The Space Between Us (17 page)

Chase Murphy hadn’t wanted me. Melissa had dumped me for someone more like her. Vic cared about me, but was so wrapped up in his guilt over it that it would almost have been better if he didn’t.

I’d had boyfriends, girlfriends, one-night stands. Nothing had lasted, and I’d told myself that was the way I liked it. But now, with Simone’s question lingering in my mind, all I could think about was Meredith and Charlie bickering over wine.

Why couldn’t I have that, too?

Chapter 21

S
undays are the best day at the Mocha. Not just because Joy takes the day off, but because most everyone who stops in isn’t rushing to get somewhere else. Even having to get up early to be there to open isn’t so bad on Sundays.

This Sunday, Eric was one of the first through the door. As usual, he had rumpled hair, a leather bag and a legal pad. He looked as tired as I felt.

“Rough night?” I asked as I handed him a mug for his bottomless cup.

“Night shift at the E.R. is never pleasant,” he said with a grin, and took the mug. “How about you?”

“I didn’t have to give anyone stitches, so I guess I had it better than you.”

“No doubt.” He lifted his mug and took it to his table.

I watched him for a few minutes. Meredith had said everyone has a story, sometimes more than one. I wondered about his.

“Feeling better?” Darek asked, then took a step back to look me over. “You okay? What happened?”

Though most of me still ached, the only visible evidence of my encounter with Vic was a small bruise high on my cheek. I’d covered it with foundation, but anyone looking hard enough would still see it. I touched it lightly.

“I’m fine. It was an accident.”

To my surprise, Darek scowled, fists clenching. “Who did it? Some fucker hit you? Who was it?”

I blinked, then laughed. “Oh…it was the guy I live with. Vic. But it really was an accident. I mean, he didn’t hit me on purpose, Darek. Thanks, though.”

Darek didn’t look like he believed me. “Don’t fuck with me. I mean it. If someone hit you…”

I couldn’t really explain the whole situation to him and make sense. “Really. I’m fine. You think I’d let someone hit me and get away with it?”

He softened his stance, still looking angry. “I don’t know. I guess not. Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. It was totally sweet.” I fluttered my lashes at him. “Didn’t know you cared, actually.”

That got him to laugh. “I’d be some kind of major dick not to care if one of my friends was getting beat up.”

“You’re not a major dick.” I busied myself separating the carrot cake muffins. The cream cheese icing had a tendency to stick them together.

“Joy thinks I am. But she’s a bitch, so I guess we’re even.” Darek leaned against the counter. “She ripped me a new one yesterday.”

I looked up at him. “Isn’t she always ripping someone a new one?”

“This was above and beyond. Reamed me out in front of the whole shop. I was pissed.” He paused, still scowling. “I almost quit. And I swear, the next time she lays into me, I will.”

Wow. That was serious. “I’m sorry.”

He shrugged and looked up when the bell jangled with new customers coming in. “Shit happens. But she’s gonna be sad if she keeps giving me shit, that’s all I’m saying. Hey, Johnny D. You want him?”

“Of course.” I left off the muffins to lean across the counter and give Johnny a big grin. “Morning.”

“Hey, Tesla, how you doin’?” His accent’s just the cutest thing. He didn’t bother scanning the menu, just gave the dessert case a quick glance. “Gimme one a them carrot cakes and a bottomless, will ya?”

“Good choice.”

“I like the little carrot on the top,” he told me, and handed me enough money to cover the bill, plus dropped a buck in the Tips Appreciated canister. “Don’t spend it all in one place.”

“Thanks.” I laughed and gave him his change, which he also put in the canister. “See you later.”

In my flirtation with Johnny, I hadn’t noticed the customer behind him. I broke into a broad grin when I saw who it was, though. “Meredith. Hi.”

She didn’t smile at me. “You’re here today.”

“Well…yeah.” My smile faded a bit as I studied her. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You weren’t here yesterday. I thought maybe you were avoiding me.” She didn’t look around to see if anyone was listening to us, but I did.

“Of course not.” I paused, smiling tentatively. “You could’ve called me, you know. I mean, I’m glad you missed me.”

“I just thought, you know, I was worried. That you’d be weird about what happened.”

“No. I had a great time.” We stared at each other. I felt more awkward about this conversation than I did about fucking Charlie. “A really great time.”

