Midsummer's Eve (12 page)

There were
still
a
f
ew kinks to be worked out of our
plan.
Eric couldn’
t call Chia from work,
because we couldn’
t block calls and I couldn’t have my work number showing up on her caller ID. He didn’t want to call from his cell because he didn’t trust the block feature on cells. His number at home was private, so I gave him an extra long lunch break to call from home.

I ordered barbecue chicken with creamed potatoes and green beans for lunch in the cafeteria, but the first bite settled sourly on my stomach. I slid the plate toward
Mallory
who mumbled, “Thanks,” around her cheeseburger. The girl was a bottomless pit and I had never once known her
to lose her appetite. You can
talk about snot
‘
til th
e cows came home and she won’
t even flinch.

How could I concentrate on toilets and scuffed floors at a time like this? I was a bundle of nerves waiting on Eric’s return. This was torture! I had to do something to occupy my mind! And why was I sitting here waiting on
Eric when I could be at CVS
picking up the purloined photos?

I sat in the parking lot staring at the unopened pack of photos. Did I really want to see what was inside?
Yes!
My hands shook violently as I settled back in the Jeep and
found the courage to open
the pack. Believe me, what I saw made me wish I had left the damn roll of film on his table. I should have known nothing good would come from stealing.

The first photo was of
Adam
and Chia standing in front of the Biltmore House with their cheeks pressed against each other as they stood arm in arm behaving like a much in love, blissfully happy couple.

At Tha
nksgiving
,
Adam
had told me his parents were flying in from Maine to meet him in Asheville and spend the holiday in the mountains. I
remembered his exuberance over
what I had thought was a family gathering as I helped him pack. Instead
, he had evidently
taken Chia to the scenic destination. This reality and the depth of
Adam
’s l
ies was another
crushing blow as
I sat alone in the parking lot and had a good cry.

I shook off the building despair and continued through the photos. There were snapshots of each of them plopped down on boulders with Grandfather M
ountain in the background. Chia’
s photo was of her blowing a disgusting kiss to the photographer. There were shots of them holding hands, evidently taken by an innocent bystander while crossing the Mile High Swinging Bridge. Shots at snow covered Blowing Rock. There were even a few shots at Tweetsie Railroad with Chia giggling and clearly flirting with a wild-west gunslinger.

There were still more photos of her in provocative poses on the bed in a hotel room, with a come hither look in her seduc
tive gaze. Then I came to the
shots of her in a bikini at the indoor pool and hot tub.

Oh Joy! Oh Joy! Oh Joy! There is a God!

Her stomach looked like someone had pulled the plug on a hand grenade just under the skin. I grinned wickedly at the sight of her wrinkled globs of lumpy, over
-
stretched folds of mottled flesh spilling over her bikini bottom. Ugly red stretch marks, at least an inch wide, riddled her abdomen causing it
to resemble a road map.
And the girl had the guts to wear a bik
ini! Had she no pride?
It was a profound relief to know that she may be extraordinarily attractive from the neck up, but her stomach resembled that of a 500-pound woman a year after gastric bypass surgery.

Obviously
,
Adam
hadn’
t found the overlapping folds of flesh repulsive. Judging from the number of photos he had taken, I could only assume he wanted to remember hi
s trip with her through infinity
. The slimy bastard! The most I had ever gotten out of him was dinner, a movie and the occasional fishing trip. I was searching for signs in the photos to give me a clue as to which hotel they stayed at. Please, don’t let me discover that
Adam
had rented a room at the luxurious Grove Park Inn
. A
s many times as I had suggested we go there. Whew! He didn’t. It was more like one of those motels where they leave the light on for you.

After lunch, Eric
came swaggering up the sidewalk grinning radiantly from ear to ear.

“Spill.”
I said
, scooting over and
motioned
for him to join
Mallory
and me at the picnic table. I was so nervous I had chewed three fingernails to the quick.

“
Well, she seemed a little uncertain and suspicious at first,” he drawled in his charming Southern boy way. “She wanted to know how I had gotten her number. It took about 5 minutes to convince her that one of her friends at work had given it to me. When I told her it
was because she was so stunning
and I had to meet her, she was putty in my hands. The gi
rl loves to hear she is stunning
.”

“Wait until you see how stunning her stomach is.” I smirked as
Mallory
sent a vicious kick my way under the table. I swear the girl seemed hell bent
up
on putting me in a leg cast!

“Huh? What’
s wrong with her stomach,” he questioned with a disconcerted frown.
Mallory
and I had both assured him that Chia was exquisite and h
e wasn’
t at all pleased with the suggestion that the object of his intended seduction might possess an unsightly flaw. After all
,
he had a reputation to maintain.

“You’
ll see, and it’
s not that bad really.” I fibbed
, rubbing my aching shin and glaring at
Mallory
. “Finish telling us about the call.”

