The Scarlet Letter Society (24 page)

Wes was beaming. He told Maggie he was happiest about Alfred moving in. Rings and license papers aside, he loved that they wouldn’t have to exist in their separate spaces anymore. Their toothbrushes would be together. They hated the nights when one of them would leave, and they couldn’t wait until they wouldn’t have to leave ever again.

Ron opened the door to his Dupont Circle apartment and stepped aside to allow Eva to enter. He closed the door behind them. She held a bag containing their breakfast: bagels and cream cheese and lox, two large coffees.

“Thanks for bringing breakfast,” he said. He was dressed for work, though his shirt was unbuttoned. When he’d gone to button it a few moments earlier he realized that was probably a silly thing to do under the circumstances.

She put the breakfast on the table and walked over to him. Stepping up on her tippy toes, she kissed him on the cheek and tousled his hair. It was an odd gesture, one that reminded her of the exact thing she did to her teenage sons after a lacrosse game or before they left for the day. Calvin never minded; Graham always shook her off—he didn’t want the Axe products in his hair disturbed. When she’d started seeing Ron, she had quickly calculated the age difference between him and her sons. It was a comfortable 16 years, but she was still practically old enough to be Ron’s mother.

He kissed her. It was a gentle, lingering kiss and she returned it with the same slow pace. They hadn’t been seeing much of each other. Since her mother’s death, she’d taken leave and had spent most of her time either at the cottage sorting through belongings or home with the boys. She hadn’t been in the DC office in weeks and was headed there today.

“I’m more than happy to bring breakfast,” Eva told Ron. “It’s been awhile.”

“I missed you,” said Ron.

“I missed you, too,” said Eva. “But my life got a little crazy there for awhile.”

“I am so, so sorry that you lost your mom,” said Ron. He walked to the table and spread out the breakfast for them, grabbing mugs to pour the coffee into so they wouldn’t have to drink out of paper cups.

“Thanks,” said Eva. “It’s been a tough time, but it gave me a lot of time to myself to think about my life and where it’s headed.”

“Did you come to any conclusions?” said Ron.

“I work too much,” replied Eva. “I want to spend more time with my boys because before I know it, they’ll be gone. Even though part of me is sad about it, I want my marriage to officially end. No marriage at all is better than the façade of a marriage. Joe has agreed to a divorce.”

“I guess you knew that was coming eventually,” said Ron.

“Yeah, something about my mom’s death made me realize I can’t go through life in some kind of coma as though I have no control over my own outcome,” said Eva. “I need to be happy.”

“You do,” said Ron. He walked over and hugged her. “You deserve to be happy..”

“And I should thank you,” said Eva. “Because you have made me happy in the months we’ve known each other.”

He kissed her in response. Talking about their relationship was not something he was comfortable with or good at. She attributed it to his age. Normally, this was fine. They were too busy having sex to sit around and discuss their feelings. But now, she was in a place in her life where she needed to know where things stood, or to decide to put them there herself.

But his hands were on her blouse now, and she felt herself get aroused. She decided to allow herself the luxury and the escape of being with Ron again, even though for some time she’d known it wouldn’t last. She knew this was goodbye sex, and she decided to enjoy it. He suddenly lifted her up and took her to the bedroom.

“Guess we’ll need to warm up that coffee in a little bit,” said Eva.

“That’s what microwaves are for,” said Ron.

He placed her gently on the bed. She ran her hands across his chest, down that great “V” towards his stiffness, and she undid his belt. While he took off his pants and shirt, laying them neatly on a chair, she got up and took off her own work clothes.

They made love to each other, not with the great passion and urgency they normally had, but with tenderness and caring. Theirs had been an amazing love affair, one they would each always remember fondly and even though neither of them talked about it ending, each of them knew it would. There was no reason for a bitter breakup, nasty words or drama. They’d each appreciate and remember the time they’d shared together, and hold the memory of each other in their own hearts forever.

After breakfast, when Eva walked down the building’s steps to her office a few blocks away, she remembered seeing the pair of earrings on the coffee table, the pink toothbrush in the bathroom. She knew it was time for Ron to move on, too.

As Maggie was browsing through the racks of her own vintage dresses searching for something to wear to the upcoming wedding, the mailman entered the shop. She greeted him as she always did, and they chatted for a few minutes. When he left, she went to place the mail on the counter and noticed one of the letters was from Dewey, Cheetam and Howe. That wasn’t the actual name of the law firm, but it was how she always referred to them. Divorces were ridiculously expensive. You could spend more on a divorce than an actual marriage.

Maggie knew what was in the envelope. It was the finalized copies of the executed, notarized divorce from Matt. They’d been married less than two years. Maggie cursed herself for entering into a marriage out of fear of growing old alone. She’d simply been tired of being single. It had been nearly a decade, and she had just wanted someone to take out the trash once in awhile so she didn’t have to do it every single time. She didn’t think it had mattered that she wasn’t in love with Matt. One night when he had suggested a trip to Vegas and an impromptu wedding, she’d agreed despite the feeling in the pit of her stomach. They were companionable enough and maybe it was time, she’d thought, to be with someone with whom there was no emotional drama.

