Like You Read About (20 page)

He just walked
around, opened her door, and yanked her out.

They walked around the side where a man was standing with
five different women’s bikes in front of him and a bike that looked just like Dan’s.

“I’ll have Tony go and put the rack on if you
give me the keys,” the man said as Dan threw the keys to him and in turn he tossed them to a teenager who looked like he’d prefer a skate park to a bike shop.

“Cora, this is Dave, Dave, this is my girlfriend
, Cora.” Daniel smiled through the introductions as they shook hands; Cora was still confused.

“Hi Cora, Dan wasn’t kidding, you are a shortie, but a cutie pie
.” Dave was sixty-five if he was a day and looked like he’d spent most of his life outdoors. “Well, that rules these two out, I’ll be right back,” he says as he rolled two of the bikes away and a few minutes later came out with the same bikes only shorter.

“O
kay, Cora, why don’t you give each of these a spin around the lot a time or two and let me know which one feels best.  Dan, while she’s doing that, give yours the once over and make sure that Tony tuned everything up right.”

Dan hopped on his bike and rode it around the lot and off onto the path, Cora stood there looking confused.  “Well go ahead
, girl, they’re not going to bite, Danny said you know how to ride.”  He handed her a green helmet and shooed her along.

“I do, it just seems a lot of trouble for a rental
,” she said as she walked up to the yellow bike and mounted it, pushing off with the pedals and giving it a go.

“Oh we like to make sure anyone heading out is as comfortable as they can be
,” Dave said, tipping his hat as she circled him, enjoying the look of pure joy on her face.  Dan had called ahead, explained the what, why and wherefores and Dave was only too happy to help. Every kid deserved a bike as a birthday present, didn’t matter if they were turning six or thirty-six.

After a couple of rounds on the yellow,
she switched over to the blue bike, then the pink, then another blue and then the green. It was likely the colors weren’t important, that was obvious. It was how it felt to ride and what was comfortable.  She was taking the green bike for a second spin as Dan pulled back from the trail.

“This
feels just fine, thanks for tuning it up, Dave.” Dan pulled to a stop and dismounted next to Dave. “I told you not to bother taking out anything but the green bike. I knew that’s the one she’d pick; it’s her favorite color.” He chuckled shaking his head at the old man.  He was taking some video on his cell phone camera. He’d send it to Kaelyn later, she’d get a kick out of this, and he wanted to relive this glee on her face again and again. It made him feel like he’d hung the moon.

“It actually fits her best, the first three were awkward and it was this or the blue K2 we’d talked about the other day and she had some slipping on the pedal
; color aside this is the one.” Dan and Dave smiled as she circled the lot giggling like a little kid.

She pulled to a stop in front of them.  “So how long do we have the rental?  I’d love to get in a ride around the lake if we have time.”

Dan pulled a bow out of his pocket and stuck it on Cora’s helmet, “Not a rental Red, she’s yours, happy birthday.  A woman your age ought to own a bicycle.”

She started to cry, and the old man looked puzzled
. Dan handed him his Amex and he walked away to give them some time alone, even at sixty-five Dave still didn’t get crying women—never would. They made him skittish.

“Sweetie, what’s wrong
? I thought you’d love a bike.” He pulled up her chin and kissed her softly.  “I’ve been researching for weeks. Actually, truth be told, I started looking at women’s bikes online when you mentioned you didn’t own one, and when I was trying to decide what to get you for your birthday this seemed perfect.”

“It is perfect you
, big idiot, it’s just too much.” She threw her arms around him in a big hug squeezing him and knocking her helmet askew in the process.  “This is too big a gift for me. I bought you bookcases for the office for your birthday, from Ikea.”

“Which you then put together, which you know I cannot do and that’s worth ten bikes.
Now let’s dry those eyes, finish up with Dave so he doesn’t think his horrible skills as a salesman made you cry and let’s head for a ride around the lake and a picnic.”  She pushed her bike inside, where Dave added an old-fashioned wicker basket, a gift from Burkes Bikes, to go along with her sweet new ride.

She hugged Dave, and Tony, who looked mortified that some crying old woman was hugging him and hugged her new bike and she and Dan rolled it out the front door and put it on the bike rack on the car.

“Well, that explains why you moved Ringo,” she said, still sniffling a little.

“Being the laziest of all the Beatles
, he can’t carry anything, not even a tune, let alone two bikes.” He took the kick to the shin he had coming to him, mocking the car was sacrilege, and kissed her again before tucking her in to the car and heading to the bike path at the lake.

This is what he was looking for, moments like this when he could make her smile and fill her with joy
. She didn’t need things, but when he did give her things she had such a gracious heart, it overwhelmed him.  She’d never have to give him another gift as long as he lived if she’d promise to stay with him forever.  It was too soon for that, he’d know when she was ready for that, but for now a bike ride, a picnic and her infectious joy.  Life did not suck for Dan and Cora.

Chapter 30

They went on like t
his, happy moments, quiet moments, moments filled with passion, almost six months in and he still couldn’t get enough of her touch, her taste, her smell.  He made a point to have lunch with her once a week, out of the building.  He’d taken her to Joe and Lynne’s a few times and those two got on like a house on fire. They played Scrabble and the men watched the game in Joe’s basement man cave. Cora was surprised at how easy they took her in, as if she’d always been there, like they’d always been Cora and Dan, the same went with Kaelyn and Tommy, although with two kids under five and another on the way, a night of fun with them was far less frequent.

Every day she woke up, some days with him, some days on her own, the days on her own sucked more that’s for sure, and she couldn’t figur
e out how she’d gotten so lucky. She waited for the shoe to drop, she knew it had to someday, but she was so happy she ignored it and hoped it would disappear, because things did that, right?  That’s how adults dealt with problems.

