He Loves Lucy (19 page)

Lucy couldn’t wait for Theo to see her.

Gia came up and stood behind her. “I think you are the most beautiful friend I have,” she said, leaning down and kissing Lucy’s cheek. “You look better in this dress than I did. I think I’m jealous.”

Lucy smiled.

“Isaac says just take it. It’s his gift to you. Now let’s go see how else we can spend that money of yours.”

Lucy was stunned. “The man who designed this dress is giving it to me for free?”

‘That’s what I said.“

“Wow.” Lucy swallowed hard. “So what else do I need?”

“Shoes, my little mango. Shoes and stockings and a bag and some sparkly things.”

“I’m exhausted already.”

“Vamanos, girlie. We’re going to do the loaves and fishes thing with your money. Just you watch.”

They stopped for a late lunch at a sidewalk cafe, Lucy steadying the array of shopping bags at her feet, still amazed that the day she’d just spent had been a day in her own life, the life of Lucy Cunningham.

At Gia’s urging, she called Frannie to tell her about the dress. She screeched into the phone in approval, then chatted briefly with Gia.

Halfway through lunch, Gia frowned at Lucy and tapped her hand. “You OK? All day you’ve been going back and forth between looking like you just won the Powerball and like you’re gonna cry. What’s going on with you? Is it hormones or what?”

Lucy shook her head slightly, knowing this was the kind of thing she usually saved for Dr. Lehman. It had been a while since she’d had a friend she could truly confide in.

“Then it’s gotta be Theo-dorable. What he do to you now?”

Lucy laughed. What
had
he done to her? He’d made her delirious with pleasure and drunk with happiness. He’d given her a refresher course in her own sexuality. He’d shown her that he cared for her, adored her, wanted her.

“Oh no, girlie! Did you go to bed with him?”

Lucy’s head snapped up. “Why did you say ‘oh no’ like that? Like it was something he does all the time with his clients? Like I’m just another pitiful girl who’s fallen under his spell?”

Gia’s eyes went wide and she looked around the outdoor restaurant, as if she was unsure who Lucy was talking to. “Where did that come from?”

“I don’t know.” Lucy took a big gulp of her unsweetened iced tea, hoping it would extinguish the uncomfortable heat she felt rising in her.

“Spill it, Lucy.”

“I did sleep with him. In Tampa. Then four times since we’ve been back.”

“Dios mio!” Gia put a hand to the surface of her diminutive tank top. “Was it good? Wait-I don’t want to know if it wasn’t, ‘cause it’ll ruin my whole image of Theo,OK?”

Lucy smiled. “It’s been everything, Gia. It’s tender and wild and good and everything I’ve ever dreamed of.”

“OK.” Gia scrunched up her mouth. “So if it’s so good, how come you’re sitting over there looking so sad?”

Lucy shrugged. “It’s just that I’m not sure it’s as important to him as it is me. He says it is, but I’m feeling a little… I don’t know…
cynical
.”

“How come?”

Lucy looked up at her friend. “Something my mentally unstable boss said the other day that really freaked me out.”

“What he say? You tell me and then we’ll go over to your office and whack him one.”

She sighed. “He’s out of town, unfortunately.”

“What did the little prick say?”

Lucy liked that insult and tried it out to herself silently.
The little preek
. She’d have to remember to use it in the future. “Well, he said it was obvious that I had a crush on Theo. That I looked pitiful because everyone could see that Theo was playing me for the money.”

Gia’s mouth fell open. “You didn’t let him get away with that, did you?”

“I need to keep my job for five more months. Then I’m gone.”

Gia crossed and recrossed her legs, shaking her head. “Look, Lucy. I don’t know this man, but he sounds like he hates your guts or something. He’s the one playing you, not Theo.”

Lucy nodded. Of course Gia was right. “And there’s one other little thing.”

“Shoot.”

“The last time I tried this whole sleeping-with-a-man thing, it didn’t end so well.”

“I hear you, girlie.” Gia took a sip of her iced tea and nodded.

“Which was ten years ago.”

Gia slapped a hand to her mouth in a vain attempt to prevent the iced tea from exploding from her lips. She used a napkin to blot it from her chest, her tank top, the tablecloth. When a waiter arrived to fuss over her, she shooed him away. “I’m sorry, but for a second I thought for sure you said
ten years
.”

