Love's Last Chance (12 page)

“What’s Mary’s problem? She snapped my head
off,” Bella said, sitting next to Dorrie.

“An attack of the green-eyed monster, I
think,” Dorrie replied.

Within an hour, the house was filled to the
brim with old friends. Johnny handed out beer while Chrissy and
Bella served the chicken stew. Brownies were piled high on a
platter. Stan cranked up music and eating turned into dancing as
the pots were emptied and dirty plates piled in the sink. Pierre
got stuck with dishwashing while the revelers gyrated to old
favorites.

Strangers wandered in from other houses in
Fair Harbor. Dorrie noticed some good looking men and some
knock-out women. Some of the women were practically topless,
shaking everything they had as an advertisement to any eligible
man. Dorrie kept a close watch on Johnny.

His gaze wandered from busty woman to busty
woman as he provided beer for the house members and sold beer to
strangers.
Who could blame him? They’re practically naked.
All the men were staring at the women. Dorrie wore a more modest
halter-top in a green and blue print and white shorts. She checked
her watch.
Nine. Will he remember our date or go wandering off
with one of these newbies? Who knows?
The party mood left her,
and she stole outside to sit on the stoop.

She washed a couple of ibuprofen down with
beer and leaned back against the house, reducing some pressure on
her ankle. The swelling had gone down some, and it was not feeling
nearly as sore.
I won’t be dancing a tango, but at least I can
walk.

Mary burst through the door, opening it so
hard it banged against the wall.

“Damn bitches! Someone should call the cops.
They’re dancing nude in our house!”

“Calm down, Mary.”

“Calm down! They’re like the Pied Piper.
When they leave, they’ll take all the good men with them…including
your Johnny.” Mary cast a wicked glance at Dorrie.

“We’ll see. They can only handle one at a
time.”

“Haven’t you heard of ménage?” Mary shot
back.

“Please, Mary. Don’t get carried away.”

Mary lit a cigarette and slid down next to
Dorrie. “Hey! No smoking near me,” Dorrie said, fanning the
air.

Mary pushed to her feet and moved ten feet
away. “Better?”

“Not smoking would be better,” Dorrie
mumbled, glancing at her watch.
Nine-thirty.

The smoke drove Dorrie back in the house.
Johnny was dancing fast with one of the almost-naked women. He
waved at Dorrie.
Screw your eyes back into your head, Flanagan.
Haven’t you seen breasts before?

She saw him focus his gaze on her again with
a questioning look.
Yeah, you’re just dancing, right?
She
shrugged and opened the closet door. After rummaging around, she
found two clean beach towels and tucked them under her arm.
Ignoring Johnny, she left the house and took her time heading
toward the beach. Her ankle was sensitive, so she proceeded slowly.
Looking up at the twinkling of the bright stars in the black sky
made her smile.

As she approached the stairs, she was calmed
by the smell of salt in the air plus the sound of the waves rushing
in to shore.
I love it here. If there weren’t so much drama, I’d
stay longer.

Climbing the steep steps was daunting.
Dorrie started slowly and took them one at a time. Careful of her
footing, she made her way to the spot she and Johnny had agreed on.
Tossing out a towel, she lowered herself down, pulled on the
sweater she’d brought, and leaned against bent knees, listening to
the night sounds.

It was past ten now. She couldn’t help but
glance toward the steps, but no tall, shadowy figure appeared. Her
heart was heavy. She sighed and lay back, looking up at the sky.
After making a wish on the first star she saw, Dorrie wondered if
beings on other planets had as much pain trying to find their
mate.

“Did you make a wish?” The deep voice
startled her. Dorrie sat up.

“Johnny?”

“Were you expecting someone else?”

“Frankly, I wasn’t expecting
you
.”
She lay back down.
He’s here, like he said he’d be. Not with one
of those naked women.

“I thought we had a date. Was I mistaken?”
He approached her.

Dorrie tried to read her watch in the
moonlight. “Yeah, we did, about half an hour ago.”

“I’m late. Yeah, about fifteen minutes late.
I apologize…Queen Dorrie wants me to be on the minute, and I’m not.
I bow to your superiority.” He spread out a towel next to hers and
sat down.

“You don’t have to get snide.”