On a Friday afternoon
, Joe stopped in to see Dan on his way out for the weekend.

“Man, I can’t tell you how happy I am that you listened to me and asked Cora out
. You are one lucky son of a bitch to have that woman love you.”  Joe had the stapler in hand, he was teasing Dan, but the last time he’d actually needed a Band-Aid and they’d both gotten in trouble from the women.

“Well
, I am a lucky son of a bitch, but if you recall she emailed me first and then I asked her on a date, you didn’t actually act as a messenger or go between, we established already that this isn’t seventh grade, right?” They did this once a week, Joe, glad to see his friend happy tried to take credit. Dan pretended to get cranky and they threw stuff then they had beer, not like chicks who talked about their feelings and shit.

Thoughtful for a moment
, Dan looked at Joe and said, “In all seriousness man, you were right, when you know, you know and I knew and it was because you told me to nut up… and I did. In the end, I’m going to have that pretty little redhead wearing my ring and my name and living under my roof. I’ll let you take partial credit, but if anyone asks I’ll disavow all knowledge.”

“I’m just happy to know you’re happy, you two are great together
. It’s like you’ve always been together, you’re so smooth, do you ever even fight? About anything?”

“I thought we weren’t talking about feeling because we aren’t chicks,” he said, pretending to scratch his nuts and then spit
. “But no, we never fight, and rarely argue and even then it’s small stuff.  I still sometimes feel like she’s holding back, but then I think it’s just me and my insecurity and I move on.” Shutting off his monitor he gets up, the universal signal to Joe to get the fuck out so they can all go home.  “You know I never told you this but after the Valentine's thing Raj came into my office and apologized. He hoped I wasn’t mad and that he hoped things worked out for me and Cora, and said he’d try to be less of a dick.”

“You never mentioned that, and that’s because we don’t talk a
bout feelings. Now go home and have some hot sweaty sex on the dining room table with that redhead you’re living in sin with so us old married folks can live vicariously through your wild life, and the single lonely dudes like Raj who still live in their mom’s basement can be jealous.” Joe smacked him on the shoulder as they headed out and closed the door behind him.

He was indeed heading home to make love to his beautiful Cora
. They hadn’t actually christened the dining room table, that wasn’t a half-bad idea.

Chapter 31

In
late July, they were out for a Sunday drive to nowhere.  Dan took her hand and squeezed it and said, as simply as if he were saying the sky is blue, “I love you, Cora.”  He said it every day, sometimes more than once.  Each time it surprised her, how a man as amazing as him could love a girl as messed up as her.

“I love you too
.” She pulled his hand to her lips and kissed it.

“I want you to think about moving in when your lease is up at the end of the
year,” he said, very matter of fact, never taking his eyes off the road.

She was silent, it was what she’d wanted since they’d been snowbound, but now that it was there, in front of her
, she was scared out of her mind.

“Cora,” he sounded nervous, “what do you think?”

“How did you know my lease is up?”  She knew they were moving towards being together permanently, and even spoke about marriage in the abstract.  

“The letter and new lease
agreement were on your kitchen table, I saw it when I went to grab a beer the other night.” He could feel her hand tensing up in his, he had a sinking feeling he’d just fucked up, but wasn’t quite sure what he’d fucked up.

“
I don’t want us to live together because it’s convenient for my lease, and I’m not comfortable with the fact that you read my mail and then started making plans about this without talking to me.”  She pulled her hand away, she was being irrational, but her fight or flight was kicking in, six months in and she still hadn’t told him.  After the second month of dating, they’d both gotten tested and stopped using condoms.  She was on the pill, but it wasn’t for the reasons he thought, and each time she popped a little peach pill in her mouth she felt her lie of omission hanging over her head like a gray rain cloud.

“Well, I am talking to you about it
. I haven’t made plans yet, that’s what we’re doing now, we’re talking and maybe making plans.  I didn’t snoop through your mail, Cora; it was on the table. When I opened the bottle I saw it, I didn’t pick it up and read it through, I didn’t go through your drawers, and it’s not like I went through the stack of envelopes you keep in the mail basket on the counter.”  Yup, that’s where he’d fucked up, bringing up her lease was not the romantic way he wanted to say
I want you to share my house and my life.

“Can you take me home, I’m starting to get a migraine, I need to take a shot and be in the dark.”  It was only partly true, she had a headache, which felt like it
might
turn in to a migraine, but right now she just needed to not be with him, to not be in the same space as he was, she needed to figure this out.

He drove her home, walked her up the stairs, made up an ice pack and pulled the cu
rtains while she took her meds and got ready to crawl in to bed.

“Do you want me to stay with you, in case you need anything?” It was all he wanted to do, just take care of his girl.

“No, go home and watch the game. I’ll call you when I’m feeling better,” she said softly, not looking at him as she crawled into bed.

“O
kay, but make sure you call me if you need anything at all. Your wish is always my command, Red, you know that.”  He kissed her hand and let himself out of the apartment after making sure Gwennie had plenty of food and water.  He left a pouch on the table for her, this one had a little house on it. Hopefully, she’d see it and she’d know what he’d meant to say before he fucked it up.

She didn’t call that night, just sent a text around
nine that she was still feeling like shit.  The next day she called in to work and chickened out by sending him another text, she was avoiding.

Kaelyn
sent a text, and she ignored that, she was in full ostrich mode.  The next day she called out sick again.  She spoke to Dan on the phone, assuring him she didn’t need anything. 

By
two on Tuesday, Dan was getting frustrated and panicky, he’d done this thing with Cora the wrong way, but she was retreating, and there had to be a reason.  He was going to go and talk to Kaelyn.