As the beautifully carved oak front door swung inward, the smile that hadn’t left Joyce’s face all day became nearly comical. Or, perhaps, it was just the right amount of comical, as made evident by the small laugh from her dear friend, Raya.
While holding the door in one hand, and her hip in her other, Raya mused, “As the hostess, I should take that glowing smile as a compliment and assume that you are beside yourself with joy to see me. But I’ve known you for too long to allow my ego such a delightful boost. That smile only graces your face for one of two reasons.” Releasing her hip, she held up one finger. “One, you finished a manuscript. And two,” she added a second finger, “you have gone completely gaga for someone.” She released the door and curled those two fingers in a beckoning manner. “Now, get in here and tell me which is it.”
“You are naughty. You know it’s neither of the two. I did, however, have quite an unexpectedly great day. I met a young woman and…” She quickly pointed a finger at the knowing smirk that curled her friend’s taupe painted lips. “Now, you stop it. It’s nothing like that. She’s fifteen-years my junior. And she…”
“Joyce!”
Raya’s daughter, and the reason for their little dinner party, walked into the foyer with her long, thin arms extended. Careful not to whack her in the back with the bottle of wine she was carrying, Joyce happily returned her embrace.
“It’s so good to see you, Julie.” As they released each other, Joyce added, “Congratulations on the exciting new job. I can’t wait to hear all about it.”
Raya lovingly gripped the back of her daughter’s neck, and teased Joyce, “Looking to collect some seeds for your inspiration bank?” She winked with a grin, then patted her daughter’s shoulder and jerked her head to the side. “Come on. Dinner’s just about ready. We’ll open that bottle of wine and Julie can tell you what it’s like to be a chemist at one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies.”
The obvious pride in Raya’s voice spawned a light blush on Julie’s fair cheeks, but Joyce could tell she, too, was proud of her achievement and she was loving the support for her success.
“Freeze, mister!”
Henry, Raya’s husband, froze with his fingers pinching the edge of a foil tent over a roasting pan. He slowly looked over his shoulder with his bottom lip flipped out in a pout and fluttered his eyelashes.
“Don’t you give me that face. Get away from that roast.” Raya scoffed, “Is that a knife in your other hand? Oh, you horrible man! You know it has to rest or all of the juices will be lost. Get.” Raya waved her hands dramatically. “Get out. No roast for you.”
All of them laughed as Raya gave him harmless slaps on his arms and shoulders, shooing him away from the covered roast. After hazarding a quick peck on his wife’s cheek, Henry walked around the kitchen island and gave Joyce a hug.
“Hey, Joyce. How’s it going?”
“Very well.” She held up the bottle of wine. “Would you like to do the honors?”
He made an oohing sound as he took the bottle and inspected the label. “You brought the good stuff. Yes, I will most definitely do the honors.” After fishing a corkscrew out of a drawer, he looked up at Joyce, and asked, “How’s the book coming along?”
“I’m at an impasse with my brain at the moment.” Henry and Raya gave her knowing smirks. “I decided to take a break today.”
“Oh, speaking of today… Tell us about the young woman you met.”
With a dramatic head tilt and her voice oozing with suggestion, Julie inquired, “A young woman, you say? How young is this woman exactly, Joyce?”
With her face screwed up, Joyce threw dagger eyes at Raya, eliciting a chorus of chuckles. “Isn’t this evening supposed to be about you, Julie? Shouldn’t you be impressing us with the details on your new job?”
“We have all night for that. Right now, I want to hear about your day.”
Henry walked over with a glass of wine, and as he offered it to Joyce, he suggested, “Maybe you just need a little bit of verbal lubrication.”
Joyce groaned and shook her head. “You know I hate that phrase.”
“And you wonder why words elude you or betray you sometimes. You talk ill about their cousins. They’re just taking their revenge.”
Joyce exhaled hard, then tilted her glass back and took a few sips of the full-bodied red wine. “I guess these jests at my expense are a bit of retribution as well. The young woman got her foot stuck along the lakeshore near where I was swimming. After making sure she was okay, and while helping her get loose, I teased her a bit for being clumsy. No feelings were hurt. It was completely friendly.”
“Details.” Raya curled her fingers in a beckoning motion. “Come on, build the scene for us.”
Julie seconded her mother’s request, saying, “Yes, details, please,” still with a bit of suggestion tucked between each word.
“Just you wait, young lady, this interrogation is going to come right back around to you.”
With a small laugh and happy glitter in her soft brown eyes, Julie answered, “You don’t scare me, Joyce Peterson. Now, talk.”
Her parents made uh oh sounds, and Henry joked, “Better get talking, Joyce. Julie has grown some teeth and claws working in that lab of misogynists.”
“Oh, stop it.” Julie laughed and waved a flippant hand at her father. “They’re not all like that. Just a few.” She looked at Joyce, and asked, “How old is this young woman?”
“Twenty-five.”
Julie comically feigned shock with a gasp and a hand in front of her mouth, before lowering it, and playfully scolded, “Joyce Peterson, she’s younger than I am! How did this young siren on the lakeshore tempt you from your private swim?” With a hand lightly laying on the few inches of her exposed sternum, Julie imitated a Southern belle in distress, “Help me, please. Oh, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up. Whatever shall I do?”
“Not bad. If you ever get bored with being a mad scientist, I’d say you have a fair chance at making it in theatre.”
Julie snorted, “Mad scientist,” and shook her head.
“I hate to disappoint you, but she’s not Southern, nor was she so dramatic in her predicament.”
