Todd’s tub was enormous, more than big enough to accommodate two feisty lovers. They cavorted in the bubbles like naughty children.
“I’ve never kissed a man with a bubble beard,” Amy said. “I like it.”
“Then I’ll grow one.”
“A bubble beard?”
“Certainly. I’ll do anything for my China doll.”
“Anything?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Then pass the soap. You’re hogging it.”
“You’re easy to please. You could have kingdoms laid at your feet, and you ask for soap.”
“You haven’t heard the rest. I want you to scrub my back.”
“Here?”
“Yes. There ... and there ... And oh, yes. there.”
“What about here?”
“Todd! That’s not my back.”
“Didn’t I tell you? I don’t know back from front.”
“A convenient disability.”
“Handy.”
“Wonderful.”
“Downright sinful.”
“Positively ... hmmmm, Todd.
They stayed in the tub until Amy declared she had shriveled to a prune. Todd said wickedly that he ate prunes for breakfast. She told him that it would soon be breakfast and not dinner if they didn’t quit horsing around. He said he never knew horses had so much fun. She swatted him with a towel.
Amy dressed in Todd’s shirt and he wore the jeans. In the kitchen, dinner preparation became a bawdy romp.
“Stir this, Amy.”
“But that’s steak.”
“I know. Stir it anyway.”
“Why?”
“Because you jiggle when you stir.”
“How do you know?”
“You jiggled the night we cooked Chinese food.”
“You rascal. You weren’t cooking; you were watching me.”
“Guilty.”
“Is that why you were squeezing the egg rolls?”
“Just be quiet and stir the steak, Amy.”
After dinner Todd told Amy he was going to give her an introduction to his bed. She said she had already been properly introduced. He said he wanted to give her an improper introduction.
He did.
o0o
“Wake up. Amy.”
She pried one eye open. “I just got to sleep,” she said.
“Hurry or we’ll miss the sunrise.” Todd pulled her out of bed and stood her on her feet. He laughed when she threatened to topple. “Upsy daisy, sailor,” he said as he steadied her. “You’ll have your sea legs in a minute.”
She peered groggily around. “Sea? I thought this was your bedroom.”
“It is. But in a jiffy we’ll be on the boat. Run upstairs and get your swimsuit.”
“Run?” She yawned. “I can barely stand. Is this a sane weekend affair or a survival contest?”
“Neither. It’s love.” He picked up her purse and rummaged in it for her keys. “Tell me where you keep your swimsuit.”
“In my bedroom.” She sank onto the bed. “Closet.” She lay down. “Top shelf.” She pulled the covers over her head.
“I’ll be back in a jiffy.”
“Don’t hurry on my account.” She was asleep again before he got to the front door.
o0o
A short time later, Amy marveled that she was actually wide awake on Todd’s boat watching the sunrise.
“It’s gorgeous,” she said. “I wouldn’t have missed it for anything in the world.”
“That’s not what you told me half an hour ago.”
“What did I tell you?”
“You said you would kill for another hour of sleep.”
“I didn’t know what I would be missing.”
She turned her face to the east and watched the flamboyant sun preen itself in the mirror of the Gulf. Brilliant pools of red spilled across the waters. Gold, so bright it almost hurt the eyes, gilded the waves and burnished the sails.
Without realizing it, Amy was a part of the morning beauty. Todd stood transfixed as the sun made her skin glow. With her fair hair and blue swim-suit, she seemed to be one with sun and sea. A sense of well-being washed over his soul, and he knew he was experiencing a moment that would be forever engraved in his memory.
After the colors had faded from the water and the sun had risen above the horizon, Amy told him, simply, “Thank you. I’ll always treasure this moment.”
“The best is yet to come.” He lowered her to a blanket.
“What about other boats?”
“This cove is secluded. It was designed especially for us.” He peeled away the rest of her skimpy suit and tossed it onto the deck.
Only nature witnessed what happened next.
Afterward Todd sailed into shallow waters and moored the sloop. Taking nets, they climbed over the side and trapped enough crabs for breakfast. Todd built a fire on the beach, and they carried on in the tradition of newfound lovers while their food steamed.
“I hope this day never ends,” Amy said while they were enjoying their morning’s catch.
“It doesn’t have to. Marry me, Amy.”
She ate three more bites of crab before answering.
“I can’t.”
“Give me one good reason why not.”
“Be—”
“If you say ‘because,’ I’m going to leave you stranded in this cove.”
She laughed. “I love you, Todd.”
“Say that again.”
“I love you.”
“That’s all the answer I need. We’ll have a big family wedding. You’ll love my brothers. In fact, you’ll meet them next Tuesday. I’m having a small party—”
“I didn’t say yes.”
