Dune Road (14 page)

Perhaps tonight will be the night, for the house is empty, and Steve said he wanted to see her this weekend. Perhaps she should get ready to finally do the unthinkable, to sleep with someone other than Adam, the only man she has slept with for almost twenty years.

She wants to, and doesn’t want to. The truth—as hard as it is for her to admit it—is that the only man with whom she still feels truly safe is Adam.

But Adam is her past. And Steve, if not her future, is certainly her here and now.

With a yawn and a stretch, she finally manages to drag herself out of bed, and opens the blinds in the bedroom to let the sharp autumn sunlight slice through.

A movement outside catches her eye and she moves closer to the blinds. There is a woman standing on the sidewalk across the street who seems to be looking at the house. She turns briskly and walks off, but Kit is slightly disconcerted.

Not that it is unusual to see people walking in this neighborhood, but this woman has no dog, no friends out on a power walk. In fact, she isn’t even wearing walking shoes. And although there wasn’t much time to see her face, there was something familiar about her.

By the time Kit has shrugged on her robe and gone downstairs to put coffee on she has forgotten about the woman outside. She lights a fire, collects the
New York Times
from the driveway and sticks a bagel in the toaster.

“Hello? ” The back door opens and Edie walks in. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about our date today,” she says, frowning, as she sees Kit in her bathrobe. “You’re taking me to the pumpkin patch, remember? ”

“I didn’t forget!” Kit smiles. “Of course we’re going. I just had a slow start this morning. If you let me finish this bagel I can be ready to go in ten minutes. Want some coffee? ”

“Sure.” Edie sits down at the table and squints at Kit. “What’s going on with you? ”

“What do you mean? ”

“I mean, you can’t stop smiling. You look like a girl who’s fallen in love.”

“Oh Edie!” This time the grin stretches across Kit’s face. “That’s ridiculous.”

“It may be ridiculous but you certainly look like the cat that got the cream. So go on, then, tell me if I’m right. Are you falling in love? ”

“Well . . . I’m definitely falling in like.”

Edie peers at her. “And he likes you? ”

“I don’t know.” Kit shrugs. “But I hope so. I mean, I think so.”

“So what do you like about him? Is it the fact that he’s around six foot, six foot one, dark hair, tanned skin, very handsome in his brown suede jacket? ”

Kit looks at her in shock.

“How do you know? ”

“Because he just walked up your garden path and—”

The doorbell interrupts her.

“—I was going to say he’s about to ring your doorbell.”

“Oh shit!” Kit says. “What’s he doing here?” She gestures down at herself in horror. “I can’t go to the door like this.”

“Run upstairs,” Edie says with a smile. “I’ll go. But be quick.”

 

“Hello.” Edie looks at him coolly.

“Hello.” Steve seems uncomfortable, holding a huge bouquet of red roses and clutching a bottle of champagne in the other hand.

“For me?” Edie, naughtily, sighs in pleasure and places a hand on her chest.

“Er . . . actually, I was looking for Kit? ” he says uncertainly.

“She’s upstairs,” Edie says. “Come in. I’m Edie. I live next door.”

“Lovely to meet you,” Steve says, putting the champagne down and reaching out to shake Edie’s hand, looking directly into her eyes as he says it with warmth and meaning.

Wow, Edie thinks. He’s good.

“Come into the kitchen,” Edie says, leading the way as Steve follows. “Is it someone’s birthday? ” she asks.

He laughs. “I just wanted to drop something nice off for Kit.”

“That’s certainly very nice. I’m sure she’ll be impressed.”

He frowns. “I wasn’t trying to impress her. I just wanted her to know what a lovely time I had last night. We went to the theater.”

“I know. It sounds like a wonderful play.”

“It was.”

They sit in silence for a while, Edie quite comfortably, Steve looking around the room, clearly wishing that Kit would come downstairs.

“So how long have you lived in Highfield?” Edie says, finally.

“Just a couple of months.”

“Have you found it a good place to meet people? ”

“I met Kit”—he smiles—“so I’d have to say yes.”

