I looked at Ava, shocked. She blew a kiss to me like we’d been married for decades. “Yes, that’s right, five boys,” I said, hesitantly. “What about you two?”
“Just one little girl. We’re trying for a boy. That’s why Gramma has little Emmy tonight.” She waggled her eyebrows at Jimmy and the situation became even more uncomfortable, although I don’t think Ava cared; she was getting a kick out of making up a new life story. I was bummed that I wasn’t alone with her, even though Jimmy and Brenda’s presence eliminated temptation. I don’t think I would’ve been able to restrain myself. Ava had wrapped her long hair into a messy bun on the top of her head and her skin was shiny and flushed. I had to keep my mind off of how see-through her camisole was.
“What do you two do for work?” Jimmy asked.
“I’m a writer and he’s a rodeo clown,” Ava said, pointing to me.
I laughed out loud.
Jimmy eyed me. “You don’t look like a rodeo clown. Most of them are scarred up pretty good in the face.”
“I’m really good at what I do,” I deadpanned.
“And Darlene, what kind of things do you write, sweetie?” Brenda asked.
“Fortune cookies. Well, I don’t write the cookies, I write the fortunes.”
“You’re kidding! That’s somethin’ else,” Jimmy said. “Why don’t you share one with us?”
At that point I was dying of laughter inside but trying to play along. It was getting harder and harder to contain myself as Ava kept dishing out the details of our fake life.
“Okay, here’s one. You will find many shiny gifts if you look within. 6, 32, 45, 19, 23, 12.”
“That’s fantastic!” Brenda blurted out.
“Numbers and everything,” I whispered in Ava’s ear. She shrugged one shoulder and batted her eyelashes with pride.
“Jimmy, how did you and Brenda meet?”
“I’ll tell this story, Jimmy. We grew up in Kentucky, went to the same high school and everything, and never knew each other. That’s cause Jimmy’s ten years older than me.” I never would have guessed that but I didn’t say that out loud. Ava and I nodded, encouraging Brenda to continue. “Well, I was workin’ at the Piggly Wiggly and Jimmy here came in one day while I was stocking the shelves. He asked where he could find the best bottle of wine. I showed him to the aisle and then he asked me to pick out my favorite. I didn’t know anything about wine so I picked out the one with the prettiest label and handed it to him. Before I left for work that night, my manager handed me a bag and said that a customer had left it for me. It was the wine and a little note from Jimmy. The note said, ‘If you want to share your wine, give me a call’ with his phone number.”
“So you called him?” I asked.
“Oh hell no! I let him keep comin’. Each week he’d do the same thing. He’d say, ‘Excuse me ma’am, can you show me to your best wines?’ and I would, and then he would leave the bottle for me with the same note. By the end of that summer, I had the finest taste for wine; I knew exactly which bottles to point out. One night he came in with the same routine except that he didn’t leave the bottle. It was my favorite and he knew it, too. Instead, he waited for me to finish my shift. When I walked out, he was leaning against his shiny white Camaro holding the bottle but he didn’t say nothin’ to me. I got in my car and pulled up next to him, rolled down the window, and said, ‘Hey, you want to share?’ He said, ‘Nope, I think I’ll keep this all for myself.’ ”
Ava started laughing. “I like your style, Jimmy,” she said.
That must be the key, letting her think she has control and then taking it back. Oh god, why am I obsessed with figuring this girl out?
Brenda went on. “So the next time I saw Jimmy in the Piggly Wiggly, I offered to make him dinner, wine included. He came over that night and never left.”
“Yep, true story,” Jimmy said. “I went from taking off her shirt to livin’ in her apartment within hours.”
“Ha! That is a . . . very nice . . . um, sweet story,” I said.
Ava looked peaceful and relaxed. I didn’t want to drag her out of the hot spring but it was getting late and I was afraid she would get cold on the way back.
“We should get going,” I said quietly to her.
Her head rested against the rocks and her eyes were barely open. “Hmm?”
“I’m worried you’ll get cold riding all the way back, sopping wet.”
“That’s nice of you to worry about me,” she said in a relaxed voice.
“So, should we say goodbye?”
“Okay.” She climbed out slowly. The sun had gone down but there was still enough light in the sky to see every inch of Ava in her white-colored, see-through camisole and panties. Jimmy scanned her from head to toe. I scowled at him and then climbed out and wrapped my arm around her.
“Goodbye,” I called back as we climbed up the tiny cliff.
“Goodbye, nice meeting you, Tom and Darlene,” Brenda called out.