Chapter 25

Sarah pulled up to the Gull Island Regency in a rented Cadillac. As much as she liked Max’s car, she didn’t want to embarrass him by asking to drive. He was a nice guy, but he drove like an old woman.

She gave the keys to the valet before going inside the lobby. She searched the couches and arm chairs in the lobby, but saw no one who looked like Max. Maybe he wanted to meet her in the bar. She hoped not. Being around so many liquor bottles would put a quick end to her vow of sobriety.

She’d made the vow last night while trying to sleep. She kept seeing the SUV going over the guardrail and then exploding. By all rights she should have died then, but somehow Max had found her. If Max hadn’t been there to get her out of the car she would have died.

She would no longer be a slave to alcohol. This morning she went into work and emptied the bottle in her desk drawer into the bathroom sink, watching it swirl down the drain with the sadness of a funeral. The moment strengthened her resolve to make drinking no longer a part of her life.

Before she could make the decision to check for him in the bar, she saw Max appear from around a corner. Like his driving, his gait was slow and cautious, as if worried he would run into something. She waved to him and saw his sheepish, little-boy smile appear.

The closer Max came, the more she had to admit he was not her usual type. He was so tall and skinny that he appeared awkward as he shuffled across the lobby. His face had those ears sticking out, a cowlick above the part on the right side, and a nose a couple sizes too big.

Max was not the type she would take home from a bar. She doubted he had even been in a bar. At the same time, for a concert pianist, he didn’t have the snooty demeanor of the rich people she’d known from growing up in North Carolina. He still maintained the modesty of a regular person.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said. “Did you have to wait long?”

“No, I just got here.”

“Oh.” He fumbled with the knot on his maroon-and-gray-striped tie. “I made a reservation at Dorsia. The concierge says it’s the best place in town.”

She knew of Dorsia, but had never gone there on any dates. It was even snobbier than the country club. Max would want to order a bottle of wine and then she would have to find a polite way of saying she didn’t want any alcohol. The entire date she would feel awkward, as if Mom were about to drag her back into the bathroom for a spanking. Max, like Sam Melville before him, would never call back and simply disappear from her life.

“I appreciate that, but I have an idea for something a little more…intimate.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Come on, we’ll take my car.” He took her arm as if escorting royalty and walked her out of the lobby. While the valet brought the Cadillac around, Max kept fidgeting with his tie as though about to say something, but no words came out.

Sarah felt sweat forming on her forehead as the silence continued. Was he unhappy about her asking not to go to Dorsia? Or maybe he didn’t like what she was wearing. After a lot of deliberation with Alicia, she’d gone with a turquoise summer dress that went to the knees. They’d hoped the dress would give her a mature, yet youthful appearance. Maybe he thought she just looked old. Why didn’t he say anything?

“Is that your car?” he asked when the valet stopped the Cadillac in front of them.

“I rented it until I can find something else.”

“It’s nice.” Like a gentleman, he opened the driver’s door for her and closed it after she got in. After he fastened his seatbelt on the passenger’s side, she accelerated away from the hotel. “So where are we going?”

She needed to find an answer to that question herself. In the lobby she’d only said she had a better idea to keep them from going to the restaurant, hoping something would strike her later. “Well,” she began. “I was thinking of…a picnic.”

“Really? It looks like rain.”

She saw the gray clouds through the windshield and nodded. “An indoor picnic. I know a great place. There won’t be anyone else around. Any other people, anyway.”

She spotted a Kentucky Fried Chicken and pulled into the drive-thru as much to turn around in the direction of the aquarium as to buy food for her makeshift picnic. “Do you have anything against chicken? You’re not allergic or a vegetarian, are you?” she asked.

“No, I like chicken. My mother used to make her own fried chicken and biscuits.”

“My mom was a lousy cook. We ate most of our meals out.” Max nodded before a burst of static came from the drive-thru speaker. After repeating her order three times, Sarah finally pulled around. She reached for her purse, but Max handed her a twenty-dollar bill. “It’s the least I can do,” he said before she could decline.

“Max, I owe you so much already—” She stopped when she saw the hangdog look on his face. “All right, but next time I’ll pay.” She took the money and handed it to the cashier. They waited in silence, Max sitting there with a look of intense concentration, as if straining to hear something. Sarah tried to think of something to say, but couldn’t come up with anything. She’d never had this problem on a date before.