“To the proposal or to the party?”
“Both.”
“You said you loved me.”
“It’s not the same thing.”
“Yes, it is.”
She pushed aside her paper plate of steamed crab and stood up. “This is all happening too fast, Todd. I need more time.”
He was silent as she paced the beach. “I hadn’t even meant to say ‘I love you.’ It just popped out. I guess I wasn’t fully aware of it myself until this very moment.” She stopped pacing and dug her toes into the sand, staring down at the small indentations she was making. “I can’t say yes right now, Todd. Please don’t push me.”
He stood swiftly and pulled her into his arms. For a long while, he rocked her in the cradle of his embrace.
They sailed back to the dock, subdued. Silently, they sat side by side in the boat communicating a thousand thoughts with their clasped hands.
Amy suggested they spend the rest of the weekend in her apartment.
“Who knows,” she said half in jest, “after seeing what a disorganized woman I am, you might change your mind about wanting to marry me.”
“Never,” he said as he followed her inside. He stubbed his toe on a hammer when he said it.
“See what I mean?”
He bent over and rubbed his toe. “My oldest brother, Jeff, is always telling me I need more adventure in my life.”
“You’ve come to the right place. If you’re lucky, Aunt Syl might even hang you out the window.”
“I can hardly wait.” He carefully made his way between the toolbox and the birdcage. The lone seascape on the wall had caught his attention.
Amy watched him studying the painting. She loved the way he stood, his body relaxed, his expression serene. He seemed to have infinite patience. She wondered if she had made a mistake in saying no to him. She loved him. There was no denying that. How long she had loved him she couldn’t be sure. Perhaps she had loved him from the moment she had seen him standing beneath her window, a trick played by the Sunday Cove legend. Perhaps the love had been growing all along without her awareness. She thought that sometimes love was like that—a subtle flourishing rather than a sudden attack.
She gazed at the painting. Tim’s painting. A few short days ago when she had put away his paintings, she had never dreamed she would be saying she loved another man.
“How did he die?” Todd asked the question without turning around.
“He drowned.” Saying the words aloud was almost a catharsis for Amy. She crossed the room and stood beside Todd, looking up at the painting. “Ironic, isn’t it, that the one thing he loved most in the world finally claimed his life.”
Todd reached out and squeezed her hand.
“He was always painting water,” she continued. “He used to say it had many moods and he wanted to capture them all. The sea was almost his obsession.” Now that she had released the words, they flowed out. The more she talked about her husband’s death, the better she felt.
“He could sit for hours, sometimes never lifting his brush, simply gazing across the water. Now that I remember those times. I think I was a little jealous. I guess I never fully understood Tim.”
“Does anyone ever fully understand another person?” Todd asked quietly. “Man is a complex creature, seen through a glass darkly.”
She turned an appreciative look in his direction. “Sometimes you surprise me. You have the soul of a poet.”
“Borrowed phrases.”
“When you say them in that magnificent voice, you make them your own.”
He pulled her into his arms. “Does that mean the woman loves me?”
She gave him a dazzling smile. “Why don’t you find out?”
“Why, Madame, you shock me, stuffy old judge that I am. It’s high noon.”
“What better time for love?”
She took his hand and led him into her bedroom. She flipped a switch on the headboard of her bed and the soft strains of “I’m in the Mood for Love” filled the room.
“Can I trust this bed?” Todd asked. The question was purely rhetorical. As he watched, Amy shucked her T-shirt and swimsuit and hopped into the middle of the bed. She looked so glorious sitting there naked, sun-polished and golden, that he wouldn’t have cared if the bed had disturbed the entire town of Sunday Cove.
“The bed is trustworthy. I’m the one you should be worried about.”
“That sounds ominous.” His own T-shirt and swimming trunks fell in a heap on the floor.
“Be forewarned,” she said, stretching her hand out to him. He captured it and placed a lingering kiss in her palm.
“Do you plan to throw a window box in my direction?”
“No. I have other things in mind for you.”
“Why don’t you show me?”
She trailed her fingers along his chest. “This could take some time. Maybe the rest of the day.”
“How about the rest of my life?”
Amy still wasn’t ready to answer that question so she kissed him, instead, and they were lost in their own world.
While they loved, the bed played on. Unheeded by them, the music changed tempo. “I’m in the Mood for Love” sputtered to a halt and was replaced by a raucous blaring of trumpets.
“Do you hear music?” he murmured as he brushed her damp hair off her temple.
“Could be. Every time I’m near you, I hear music.”
“Sounds like trumpets.”
“Hmmm. Angel trumpets.”
“The best kind.” His hands bracketed her face. “I love you. Amy Logan.”