“Snide? I’m snide? Look in the mirror, girl,
if you’re looking for snide. You wrote the book!”

“I’m just saying…”

“Look, I can go. If you don’t want me here,
there are plenty of other ladies down there who’d love to be with
me.”

“Fine! Go, then!” Dorrie sat up and turned
her back to him.

Johnny ran his hand through his hair. They
sat in silence for a while. He cleared his throat.

“You still here?” Dorrie knew he was, but
couldn’t stop herself from baiting him.
What am I
saying?

“Why are you doing this? I couldn’t wait to
be alone with you.” He touched her shoulder, sending a shiver up
her spine.

“Yeah?” Hope ignited a spark in her
heart.

“Yeah. So, I was a few minutes late. Maybe I
couldn’t pull myself away fast enough without being rude. If that’s
a deal breaker then we have nothing to talk about…and you’ve
changed more than I thought.” He rose to his knees.

She turned to him and put her hand on his
arm. “Don’t go. I’m sorry. I was being stupid, petty.”

“Sure were.” He sat back down.

“Frankly, I’m surprised you showed at all.”
What are you doing? Stop! You’ll drive him away.

“Wow! Where the hell did that come from? Get
the number of that truck.”

“With all those…undressed women…”
Make
him admit he wasn’t interested in them? What if he was?

“Hey, I believe in advertising, but that’s
ridiculous.” There was silence again. “What did I do?” He raised
his shoulders.

“Nothing.”

“So you thought I’d break my date with you
to get laid by one of those chicks? That’s a low blow…one—that you
thought I’d break the date, stand you up…and two—that you thought I
like cheap women. Geez. I don’t know, Dorrie. Maybe this is a
mistake.” He stood up.

“Wait! Wait. I don’t think those things of
you…but when you were late …and those women were all over you. What
was I to think?” She reached for his hand.

“How about having a little faith in me…in
us?”

“There is no ‘us’.”

“There is.” Johnny sank back down on the
blanket. “Come over here.”

Dorrie peeked at him shyly.

“You, come over here!” Johnny motioned, and
she slowly crawled closer. When he could reach, he grabbed under
her arms and pulled her onto his lap.

“Much better,” he said. She folded her legs
up underneath and rested against his chest. Johnny stroked her hair
and planted a kiss on her head.

“What should we talk about?”

“The elephant in the room,” he said,
softly.

“What’s that?”

“You think I dumped you, and I think you
dumped me.”

“Oh.” Dorrie didn’t want to talk. She wanted
to stay in Johnny’s arms forever, not talking, not explaining, not
examining anything, simply feeling. She began to make a small,
steady noise, almost like a purr deep in her throat.

“Can’t we just stay like this a while?”

“Sure we can, babe. Whatever you want.”
Johnny eased down until he was lying flat on the dunes with Dorrie
still on his chest. He moved his hand to her back.

Time stood still for Dorrie. Cuddled into
the warmth of Johnny’s body, she slipped her hand under his T-shirt
to run her fingers through his chest hair. He stroked her back and
played with the ends of her hair while peeling her sweater off.
Contentment washed over her, and her fears melted away. She sighed,
smiling in the dark.

“Dorrie. Can we talk now?”

“Okay. Shoot.” She rubbed her face against
his chest.

“Why did you dump me? Truth now. Whatever it
is, I can take it. I gotta know.”

Dorrie pushed off him and sat up
cross-legged, facing him.
He wants the truth. Can you give it to
him? Can you find a way to say it that won’t reveal everything?
Probably not. You owe him. Tell him.

“Okay. Truth. Total truth. Where to
begin…”

“Stop stalling.” He closed his fingers
around her hand. Moonlight caressed the masculine lines of his
face, making Dorrie want to kiss him and more. She wanted to make
love with him, to recapture that wonderful night they had shared.
Gathering her strength, she faced his scrutiny.

“It happened the weekend after we…after we
made love.”

“What?”

“Shh, I’m getting to it. That was the most
wonderful night of my life…and I expected more of the same the next
weekend. My mistake.” She sensed him pulling away the slightest
little bit. “Remember you wanted, no demanded, total truth.”

“Okay.” He inched closer.