After the food came, she drove to the aquarium, letting them into the darkened building. She waved to the security guard as they headed towards the tanks. “Max and I are having a late meeting.” The guard nodded to her in understanding.

“This place is beautiful,” Max said as they passed the tropical fish tanks. She paused to describe the various species to him and how the aquarium had obtained them. “You must really like fish.”

“They’re beautiful, don’t you think? So majestic the way they glide through the water.” When he only nodded, she blushed. “I know it seems silly to spend your life looking after creatures most people would rather eat with tartar sauce.”

“No, I don’t think it’s silly. At least no sillier than playing the piano for people who don’t know Tchaicovsky from Tolstoy.”

She laughed and squeezed his arm. “I guess we have something in common then—the silliness of our professions.”

“That’s more than most people.” His own laugh sounded tentative at first, but then became more robust. They laughed until Sarah stopped in front of Koo’s tank, where she had spent so much time.

“This is a good place, I think. I have to get one thing. I’ll be right back.” She kicked off her high-heels before scampering down the hallway to the supply closet. She couldn’t find anything resembling a blanket, but did find a red-and-white-striped tent used during the annual Street Fair as an information booth. It would have to do for now.

She spread out the tent over the floor in front of Koo’s tank, and then began laying out the food. “I know it’s not much, but at least we won’t have to leave a tip.”

“No, I like it,” Max said. He sat down next to her on the tent. “It’s so peaceful.”

“I come here sometimes when I need to get away from all the stress in my life. Watching Koo swim is so soothing.” She took a drumstick from the bucket to hide her blushing again for sounding so foolish. At any moment she expected Max to either break out laughing or run away.

“It is a beautiful fish.”

“She’s a mammal,” Sarah corrected. “Just like us.”

“Oh.” Now it was Max’s turn to blush. She hoped she hadn’t embarrassed him too much; the correction came to her as a reflex, something she couldn’t control.

“A lot of people make that mistake. It’s a really common misconception.” She patted his arm in what she hoped was a friendly way, but the redness in his cheeks increased. “I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s my fault. I haven’t been on many dates.”

“Really?”

“I don’t have time. And most of the women in the audience are a lot older. Concert pianists aren’t like rock stars.”

“You don’t have a line of groupies wanting to get backstage after every concert?”

“No, usually just a few old women with their husbands or kids. Half of them don’t remember who I am.”

“I guess I don’t need to get jealous when you’re on the road, then, do I?” They both laughed, the laughter echoing through the empty halls of the aquarium. She and Max talked for hours, until the remains of the picnic had turned cold. She told him about growing up in North Carolina and then going to Miami to study marine biology, careful not to mention her sexual exploits. She told him about her first job in Orlando, where she worked with a killer whale calf that had been brought in. “Koo was helpless back then. I spent a week living by her tank to make sure she pulled through. It probably sounds strange, but after a while I came to love her like my own child.”

“I don’t think it’s strange.”

Sarah took Max’s hand to help him up. “Come on,” she said. “I want to show you something.”

She used her keys to open a set of doors next to Koo’s tank with a staircase leading up to the top of the tank. She opened another door at the top of the stairs to lead him onto a platform overlooking the tank. “Where are we?” Max asked.

“This is where we feed her.” She led Max over to the edge of the tank, where they could look down and see the killer whale as she navigated the habitat. Sarah found one of the feeding buckets and dangled it into the tank. “Watch this.”

She slapped the water with the bucket until Koo began to surface, blowing mist onto them. “Don’t be scared,” Sarah said.

When Koo stuck her nose out of the water, Sarah reached out to touch her and motioned for Max to do the same. Max hesitated a moment before laying his hand next to Sarah’s against Koo’s rubbery flesh. “Wow,” he said. Sarah gave Koo a pat before the whale dove beneath the water again. “That was amazing.”

When she straighted, Sarah found herself only inches from Max’s face. They stared at each other a moment before she leaned forward to kiss him on the lips. At first he tried to pull away, but then returned the kiss. With another guy she would begin undressing him or asking him back somewhere to fuck, but she didn’t want to do that with Max. She didn’t want to chance ruining the moment with the complexities of sex. This, she thought, must be love.