Chapter Five
“Nick?” Barefoot, with two towels and an open bottle of white wine, I peered over the candytuft blooms shimmering under the moonlight in my backyard. Crickets chirped. A dog barked in the distance. Erzulie watched from the kitchen window.
Nick’s shirt and jeans were draped over the back of a chair on the porch. I scanned the empty yard with caution. Despite the heat in the still night air, I didn’t want to be ambushed with a blast of cold water.
I heard a squeak of a faucet turning from the side of the house, and then the sound of water splashing the driveway.
Nick strolled into the yard in his boxer shorts, with the garden hose in his hand and his fingers on the nozzle. “Ready?”
“I’m not taking my clothes off.” I dropped my voice to a whisper so the neighbors wouldn’t hear. “Let’s have some wine and enjoy the night air.”
“Put down the wine and towels, Liz.” He aimed the nozzle at my feet.
He moved toward the steps, teasing me off the porch with tiny squirts of water. I let out a nervous, frightened giggle. He grabbed the towels from me and tossed them on a lounge chair. Another squirt sent me dancing over the grass with wet toes.
“Give me the wine,” he said.
I backed away. “No.”
Nick came toward me and snatched the bottle out of my hand. When he turned to put it on the porch step, I darted across the lawn to hide under the lemon tree by the back fence.
I made three good strides before he blasted me with cold water, soaking the back of my clothes and hair. I stopped and turned. “You are going to be so sorry you did that.”
“I don’t think so.” He drenched the front of my shirt this time. “What are you going to do to me now?”
“Use my secret weapon.” I tucked a strand of wet hair behind my ear.
“And what’s that?” He aimed the nozzle at me.
I pulled the soaked pink T-shirt over my head and tossed it across the yard. With my eyes fixed on Nick, I flicked my bra straps off my shoulders, reached behind me, unhooked the clasp, and let my bra drop to the grass.
He relaxed his arm with the nozzle at his side.
Unzipping my jeans, I lowered them inch by inch over my hips, my knees, and then stepped out of them. I snapped the side of my panties with my thumb. Nick moved closer, watching me. As soon as he got within reach, I seized the hose from his distracted grip and backed away, opening the nozzle full force over his body. He wrestled the nozzle out of my hand with water spurting over both of us. Dancing under the moonlight, we laughed until we couldn’t breathe.
And though I didn’t win the backyard battle, the peace treaty we negotiated in my bedroom was worth the effort. He left at midnight.
My alarm went off at five-thirty. I reached across the nightstand and hit snooze. Ten minutes later, I hit snooze again, this time vaguely aware I should climb out of bed and get to the gym for a shower before Stan and his crew arrived at the house, hopefully with my new tub.
Erzulie nudged me before the second snooze went off.
“Okay, okay. We’ll get up.” I shut off the alarm and crawled out of bed. After I brushed my teeth in my wreck of a bathroom, I pulled on my gym gear, threw some clean clothes into my backpack, and trotted downstairs. The dim gray light of dawn crept through the living room windows, illuminating my half-empty bookcase. I have to pick up that last box. Even though the rooms upstairs were stacked with unloaded cartons of clothes, I wouldn’t be happy until the rest of my books filled up the bookcase. Somehow that simple accomplishment represented progress.
I got to the gym, left my backpack in a cubbyhole, and looked around. Tess power walked on a treadmill. A few familiar faces from yesterday worked out on machines. I didn’t see Kyle.
Earl the trainer strolled over to the cubbyholes in a red muscle shirt sculpted tight to his skin. He nodded in greeting then pulled a smartphone from his cubbyhole, scrolling and typing with his thumbs.
“Hey, Earl. Where is everyone? Where’s Kyle this morning?” I said.
He shrugged. “He called me at four-thirty and asked me to open the gym for him. I guess he partied hearty last night. He’s coming in later. Was he supposed to meet you here?”
“No. Just curious. It seems empty in here today.”
“Too hot to exercise,” he said.
Tess waved hello as I climbed on the treadmill beside her. “Did you have a good time at the baseball game last night?” she said.
The baseball game. Right. My backyard and bedroom romp with Nick blanked my memory of Jarret’s disastrous game, Kyle’s beer shower, and Laycee’s brazen attitude.
“The Dodgers lost but my family had fun.” I programmed the treadmill and as I began my warm-up, glanced through the cardio room window to the studio in back. “No Gretchen this morning? I saw her at the game.”