The Romance Novel Cure (24 page)

Daniel knew which door was Alma’s from all the way across the parking lot. He closed the door of his car, holding a potted succulent plant carefully. All of the other doors to the apartments were painted the same utilitarian brown color. There was one door that stood out. It was painted a deep indigo color. He walked directly toward it and soon could make out the number on it, confirming that it was Alma’s home. He bit down on his lip, trying not to smile too big, but it made him feel like laughing. Alma and her colors. Taking a quick breath, he knocked.

She opened the door, glancing up at him, smiling shyly as she stepped back to let him in. “Come on in.”

“Hi.” He stepped inside and stopped. Color. Everywhere he looked. “Wow.” Alma’s apartment had sleek, modern furniture, an uncluttered look, and was filled with vibrant colors and art.

“A succulent!” Alma gestured to the plant in his hands, smiling.

“Oh, right. I’m sure you’re assuming this is a gift. I should just let you think that, but truth is? It’s my attack succulent.”

“What?” Alma laughed, covering her mouth, staring at him. They had talked on the phone a few times during the past week, and texted back and forth a few times, but there was nothing, he realized, like hearing her laugh in person.

“I admit I was terrified at whatever succulents were, so I bought one to use as a guard plant. Attack plant.” He held it out to her. “No, it’s a gift.”

“Thank you,” she said, still laughing. “Let’s see if he’ll get along and play nicely with the others.” She inclined her head and he followed her out a sliding glass door onto a small patio. It was filled with plants, many that did look similar in some way to the plant Daniel had brought. He had Googled succulent then Googled where people would buy plants, and stopped by a nursery on the way. Alma’s patio was lovely. There was a small fountain, small statues in and among the plants and flowers, and little hanging lanterns of mason jars and vintage light bulbs.

“This is amazing.” Daniel turned in a circle, looking at this miniature secret garden.

“I want to make the cement floor into something special. I want to plant some fragrant ground cover, so I can walk out here in my bare feet. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” She smiled up at him.

“It would.” He felt breathless. He didn’t even know why. Just something about her, and this little world of hers of plants and colors and lights. He felt… he didn’t know how he felt. Just, breathless.

“Sit down,” she said, gesturing toward a few chairs and a small table. “Would you like a drink? I have beer, iced tea…”

“I’d love an iced tea. Thanks.” He sat down on a bright green modern looking chair that was surprisingly comfortable. He wondered what it was made of.

Alma returned quickly with a tray of sliced jicama with a wedge of lime and a scattering of cilantro, and sliced papaya and two glasses of iced tea. “I have some simple syrup if you like your tea sweet.”

“Unsweetened is great, but what’s simple syrup?”

“Sugar and water, so it will dissolve into the cold tea,” she said, placing the tray on the table.

“I never knew that. Is there complicated syrup?”

They smiled at each other, trying not to laugh.

“Yes, but I forget how to make it. It’s too complicated.”

“Endless ingredients?”

“And science. A lot of science.”

“Science?” Daniel laughed out loud.

“Chemistry, you know.” She laughed, too. She handed him a glass.

“Thanks.”

“
De nada
.”

They sipped in silence for a few moments. Daniel took a piece of jicama and had just bit into it when Alma spoke. “How is your son?”

He chewed rapidly.

“I’m sorry!” Alma laughed. “Bad timing.”

He swallowed, pulling out his phone from his pocket. “Here’s a picture.”

Alma took the phone and looked down. She gasped. “He’s adorable!” She glanced back at Daniel. “He looks exactly like you.” She covered her face with her hand and laughed at herself. “Oh, smooth!”

“No, I get it. That’s cool. I look like a baby. Great. Sure.”

Alma laughed harder and handed the phone back to him.

“He’s great. Tonight… tonight’s the first night I left him with a babysitter.” He took a quick sip of his tea, not looking at her.

“Oh, really?” Alma clasped her hands. “He’s… not with… his mother?”

Here we go
, thought Daniel. “No. No mother in the picture.”

“Oh.” Alma nodded, her eyes wide.

“It’s just the two of us,” he said, shrugging.

Alma nodded again, seeming to think of what to say next. “So, he was okay with the babysitter?”

Daniel relaxed and smiled. “Yeah, she is an assistant teacher from his preschool. He recognized her. He made such a funny face, like, hey, I know you but what are you doing here?”

Alma looked thoughtful. “That must have made you feel better to leave him this evening, knowing he was with someone he knows and likes.”

He blinked. Right in the pit of his stomach, he felt a kind of warmth. What was it, he wondered. Slowly he realized that nobody in his life, except for the people at the preschool, ever had anything to say about Elijah. His child was the center of his world, but it was such an isolating experience.

“What’s his name?” asked Alma.

“Elijah.”

“That’s a beautiful name,” she exclaimed softly. “Elijah.”

He ducked his head. “Before he was born, I was at an open mic night at The Art Bar and this group did a cover of a Seatrain song. I’d never heard it before. But when they got to the part where they sang,
waiting for Elijah
… I don’t know. I just felt something inside me click. That was my baby’s name. I’d just found out he was a boy.”

“Just like that!” Alma’s eyes were full of wonder.

“Yeah.”
Talk about your baby on your first date
, he mocked himself.
Oh, well
. “Your name is pretty. What does it mean? I’m assuming it’s Spanish?”

She nodded. “It means soul. My mother told me when I was born, the nurse handed her to me. My mother had picked out a name for me if I was a girl, Catalina. But then she changed her mind suddenly and said that
Alma
seemed to suit me better.”

“I can see that.” Daniel nodded.

“Yes?”

