid admission of affection. She must have scared him off.

“We were as shocked as you,” said Julianne.

“That’s an arguable point.”

“Anyway, he wanted another girl’s opinion. Or maybe he wanted to show you off. It was a little unclear. I didn’t have any classes that afternoon so I said
'
Sure, I’ll help you out.’ Kevin’s so much fun, anyway, I knew we would have a good time and I was glad to do him a favor. Then I had some shopping to do so h
e
agreed to come along. He was disappointed that you couldn’t make it.”

“Did Larry know about all this?”

“Lawrence knew everything. He didn’t care. Kevin was driving us all crazy talking about Gina this and Gina that. Gina night and day. Believe me, Lawrence wasn’t worried about Kevin carrying me off.”

“You mean I was under the microscope the whole time?”

“Yes, the whole time.”

“Well, did I pass the test?”

“What do you think?”

“I think,” said Gina, “you should know that the soup that I slopped into your lap was a total accident. I move too fast and spill things a lot when I’m working. You weren’t the first. I hope you didn’t take offense or get the wrong idea.”

“Don’t worry about it. I never thought it was intentional,” said Julianne.

“I appreciate that.”

“You know he’s crazy about you,” said Julianne.

“I’d say that’s plain to anyone.”

“He told me all about how you met.”

“Did he tell you that he followed me home from a meeting after we had just met only briefly?” said Gina. “I couldn’t believe it when he knocked on my door.” She finished drying her hands and pulled a hairbrush from her purse to brush her heavy hair as they talked.

“Yes, he told us. I was shocked too. I wonder what the hostess thought when he went begging her to introduce you to him. The way I understood it, Mrs. Menzies didn’t even know who he was.”

“Kevin was behind all that? I thought it was Mrs. Menzies' doing,” said Gina.

“Not the way he tells the story. I should know. I’ve heard it several times, or at least variations of it. He saw you across the room in that red dress and decided you were the one for him. Love at first sight.”

“He even remembered the dress?” Gina couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Good gracious. My life is an open book.”

“You can catch more flies with honey …” said Julianne. “Next time you should stick to jeans and a sloppy T-shirt.”

“I’ll remember that.” They laughed again.

The girls were about to exit the restroom when it occurred to Gina that if Julianne knew as much as she did about Kevin’s interest in her from the very beginning, she might also be able to answer a question that had puzzled her for months. She had nothing to lose by asking. Julianne had her hand on the door to return to the dining room when Gina grabbed her arm lightly to stop her from pushing it open.

“Julianne, Larry was with Kevin when he left groceries on my front stoop one night last fall, wasn’t he?”

The smile faded quickly from Julianne’s face. “You weren’t supposed to know about that. You didn’t hear that from me.”

“I knew it,” said Gina.

“How’d you know?”

“I recognized Larry’s voice, that baritone on the phone.”

“It is deep. That’s one of the things I was attracted to … among many others.” The girls giggled.

“But why did Kevin buy only prepared food? Everything was frozen or canned. I couldn’t figure it out.”