Part 6 (1/2)
Edith then ordered a scotch old-fas.h.i.+oned and we waited interminably for Mordy to determine which was their kosher wine. He settled on a sparkling rose, and when finally our drinks came, I proposed a toast.
”To surviving another brutal Miami August!” I couldn't say summer because the heat and humidity would be hanging over us for another two months at least, but there was something particularly vicious about August, especially Sat.u.r.days when I had to work on the jobsite.
”And to your raise,” Mordy added, clinking his gla.s.s to mine again.
”I'll definitely drink to that.” July had marked my fourth year at the foundation, a period during which I'd gone from volunteer coordinator to Gisela's right hand. She relied on me more than ever to represent us in the business and government community when she couldn't be there herself, and had rewarded me with a generous raise. Not that generous is all that large in the nonprofit world, but I can't complain about having a couple hundred extra dollars every month. I need to find a new car-or more likely, a reliable used one-preferably before Sally gives up the ghost on I-95 during rush hour.
The notion of car shopping always made me think of Mari Tirado, who advised me to buy something new to drive and sign an apartment lease as a prelude to walking away from my mortgage. I'd found myself thinking about her a lot at first after her community service stint last May, imagining how nice it would be if she called and asked to get together. But then she hadn't, and after three months I'd gotten the message I knew all along. Being lesbians was about the only thing we had in common, and it wasn't nearly enough.
”You'd never guess who called us the other day,” Edith said.
Mordy grunted. ”I thought we decided we weren't going to tell her.”
”We have to tell her. Daphne's our friend.”
This couldn't possibly be good, especially since I put together immediately who it had to be. ”If it's who I think it is, I don't even want to know.”
”You were too good for her,” Mordy said, patting my hand.
”Why on earth would Emily call you?”
”She wanted to know how everyone was.”
”I hope you told her I sold the place for half a million to a Peruvian billionaire and moved away.”
”I did better than that. I told her you seemed happy.”
Take that, Jenko. I hadn't actually thought about her much over the summer, not since I'd decided to break my habit of taking her name in vain because it meant she was popping into my head all day every day. But I can't honestly say I'm totally over Emily because the mention of her name still has the ability to stir something inside, even if it's only irritation.
”She's coming to Miami next week and asked if Mordy and I wanted to join her for dinner...and anyone else who wanted to come along.”
”Seriously? I'd rather eat with Rush Limbaugh.”
Mordy snorted. ”Maybe we can get him too. I think he has a house up in West Palm.”
”She also said she wasn't with that woman anymore. They broke up and the woman moved to Seattle.”
That hit me harder than I would have liked. While it was satisfying to hear the gra.s.s wasn't greener with her co-worker after all, it also interested me to hear Emily was single again. The trouble with nostalgia, of course, is that it comes with blinders. Whereas my emotional side wanted to dwell on how we spent the first night in our new condo camping out on the bedroom floor, my rational side was yelling that she's the Devil's Sp.a.w.n.
”I hope she stuck Emily with a big fat mortgage.”
”Anyway...Mordy and I said we'd meet her at the Wynwood Kitchen and Bar.” That was always Emily's favorite spot, a trendy place with great food that doubled as an art gallery. I hadn't been back since she left.
”I hope you have a fine time, but count me out.” Even as I said it, I had an undeniable urge to be a fly on the wall for the evening. The thought of seeing Emily humbled and groveling actually made her more appealing than she'd been in a long time.
We paid the check and continued our walk down the outdoor mall to Drexel Avenue, where we cut over to the gra.s.sy area in front of the magnificent home of the New World Symphony. Already, hundreds of concertgoers dotted the lawn across from the towering wall that would soon display a live feed of the performance inside the state-of-the-art concert hall. These regular free Wallcasts not only brought the symphony to the ma.s.ses, but also created a sense of community for all of us who mingled on the lawn to strains of cla.s.sical music. I have to admit it's one of the coolest things about Miami.
