Once Upon Another Time (36 page)

 “Slow down,”
hollered a young woman, as a group of squealing, rambunctious children chased
past her with water balloons.  A tossed horseshoe clinked loudly, as it wrapped
itself around an iron pin, causing an older crowd to cheer, while whoops and
whistles came from a group of teenagers, who volleyed a ball over a net. 

“Mom is it okay if
I go play with the other kids?”  Nicholas asked, as he playfully tossed a water
balloon from one hand to the other, as we made our way across the backyard. 

“Sure honey, but
be careful you don’t get anyone wet with that.”

“But Mom I--”

“And exactly what
would be the point of that?”  Gavin asked, with a chuckle.

“Sorry, partner. 
It’s Mommy’s automatic OCD reflex answer.” 

“Have fun buddy,”
Gavin said, as he playfully tussled the top of Nicholas’s hair.

 “C’mon,” said
Gavin as he took my hand, “I want to introduce you to a few people.”

Gavin’s white
T-shirt that he wore with navy cargo shorts glowed against the deep tan of his
skin, while a damp lock of black hair fell over his forehead.

“Okay, let’s go.  By
the way, where’s your father?”

“Over there.” 
Gavin lifted his chin in Jeb’s direction.  He had taken a seat at a picnic
table surrounded by a group of men his age.  They had clearly kept the vintage
polyester power look of the seventies alive, but had traded their white patent
leather shoes for comfortable Nikes.  As Jeb leaned forward to speak, with
hands gesturing, his audience looked captivated with mouths agape.  Coming
within earshot I quickly figured out he was explaining his theory of the Queen
Mum--the alien version.  

“You never see her
without a hat in the daytime,” Jeb said conspiratorially.  “And she usually
wears a tiara in the evenings.  If she does go without a hat, notice that her
hair is puffed out on each side right next to her temples.  This is meant to
cover up the second set of eyes.” 

“I don’t know what
I’m going to do with him,” Gavin said, shaking his head.

“He’s not doing
any harm.  It’s on the front of the Enquirer.  I saw it at the grocery store.”

“It’s not his
storytelling; it’s his Alzheimer’s.”

“Alzheimer’s?  I
noticed he’s forgetful, but that comes with old age.  That doesn’t mean he has
Alzheimer’s.”  I said this adamantly, as if I were defending a client.

“No, he has it. 
What tipped me off was I went to check on him one afternoon and found him
sitting on the next-door neighbor’s porch.  I brought him back home and found
that he had left the gas burner lit on the stove.  Later that evening he didn’t
remember any of it.  I took him to the doctor and got the test results yesterday. 
The doctor told me symptoms of the disease will more than likely progress
quickly.  I haven’t told Dad yet.  I guess I’m waiting for the right time.” 
Gavin looked wistfully at his father as we passed.

“I’m so sorry.  Is
there anything I can do?”

“Not really.  I’m
just worried about him.  I’ve asked him before to move in with me, but he’s
always been so bullheaded and proud.  Maybe he’ll change his mind once he finds
out he’s got Alzheimer’s.” 

As I gave Gavin’s
hand a gentle squeeze, I thought about my grandmother, my father’s mother who
lived with us for a short time before she died.  By the time she moved in with
us, Alzheimer’s had already taken its toll on her.  She used to load
refrigerated items into the dishwasher and pointed the phone at the TV trying
to use it as a remote.  Six months later she died.  She knew she had the
disease but was too embarrassed to talk about it. 

Out of the corner
of my eye, I saw a thirty-something longhaired guy sidle up to us.  His black
tank top revealed arms the size of small tree trunks, and skull and crossbones
tattooed across his forearm.  He had a Tommy Lee sort of grunge look, as he
guzzled from a cold bottle of beer.

“Hi, I’m Troy,” he
said, “Gavin’s cousin.”

Gavin had told me
all about him.  He was once a lead singer in some repute rock band.  I felt an
immediate tension between the two of them.

“Dude, so this is
the new woman,” he said tactlessly, while giving me a wink.  Gavin moved closer
and coiled an around my waist.  They stared each other down like two alpha dogs
ready for rivalry.

“You weren't
kidding when you told Aunt Lily she was perfect,” Troy said, with a southern
sounding drawl.  He tried to level his most dangerous gaze at me, while I was
giddy with the thought that Gavin had discussed me with his aunt.

“Her name’s Aubrey
McCory,” Gavin said coolly.