This seemed to please her, because she finally gave me a smile. “Good. Thank God. I didn’t want to have to tell Charlie you were going to bail on us. He’d have taken it hard.”

“Really? Peppermint latte?” I added, already moving to make it the way I knew she liked it.

Meredith nodded. “Yeah. He’s like that.”

He hadn’t impressed me as the supersensitive sort, but what did I know? “I’m not going to bail.” I held the cup beneath the steamer to froth the milk. “So…does this mean you want to do it again?”

Her smile got bigger; how anyone could ever deny her anything she wanted, I didn’t know. “Yes. Definitely. I told you it would be fun, didn’t I?”

I finished up the latte and handed it to her. “You did.”

Our fingers touched as she took the cup. She handed me a ten-dollar bill and pointed at an apple crumb muffin. “One of those, too.”

I gave her the muffin and her change. I didn’t want her to walk away just yet. “So…when?”

“Tonight, of course,” Meredith said. “Tomorrow night, too. The day after that…”

“Stop.” I laughed, shaking my head. “You’re being silly.”

She gave me an arch look, tossed her change carelessly into her purse and hung the strap higher on her shoulder. “So. Not tonight?”

“No, tonight’s fine.” I couldn’t stop the smile. “It’ll be great.”

“Oh, I know that.” She winked at me and moved off to her favorite table at the front, where she opened her laptop and started doing whatever it was she did for hours. Darek moved behind me, startling me a bit when I backed up a step and bumped into him. I laughed. He didn’t.

“So, you and her?”

Apparently our smiles hadn’t been secret enough. “What about me and her?”

“You’re going out with Meredith?”

I gave him a curious look. “Sort of. Why? I mean…”

A sudden, horrid thought struck me. I’d never thought of Darek as dating material and had been pretty sure he didn’t think it of me, either. We had each other’s phone numbers and were friends on Connex, but never socialized outside of the Mocha.

“She’s married,” he pointed out.

“Well…yeah.” It wasn’t any of Darek’s business what I was up to with Meredith and Charlie, even if I was the sort to spread my business. Which I’m not.

Darek shrugged and moved around me to get to the toaster, so he could put in a bagel. I didn’t really want to talk about it with him, so when we got a little rush of customers I was happy to take care of them instead of discussing my dating life with him.

By the time I had a chance for a breather, Meredith had gone. I tried not to be disappointed, and didn’t manage very well. She’d left something for me, though. Another napkin, this one deliberately imprinted with a lipstick kiss and one word scrawled on it.

Tonight.

Chapter 22

C
ue the trippy montage set to something bouncy, like an old Partridge Family song.

I saw Charlie and Meredith ten nights out of fourteen over the next two weeks. We went to dinner or the movies, we sat in little clubs and listened to live music, we made out in the parking lot and had breakfast in a diner at three in the morning. Charlie called me five minutes after I left them, and we talked for another hour on the phone. Meredith came into the coffee shop and sent me naughty texts while she sat only a few feet away. Me and Charlie, Charlie and Meredith (though never me and Meredith)—we kissed and touched and stroked and sucked and fucked.

We glutted ourselves with each other.

I’d had a crush on Meredith since the first time I saw her, but Charlie…oh, he was something else. Generous, amiable and not easily ruffled, unlike his wife, who tended to go off on tangents and get worked up about things that left me and Charlie sitting back, silent and watchful, until she turned to us and broke into laughter. He was kind. Thoughtful. Polite. He had a dry but exquisitely tuned sense of humor. Two weeks isn’t a long time in terms of a relationship, but it didn’t take me long to feel like I knew Charlie.

Meredith was out at one of her home parties, this time for Jangle Bangles, but had told me to go to their house after work and wait for her to get home, since she planned on being back by early evening. This left me and Charlie alone for the first time since this had all started, and though I’d spent hours talking with him on the phone, actually being with him without Meredith between us felt new and awkward and unbearably exciting.

I’d brought something to read and occupy myself with while we waited for Meredith to get home. Charlie kissed me at the door, but then settled in on the couch with his stack of papers to be graded. I sat on the other end, my feet tucked beneath me. We were silent together for a good fifteen or twenty minutes before he looked up with a yawn.

“Whatcha reading?”