“The next weekend, you spent Friday night
with Hazel and Saturday night with Marsha. I got the message. You
didn’t want me. It was like our night never happened.” She stopped
to take a deep breath to calm her racing heart.
Calm down. That
was five years ago.

He sat quietly, so unlike the Johnny she
knew, and listened.

“Then?” he asked.

“Then, the next weekend you came to me…came
to me and said those words, those lovely words. Words I had so
wanted to hear the weekend before.”

“I remember. I said…‘you’ve got a nice way
about you’.”

Tears sprang to Dorrie’s eyes. Those words
had meant so much to her and hurt her at the same time.
Yes,
special but not special enough. Only one of many for you,
Johnny.

After taking a shuddering breath, she nodded
and went on. “That’s right. I never forgot.”

“I meant them, too.”

“Did you? After choosing first Hazel then
Marsha ahead of me the next weekend…like we hadn’t…didn’t…I mean, I
didn’t sleep with a lot of guys. I wasn’t a hook-up artist.
Sleeping with you meant something to me, but not to you.”

“It did. It did. I was an asshole back then.
Sleeping with anything that walked. I’d never been with anyone like
you…who cared about me. Who wanted me to care back. Scared the shit
out of me.”

“Yeah, you were an idiot.”

“And so if those words meant so much to you,
and that night meant so much to you, why did you turn me down?”

“Do you remember what I said?”

“I’ll never forget it. ‘If I’m not the
Saturday night date, I don’t play’.” Johnny recited it as if he had
said it a thousand times before.

“I had to be number one, one and only. I
couldn’t be one of many or even one of a few. You were my one and
only, and I wasn’t…couldn’t…be…” Tears burst through her defenses
and streamed down her face. Emotion choked her.

“I’m sorry,” he said, running his finger
down her cheek to catch the teardrops. “Sorry I hurt you.”

“I couldn’t compete with those girls. The
ones with the big chests and the easy ideas about sex. It wasn’t
me. Flat as a pancake, my skinny little dancer’s body couldn’t keep
you interested. I decided you’d rather have a buxom woman with some
meat on her bones. And that wasn’t me.”

“Oh my God! Is that what you thought?”

She nodded, wiping the tears away with the
back of her hand.

“That’s not true. You were the best I ever
had. Skinny or not, you knew how to make love… like nobody’s
business. It wasn’t just screwing. You were so sweet, soft, giving,
and the way you looked at me…geez. I’ve never had that from
anyone…before or since.”

“Really?”

“Total truth, remember?”

She smiled. “What did you see in me to begin
with?”

Johnny looked down at the ground. “I don’t
want this to sound like bragging—it’s the truth, plain and simple.
It started in high school. I was a big guy early. Played football.
There were a ton of girls who wanted to make it with the captain of
the football team. I got into it. Women, girls, lots of them. All
wanting me. I didn’t realize that I was a symbol. They wanted to
screw me, say they’d screwed me, and move on. They didn’t care
about me.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Bragging rights or something.
Women! I’ll never understand ’em. I got used to most women being
easy for me. I played football in college, too. Same thing. I never
had trouble getting a date or getting laid. But I never had a woman
as a friend, until I met you.”

“I was your first friend?”

“First woman friend, yeah.”

She reached over and touched his cheek. He
leaned in and placed a sweet kiss on her nose.

“That’s a shame.”

“I loved it. Never knew you could have fun
with a woman that didn’t include sex.”

“Is that why it took you all summer to get
me into bed?”

“Hey, honey, if I’d been trying, you’d have
been in the sack in a heartbeat. You didn’t seem anxious to take it
to the next level, and I didn’t want to ruin what we had by pushing
you. I liked being with you. None of the usual crap, whining about
spoiling your makeup in the water or your hair. You were game for
anything, especially sports.”

“Yeah. Tomboy.” She nodded.

“Whatever it was, you seemed to like me. I
wasn’t a trophy with you. No games. Just a guy. I liked that.”

“Wasn’t like I didn’t see how sexy you
were…” Dorrie said.

“Yeah?” She detected a small smile on his
lips.

“Yeah. But I don’t jump into bed with every
guy. I wanted to get to know you. We had a lot of fun. I felt
comfortable with you, so I let you seduce me.”

“You
let
me?” He laughed. “When I
made up my mind I’d have you before the summer was over, you were
finished.”