“Okay, for starters, she has a real problem with English. You know that, right? I had to keep asking her to repeat what she was saying.”

He was lost in thought for a minute, trying to remember the pertinent details of their conversati
on I guessed.

“Oh, I asked if s
he
was
seeing anyone and she said, ‘not really’
.”

“Did you ask to meet her?”
Mallory
simpered, leaning over the table to provide him a better glimpse of her less than generous cleavage. The girl’s ample behind was her
best calling card
to the opposite sex. Even
Sir Mix Alot
would agree that
Mallory
had a supercharged motor in the back of her Honda.

“
Nope, I’m gonna talk to her a couple of days on the phone, let her g
et to know me before I rush in.”
He was taking full advantage of the view so blatantly offered and
even went so far as to lick
his lips.

Practically drooling
now
,
Mallory
purred, “Smart move.”

“
I just kept telling her how beautiful she was, since she soaks that up like a sponge. I’m supposed to call her tomorrow at noon. I asked about calling her tonight when she got off work and she said, ‘No.
Sorry.
I busy tonight’
.”

Shocking! At least one female was capable of tel
ling him no, but for how long? “
Adam
will
be with her tonight.” My heart sank
with the knowledge. F
ortunately, I didn’t have time to wallow in
my
misery, since after having fed 150 tire builders the cafeteria was screaming for some TLC from my crew. “Oh well, it’s time to earn our paychecks.”

“I thought I had
already earned mine,” Eric teased
, “and you would give me the rest of
the afternoon
off.”

“You don’t know her
very well do you?”
Mallory
was
fanning herself as we headed back inside. “
Eve
would pop a vessel if you tried to leave before the cafeteria wa
s spotless.”

Feeling much better, and confident that lover boy Eric would have Chia eating out of his skilled fingers in no time, I informed
Mallory
that I was leaving to go home and take a nap.
Actually, I was going home to pray for forgiveness for my sinful ways.

The next day, after a two-hour lunch, Eric sauntered up the sidewalk with even more impressive
news. “
I di
dn’
t even have to ask to meet her. She asked me! Seems one of her friends at work has seen me and… I guess… told her I was…
kinda cute.”

No the boy was not trying to be modest, when we both knew any modesty he possessed would fit into his smallest toe bone!

“We have a
lunch date Friday at Applebees.”

That was certainly a news flash! Chia was willing to go to a public restaurant with Eric? S
he didn’
t seem overly concerned about her afternoon tryst reaching
Adam
’
s
jealous
ears, now did she? Then I asked what was first and foremost on my mind.
“
Can you hook her, Eric
?”

“
She’s alre
ady hooked.” His lips curved into a
conceited grin as he brushed invisible lint from his shoulder
. “
I can’t believe you ever doubted me. Oh, by the way, yo
u’
re paying for the motel room.”

“
No problem. Just let me know how much
.”
It would be the best money I
had
ever spent. Hell, I would give him my credit card, the gold American Express without a spending limit, if it would rush the proceedings. This was moving faster than I had ever hoped.

“Will do.”

“
That is one self
-
assured man.
”
We both watched
as Eric strutted toward the plant, pausing long enough to wink at one of the female employees puffing away in the smoking section of the patio.

“
He has every reason
to be, trust someone who knows.”
Mallory
’s
eyes never once wa
vered from the seat of his Levi’
s as he walked away.

“I have to go,”
I announced, trying to draw her a
ttention from Eric’
s backside. “
I need to drop by the Employment Security Commission and ask them to send over applicants
to interview for my new contract at the county offices
.
”

“
Hire some good looking black men.”

“
I will hire the mos
t qualified person for the job.”

“
I wish you
would let me do the interviews.”

“
I just bet you do.
The employee
s you hired wouldn’
t begin to know what to do with a mop or a can of Ajax, but they would certainly be well qualified
in other areas, wouldn
’
t they?”

“
You know it
, girl
! And if they weren’t qualified, I could teach them the basics in one afternoon
in the broom closet
.”

“I know you could,
Mallory
.
I know you could.”

On Friday, Eric returned from
a
four-hour
lunch
with a
wide satisfied grin splitting his handsome face.
“
Well, I g
otta say.
I know why
Adam
is so crazy over her now!”

Oh, good Lord! W
hy did he feel the need to say all that? Did I really want to hear what he was fixing to bust a gut to tell me?

“
I can’
t speak for other Asian women, but
that
Chia is one hot little tamale.”

Okay, I was almost positive that “a hot tamale” made reference to a female of Mexican heritage, but I chose to keep that contemplation to myself. Just because Eric’s looks are well above average doesn’t necessarily mean that his IQ followed suit. Nor hi
s pay scale, because I was
quite certain that his complimentary commentary concerning said Tamale was on the verge of eradicating any future pa
y raises. Still I had to know. “
How is she di
fferent from an American woman?”