She picks up the phone lying facedown on the table and glances at it, then replaces it. "His flight arrives in a few hours. I'll drive down to the valley and pick him up after we eat."
I adjust my seat and take a sip of water. "Are you excited?"
She captures her lips with two fingers and twists. After a moment, she lets go and says, "Yes. But I'm nervous too. What if this is it? What if he comes out here and decides he hates it? He might, you know." She picks up the small menu. "This feels like a turning point for us. I still can't believe I convinced him to leave work for a few days and come out here."
“What are you hoping for?” I ask her.
She stills, thinking about it. “That he’ll want to move to Arizona, work only eight hours a day, and we can have kids and settle down.” Her voice is small when she says it, like it’s the first time she’s spoken her hopes out loud.
Reaching across the table, I squeeze her hand. “Then that’s what you ask him for. Don’t settle.”
She grins, looking confident, and gives me a nod. I move the conversation along and ask her how it came to be that he decided to come out here, and what she will do with him while he is here. She says they're staying at a resort in Phoenix, and she's going to show him that Arizona isn't full of tumbleweeds like he thinks. We order lunch, and continue small talk.
"Let's talk about you," Livvie says, stabbing her fork into her chicken and hummus. "How are things with Owen?"
I cock my head to the side and poke at a crumble of feta cheese. "Well…"
"You rode a one-way train to pound town, didn't you?"
My face scrunches and I nod.
"I want details. Oh, Lord, please give me details. I need them." She hammers the table with one fist. "Needthem."
I laugh. "We went to dinner last night at my favorite place. A place that I would call 'our' place. Then we went back to his house—"
"Yeah you did," Livvie interrupts, eyebrows wiggling. "How many times?"
I’m quiet for a second before a full-on grin lights up my face.
"Three," I admit.
"Ahhhh," she whisper-yells. "Are you sore?"
"A little." As I say it, a small ache starts between my legs. "Why are you so curious? You've been married forever. This stuff is old news for you."
"Oh, girl. Just you wait. Married sex is boring. In five or ten years, other people's sexcapades will be interesting to you, too." She takes a bite, then asks, "Do you have real feelings for each other or was this just a physical thing?"
"Yeah," I say around a bite of food. "He told me this morning that it meant something to him."
"Hot damn," Livvie says, her voice awed. "Owen the oncologist is in love."
I spear a bite and lift it to my mouth. "Nobody said the L word."
Slow your roll, Livvie.
She gives me a withering look. "Nobody has to. You loved each other before, right? First time love is big stuff. It packs a punch." She grows quiet after she says it, and I know her mind has gone to her husband, her own first-time love.
We finish eating, and I wish Livvie safe travels on her way to pick up her husband from the Phoenix airport.Safe travelsreally means,I hope he gives you what you want.
And I'm certain Livvie understands that.
* * *
That night,I meet Owen at my front door. He looks tired from the day, but handsome as ever. I peek over my shoulder to be certain my mother isn't nearby, then wrap my hand around his neck and plant a fleeting kiss on his lips.
"I was hoping to catch you at my mom's chemo appointment," I murmur, stepping back and letting him in the house.
"Me too," he says, voice low. "All my appointments ran late today."
