“That old?” George felt surprised. Willow had such ayouthfulness about her, it was hard to imagine her with someone that much older.
“Yes. I suppose Asher was old enough to be my father. I first met him as a student eons ago.” She looked at George with a curious expression. “You know, he was a teacher too.”
“What did he teach?”
“English lit. At Berkeley. I was young and idealistic and impressionable. His age didn’t bother me in the least ... not then, anyway.”
“Did it bother you later?”
“Only that he grew older faster. And then when he died, I was alone. Well, of course, I had Collin. That made a difference.” She brightened. “So you see why I said we are still young, George. Compared to Asher, we are young. With our whole lives ahead of us. So why think of yourself as old? I don’t know about you, but I plan to be around for about forty more years. Maybe more.”
George wasn’t so sure. It wasn’t that he had any health problems, but somehow he’d never imagined himself growing particularly old. In fact, he’d never expected to be as old as he was right now. And his age, combined with being put out to pasture with this early retirement, well, it just didn’t instill much confidence into what might be lurking ahead.
“I’m afraid our conversation has grown rather somber,” Willow said apologetically. “That’s probably my fault.”
George thought it was more likely his fault, but decided to try a new conversational topic. “It was interesting to see that Collin has his own apartment. I’m sure many fellows his age would be over the moon for that sort of freedom.”
She smiled. “Thankfully, Collin is a very sensible youngman. He doesn’t abuse his independence in the least. Not so far, anyway.”
“And he did point out that your apartment is right next door, so I expect he can’t get away with too much.”
“Yes. I was fortunate to be able to purchase the entire building, complete with several good rent-paying tenants in the shops below. And besides the apartments above, I also have a nice studio space.”
“It looks like you’ve done some improvements to the property.”
“After I did repairs to the exterior and created my gallery space downstairs, I remodeled two of the apartments into a larger single unit. Then Collin helped me to fix up the one he’s using. And I’m currently restoring two more for rentals.”
“All that renovation must be expensive.”
“Thanks to Asher’s insurance and selling my properties in San Francisco and Sausalito, well, it was all very doable. And it’s been therapeutic to release my creative energies.”
George told her a bit about how he’d restored his rental properties. “Although that was years ago. I haven’t done much more than repairs and general maintenance for the last twenty years.”
They continued to visit, exchanging information, getting acquainted ... until they noticed that the music had stopped and the coffeehouse was slowly vacating. “I think it’s time to go,” George told her. “Before they throw us out.”
“My goodness.” She stood and stretched. “I had no idea it was so late.”
When they got outside, it was raining hard. “Good thing I brought this.” George opened his umbrella, holding it over her and feeling somewhat self-conscious, but hoping it didn’tshow. “It appears I am able to escort you home in a fairly dry fashion, madam.”
“Thank you very much, kind sir.”
As they walked down the now-deserted sidewalk, George began to whistle an old song. Whistling wasn’t something he normally did, but nothing about tonight had fallen into the “normal” category.
“Are you whistling ‘Singin’ in the Rain’?” Willow suddenly asked.
“As a matter of fact, yes,” he admitted.
“I adore that old movie!” Now she began to hum along with him, and before long, they were both singing the lyrics as well.
“Here you go, my lady.” George made a mock bow in front of the stairs that led up to the apartments. “Thank you for a most memorable evening.”
“Thank you.” Lit by the streetlamp, she looked at him for a long moment and George suddenly wondered if she expected to be kissed. Good grief, he hoped not! Because, even if he wanted to kiss her—and he wasn’t sure—he had no idea how to go about it. It had been so long ... too long, perhaps.
“Good night,” he said quickly. Backing away, he lifted his umbrella and, without another word, rushed away. Had he missed an opportunity just now? Or had he wisely escaped what would’ve turned into an embarrassingly awkward moment? He argued back and forth with himself as he jumped over puddles and hurried toward home. Perhaps he would never know the answer to such frustrating questions. Perhaps it didn’t matter.
Because Willow West had probably figured out that Georgewas a very odd duck by now. Most likely, she was relieved to be rid of him. For all he knew, she was laughing about the whole thing right now. But wouldn’t that be for the best? George had spent most of his life avoiding intimate relationships. For good reason. So why change at this late stage of the game? Why tempt fate?
five