The price for passion was boredom
, thought Maggie,
and I was bored beyond words
. She’d moved out of her two floor apartment and into the country. She was a city mouse trying to pretend to be a country mouse, and it didn’t go well. It was too quiet on the farm. She hadn’t known how accustomed she was to the sounds of her town she was until she didn’t hear them anymore. She hadn’t moved anything out of her apartment, almost as though she knew she’d be back soon, and one day she just told Matt she wanted to stay in the apartment because she had to be at work early the next day. And it had been as simple as that. She called him that morning, they
went to lunch, and she told him she just wasn’t happy. She apologized. He was understanding, said he’d been happy to have her as long as he had in his life. This of course only served to make her feel more guilty.

Dave had been shocked to hear of Maggie’s wedding, but pretended he wasn’t that surprised.
Silly Maggie
, he’d said, as though she ran off and got married on a regular basis. She knew he’d been hurt, and she hadn’t meant to hurt him. They’d made love a few times while she was married, and she thought it was funny she was cheating on her second husband with her first. She cheated on everyone with Dave.

“Hey there, first husband,” Maggie said, after dialing Dave. “Come over and have lunch with me to celebrate my divorce.”

“The one from me or the other guy?” asked Dave. They hadn’t spoken for a while after the events in the vacant building and at the theatre, and they both seemed to glad to be “back to normal,” even though their normal wasn’t what most people considered it to be.

“The other guy, dumbass,” said Maggie. “I don’t think you’re supposed to celebrate a divorce from someone with the actual person you divorced.”

“Meet you at the shop in five minutes?”

“Yep,” said Maggie. “I was just trying on dresses for the wedding.” She pulled out three great dresses from the 50s-60s era to try on in her own dressing room.

Dave had been visiting a building nearby, and hung up the phone as he walked into the shop. He entered the dressing room without asking. She’d heard the shop door open but assumed it was a customer and called, “Be with you in a minute!”

He lifted the heavy brocade curtain fabric aside and quickly walked into the dressing room without sliding the curtain open.

“How about you be with me right
this
minute?” he said.

She laughed. She was in a black bra and a black vintage slip, in between trying on dresses for the wedding. She play-slapped him. “Perv.” He turned her around to face the full-length mirror.

“Look how beautiful you are,” he said. “You’ve been the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen since the day I met you, a million years ago.”

She smiled, looking in the mirror at their reflection. Many more wrinkles on those faces than there were all those years ago, but they still looked about the same, middle age hadn’t beaten them up too badly. She reached her arms up over her head to put them around his neck. His shaggy brown hair, glasses and beard combined with his muscular tall frame made him seem like a nerdy but sexy construction worker. He wore construction work boots each day because he entered so many dilapidated buildings, muddy stone cellars, and old barns, often documenting them right before their demolitions.

“Yes,” she said. “A million years ago when the dinosaurs roamed.”

She turned to face him and started unbuttoning his plaid flannel shirt. The pink velour 60s sofa in the dressing room would be a great place for a quickie if no one entered the shop.

“Customers?” he asked.

“Right now I only have one,” said Maggie, running her hands across his hairy chest and smooth ribcage. “Fuck me.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Dave, grinning. He unbuckled his jeans. She unclasped her bra, tossing it on the vintage hooked area rug on the floor. She sat on the plush sofa and pulled down his boxer briefs, then used her mouth to arouse him until he was rock hard and moaning with pleasure.

“You are really good to your customers,” said Dave.

“Well you’re a pretty loyal one,” said Maggie, licking him as she said “loyal.” She turned around, placing her hands on the pink sofa and lifting the vintage black silk slip as he lowered his jeans. She looked at him in the mirror and said, “Now fuck me.”

He placed his big hands on her curvy hips and took her from behind, reaching around to her stimulate her with his strong fingers.

The exploded together quickly and quietly, both worried someone would enter the shop, though no one did. The frenzied dressing room sex left them both flushed.

“Lunchtime!” said Maggie.

“I know, I know, you’re always starving after sex,” said Dave as they got dressed.

She locked the door of the shop behind them, hanging the “Back at 1:00” sign in the window.

They sat down at an Italian restaurant; the one you had to go down the steps to get to from the street. He knew she’d order the stuffed shells, she knew he’d order the white spinach pizza.

“So how’s work?” she asked. “Oh, you know, just trying to keep an old building or two up,” he said.

They talked about the wedding; Maggie jokingly asking if he’d be her date, Dave pretending to have to consider it then acting like he reluctantly agreed.

“Hey, listen. I wanted to ask you about something,” said Dave.

“Sure,” said Maggie. “What’s up, hon?”

“It’s Christmas this week and I know you haven’t stayed overnight in the house in a long, long time. I don’t know how many years. But the girls will both be home and of course you can stay in the guest room if you want, but I just thought, maybe…”