“And I love you, Judge Todd Cunningham.” She leaned down and pressed her mouth to his.
“Do you hear a loud banging?” he said against her lips.
“I think it’s my heart.”
“I think it’s the door.”
“Keep kissing and ignore it. I’m not expecting company.”
“Amy.”
“Hmmm?”
“I hear the door and trumpets.” Suddenly he stiffened. “It’s the bed again.”
Amy sat bolt upright. The bed was playing “Dixie,” and she started giggling. “Stand up and salute, Todd.”
“I already did that.”
She swatted him on the rump. “You call that saluting?”
He grinned wickedly. “What would you call it?”
“Heavenly.”
He laughed and rolled out of bed. “One of us has to answer the door.”
“It’ll probably be a firing squad this time. You go.”
“I never have my judicial robe when I need it.” Todd pulled on his damp swimsuit and raked a hand through his tousled hair. “How do I look?’
“Like you’ve spent the afternoon in bed.” She flicked off the music. “What will you tell them?”
“That I’ve spent the afternoon in bed.” He headed for the door.
“Todd!” she called, but he had already disappeared.
Amy sat in the middle of the tumbled covers and waited. Though she cocked her head toward the door, she couldn’t hear a thing. She chuckled. What would he tell the neighbors? If she hadn’t been stark naked, she would have strolled through the sitting room to eavesdrop.
The minutes ticked by. When her curiosity had reached the explosion point, he strolled back into the bedroom.
“I’m dying to know what you told the neighbors,” she said.
“Oh, this and that.”
She thought his smile was perfectly outrageous. “Todd! Tell me.”
“I’ll tell you this much: the neighbors will never complain about this bed again. As a matter of fact, they’re liable to stand up and salute the next time it plays ‘Dixie.’ “
Amy turned bright pink all over. “You didn’t tell them ...”
“Last one in the shower has to scrub my back.” He disappeared into the bathroom and was already under the water, humming, by the time Amy arrived.
“Scrub your back, indeed,” she grumbled as she squeezed into the tiny stall beside him. “That wasn’t even a fair challenge.”
“Use lots of soap, Amy. I’m partial to soap.”
She washed his back with unnecessary vigor. “Did you say we were ...”
“You missed a spot.”
“You didn’t mention ...”
“A little to the left.”
She threw the washcloth at his back. “You’re mean. Scrub your own back.”
He turned around and squeezed her to his chest. “Do you know what happened to the cat, Amy?”
“The one that put me in the courtroom?”
“No. Just any old cat.”
She peppered leisurely kisses across his chest before she answered him.
“What happened to the cat, Todd?”
“You’re making me forget.”
“Finish the story. You know how I love your stories.”
“Curiosity”—he bent and flicked his tongue in her ear—”killed”—he stooped to nuzzle her neck— “the cat.” He captured her lips.
She pulled away. “How did it die?”
“Now who’s being mean?” He pulled her roughly back to him. “I’ll show you.”
And he did.
A small eternity later he let her slide back down his body until her feet touched the shower floor.
“Lucky cat,” she sighed.
o0o
They called Aunt Syl that evening.
“She always stays at the Waldorf,” Amy told Todd as she dialed the number.
The phone rang three times with no answer. She began to feel anxious.
“Answer,” she pleaded. Her eyes were enormous as she looked up at Todd. “She was tired the other evening when she came home from the concert.”
“I’m here.” He put his hands on her shoulders and massaged the back of her neck. “Don’t borrow trouble, love.”
Aunt Syl answered on the sixth ring, and Amy went limp with relief.
“Aunt Syl! Where on earth have you been?”
“To Saks and Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s. You should have seen the dinner I had at Tavern-on-the-Green. I’ve been to Broadway and Central Park. I ate hot dogs and listened to a street concert. You sound breathless, dear. What’s the matter with you?”
“Nothing.” Amy looked up at Todd and smiled. “It’s so good to hear your voice. How are you?”
“The same as I was day before yesterday: chipper as a grasshopper and twice as feisty as most women my age. Is Todd there with you?”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you wasting your time talking to me? Can’t you two think of something more exciting to do?”
“We already have.”
Aunt Syl’s laugh was so hearty, even Todd heard it. “Well, if you’ve run out of ideas, turn to page 88 in my last book. That ought to keep you busy for a while.”
“You’re a naughty senior lady.”
“I know. But at least I’m not dull. ‘Bye, Amy.”
“Take care, Aunt Syl.” Smiling, Amy cradled the receiver. “She’s all right,” she told Todd.
“From what I gathered, she’s more than all right. Your Aunt Syl is a remarkable woman, Amy.”
“I wish she could live forever.”