In the distance,
high-pitched voices hollered Gavin’s name.  Across the lawn, two young teenage
girls sprinted toward us.  Their tank tops exposed a wide tan stripe of belly
above their low-cut shorts, while their ponytails bounced in harmony. 

“Kerstin and
Heidi,” Gavin said as they dashed up to us.  “This is Aubrey.”

“Nice to meet
you,” they said in unison.

“Gavin,” said
Heidi, “we just passed Bruce’s bisexual lover on the street.”

“Yeah, he was
walking with his ex-girlfriend!”  Kerstin blurted out breathlessly.

“Should we go tell
Bruce?”  Heidi asked, showing a wide grin of metal braces.

Gavin had told me
all about his flamboyant twenty-two-year-old cousin, Bruce, who was gay as a
mockingbird and proud of it. 

“Jeez, is there
nothing better to talk about than Bruce’s love life?”  Troy moaned, as he
walked away with a look of constipation on his face.

“No, don’t say
anything to him,” Gavin said.  “Bruce is well aware of what’s going on.”

The girls folded
their arms.  A look of defiance crossed their faces as they shifted their
weight to one side.  “But he’d want to know about the girl,” Kerstin said
stubbornly.

“He’s a big boy
who can take care of himself.  He wouldn’t appreciate anyone meddling in his
business,” Gavin insisted, in a fatherly tone.

As the girls
rolled their eyes and stalked off, Gavin and I moved across the lawn through
clusters of people.  We stopped and shook hands and received hugs as Gavin
introduced me to family and friends.  An aunt and uncle dressed identically in
brightly colored Hawaiian shirts with pink flamingos, stopped to laugh after
finishing each other’s sentences.

Gavin leaned over
and whispered in my ear.  “I hope when it’s time to leave this world, God takes
them together.  I don’t think they’d survive without one another.” 

“I know what you
mean,” I said as we walked on. 

There’d been times
that I’d wondered how I’d survive emotionally if something went wrong with our
relationship.  Especially since it would have been like losing Matt all over
again.  I’d given Laura a talk about vulnerability, and there I was, worried
about feeling vulnerable. 

Gleeful giggles
from a group of little girls resonated, as their arms flailed wildly, splashing
in the shallow end of the kidney-shaped swimming pool.  Three industrial sized
barbecue grills sat on a flagstone patio to the right of the pool.  Tubes of
smoke curled skyward, while wafting aromas of sizzling brats, burgers, and
hotdogs circled the air.  Lined up on the redwood deck that wrapped around the
back of the house, were folding buffet tables, each covered in red and white
gingham check tablecloths.  The skirting flapped in the breeze like sheets on a
clothesline. 

It hadn’t surprised
me when I saw Vanessa’s willowy frame leaning in the patio doorway, as she
slathered lotion on her arms.  Gavin had mentioned his relatives saw her as
part of the family.  As she slipped out onto the patio, the brilliant afternoon
sun caught the fiery auburn shades of her flowing hair.  Backlit from the sun,
her long legs were visible through her transparent sarong-like skirt.  Her
floral bikini top, made of two landing strips of spandex, barely covered her
plus size breasts, and a tiny silver loop shimmered in her belly button.  She
looked like a Barbie sleaze doll. 

I smoothed my hand
over one side of my head, my hair pulled back into a bun to help conceal the
frizz.  As I glanced down at my dusty blue, cotton eyelet sundress, I thought,
oh great, next to
Miss Sleaze
I had the librarian look.  As Gavin and I
walked up the patio steps hand in hand, she gazed past me as if I were
invisible and focused her attention on Gavin.  Smiling flirtatiously, she
sauntered toward him.

“Well, there you
are,” she said, as she giggled and tipped her oval-shaped face up at him.  She
gazed at him through sultry emerald eyes accented with long black lashes.  Her
golden skin glistened and had a light scent of coconut oil.  I wanted to
suggest that she sign up for a twelve-step sex addiction program to help her
with her noticeable panting problem, or perhaps canine obedience class. 
Down
girl, down!

“Vanessa, you
remember Aubrey?”  Gavin said.

Without moving a
muscle, she scanned my face and figure, as if she was looking for some
identifying mark to help her remember.  “Yes, of course.”  She flipped her hair
off her shoulders and curled her upper lip, while studying my hair. 

“Hmm,” she said,
waving a sparkling pink fingernail at me.  “You should stop by the salon.  I
work at Giorgio’s and could set you up with some products to help calm those
frizzes.”

