Tom had been minding his own business, hanging with his buddies around the bar at Coco’s. He’d worked a long, hot day at the casino installing solar panels and just needed to cool down. He’d just picked up the tab on the latest round in the hopes of snagging one more of his friends, Chad, as a fifth member of a work crew to tear-down and replace the roof of his parents’ “dorm house” in the morning.
“Many hands make light work, Murph! The more the merrier. You know what they say. And there’ll be free beer flowing.”
“Yeah, yeah, not a damn thing about tearing down and shingling a roof is light work, Donato, and you know it. Although the mental picture of Izzy Donato holding ice-cold beer in a tank-top and short shorts is, indeed, appealing.”
“Okay, okay, but I seem to remember that dragging that huge-ass couch up to the third floor wasn’t exactly light work either. So payback is a …” Tommy reminded his friend, letting the phrased end out empty. He slapped him on the back. “And leave the sisters out of this. No touchy-feely crap. Just free beer. That’s it.”
“Damn, you’ve got a long memory. All right, I’ll be there. What time?”
“Eight a.m. sharp. And don’t come dragging your sorry ass around at ten and expect a full share of the free beer. Get your twerpy nerd butts to bed tonight so you’ve got something in the tank for tomorrow.” He shook his finger around to point at each one as he took a swig of his beer.
Another of Tommy’s friends, who was serving as the bartender at CoCo’s for the evening said, “Whew! Get a load of what just walked in! Damn, I really wish I wasn’t working tonight or I’d be all over that,” said Brian.
Tom Donato turned around to see what his friend was talking about. What he saw took his breath away, literally and figuratively. A tall, gorgeous brown-haired blonde with legs that went on forever in three-inch high wedges, snug shorts, camisole-type T-shirt that hugged just the right curves and a ponytail that hung down her back with a gentle swish stood in the entryway of CoCo’s. Now she’d sat down at a table near the wall. Tommy raised his hand with one finger in the air, looked back at his buddies and shouted, “Dibs! You snooze, you lose, boys.” He backed away from his friends, carrying his bottle of beer. “The advantages of a big family … lack of hesitation for what you want. Tomorrow morning, eight sharp.” He turned and walked over to listen in to the conversation this vision of loveliness was having with Kevin, the waiter.
Tom’s buddy, Brian turned to Chad. “Why do hockey players always get the girls?”
“Because we’ve got the moves and lightning fast reflexes. That was smooth, but maybe she’ll be smoother, eh?” They both turned, with frowns on their faces that their friend had beat them to the punch, yet again. “We’ve still got a shot.”
“Oh, yeah, sure. We’ve got a shot.” Chad just shook his head.
And when he got her talking a bit, she was sharp-witted too. This girl had it all going on. What did she say her name was again? Jan? Jane? Why was he so bad with names? He had to learn some trick to remember names. But this hypnotist guy was hilarious! And that smile she flashed was a heartbreaker. Oh yeah, he could really fall for this girl hard. And to think he’d remember the hypnotist show the night they met. Oh man, what was he thinking? How about a kiss first. Or maybe, here’s a thought, a date.
Then the guy came over and the chanting began and that’s it. She was going to hate him forever for putting her in this spot. And he’d had no intention of this kind of thing happening. But, oh yeah, she was easy-going, too, and was going to go along? Oh man, was this girl perfect or what? The total package. She probably knew box scores too. What else could a man want?
He really had no idea what had happened when they’d been on stage, not really. Just a vague sense of embarrassment and nervousness. But he definitely remembered holding her hands and thinking she had the softest skin he’d ever felt. How did she do that? Was she made of butter? And those eyes were the color of the sky on a cloudless day that just seemed to go on forever. He’d really liked waking up to find himself standing so close to her. Oh, and that certain part of his anatomy clearly was still in a dream-like state and the strange sensation of knowing that he was that way in front of a crowd of people. Okay, yeah, that was major-league embarrassing.
Then he’d recognized her name when she’d said her real name and it clicked. Oh man, this perfect girl was rooming with his sisters. How convenient, and yet inconvenient. Then she’d walked out and he knew he had to go after her. He had to make sure it was okay. So he ran out the back entrance, scanned the street she’d be most likely to take back to the house and she was way down the street. Man, this girl could really book it! So he ran to catch up with her.
“Hey, hey, wait up!”
Etta just kept walking at a good clip, her purse swung, once again, around her body and held it tightly against her hip. She was going to do her power-walking thing now and try to lose this guy. Now Tommy was catching up and slowed his pace to a walk. “Hey, didn’t you hear me? Can’t you wait up a little?” Tommy was now walking backwards in front of her.
“No.”
Tommy had all he could do to keep walking at her pace, although, he was certainly at a disadvantage walking backwards. “Why not?”
“Because I’m on my way home.”
“I’ll walk you. You shouldn’t be walking around after dark by yourself. It’s not safe.”
“Oh, yeah? And why’s that?”
“Well, somebody could follow you and jump out at you to attack you.”
