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“Not my type,” they said in unison.

Felix flashed his friend a very wide grin. “Did you learn anything else other than picking up one-sided sexual tension?”

“I think I have an idea of what Blake is trying to accomplish. On the stage. I need to take some photos before construction. I’d like to begin your pictorial with an empty stage. I can start this evening.”

Felix had unveiled his plan the prior evening to create a pictorial on the community theater and what they do to bring a show together. He felt it would be a good fundraiser and give the patrons an idea of how contributing to the arts enriched the community.

“I have something to do tonight.” Felix groaned.

“No problem. I’ll go by myself.”

Felix reached in his pocket and handed him the keys. “The building will probably will be empty.”

“Even better.” Antonio nodded.

Most of the staff on the e-mail chain said that they wouldn’t be there tonight except Lucy. She said she was going to start working on her forest. What better time to trap his prey than when she was all alone in the woods?

* * *

Antonio took a nap after lunch, wanting to feel refreshed and ready to spar with Lucy. He made painstaking efforts to look his best, even showering and putting on cologne. But only a little, so she wouldn’t know he was purposely trying to smell enticing. His phone rang a few times.

He checked and saw that he had a text message from his cousin. Yesenia was more like a sister and he appreciated that with her busy life, she still made it her business to check up on him. On his visits home, he loved it when Lauren and Yesenia were together. They would fuss over him and grill him about the multitude of women in his life. The other message was from her partner in crime, Lauren. She reminded him to watch a documentary they were discussing the last time they spoke on the phone.

As he passed through the kitchen to get a bottle of water, he saw a large bag on the table packed with food and note from Felix. It said, “In case you get hungry while at the theater.”

He looked into the bag and found enough food to feed an army. Antonio smiled. Felix knew what he was up to.

* * *

Lucy loved being alone in the theater. It was her second home as a child. Many a night she had done homework in the seats while her mother rehearsed for one play or another. Her mother was a ballet dancer who dabbled in acting. And if it were a musical play, her father would compose the music. There were plenty of nights her mother packed her pajamas just in case the rehearsals ran late. Her parents would stay until the creative work was perfect.

Sometimes she could feel them in the theater, especially on quiet nights like this. All of that happiness seemed like a million years ago. And then one day it was all over. Suddenly life was imitating art and she was Annie, the little orphan girl, looking for a home.

She willed herself to come back to the present. The topics on her mind tonight were whether or not her grandmother Ava in Florida received her birthday present. Did the super get her note about the noisy faucet in the guest bathroom? Her friend Erin hadn’t spoken to her since she gave her honest opinion, via e-mail, about her current boyfriend.

Telling the truth was a roll of the dice, but she felt a heartfelt obligation to tell her friend that the guy was an insincere idiot who would cause her nothing but pain if she decided to have a future with him. Nana Ava taught her that honesty came with a high price and to be careful when she told someone what she thought to be her truth. Her grandmother’s words often echoed in her mind.
Truth has a way of sounding beautiful and ugly at the same time.

“Hello, Lucy,” Antonio said in a devilishly cheerful voice as he approached the stage. “I hope you don’t mind. I’m going to be around tonight.”

“Not at all,” she said primly and went back to her trees.

“My my, what big trees you have,” Antonio muttered.

“It’s supposed to be a forest. Have you ever seen a forest with short trees?”

“I guess not.” Antonio saw the script next to her on the floor. “I read most of that today. Blake isn’t half bad.”

“He does write well,” she said, biting her lip.

“But?”

“But what?”

“Body language.” He pointed to her lip. “Chewing of the lip indicates something is wrong. Or you’re practicing to become a cannibal.”

“The two main characters…” She looked to see if anyone else was around. “Have no chemistry.”

“In the script?”

“No, the actors who won the roles. Blake and the director, Trent, picked this girl because she was beautiful. Bethany has not one lick of talent.”

He remembered Bethany. She was a cross between a centerfold and a cheerleader. But he did have to agree. The princess in the script was not Bethany. “I agree.”

“You do?” she asked.

