Sassafras, Part 69


Rick


“God damn it!” In all the time I’d known Joan, which admittedly wasn’t all that long, I don’t think I had ever heard her say anything worse than shit. I looked over to see what was wrong. Joan was walking back from the kitchen with a couple of sodas.

“What happened?” I asked as she handed me a can.

She sighed and held her left hand in front of me. “I broke a nail opening my soda.”

“Oh, my God! Call 911! I thought it was something serious.”

“You obviously don’t know how much a manicure costs in Manhattan. Oh well. I guess I’ll have to learn to live without certain luxuries. No more manicures, no more slice and a Coke from Gino’s Pizza. No more dropping my laundry off at the cleaner on the corner by the subway station. I’m going to have to wash my own clothes," she pouted.

“I didn’t know you were so spoiled.”

“I’m not spoiled!”

“You said you were earlier. You never have to cook and you don’t even wash your own laundry, but you think you’re not spoiled?”

“Well, most of my work clothes are dry clean only. Besides, the apartment building I live in doesn’t have a laundry room, and there isn’t room in my apartment for even the smallest washer. I’m not going to spend two hours a week in some smelly laundry mat just to wash my pajamas.”

“Okay, maybe you’re not spoiled. Not very spoiled at least. Maybe just pampered.”

“Pampered? I should get my planner and show you a day in the life of Joan in New York. I don’t feel very pampered by the time I get home.”

“Well, you will be when you move here.”

“And how would you pamper me?”

“Oh, I don’t want to spoil the surprise.”

“I don’t guess you want to start by giving me a manicure?”

“Not unless you want it to look like a drunken monkey with epilepsy did it.”

“I don’t think so. Let me go look through Jenny’s stuff and see what she’s got. I’ll be right back.” She kissed me then stood up and walked down the hall. A few minutes later she came back and set a make-up bag on the coffee table. She pulled out a cotton ball and soaked it in nail polish remover. I remembered how irritated I used to get when Dana did her nails back when we were still living together. I used to throw a fit like a little baby because I didn’t like the smell of acetone. That was the reason I quit working in the wood shop in prison. That smell drove me crazy, but now it brought back memories of having a home, a family. It made the whole evening seem more complete, more whole. Like this was home, like she was really mine. Forever. I remembered sitting in the driveway, daydreaming about the same thing. Now, as I sat watching her turn each nail a deep red, I was starting to think it might really happen.

At least she wasn’t still worrying about my health. That had thrown me for a loop. She was the one whose life expectancy was in danger and she didn’t even know it. I needed to stop pretending everything was normal, stop just expecting everything to work out. I should have gone home as soon as I left Tanner’s and not left until I found out who Hollywood was. Instead I raced back to Joan’s house as fast as I could. And now I was sitting here, watching TV, like it was just any normal day. I needed to find out who Hollywood was. Why did he kill Jenny? Matt said she started swinging at Hollywood with a pool cue, like she started the fight, but why would she attack a county patrolman? That made even less sense than anything else I’d found out so far.

The ringing of the telephone shook me back to reality. Joan talked for a few minutes, then smiled as she walked back after hanging up the phone, leaned over and kissed me. Her hands on my shoulders pushed me back against the couch. That caught me by surprise. She sat straddling my lap and kissed me again. “I have wonderful news,” she whispered, leaving soft kisses in a slow trail to my ear. “That was Bill. The roads are so bad school’s closed tomorrow.”

That was supposed to be good news? I had been consoling myself with the thought of having Joan all to myself tomorrow while Bill was in school, but now we were going to have company all day. It wasn’t fair. Not fair at all. Definitely not wonderful news. And I don’t know if she was trying to drive me insane on purpose, but the way she was snuggled right up next to me was doing a good job of it. I bit back an unhappy sigh. “That’s great. What are the two of you going to do?”

“Well, Bill’s going to go sledding at the park with his friends. I’m not sure what I’m going to do.” She turned slightly to reach a spot on my neck. Maybe tomorrow wouldn’t be a total waste after all. “As a matter of fact, they want to leave so early in the morning he’s going to spend the night across the street.”

“Really?” Yes, now that I thought it over maybe a snow day was a good thing after all. Kissing her neck sounded like a good idea, too.

“Really. We’re going to be all alone, all night long. We can do anything we want.”

“Anything?” I ran my hands around her hips, pulling her closer so she could feel what was on my mind. It was time to start celebrating. Joan was staying. She was mine, all mine.

“Anything,” she purred in my ear. “Whatever you want. As long as you want me.”

Oh, I did. I couldn’t think of anything else. I couldn’t think at all. I didn’t want to think. I didn’t need to. I turned, laying her down on the couch. Even with all our clothes on, the feel of her body against mine, her fingers unbuttoning my shirt, her legs wrapped around my waist, was almost unbearably wonderful. She pulled her shirt over her head, and the way she moved against me felt so good I could hardly breathe. I sat up and started unzipping my pants while she tugged off her sweatpants.

By the time I realized I forgot to put on a condom, again, it was too late. Way too late. We were both sweaty and exhausted, stretched out on the floor like a couple of lovesick teenagers with more hormones than brain cells. “Shit. Damn it,” I muttered and sat up, leaning against the couch, running my hand through my hair.