He froze. What had he gotten himself into? He cleared his throat. “Your eyes are so big and dark.” He didn’t know what else to say.

Alma blushed and took a hasty sip of iced tea. “Ah!” She set the glass down and grabbed a cloth napkin. “Ice! Face!”

“I hate when that happens.” Daniel laughed and grimaced sympathetically. “Plants, ice. Gotta watch out. Danger everywhere.” He smiled, hearing Alma laugh as she grabbed a napkin.

* * *

Maybe the ice would cool her face a little, thought Alma, patting her face dry. She felt as though she could barely catch her breath.
Your eyes are so
, what was it he had said?
So big and dark
? The way his blue eyes had flashed to hers before looking down. So full of, what? It looked like admiration. It looked like attraction. Alma imagined taking a handful of ice and burying her face in it. Oh, her makeup would be ruined.

“Well, would you like some more tea, and maybe a straw to protect your face? Or, are you hungry?” She suddenly wished she had not chosen Edmundo’s. She could change her mind, but maybe that would seem strange after she had already suggested it. It was just that some of her family would be there, of course, and they would see her and Daniel. They would be curious.

“Thanks, yeah, I’m good. You want to head out?”

“Okay, I’ll just…” She reached for the tray.

“Let me.” Daniel picked up the tray.

“Thanks!” She walked into her apartment, closing the door when Daniel walked in.

He set the tray down on the counter that divided a living room from a small kitchen. “I love how colorful your home is. It’s just like you.”

“I do like color,” Alma said, smiling, as she took a small purse from a table by the front door. Daniel walked to stand by her side and she felt her heart skip a beat. A date. A real date. “I would love to get into interior design. I’ve had a couple of clients, really small scale. I just loved it.” They went outside and Alma locked her door.

“Yeah? Choosing furniture and paint and things like that?” He looked at her as they walked to his car.

“Yes, exactly. Every time I go into any kind of space, I always see how I think things should be.”

He opened the passenger side door for her. “Really?”

“But not in any kind of mean way,” she continued, alarmed, as he came around to sit next to her. She noticed the car seat in back. There was a small toy rabbit inside the car seat, and a little board book.

“Mean way?” He tried not to laugh, facing her.

“Right, no!” She tried to explain. “Not like judging what is already there, just imagining how the space, or the room wants to be.”

“How a room wants to be?”

She sat back and covered her face. “That sounds crazy!”

“No, not at all. I would very much like… never mind.” He shook his head and laughed out loud, putting the key into the ignition.

“What? Tell me!” She put her hand on his arm.

He grinned at her. “I’ll tell you but I promise you, I didn’t mean it the way it is going to sound. I was about to say, oh, I’d like you to see my place and tell me what it wants. You’re the house whisperer. I need to be blue, my walls would say, not this institutional white. But it was going to come out like such a line. Come on over to my place and check out my...” He leaned toward her, lowering his voice.

She cracked up. She was having fun, she realized. “So, institutional white, you said?”

“Yeah, that’s probably an anathema to you, isn’t it.”

“No, not necessarily,” she said diplomatically. “White can be lovely. Here and there. But entire walls? Wall after wall of just white? I admit, that makes me feel so frustrated.”

Daniel bit his lip, nodding, trying not to smile, it seemed.

“What?” She asked. She couldn’t stop looking at him.

“Nothing, no, it’s just. I like how you express yourself.” He darted a glance at her, driving, then looked back at the road. It was still light out. Alma looked turned her head away, looking out the passenger window.
I’m on a date
, she said to herself.
He likes how I express myself
. She turned back to him. “I like how you express yourself, too.” It came out too serious, she thought.

“Yeah?” He looked straight ahead, and she saw him swallow. His skin was so bronzed from the sun, next to his golden streaked, light brown hair. It looked as though he had just shaved, his cheeks and neck were so smooth. She liked his face. He looked handsome, and kind. His hair looked soft. It kept falling in his eyes. It would be so soft to touch. She realized she was staring and quickly looked straight ahead out the window.

“Yes,” she said. “I like how there’s laughter in your voice, but I don’t feel as though you’re laughing at me. And I like how you say funny things, and that makes me laugh.”

“You have a beautiful laugh,” he said. “I already feel like I’m wildly thinking of something to say to make you laugh again.”

Just like that, Alma thought, staring straight ahead, not daring to even glance at him. Just like that, she went from feeling jittery first date feelings to feeling completely out of her depths. Funny thing was, she found she liked it. She liked the feeling very much. She didn’t know what to say. The longer she waited, the more it seemed that she wouldn’t be able to speak again. Great, she thought, the entire date would pass in utter silence.

“And just like that,” he said wryly, smiling at her, “I get weird. I ruin a nice light moment by getting too intense. Hi, have we met? I’m Daniel, and that is how I do indeed roll.”

She laughed loudly, almost startling herself. She couldn’t get enough of his rough, sexy voice. “That’s how you roll?”

He nodded, looking ahead, fighting a smile that lingered at the corner of his mouth that Alma could see. “But it got you to laugh again.”

She glanced at him.
I want to put my hand on his arm while he drives
, she thought, startled at herself. The sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up, she could see how the muscles moved beneath his skin which was so colorful and full of art, as he handled the steering wheel and shifted gears.

“So, someone like you, who loves colors? No tattoos for you?”

She shook her head. “I hate to admit it, but I never even considered it. I know my mother would freak out. It’s like she’s stuck with this idea that only… pirates or … or… prisoners would get them!” She laughed again.

“Oh.” Daniel bit his lip.

She didn’t know what to say. It was just a first date. He would not be thinking of possibly ever meeting her mother, would he? She couldn’t say anything about that.