Todd looked into the face of the woman who had loved and lost so often. First her parents and then her husband. He wanted to protect her from sorrow, shield her from loss, but he knew he couldn’t. Life dealt bad cards along with the good. The best anyone could do was try to stay in the game.
He put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed.
“Do you know what I wish?” he asked.
“What?”
“I wish I had a double fudge sundae with three scoops of whipped cream. How do you feel about a quick visit to Clara’s Cafe?”
Amy beamed. “At last! I thought you would never get around to food.”
“Can I help it if the lady distracts me?”
o0o
The moon made dappled shadows across the musical bed. Amy tossed about, her sleep disturbed by a dream. It was the same dream she’d had since childhood. The characters changed but the setting was always the same. She was standing in a thick fog, reaching out for people who were no longer there, her parents, gone since she was a child, and Todd, forever lost to her in the mists.
Tonight the dream was particularly disturbing. Todd was the one who stood out of reach in the fog. She ran toward him, her hands outstretched, and found herself clutching emptiness. He would reappear, and once more she would reach for him. Thick fog would separate them again.
“No,” she moaned in her sleep.
Todd was instantly awake. “Amy?” He raised himself on an elbow and looked down at her sleeping face, twisted in pain as she mutterd no, no, no. He cradled her close and stroked her face. “I’m here, love. I’m here.”
“Todd?” She opened her eyes and clung to him. “Thank heavens, you’re all right.”
He brushed her hair back from her forehead. “Of course I’m all right. You just had a bad dream, love.”
“You were there in the fog and I couldn’t find you. You kept disappearing ... like my parents ... like Tim.” Her nails dug into his back.
“Do you want to talk about it, Amy?”
“Just hold me, Todd. Hold me.”
He held her until she fell asleep. But he stayed awake a long time pondering the significance of her dream.
Amy was subdued the next morning. As they prepared breakfast he wondered at the way she seemed to ease around him, avoiding touching.
“Is anything wrong, Amy?”
“It’s Sunday. You’ll be leaving today.”
He laughed. “I’ll only be going downstairs.” He crossed the kitchen and put his hands on her shoulders. “And if I have my way, you’ll be coming with me.”
“I can’t.”
“Why live in separate apartments when we love each other? Besides, we need to be together so we can plan a big family wedding.”
“I can’t.”
“If you keep saying that, I’m going to develop a complex.”
“I won’t be moving in with you, Todd.”
Her face was set and pale, and he felt a small prickle of fear. His attempted laugh was hollow.
“All right. Since you’re such an old-fashioned woman, you can wait until after the wedding before moving in.”
She lifted her hand as if warding off disaster. “Please don’t talk about weddings, Todd.” She shrugged out of his grasp and turned her back to him.
The small prickle of fear became full-fledged alarm. “Okay. I’m being pushy. I admit it. It’s just that I see no point in waiting since we love each other.”
She made no reply.
“You do love me, don’t you, Amy?” he asked quietly.
Clenching her fists behind her back, she turned to face him. “We’ve had a lovely weekend affair. Let it go at that.”
“I won’t accept that. What we’ve had is more than a weekend affair.”
“You have to accept it. I was wrong about—” She stopped and bit her lower lip. Telling this lie was going to be the hardest thing she ever had to do.
“Go on.” His voice had an edge of steel in it.
“I was wrong about loving you. I made a mistake.”
“You could have fooled me.”
She turned her hands palms-up in an eloquent attempt at nonchalance. “So ... I enjoy making love. My body sometimes says things my heart doesn’t mean.”
“Say the words, Amy.”
“What words?”
“Say, ‘Todd, I don’t love you.’ “
“Todd, I ...” Her resolve faltered as she looked at his face. How could she deny love when whole being was telling this could be a true soul mate?
“You can’t say it. Let’s talk this out, Amy.”
“Please just go.”
Seeing how distraught she was, Todd mentally kicked himself. What she needed was understanding, not high-handed treatment.
“I’m sorry, Amy. I didn’t mean to upset you. Let’s just sit down and discuss this over a cup of hot tea. We’re two sane adults. There’s no problem between us that can’t be resolved.”
“It’s not between us. It’s me. I can’t handle this relationship.”
“What we had is too good to be shrugged off so lightly.”
“It was good while it lasted, Todd, but it’s over. Finished.”
“I’ll go, Amy. I’ll give you time—”
“I don’t need time. My decision is final. I’ll never change my mind.”
“Never say never.”
Watching him leave was one of the hardest things she’d done in a long while. Even after he was gone, she stared at the closed door, half hoping he’d change his mind and come back.
And then what, Amy Logan? You take what you want and send him packing again?
She wondered if she was turning into a selfish woman.