Lucy sighed. “That’s what I said.”

“Oh my God!” Gia grabbed her hand. “No wonder you look so stunned! You were practically a virgin! Are you all right?”

“I’m sure as hell better now,” Lucy said.

They both broke out into peals of laughter.

He watched her walk down the path from the parking lot, gym bag swinging in her hand, and felt that little jolt in his heart he got every time he saw Lucy after a weekend apart.

“Here’s Lucy!” Buddy shouted. “Here she comes!”

“Hi, boys!” Lucy tossed her bag down on the grass and went over to give Buddy a big hug. Then she kissed Theo on the cheek and grinned. “Morning, coach.”

“Morning, Cunningham.”

This was a first. Lucy was wearing spandex bike shorts to her workout today. Maybe she’d finally gotten it through her head that yoga pants were a bit hot for summer in Miami, even at 5:00 a.m. Maybe she’d finally gotten it through her head that she looked great in spandex shorts.

“I like it,” Theo said, letting his eyes travel down Lucy’s shapely legs. She didn’t fidget with the shorts. She stood tall and straight, and on her face was a smile of great satisfaction.

“Thanks,” she said simply.

“You’re quite welcome.”

Then she turned away and began stretching with Buddy.

Theo stared at her, half-listening to the sound of their chatter and noticing once again how well Buddy and Lucy got along. Since the Summer Games, the three of them had trained together a couple times a week. Lucy seemed inspired by Buddy’s company and was kicking some serious ass around the track lately.

“Hey, Lucy? How do you know if a girl likes you?” Buddy asked this as all three continued to stretch.

Theo watched Lucy smile and think about that question for a moment, grabbing her foot and bending to loosen her hamstring. “Well, it depends on the girl, but I’d say if she finds ways to be near you, and smiles a lot, and asks you for your opinion about stuff, then she likes you.”

Buddy nodded. “What if she grabs your face and kisses you on the lips?”

Lucy sputtered, then said, “Uhh…” and shot a glance toward Theo for help. He couldn’t give any, because this was all news to him.

“Somebody been kissing you, stud? How come you didn’t mention that to your old brother?”

Buddy shrugged and did toe curls to stretch his calves. “Never came up, I guess, and I was really asking Lucy.”

“Well, pardon me.” Theo jogged in place a moment until everyone was ready to start off. They began at a slow, steady pace.

“Besides,” Buddy said, clearly amused at what he was about to say, because he was already snickering. “You’re the last person I’d ask for advice about girls.”

Theo laughed. Lucy laughed harder.

During the first two miles, Theo hung back and listened as Lucy and his brother talked about Buddy’s upcoming senior year of high school. If Theo wasn’t mistaken, Buddy went into greater detail when he talked to Lucy, especially about anything having to do with his social life. It was in the first two miles that Theo learned the name of the face grabber-Nancy-and that she was a recent transfer into the Miami Springs special education program.

“She doesn’t have Down syndrome. She’s just slow,” Buddy said. “But she’s nice and she likes me and I love her smile.”

Theo watched Lucy ruffle Buddy’s short hair. “She sounds great, Bud,” Lucy told him.

The exchange reminded Theo of the way his mom used to deal with Buddy-with love but respect for his independence. She’d always worked hard to find the right balance of freedom and supervision he needed at every stage of his life. Theo could only hope that his mom would approve of how he’d taken care of Buddy in the last three years and wished like hell she was there to advise him through what was coming.

The obvious big questions were just around the corner for them: Could Buddy deal with Theo going back to med school? Would Buddy want his own place someday soon, and could he handle the responsibility? What kind of work would he enjoy that was within his ability? And what if-as this turn of events with Nancy made Theo wonder-Buddy decided he’d fallen in love? How much of it was even Theo’s business?

“Yeah, and she’s a good kisser, too,” Buddy said. “I’ll catch you two later.” He kicked up the pace just as Lucy neared the end of her jog.

Lucy tried to suppress her smile, but Theo figured that was like the clouds trying to keep the sun from rising. Why bother? Lucy’s face was designed for that smile. It was who she was. And as she looked over at him to gauge his reaction to what Buddy had said, Theo had the strangest thought.

He realized that the woman at his side-the one with the sweaty red face and the sweet smile-had pried open his heart, one day at a time.

