Chris (12 page)

Chris laughed. "That's a promise."

Chris hailed a cab and saw Dizz safely inside. "Monday noon," she said. She gave Dizz a kiss and shut the door.

Dizz turned to wave as Chris ran across in front of a bus and leaped for the curb.

Two minutes later Chris nosed the car into the line of traffic, then turned east toward First Avenue. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that everything was all wrong. She could not believe that they'd really put something over on Dizz. Not Dizz.

By the time she reached Seventy-second Street, Chris had already worked up a good case of nerves. This weekend with Carol would be a pleasure. But what in the name of heaven would she find when she got back home?

It was just before nine when Chris turned off on a narrow dirt road and began following it along the edge of a small but exquisite lake. On the far side, evergreens stretched for miles in either direction and in the broad expanse only the asphalt snaking up the hill and over the top marred the perfect blanket of blue green. There were no sails on the lake now, only a few tiny yachts bobbing tiredly at anchor, waiting to be put to bed for the winter. And everywhere there was a deep contented silence.

Chris drove into a rectangle of parking lot, empty now except for the battered Ford station wagon she knew was Johnnie's, and pulled up close to the entrance. She leaned over and gently shook Carol's arm.

"Honey," she said. "We're here."

Carol smiled sleepily and put her head on Chris' shoulder. "I’ll be here in a minute," she said. She yawned and patted her mouth daintily with three fingers. "Pardon me," she said.

Chris laughed and bent her head to kiss the girl's nose.

The door on Chris' side of the car jerked violently open. "Chris, you old devil," a great voice boomed. "Good to see you."

Chris turned quickly and began pumping a hand. "Johnnie," she said happily. "How've you been?"

Carol looked past Chris to the figure beyond. Except for the lights blinking down at the pier, she might easily have mistaken it for a big black bear. It was immense, up and down and across, and more arms than anything else.

Johnnie stooped low and peered into the car at Carol. "Hi," he said, then looked at Chris. "What happened to the blonde you were living with?" He grinned at Chris. There was no malice in Johnnie, Chris knew. Just plain honesty and not too much brains.

"She's at home," Chris answered. "Shut up and make yourself useful. There are two bags in the trunk." She handed Johnnie the keys.

Chris got out and opened the door for Carol.

"Chris," Carol whispered, "what's that?"

"Johnnie?" Chris laughed. "We grew up together. We were the scourge of Sussex County."

"I can well imagine," Carol said. "Between you, you must have ruined half the girls in the state."

Chris led Carol down a path to what had once been a boat house. The better part of the building was set out over the water on stilts. Inside there was one huge living and dining room, where a fieldstone fireplace threw off heat and light, and a small lobby with a flight of wooden steps leading to the second floor.

"Johnnie's father used to build boats here," Chris said. "After he died, Johnny turned it into a fishing lodge. Does good business during the season."

Johnnie followed them in and started up the steps with the grips. "Cook's got dinner on," he said. "We saved you a couple of big lobsters."

"Fine," Chris said. She followed Carol in to stand by the fireplace.

This makes me sleepy all over again," Carol said, wiggling her fingers into the warmth.

"Never fear. We'll get to bed as soon as we've eaten," Chris said. She herself was almost asleep on her feet. And she could not afford to be tired tomorrow. She needed all the strength she could muster.

In a few minutes Johnnie came to join them. On close inspection one realized that the man was well over six feet tall and as homely a man as Chris was handsome a woman. He had a great mass of fire red hair and shockingly black eyes that never lost their good-natured smile. He looked like fun.

"Chris, you damn fool, are you going diving this time year?" he said. "I saw the stuff in the trunk.”

"Yes," Chris said. "I've done worse things.”

"Don't brag about it," Johnnie said. "Frankly, the water's been pretty rough the past week or so. Been a lot of off shore storms." He was obviously concerned.

“Look, I promise I'll be careful," Chris said.

“Just in case, kid, we still following the old rules?" Johnnie looked at Carol and winked.

Chris burst out laughing. "That's up to the lady," she said.

"What did he mean?" Carol asked when Johnnie had them to check on dinner.