“True. But uprooting becomes much harder, the older we get. Do you have any family or friends here? ”

“I don’t.” He shakes his head sadly. “But I’m a pretty outgoing guy. I’ve joined the gym and I’m doing quite a bit of stuff. I hadn’t expected everything to be so family-oriented here. It’s not really the place for a single guy, other than, of course, the number of divorced women.” He laughs, then catches himself. “Not that I’m looking at other divorced women.”

“Of course not.” Edie winks at him. “Well, welcome to suburbia, I guess. That’s what it’s like. Tell me, do you play tennis? ”

“Sure,” he says.

“Good. You can join my tennis game next weekend. We’re one short. Len Blackman just dropped out.”

“I . . . er . . . when is it? My weekend is a little busy.”

“Nonsense,” Edie says sharply. “It’s Saturday morning, ten o’clock at my friend Rose’s house—in View Point Drive. We’ll expect you there and I won’t take no for an answer.”

They both look up as Kit clatters down the stairs in jeans and a gray sweater, hair pulled back in a ponytail, face now washed and clear.

Standing up, Steve adjusts his expression to one of pleasure.

“Steve! ” She walks over, catching sight of the roses and champagne, and blushes wildly. “What are you doing here? ” She stops in front of him, wants to kiss him, but feels awkward, and couldn’t kiss him in front of Edie, anyway.

“I just wanted to thank you for last night.” He smiles down at her.

“Last night? But I didn’t do anything.”

“You didn’t have to. I just . . . well . . . these are for you.”

“Oh Steve. They’re so beautiful.” Kit turns and opens cupboards, ostensibly to look for vases, but in fact to hide her face, red with embarrassment and pleasure.

“I should go,” he says, moving toward the door. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you by turning up unexpectedly. I was just going to leave them on the doorstep but I saw someone in the kitchen and wanted to see you. Maybe I can see you later? ”

“That would be nice,” Kit says, beaming.

“I’ll call you this afternoon.”

 

“Well?” She can’t help herself. She expected Edie to pass judgment as soon as Steve left the house, but so far she’s said nothing.

They are in the car, on their way to the pumpkin patch, and Kit is trying not to say anything, wanting Edie to bring up the subject first, but she just can’t wait.

“Well, what? ” Edie says innocently.

“What did you think of him? ”

There’s a long pause, and as they pull up to a light Kit turns to Edie, who sucks her teeth.

“I don’t like him.”

Kit starts to laugh. “No, seriously, Edie. What did you think of him? ”

“Seriously? Kit, have you ever known me to mince my words or tell you anything other than the truth, even if I know it’s absolutely the last thing in the world you want to hear? ”

Kit’s heart starts to pound.

Edie sees the expression on Kit’s face and backtracks immediately. “Oh Kit. I don’t know him at all, which is why I asked him to play tennis next weekend. I want to see if I’m wrong, but my first impressions are almost always right. I’m a little bit of a witch, you know, and I pick up on things. I just don’t trust him. And red roses and champagne? For no reason? It feels like he’s trying too hard, and I’m not comfortable.”

Kit is shocked. She wants to say something, but she is stunned that Edie has been so . . . disparaging. So honest.

“Kit, my dear,” she continues, “I’m not saying don’t see him, I’m just saying that he’s walked into your life and you know nothing about him, and you need to be careful. For all we know, he’s a con artist.”

“Oh Edie,” Kit snorts, “don’t be so dramatic. You’ve been watching those crime series on TV again, haven’t you? ”

“Well, yes, but they’re true stories, and they mostly feature men just like this one. Handsome, educated, well-dressed and impossibly charming. How do you think so many people fall for them? ”

Kit forces a laugh. “Well, if he’s looking to scam me, he won’t get very far. A single mother who’s scraping together a living? ”

“He could be absolutely genuine,” Edie says, softening. “But you need to take it slowly, to try to find out a little more about him before you give your heart away. That’s all I’m saying.”

“I thought you were saying that you didn’t like him and didn’t trust him.”

“Well, yes. That’s true. I’m not sure about him, it’s true. But all I really care about is you. That you’re happy and that you’re treated well. Let’s see how he manages with the tennis game, and let’s see what Rose thinks of him.”

“Why does it matter what Rose thinks? ”

“Because not only is she, as you know, my tennis partner and one of my oldest friends, she also happens to be the best judge of character I have ever come across.”