“Well, I--”

“Here,” she said,
as she offered me a tube of suntan lotion.  “The sun’s pretty strong today. 
Maybe you’d better put some on your face so your skin doesn’t get damaged
anymore than it already looks.”

The dog show
wasn’t in town that day, but it seemed the bitches were.  “No thank you,” I
said, in the sweetest voice I could muster.

“Hey,” Gavin said,
“we’re headed for the buffet table to get something to eat.  Wanna come?”

“You’re kidding.” 
She sneered at the buffet table filled with a multitude of meats, macaroni
dishes, and crocks of baked beans, salads, dips, chips and enough cakes and
pies to start a bakery.  Her nose wrinkled in disgust as if there were a pack
of rats digging into the food.

“I didn’t get this
body by accident,” she said, striking a sex kitten pose. 

As I wondered how
she could make her chest stick out far enough to function as a platter, I heard
Nicholas hollering for me.  I turned to see him run up the patio steps with his
clothes so soaked he was dripping. 

“Mom, I want to
get my swimsuit on and go into the pool.”

“Well, aren’t you
cute,” Vanessa said, in an obnoxious cooing tone.  She practically pushed me
aside to swoop down in front of Nicholas, bending eye-level.  “You must be
Nicholas,” she said, and delicately touched her finger to the tip of his nose. 
“I’m Vanessa.” 

Nicholas managed a
weak “hi” as he blushed.  Even my own kid looked awestruck by her beauty. 
“You’re pretty,” he blurted out, gazing at her. 

“Oh, how sweet,”
she said, her voice almost purring.

Traitor!
 Quit
complimenting the enemy.

“Nicholas let’s
get you changed,” I said.

“There’s a
bathroom inside to the right of the doors,” Gavin said, pointing to the patio
slider.

While I waited for
Nicholas to change into his swimsuit, I thought about the blissful night spent
with Gavin.  Since Nicholas stayed over at Jimmy’s, I woke up to Gavin asleep
beside me that morning.  I had taken a long, lusty look at him.  His hair
disheveled and his body warm, as if he had just tumbled out of the dryer and
into my bed, while a slight whistling came from his nose, a bit of drool on his
lip. 

In some ways,
Gavin and I were very compatible and in others, we weren’t.  Like me having an
adverse reaction to the ESPN channel, or that I was a neat freak and he could
live in a house that was like a construction zone.  Then there was the problem
of sleeping arrangements.  I couldn’t have Gavin wake up at my house in the
morning with Nicholas there.  I hadn’t figured out a better way to handle that
other than having Gavin go home late each night.

However, my
biggest concern was that neither of us had said the L-word.  For me it was
simple.  My unwritten rule was that a woman should never make the first move in
that area.  It would seem too desperate.  Besides, I was afraid I would scare
him away, but I was curious to know what Gavin’s reason was.  I was sure he
loved me.

“I’m done,”
Nicholas said, as he handed me his pile of wet clothing and took off running. 

“Nicholas, the
wading pool only,” I shouted as he darted out the door.  I stuffed the wet
clothing into my bright colored beach bag, slid the strap over my shoulder, and
walked outside.  Following along the deck that wrapped around to the side of
the house, I saw Vanessa leaning close to Gavin, their arms practically
touching.  They stood off to the side by themselves and looked as if they were
having a serious conversation.  It annoyed me having a half-naked woman leaning
her body up against my boyfriend, and I didn’t like Gavin letting her do it. 
Fuming, I sidled up behind them.

“Well, I think
it’s time you told her,” I heard Vanessa say.

I stopped and
didn’t move any closer.

Tell whom
what?  Are they talking about me? 

“I’m going to,”
Gavin squawked.  “I just have to wait for the right time.  I just can’t spring
something like that on her.”

Instantly,
jealousy sprung up like a beast in the wild animal kingdom of insecurities,
attacking my mind without warning. 
Spring what on me?  That he’d been
sleeping with her while he’d been sleeping with me?  That he’d finally come to
his senses and realized he was still in love with her?  Is that why he hadn’t
said the L word to me?

Ashamed at having
sprouted feelings of paranoia, mistrust, and suspicion, I came to my senses and
discreetly backed far away from them.  Gavin could have been referring to any
number of people like an aunt, a cousin, or a friend.  Irritated by my
jealousy, I immediately put myself in check and smiled.  “I’m back,” I called
out cheerfully.