Lucy’s smile grew, and it spread to her beautiful deep gray eyes and her adorable cheeks and Theo realized that maybe Jenna had been Tight with that comment about love. Maybe it just happens when it happens. Maybe the real thing shows up and doesn’t give a damn what your calendar looks like for the next decade.

“Somebody is figuring out life,” Lucy said, catching her breath.

“Yeah. No kidding.”

Theo put them all through a round of calisthenics and stretching in the infield afterward, including push-ups- even Lucy had to do the boy kind-crunches, leg lifts, and some power yoga moves.

“We’re renting tuxedos for your party,” Buddy said. “Theo’s taking me. He said he was allowed to take a date, but he’d rather take me.”

“Oh really?” She grinned at Theo, then moved to a spread-eagle position on the grass, reaching out toward her right toe. Theo watched her easily rest her forehead on her kneecap. He swallowed hard. Yes, he’d known from the start that she was flexible, but his interest was way beyond clinical at this point.

“Didn’t want to bring a date, coach?”

She then stretched toward the center, and Theo watched her touch her nose to the grass. An overtly sexual image flashed through his brain, and it involved Lucy’s limbs arranged in a similar fashion in her bed four nights ago, and he forgot the question.

“Huh?”

“I said…”

Lucy then turned to face the other leg, and Theo had to close his eyes.

“… how come you’re not bringing a date?”

“I’m not allowed to date my clients, remember? Who are you taking?”

Lucy slowly raised her face from her left shin and smiled at him. “I’m not allowed to date my trainer, so I asked Tyson, who turned me down in the nicest-but
strangest
-way imaginable. Any insight into that, Theo?”

“Nope.”
Ha
! He’d told Tyson that if he showed up with Lucy on his arm it would be the last night he’d be able to move that arm.

“So Gia’s coming with me instead She’s helped me pick out my dress.”

“I bet you’re going to look real pretty,” Buddy said. “I think you’re real pretty all the time.”

Lucy hopped up and stretched her arms up into the air, then pulled from side to side. “Thanks, Bud.” She grabbed for her gym bag and put the strap over her shoulder, then briefly turned to look at Theo. “Thanks for the workout. See you tomorrow at the gym, right?”

Theo had to think for a moment, because he was mesmerized by this sure, strong, beautiful woman who stood in front of him. She was carrying herself differently these days, with a dramatically different kind of confidence. And she was behaving so casual about it all. It felt like she was distancing herself from him a little, forcing herself to be nonchalant and flirty with him.

It almost felt like she’d grown cynical, of all things.

Fine. He’d admit it-he didn’t want
casual
from Lucy. He didn’t want
flirty
or fucking
cynical
! He wanted it real and deep and true. He wanted the love thing. He wanted all of it.

He swallowed hard.

“The gym? Tomorrow? Theo?”

“Right.”

She kissed his cheek again, and in a breeze of Paradise Awaits, she was gone.

Buddy moved to Theo’s side and put a hand on his shoulder. “See why I don’t ask you stuff about girls?”

Theo arranged to drive Lucy to the studio for their

WakeUp Miami
appearance, explaining that he wanted to take her to breakfast afterward to celebrate. And there was plenty to celebrate, as Lucy had lost another eight pounds and four inches that month. After the show, Lucy was mobbed by autograph seekers outside the station, and Theo found himself working crowd control with fans he could only describe as rabid.

At least fifty people wearing or holding WE LOVE LUCY T-shirts waited on the sidewalks. Most brought their own laundry markers and pressed them into Lucy’s hand and asked her to sign. She signed her name over people’s chests or their bellies or the shirt backs. One man, who introduced himself as a bakery truck driver from Homestead, wanted Lucy to sign his pants. She politely declined.

Theo couldn’t help but laugh at the spectacle. Lucy was a star.

He drove her up to Miami Springs and watched the curious look on her face as he turned down into the residential area. When he pulled into his driveway, she frowned at him.

“Norton has been on my case. He wants you to autograph his fur.” Theo was relieved to hear her laugh, because she still seemed distant to him. They’d kept up their usual five-day routine and met for at least one lunch or dinner a week, but he’d spent most weekend nights at Flawless and was up to his eyeballs in practice tests. Lucy had said she understood his time constraints, but since that day at the track with Buddy she’d never warmed all the way to Theo again. She’d never again relaxed into that sweet and open and sexy woman he first encountered in the guest suite in Tampa.