“Okay. I’ll take it slowly and be careful. But red roses!” Kit sighs, a smile back on her face. “And champagne! No one’s ever bought me red roses and champagne before! ” She turns to Edie, hoping to see Edie’s smile of validation, but Edie’s expression is a frown, and she is staring out of the window.

It is true. Adam was never the romantic type. There were gifts, for birthdays, obviously, but mostly Kit would tell him what she wanted, and in the latter years, would simply go out and buy it for herself, telling him afterward what it was he had bought her.

There were flowers on Valentine’s Day, and she knew he only remembered when he climbed on the train at Grand Central Station, and found every other man holding a bunch of roses; then he would run in to the florist’s, paying outrageous prices for his last-minute romantic gesture.

Kit has always secretly longed to be the type of woman men bought flowers for, and having never been that woman, not really, she is starting to discover just how seductive it is.

Chapter Eleven

“H
ow long, exactly, does it take to find the perfect pumpkin? ” Kit tramps along behind Edie, dragging the wagon as Edie examines every pumpkin she sees, or so it seems.

Kit should be here with the kids, she thinks, seeing the hayride pass every few minutes, piles of children and their grown-ups sitting on hay bales, bumping along the dirt track as they drive slowly past the cows and horses grazing in the field.

There is a stand for food—apple cider, popcorn, caramel apples—and rosy-cheeked children are running up to the barn-yard animals and shrieking with laughter as the cows moo.

Although Kit knows she will come back next weekend with the children, she feels a sharp pang of missing them, of knowing that this would be so much nicer with them here.

“Mom! ” Kit looks up sharply—she is programmed to look up whenever she hears someone shout “Mom! ” and has been known to shout back “Yes? ” no matter whose child it is who is asking.

But this time she sees Buckley—her delicious Buckley!—running through the pumpkins, his eyes wide with delight, and she runs toward him and scoops him up, burying her face in his hair.

“Buck! What are you doing here? ”

“We’re here with Dad! ” Buckley says, flinging his arms around her neck and hugging her tightly, showing her, quite unconsciously, how much he misses her. Most times when he comes back from his father’s he is cool and offhand with her, refuses to kiss or be kissed, wants to be anything other than Mama’s little boy.

But now, when he sees her so unexpectedly, he can’t hide his joy, allows her to cover him with kisses, squeeze him tightly, shower him with love and affection.

“Dad! Tory! Mom’s here!” Buckley shouts over, and both Adam’s and Tory’s faces light up, a fact which surprises Kit, and slightly confuses her.

“Mom! ” Tory comes over and hugs her, which is yet another unexpected surprise, and Adam grins, then both kids run off to see a friend of Tory’s on the other side of the field.

“Hey, Kit. Hi, Edie.” He reaches over and gives Edie a kiss.

Kit is astonished to see Edie practically simper. Why didn’t she react that way with Steve?

“Did you borrow children for the day?” He looks amused; and it’s true, they do seem to be the only adults there without small children.

“Edie is my child for the day.” Kit smiles.

“I’m afraid she’s right. I decorate my house every year, and it’s time for pumpkins. I need big ones for the porch, and a bunch of those little tiny ones to go above the front door. I’m thinking that I might also do a scarecrow this year. I thought Tory and Buckley could help. It would be a fun project.”

“Sounds great,” Kit says.

“Well, Tory’s only going to be interested if the scarecrow’s clothes come from Kool Klothes and it has earrings that come from Claire’s.”

“God, Claire’s.” Kit shakes her head. “What
is
this obsession with Claire’s? ”

Adam laughs. “Every weekend she’s with me, all she wants to do is have me take her up to Claire’s. I won’t go anymore. Too much sparkly makeup in there. It gives me panic attacks. Last time I dropped her off on Main Street and left her there for an hour and a half. I thought she would have gone to all the stores, but she and Livvy spent the entire time in Claire’s.”

Kit laughs.

“And have you heard the latest?” Kit shakes her head so Adam carries on: “She’s decided she wants her navel pierced.”

Kit gasps in horror. “Not in this lifetime.”

“Her what? ” Edie strains to hear. “What did you just say? ”