Mordy had us pick up our chairs and move twice because the groups around us were boisterous, and he worried they'd talk and play around throughout the concert. We finally found what felt like the perfect place off to the side, where the only people near us were four Hispanic women-two couples, I realized by the way they were leaning against one another. They were lounging on a blanket and talking softly over a bottle of red wine they kept hidden on account of the local law against open containers.
A couple of years ago that might have been Emily and me with friends. If we had worked together on it, I really think we could have navigated this crazy town and made it home, eventually adapting to its Latin culture. There were plenty of Anglos in the crowd tonight, so it wasn't as if a pair of New Englanders could never fit in.
The idea of seeing her again for dinner was more intriguing than my initial reaction might have suggested. There really was something to the old saying that living well is the best revenge, and while I wasn't exactly dining every night on stone crab, I was a h.e.l.l of a lot better off than she was, dumped on her b.u.t.t in the Geriatric Capital of Florida. Proving to her in person she hadn't destroyed me had some appeal.
Who was I kidding? The fact that Emily was single again cast her in a whole new light, especially since she was the one reaching out. I hadn't forgotten we used to love each other or that we'd planned a life together for better or worse. I never expected worse would include a couple of years of her living with another woman, but it wasn't totally out of the question that I could get over it if she worked hard at regaining my trust. It was obvious she was still interested.
What am I, crazy? More like desperate and pathetic. Emily wasn't poking around back here in Miami because I'm her one true love. She was just looking for someone to break her fall and thought of me because I've been such a perfect patsy so far.
Excitement rumbled through the crowd as the wall-seven stories tall-lit up with the image of the conductor taking his place at the podium. In honor of Labor Day, tonight's performance kicked off with Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man before settling into the main program, an upbeat pairing of Haydn's Surprise Symphony and Vivaldi's Four Seasons: Autumn. Thanks to my parents' insistence on piping cla.s.sical music throughout the house twelve hours a day for my entire life, I'm able to antic.i.p.ate every note.
”Sorry we're late,” a woman whispered nearby. The lesbians began to chatter excitedly at the new arrivals, alternating between Spanish and English-Spanglish, we call it-as if it were their own special language.
Mordy shushed them. ”Zip it! We didn't come all the way out here to hear you.”
I was too embarra.s.sed even to look their way, but I couldn't argue with his results, since the group went stone quiet and stayed that way until the intermission.
”Sorry if we bothered you. I promise we'll be quiet through the second half.” The husky voice sent my stomach into a spin.
”Mari?”
”Oh, wow! Daphne.” She gave me the same look of trepidation as when I'd walked up on her with Carlos Moya at the c.o.c.ktail party, and I realized she probably didn't want her friends to know how she knew me.
”I thought I'd run into you again at one of the Chamber of Commerce events. Business must be really good if you're too busy to drum up more.”
She looked amazing in black tights with a sleeveless tunic and chain belt. Her hair draped around her shoulders the way it had at the Four Seasons affair.
”I'm staying busy enough. I guess you are too, at least that's what I hear from Pepe. He likes being on your board, by the way.”
By now, the other girls had lost interest in our conversation, as had Edith and Mordy, all apparently satisfied we were work a.s.sociates of some sort. I followed Mari as she stepped out of earshot.
”I got my record expunged, so I'm no longer a felon. Thanks for all that.”
”I didn't do anything but sign your paperwork, but I'm glad things worked out.”
She looked around me at Edith and Mordy. ”Your folks?”
”My neighbors. They're great entertainment on a budget, even without the music.” I returned her curiosity with a glance toward the person she had arrived with, a thin-faced woman wearing a midriff top that showed off a belly tattoo and navel ring. ”Your girlfriend?”
She winced before cracking a smile that showed off her adorable dimple. ”I wouldn't go that far.”
”She's very pretty.”
”So are leopards, but never turn your back on one.”
I snarled and hissed like an angry cat, which made us both crack up.
”You're letting your hair grow,” she said. ”Looks nice.”