“Yes.” He smiled and took her picture.

“I thought you would have sided with Trent and Blake.”

“Bethany is beautiful. But misplaced beauty does not do the production any good. If Blake is as in love with his creation as he seems to be, he’ll come around. He just needs to get the lust out of his eyes.”

Lucy smiled at him then went back to her trees.

Antonio took a look around and wandered backstage. He roamed in and out of each room, clicking away, finally ending up in the costume room. The walls were plastered with posters of old performances and thank-you notes. The dressing rooms were filled with ghosts of performances past. The energy radiated from one room to another and onto the stage. He wondered how many stars had been born from this stage. He made a mental note to do some research.

After two hours, his stomach began to growl and reminded him of the bag Felix had packed for him. He found it on the chair he’d sat in before he ascended the stage steps. As Antonio sifted through the bag, he noticed Felix had packed two of everything. Two sandwiches, two salads, two desserts.

He asked Lucy if she was hungry and she said she could go for a bite. He took the bag up on the stage and sat on the floor. Lucy’s eyes seemed to get bigger and bigger as he revealed each item, which coincidentally, all were favorites of hers. The spinach salad and watercress with cranberries, the chicken breast sandwich with a hint of her favorite Asian glazed sauce, and the triple fudge brownies with chocolate chips and mini marshmallows oozing out the sides.

“So, have you objectified any more women around town?”

“No, I ordered a long black cape and a mask. I’m waiting for them to arrive in the mail. Then I will flit around town and ogle women.” He chuckled.

Antonio’s phone vibrated five times while they were eating. All of his women seemed to check in that night. He got a multimedia text from Zaria. It looked like she’d taken a picture of a couch someone had put out for the trash. His mom wanted to know when he was coming back for a visit. Yesenia wanted him to yell at her husband Cesar for saying she was scared of everything. And Lauren sent one saying she saw a shirt that would look great on him, she just needed an address to send it to him. Each time he glanced quickly at the messages and replied just as fast, not wanting to jeopardize the easy conversation that flowed between them. After a few jokes and some softening, she no longer had that lascivious look on her face. As a matter of fact, the longer they talked, the more relaxed she seemed. She’d even stopped tugging on her scarf and looking at her trees.

“Your parade of women checking up on you?”

“Actually all family members. This is my niece Zaria.” Antonio pulled up her picture on his phone.

“She is beautiful,” Lucy said as she studied the picture. “She has your eyes.”

He laughed. “Actually she has my brother’s eyes. Just like I do.” He hesitantly pulled up a picture of Alejandro. Antonio noticed two things when he showed women his brother’s picture. Their tongues either immediately and embarrassingly fell out of their mouths, or they tried to play it cool.

Lucy looked at the photo, then at him, then back to the photo. “You sure have a strong gene pool in your family.”

“This is my cousin Yesenia and her family,” he continued. “And this is my sister-in-law Lauren and my twin nephews Dylan and Diego.” In the picture both boys were hanging onto the seemingly petite woman’s neck like it was a life preserver.

“They love their mama.” Lucy laughed.

Antonio laughed too. “My brother says he hasn’t got laid since they were born.”

“You have a nice-looking family, Antonio. You can see the love shining in all of their eyes.”

“Thanks,” he said as he put his phone in his pocket.

“And I take it they’re all wondering what’s taking you so long to settle down?”

“And why do you think that?” he quipped.

“Because why else would you be so far away from all that love?”

Antonio didn’t respond.

“Forget I said anything.”

“No, I’ll answer. I honestly don’t know.” He sighed. “And what about you?”

“What makes you think my family doesn’t live in this town?”

“Because you look like you’re all alone,” he said solemnly. “Even that day when you were standing in the circle, you looked like you were all alone.”

“That sounds rather pathetic.” Lucy bit her lip.

“No, not at all.” He smiled.

“I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.” She sighed as she directed a forkful of brownie into her mouth. “Thank you. This was very nice.”

“You’re welcome.” He looked at his watch. “It’s getting late. I’ll walk you out.”