I held up the worn paperback I’d been rereading. “It’s called
Boy’s Life.
”

“Is it good?”

“One of my favorites.” I showed him the cover. “Robert McCammon. Have you read him?”

Charlie shook his head. “No. I’m a big King fan. Koontz, Barker. Clegg. I mostly read horror and science fiction.”

I laughed. “You’d like McCammon, then. This one’s a weird sort of Bradbury kind of story, but he’s written some excellent horror stuff. You like scary movies, too?”

“My favorite. Not that torture porn stuff,” Charlie warned. “But a good psychological horror, or paranormal. I love zombies.”

“Me, too!
28 Days Later?
”

We beamed at each other, connecting on yet another whole new level that had nothing to do with our crotches.

“Yeah, that one. Have you seen
A Tale of Two Sisters?
It’s Korean.” Charlie shuddered. “Scared the living shit out of me.”

“N-o-o-o-o,” I breathed. “But I love Asian horror, all that black hair all over the place, and it’s so creepy and horrifying! I’d love to watch it. I’ll have to rent it.”

“Oh, I have it on DVD. We could…” Charlie hesitated just for a second. “You could borrow it. Or we could watch it together. I mean, I’d feel like a real jerk if I sent you home with it and you had to watch it alone.”

“I’d like that, Charlie.”

We shared a smile.

“Like what?” Meredith, laden with her purse and the suitcase she used to transport her jewelry samples, had come in, unnoticed, from the garage.

“Horror flicks. Tesla loves horror.” Charlie got up to help her with the suitcase.

She shot me a look as she let him take it. “Does she? How nice that you have something in common.”

“You don’t like horror, huh?” I jumped up to greet her. “How come?”

She shrugged and kissed Charlie, then hugged me. “Just don’t. Mmm, you smell good. What is that?”

I paused to sniff my wrist. “Oh, it’s a perfume oil I picked up at the farmer’s market. It’s called Steam Dreams.”

She leaned closer, breathing deep. “I like it. It smells like you.”

“I guess that’s good, since I’m wearing it.”

She gave me a look I’d seen her give Charlie many times. “Smart-ass. Are you both ready to go? Just give me a couple minutes to change, let me get rid of this crap.”

She jangled one of her bangles, already unclipping it from her wrist.

Charlie glanced at the couch. “I have a few more papers to grade. I need about another hour, maybe?”

She frowned. “I thought you were going to be done by the time I got home.”

“I’ll help you, Charlie. I can grade papers with you while Meredith gets ready,” I offered.

He seemed surprised. “Really?”

She was already leaving us, glancing over her shoulder. “Good. Kick him into gear, Tesla, I’m going to take a quick shower and stuff, too, since it looks like I have time.”

When she’d gone, Charlie looked at me. “You don’t have to.”

“Hey, it ain’t no thing.” I shrugged. “I guess if I can’t correct some third-grade papers, I’d better be ashamed of myself, huh? Unless maybe it’s social studies—is it? Because, I’ll be honest, I’m shit with remembering the names of the conquistadores and stuff.”

“Nope. Spelling sentences. I think you can handle it.”

I grinned. “Do I give extra points for creativity?”

Charlie’s fingertip traced the edge of my bangs, along my forehead just above my eyebrows. Featherlight, a whisper of a touch. It sent shivers all through me. We shared another smile, something secret, just for us.

“You should,” Charlie said.

Chapter 23

M
eredith said she had a surprise for us. I wasn’t sure about Charlie, but I knew I was surprised where she took us. Samantha’s was classier than I’d expected. When she said strip club, I pictured neon lights and women who looked like maybe they’d been hit one too many times in the face with the ugly stick. Instead, we walked into a classy, dark-wood-paneled room with tastefully erotic portraits on the walls and a nice bar surrounding a stage setup with two poles that reached all the way to the super-high ceiling. The room also had small, separate areas set back from the stage with comfy-looking couches and booths.

“I’m starving,” Meredith said as she linked her arm through mine. “What do you want to eat?”

“They serve food here?”

“They serve anything you want here,” she told me with a laugh, and nudged me with her hip. “But the burgers are really good. Let’s sit at the bar. Charlie, c’mon.”

He had been hanging back just a bit to adjust his belt, which he’d taken off to step through the metal detector at the front door. Now he caught up with us. “What’s that?”