51
Tandi changed her mind about going uptown to The Blue Note. Walking in the fresh, crisp night air with Jared at her side had done her a world of good. Without saying so, Jared was thinking the same. He didn’t need music to set the mood with Tandi. It had been set the minute she fell into his arms after that near miss, and now as they stood, shoulder to shoulder, leaning against the railing high above the skating rink in Rockefeller Center in the shadows of dazzling skyscrapers, he could not have been happier. It was after midnight and the streets of New York were still aglow with headlights. There were quite a few people, mostly couples meandering through Rockefeller Center enjoying the solitude of their own company. It was blissfully quiet and Jared gave it not a thought when he slipped his arm around Tandi’s waist.
“Are you cold?” he asked, his lips only inches from Tandi’s cheek.
Her shawl was wrapped snugly around her shoulders, but that wasn’t what was keeping Tandi warm. It was Jared. Not just his body. Him. Just being the Jared she had fallen in love with had warmed her to her core. No, she wasn’t cold. Not in the least. She answered him by resting her head on his shoulder.
Jared savored the moment until MJ came to mind. MJ would love to see them like this. “You know what I’ve noticed about MJ?” Jared asked.
“What?”
“When he’s happy, he laughs like you and cocks his head like me.”
“I know,” she said.
“The other day when he was kinda down, I asked him to tell me funny stories about you. That always makes him laugh.”
“I beg your pardon. What’s funny about me?”
“Believe me, according to MJ, plenty. He told me about the time you took him to Fresh Meadow Park and fell asleep on the grass, and ants crawled all over your legs and you woke up screaming.”
“That wasn’t funny. There must’ve been a thousand ants on me.”
“He said you were jumping around and screaming like a crazed clown and that you took his soda and poured it all over your legs. He said you were really funny.”
“Instead of helping me, the little monster laughed at me.”
“He’s still laughing at you,” Jared said, laughing at her himself. He could imagine how frantic she must have been, but his laugh was bittersweet. He stopped. “You never told me about that day.”
“By the time you got home, it was late.”
He deserved that. He could say nothing, and “I’m sorry” had worn thin.
Tandi looked out over the empty skating rink at the bigger-than-life golden statue of Prometheus, the Titan who stole skills and fire from Olympus and gave them to human beings. Tandi enjoyed reading Greek mythology in high school and used to wonder how man came up with such tales.
Another couple passed along the railing, but for Jared they didn’t exist. “Tandi, I want us back.”
Those words, this whole scene, Tandi never dreamed or fantasized about. Jared had always been her reality, never her fantasy. It had been up to the two of them to make their lives a dream. She wondered if it were possible for them to get back together to do just that.
Jared sensed that Tandi was standing with her toes at the line that she herself had drawn in the sand. He could see that she was afraid, but he wanted her to trust him. He wanted her to step over that line. He wanted to let her know that it was safe. He kissed her lightly on the lips. She let him, allowing him to think that she wanted what he wanted. He went to kiss her again—with more passion.
She turned her head aside. His lips touched her cheeks. He kissed her there.
“It’s too soon,” she said.
“It’s not too soon, if we both want the same thing.”
Maybe they did, but Tandi wasn’t about to let herself be rushed. Silent, she looked steadily at Jared as she eased along the railing, away from him. He got the message and following her, took his time closing the distance between them.
“I should be getting back.”
“I thought you said you weren’t in a hurry.”
“Carline gets off duty soon. I should be there.”
“Why don’t we call the house and ask her to stay a little longer? I’ll pay her overtime.”
“She offered to stay longer, but her day is pretty long as it is. I should get home.”
Now he felt let down. They were so close, but he didn’t want to show his disappointment by sulking. “I heard your father was giving the attendants a hard time.”
“Not Carline Hughes.”
“I met her tonight. She seems nice.”
“The others were nice, too, but my father sent them all packing posthaste.”
“So why is Carline still around? You think he likes her?”
“I doubt it. He doesn’t want any home health aide around him, but he knows I’ll kill him if he acts out again.”
“So he’s been behaving? He must really be scared of you,” Jared teased.
“He better be, but it’s really weird how well-behaved he’s been. He hasn’t talked back to me or Carline. In fact, he doesn’t say anything against Carline at all, and that’s surprising. He usually sees only the bad in everyone.”
“That’s the Glynn Belson I know.”
“Yes, but in her own quiet way, Carline seems to know how to handle him.”
“In other words, she has that outer calm and that inner strength?”
“Touché,” she said. “Maybe that’s why my father doesn’t mess with her.”
“That plus the fact that you threatened to put him in a nursing home.”
“Geez, I’m gonna have to have a talk with Miss Big-Mouth Daina.” She wondered what else Daina might’ve told Jared.
“Daina wants to see us back together.”
Tandi started walking faster. Jared quickly pulled her to a stop.
“Don’t run from us, Tandi.”
“I’m not. Jared, I have to get home.”
“Your father can hold his own for five minutes, it’s me who can’t. What Daina didn’t tell me was whether you still loved me. Do you?”
Tandi looked across the street at the traffic light. It was red. Now that she knew the truth, she couldn’t hold what Evonne did against Jared, and she couldn’t, in good conscience, blame everything that went wrong in their marriage on him. The traffic light flashed bright green.
Jared waited anxiously for Tandi’s answer. He remembered being this anxious when he asked her to marry him.
Tandi felt compelled to say what was in her heart. “Jared, I have never stopped loving you.”
Jared didn’t break into a smile, he didn’t shout out in his glee, and he didn’t grab Tandi and embrace her. What he did was gently lift her hand to his lips and kiss the soft warm center of her palm. The irony of it all was that he felt like he should be thanking the reckless driver who pushed Tandi back into his arms, back into his life.