While all of them worked together to carry bowls and platters of incredibly delicious looking and smelling food out to the beautifully set dining room table, Joyce gave them a bit more of a play-by-play of her encounter with Avery. She paused her story at the point of parking in front of Avery’s home so they could help each other fill their plates with sides.
But while they watched Raya expertly slice the perfectly juicy medium-rare herb-crusted roast, Julie asked, “You didn’t ask to see the other pictures she had taken? What if she really was taking pictures of you? It wouldn’t be the first time someone recognized you and sort of stalked you.”
“She was so mortified by the suggestion that I didn’t think it was necessary to pry further.”
As she laid a few slices of roast on Joyce’s plate, Raya countered, “Or she was so mortified because she had been caught. Does she know who you are?”
“If she does, she didn’t mention it.”
“Wait.” Julie’s brow furrowed as she paused before taking a sip of wine. “You spent the afternoon with this girl, and your career never came up? What did you talk about all day?”
“Mostly hers. She’s a travel journalist, so we mostly talked about where she has been and where she wants to go. After we ate lunch, I helped unpack several boxes to get her living room set up. One of the boxes had about a dozen plastic shoebox containers that she called memory boxes. Some were filled with postcards from her trips, and others were more personal. We didn’t look through any of them, but we talked about some of them. We mostly just talked about her trips though.”
“It’s all a bit strange.” Joyce watched Julie cut through her roast and waited for her to explain her musing. After a few moments, she looked up at Joyce with concern in her eyes, and asked, “Why would a travel journalist move here? Harbor City is at least thirty to forty minutes from the nearest airport and train station, depending on traffic. If her job is to travel, don’t you think she’d live closer to modes of public transportation?”
“You know, I was curious about that as well and had hoped for the opportunity to ask, but it never presented itself. Hearing about her trips was just so fascinating that I actually forgot about asking after a while. However, she did comment that she prefers visiting small towns over big cities, so perhaps that is true for where she lays roots as well. I told her I’ll help her again tomorrow, so I’ll make a mental note to ask then.”
With suspicion still in her tone and etched in her brow, Julie pressed, “Did you look her up when you got home? I mean, did you at least search for any of her articles to verify that she actually is a travel journalist and not just a stalker with a gift at weaving a fantastic yarn?”
“First of all, Raya, the food is delicious.” Her friend responded with an amused wink. Joyce then looked at Julie again, and answered, “And you, young lady, are just too sweet. I appreciate your concern, but I haven’t had the chance yet. But I will. Although, my intention is not to reveal some deceitful scheme. My interest is in the places she has been.”
With a pointed stare, Julie countered, “Me thinks thou art not being honest with thyself. Your interest is also in the woman, not just where she has or hasn’t been. Is your interest romantic or platonic?”
“Oh, come now, she’s fifteen years younger than me. Obviously, my interest is completely platonic.”
“Actually, it’s not obvious at all. Judging by the twinkle in your eye and that little schoolgirl grin plastered on your face, I suspect you have a romantic interest in her, no matter how many times you try to deny it.”
“Do I detect a whisper of jealousy in this spontaneous interrogation of yours? Are you trying to tell us something, Julie? Is tonight’s dinner more than just a celebration of your new job?”
“Oh, you wish, Joyce Peterson.” All of them burst with laughter. And with her cheeks blushing a bit from Joyce’s open flirting, Julie added, “No, this is not my way of coming out. I haven’t had much time to think about it, but as far as I know, I’m only romantically interested in men. And I’m just messing with you, Joyce. It’s been too long since I’ve had a rousing bout of good-natured banter. And if I can count on you for anything, it’s to be a sporting competitor in the battle of wordsmithing.”
“Absolutely. Since she’s all-consuming of your mind at the present, Avery was pretty competent in the fine art of banter today. Second to the fascinating tales of her travels, that was the highlight of the day.”
Julie hummed, “Is she now? Is that an offer to arrange a meet and greet with your new friend while I’m in town?”
Joyce mimicked her with a hum of her own, and teased, “Me thinks thou art not being honest with thyself, sweetie.” They chuckled at Joyce turning Julie’s previous statement against her. “Perhaps, lack of time is just your excuse to avoid the truth. You know she has a fascinating career. She’s independent and self-driven. And she would make a sporting competitor in the battle of wordsmithing for you. Now, you want to see her in the flesh. Looking to have a little fling before you go back to work?”
“What, and disappoint you by taking two young, beautiful, brilliant women off the dessert cart before you’ve had your pick?”
“Oh, god.” Joyce blushed a deep shade of red and laughed so hard tears prickled in her eyes. While grabbing for her glass of wine to take a sip, her eyes locked with the incredulous glint in Raya’s eyes. She chuckled, and pleaded, “Don’t you look at me like that, Raya.”
Slowly shaking her head side to side, Raya made a scolding click of her tongue. “Joyce Peterson, you scandalous woman. I never would have suspected that you’d make a pass at my daughter. Especially, right in front of me, while eating the food I slaved over all afternoon.”
“What can I say? You raised a captivatingly brilliant woman.” Joyce turned her gaze to Julie, and inquired, “Are you going to keep us in suspense all night? I’m dying to hear about your new job.”
Julie accepted the invitation to change the subject, and while they listened to her talk about her responsibilities and the people she worked with, they filled their bellies with delicious food and wine.
Dinner with old friends was the best way to cap off an unexpectedly great day. If gravity wasn’t so dependably clingy, Joyce imagined she’d float away with the level of euphoria coursing her veins.