“Oh, yeah? And what are you doing if not following me and jumping out at me?” She kept power walking, almost running into him as he lost stride while thinking of a quick retort to her question.
“I’m walking with you, to protect you.”
Tommy almost ran into a parked car that was pulled a little too far into the sidewalk, and she pushed his chest a little as she walked past him. “Excuse me.”
Tommy’s brow furrowed a bit as he rushed back to her side to walk in tandem with her quick stride, this time forward. “Are you always so polite?”
“Yes, I try to be. It’s important to be polite. And I’ve probably got more to fear from you than from any random dark stranger lurking behind the bushes in residential Marquette, so if you’d be so kind, please leave me alone and let me walk home.” In a cold, terse voice, she said, “Go away.”
Tommy did some quick re-thinking of his strategy because that particular verbal arrow hit its target dead center. She was right. She did have more to fear from him, as a stranger, than anyone else. So he tried a different tactic.
“Well, I don’t know how things are where you’re from, but here, in Marquette, when a guy buys a gal a drink, he has certain expectations.” He grinned foolishly, very tongue-in-cheek as he spoke. And then he flashed a brilliant smile her way as he raised his eyebrows.
Etta just kept power-walking towards the house, not even glancing in his direction. “Oh, yeah? Do they now? And what exactly are those expectations?”
“Well, a good-night kiss would probably do the trick, I suppose.” He had a devilish grin on his face.
Etta stopped in her tracks, put her hands on her hips and stared across the sidewalk at him. The light from a nearby streetlamp was illuminating the pathway they were standing on, in front of someone’s house where pine trees abounded, day lilies had taken their rest for the evening and the faint fragrance from a honeysuckle bush wafted around them. “So a nice, closed-mouth kiss is the price to pay for a $4 icy drink, is that correct? That’s the going exchange rate, here in Marquette?” She tried to keep her voice as cold as possible. He was certainly trying his damnedest to be cute and it was working. She was trying really hard not to smile or smirk. She didn’t want to encourage this any more than she needed to. But it was really difficult not to laugh at their snarky repartee. Tommy stopped along with her, put his hands in his pockets, staring down at the pavement for a moment, trying one of his signature “cute guy” looks on her. “Well, you may be getting somewhat of a raw deal. But couldn’t I just owe you?” He kicked the dirt on the sidewalk with his foot, tilting his head slightly and raising his brows.
She rolled her eyes at that comment. “Owe me, huh? Listen, Tom, you seem like a nice guy. You really do. But I’m on my way home and I’d really rather you not know where I live, okay?” And that was going to be hard, because the house was only one block and three doors down at the next corner, but he didn’t need to know that. “I don’t really need a stalker or protector.” She reached over, put her hand on his forearm lightly. “Thank you for the drink, really. How about I owe you? And we may never see each other again. If I do, I’ll buy you one in return. I promise. You go your way. I’ll go mine.” She removed her hand and put it back on her hip.
Tommy pondered the situation for a while. “Nope. Pay up.” And he stood where he was, held out his arms to her and flashed a huge smile.
Etta thought for another snarky comeback. “You know, for two or three more kisses, I could probably get a silk scarf.”
“Hey, that’s not a bad idea. Wanna go for it?” He laughed from his belly.
“No, I do not. I’ll buy my own silk scarves, thank you very much.” She shook her head from side to side. “And you promise you’ll just walk away, no questions asked? One simple kiss?”
“Yup. Pay up.” Of course, Tom knew that eventually they’d meet at the house, she’d realize her mistake and, well, there might be the possibility, in a galaxy far, far away, that there might be another kiss one day.
“Okay. Come get it.” With that statement, she held her body as tall and stiffly as possible, turned her head a bit toward the light and tightened her lips a bit, yet with them turned up slightly at the edges. She was having a hard time not smiling at him.
Tom walked over to Etta, reached his hand up to the back of her neck, leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss, with just a hint of deepening, paused for a moment to savor the sweetness of her lips, then backed away to look in her eyes. Quietly and tenderly he said, “See, that was pretty nice.” And he smiled tenderly at her as he removed his hand from her neck.
Etta’s eyes grew wide, astonished that he’d stopped at the one promised kiss that wasn’t harsh or rushed. It wasn’t passionate and violent. It was simple and sweet and short and gentle. And he hadn’t tried for more than she’d offered. Maybe he was really a nice guy, and the thought of that shocked her.
Tom turned away and started walking towards the opposite corner. He shouted out to her as he walked away, “See you around, Etta,” and walked into the night, secure in the knowledge that he would definitely be seeing her again. And just maybe he’d figure out a way to get another kiss.
Etta just stood and stared after him, dumbfounded as she walked down the next block, then made her way around the corner, up the steps of her new home, unlocked the door and said to herself, “Yeah, whatever. Strange.” She walked up the stairs, gently rubbed her lower lip with her finger, changed into nightclothes and took her timing falling asleep in her hot and humid new bedroom.