“I don’t want to go.” She sighed again.

“What do you want to do? Sleep here?” He laughed.

“I wish I could.” Lucy cleared her throat. “You know you are tolerable when you’re not trying to be charming.”

“Thank you, I guess?” he said with a slight smile.

“I think,” Lucy said, “that you and I could be friends.”

“I think so too,” he said, his smile way too big.

“Without all the crap. OK?”

He felt like he needed a referee to come in and define crap for him. He knew she didn’t like the whole subtle seduction bit. This was her way of keeping him at bay. The crap included reining in hormones and refraining from looking like a wolf donning a checkered napkin around his neck and a knife and fork in his hand.

“OK, Lucy.” He held out his hand to help her up off the stage floor.

Antonio went to the power panel and turned off the stage lights while Lucy repacked the bag. As they made their way to the theater doors, he looked back to see the progress she’d made with the trees. Although she’d just started, there was something about the beginning of those trees that spoke to him.

“Your trees are looking good.”

“It’s only just the beginning.” She sighed.

Antonio looked at her for a moment. His mind was echoing the same sentiment.

* * *

Antonio walked Lucy home, their agreement making her chatty and bold. Her incessant talking reminded him of…well, every woman in his life back in Jersey. And he was surprised at how much like music it sounded to him. He personally avoided chatty women, for they often wanted him to respond to some of the things they said and he was always half listening. But Lucy’s chatty was a cross between an infomercial and a trivia game show. They stopped at an animated art deco apartment building that looked like she belonged there and said good night. After she’d gone into the building, he snapped a few pictures of the exterior and headed back to Felix’s place.

He stepped gingerly, not wanting to wake Felix. It was well after midnight.

There was no need; when he opened the door Felix was sitting on the couch watching the food channel. “Make any progress?”

“Sure. I took a lot of great shots tonight.” Antonio reflected his mysterious smile.

“Take another shot at the set designer?”

“No. We had a very nice dinner, thanks to you, and got to know each other a bit.”

“And?” Felix prodded.

“And Lucy is a very special woman.”

“Yes, she is. So what is your next move?”

“No moves. I promised her we would be friends.”

“You agreed to that?”

“Why are you so surprised? I thought we agreed she wasn’t my type.”

Felix chuckled. “I know she isn’t your type, Antonio. I think that’s why you like her.”

Before they parted ways Antonio wondered what she would have done had he grabbed that damn long scarf and pulled her to him and kissed her. He would have used his tongue to moisten her lips while distracting her by putting his hand on her waist. In her confusion, trying to figure out where the other hand was going to land, she would have been helpless and unable to fend off his curiosity. His tongue would’ve casually invaded her mouth and her senses would’ve heightened to a fever pitch; she would have learned to appreciate his sensual epicurean talents.

He knew Lucy wouldn’t be able to handle the game he played. “Good night Dad,” Antonio muttered and went to his room. He was in for a long, exhausting night.

Chapter Three

Armed with the list Felix left on the refrigerator, Antonio ventured into the gourmet supermarket to do the week’s shopping. Felix’s grocery list read more like a wish list from a child to Santa Claus, but he was determined that he could decipher his friend’s dramatic penmanship and be out of the store within the hour. As he cruised each aisle, the colorful labels caught his eye. To Antonio, life was all about color. He even threw in a few things that weren’t on the list, content to indulge since he was going to be there for a while. For a while? He didn’t know how long he’d initially be at Felix’s, and now he was buying groceries?

His change of mind could have been due to the sense of calm that had come over him ever since he arrived. There wasn’t a cannon of emotions lurking around every street corner or in the park, no stones to turn over in the name of him becoming a better person. Instead there were leisurely afternoons roaming a sleepy town watching its eclectic residents go about their days. A community theater equipped with drama, lust, and anxiety. And the actors hadn’t even started running their lines yet. And the best part: a set designer who was mad at herself for liking him. Antonio suppressed a smirk every time he saw her. She seemed to be in hell trying to decide whether or not he warranted an easy smile.