“Johnnie used to get all my old girls when we were in high school. He never made out too well with that mug of his," Chris said.

"I like him," Carol said.

Chris nodded. "So do I."

All through dinner Chris kept smiling to herself. She was remembering fondly the good days when she and big Johnnie were kids. Long before they realized that there were women in the world. When there were just the two of them. Pals. Johnnie had been Chris' hero. They had had good times together.

Like the time they'd run away from home together and decided to be hoboes on the beach and live on seaweed and fish. They'd built a fire on the sand that night out of driftwood and weeds. They'd dug up a dozen clams and put them on hot rocks to bake, and Chris had taken her fishing pole and gone down to stand in the surf and cast. The next thing she knew, Chris found herself fighting the pole and being dragged out to sea. She'd yelled and big Johnnie had run and grabbed the pole away from her. It was only a small sand shark, but even big Johnnie had to fight for twenty minutes to beach him.

And Johnnie hadn't laughed at her; just asked if she was okay. It was like Johnnie was her big brother.

It had always been like that for them. Until they grew up a little. Handsome young woman Chris could get the girls ugly young man Johnnie wanted. Johnnie couldn't get anybody till Chris was finished. And then it wasn't big Johnnie anymore—then it was Chris who was boss.

Chris sighed. It had been fun to have a hero. The best thing about being a kid.

Carol let her eat in silence, knowing her thoughts were years away.

Johnnie joined them again after dinner. He was carrying a bottle of wine and three glasses.

"I saved this for you, kid, for next time you came. May wine," he said. "Nobody ever asks for it but us." He poured three glasses. "A toast. To a beautiful lady, he said, bowing to Carol.

"I thought you were off alcohol," Carol said to Chris.

"This is a special occasion," Chris answered.

"Please go easy on it."

"Right," Chris smiled.

Johnnie got up and went to the radio and turned on. some soft dance music.

"May I have the first dance?" Johnnie said to Carol, bowing from the waist. He looked like a big buffoon, but one you couldn't help but love.

Carol blushed. "Certainly," she said.

Chris sat watching them. She was annoyed and, on two glasses of wine, already a little tipsy. She was annoyed with Johnnie for dancing with her girl, holding her too close and pressing his lips to the top of Carol's head. She was annoyed with Carol for enjoying it. And she was annoyed with herself for not doing something about it.

For several minutes she held back, knowing Johnnie would not dare make a pass at any girl and certainly not one who belonged to Chris. But she could not bear the way Carol relaxed against Johnnie, the way she was dancing with her eyes closed and smiling. She realized it meant nothing, no threat to her. But they looked good together and it irritated her.

She got up and went unsteadily to cut in. She put a hand heavily on Johnnie's shoulder. "Shove off, mate," she said. "I'm not dead yet."

Johnnie released the girl. "Sorry, skipper," he said. Chris took Carol in her arms and stood holding the girl tight against her. They swayed to the rhythm.

"Darling, you didn't have to be so nasty," Carol said.

"Look, you're my girl," Chris said angrily.

"You're jealous?"

"So I'm jealous," Chris said. "So what?"

Carol stepped back and looked at her. "And just how do you think I feel about Dizz? Having to lie and sneak around. Do you think I like that?"

Johnnie sat watching them.

"Keep your voice down," Chris said. "You’ll bring the fire engines." Her irritation showed in her tone. She didn't like having her private life aired in public. And at the moment even Johnnie felt like public.

Carol touched her hand. "I'm sorry, honey," she said softly. "It's just so silly for you to be jealous. You know I'm in love with you."

Chris pulled the girl close again. "Let's go upstairs,'' she said. "I've got things to say to you."

Chris settled the bill with Johnnie, in case he wasn't up when they took off. She wanted to get started early to catch low tide.

"Take my card," Johnnie said to Carol. "You might want to come back sometime."

Chris led Carol upstairs to a large wood-panelled room. The ceiling-to-floor windows faced over the lake. There was a fire in the grate and the room was warmly cozy. The blankets had been turned back on the bed.

"It's so beautiful," Carol breathed. She was standing by the windows gazing out to the lake.

"Yes, isn't it?" Chris said, corning to stand behind the girl.

They stood together looking at the night. Chris put her arms around Carol's waist and Carol leaned back against her. They did not move nor speak for many minutes.

"Honey," Carol said finally, "does Dizz know we're together?"

Chris pulled the girl closer against her. "Why do we have to keep talking about Dizz?” she said. "We came here to be away from all that for a while."

"You didn't answer my question," Carol said.

Chris turned away from the girl and went to sit on the edge of the bed. Her jaw was set in anger. "I think she guessed," she said. "What difference does it make?"

"Look," Carol said, coming to stand in front of her. "I want to say something to you. After this, I’ll never mention it again. But please hear me out."

Chris gave a resigned sigh. "Get it over with." She was in no mood for a scene, but too tired to fight it.

"I have to admit that this morning's episode upset me terribly," Carol said. "I had managed somehow to get that Dizz exists as a person. But seeing her this morning reminded me with a jolt." She paused. "And having to lie to cover up for us—well, that wasn't quite what I'd had in mind."

"Nobody asked you to," Chris pointed out to her.

"I did it to save your face," Carol said sharply. "Oh, Chris," her voice softened, "don't you understand? I love you with all my heart. I want you. But I want to have you all to myself. Dizz, even if it doesn't show, actually wants the same thing. You've hurt her, even if you're too thick to see it."

Chris wrinkled her forehead. "What do you mean?"

"You have given her a kind of security these past years. Do you think she's happy that she can't give you what you need? Don't you realize that she has no real basis for security with anyone?" Carol was exasperated. "Darling," she said, "I just don't know how to fight somebody who has nothing to fight with."

Chris shook her head sadly. "What, for Pete's sake, are you trying to say?"

"I don't know myself," Carol answered. "I guess I'm trying to say that you've got to make peace with yourself about Dizz. And soon. If you're going to live with her, then you’ll have to stop seeing me. She couldn't bear the thought of you having a mistress. That would make her as good as useless. And I won't tolerate sneaking around behind her back. I love you too much to let you do that because after a while you would come to hate me for it. And yourself."

"What do you want me to do?" Chris asked.

"Whatever will make you happy," Carol said. "Go back to Dizz or come home with me."

Chris looked at her. "Is that an ultimatum?" she said.

Carol hesitated just long enough to make Chris uneasy. Then she said, "No. A suggestion." She put her hands on Chris' shoulders. "Now, let's forget everything but us."

Chris smiled wanly and realized how sober she was again. "I’ll try," she said. She reached up and grasped Carol by the arms and pulled her on the bed on top of her.

Carol tenderly touched the eyes, the nose, the chin, the mouth with her lips. "We've got a big day tomorrow, honey," she said. "We'd better get to bed."

"That's one reason," Chris laughed.

There was a series of muffled raps at the door.

"Damn," Chris said. She kissed Carol lightly and rolled out from under her.

Chris opened the door to find Johnnie standing there with a pot of coffee and cups on a tray.

"Thought you might like some coffee, kid," Johnnie said. "I know how you are about it"

"Thanks, Johnnie," Chris said, taking the tray. "I'm sorry I barked at you awhile ago, mate."

"Sure, skipper," Johnnie said.

Chris closed the door with her foot and carried the tray to the bedside table. She looked down at Carol. She couldn't have been less interested in coffee.

"I don't want to sound morbid," Chris said. "But if anything should go wrong tomorrow, call Johnnie. He always knows how to handle trouble."

"I’ll remember that," Carol said. "But if you drown, I’ll never forgive you."

Chris lay down on the bed and pulled the girl to her. "Shut up, will you? If there's anything I can't stand, it's a lot of talk."

They didn't talk again that night.

It was shortly after six when Chris turned off the highway just short of the bridge. She pulled up in front of a ramshackle building with the legend LUNCH-BAIT on an equally ramshackle sign above its roof. A trickle of smoke lazed upward from a stovepipe at the back. A gull perched on the edge of a creel, jabbing its beak through the cracks. There was no other sign of life.

"We can get breakfast here," Chris said. She got out and came around to open the door for Carol. "Place belongs to Clem Saunders. He used to be a sea captain, he says. I think he had a tug or something."