“What’s the occasion?”
“No occasion. Haven’t you heard about my famous muffins and cupcakes. I bake them for everyone around here.”
He laughed before biting into one of them. I watched him chewing, studied his Adam’s apple as it rippled, and eagerly awaited his verdict.
He winced. “Not great.”
My eyes grew wide. “What?”
He laughed, a loud hardy chuckle. “Just teasing you. These are fantastic.” He indulged in another bite, and motioned me to the blue sofa in his living room. “Sit.”
I did as told, and studied his living room: a big television in the corner, a bookcase filled with books, a guitar hanging on the wall, and quite a few pictures of him fishing, or with Magnum.
“Where’s Magnum?”
“Oh, he’s with Sarah.”
“Who’s Sarah?”
“My ex-girlfriend. When we split up, we decided to share custody.”
I wondered where this Sarah lived, and what she looked like. I imagined an older version of Izzie. I wondered why they’d broken up. I wanted to ask, but I’d been nosy enough for one day.
I spotted Dean Koontz’sSole Survivoron his bookshelf, and stood to go inspect it closer. I held the hardcover in my hands, and carefully flipped through the pages. “Wasn’t this a great book?”
He smiled. “Sure was. You’re a Dean Koontz fan?”
“For sure.”
“You seem young to be reading him.”
I cleared my throat. “Not that young,” I almost purred. I shook my head, appalled at myself. I was obviously spending way too much time with Izzie.
I tucked the book back in its place, and studied the knick knacks on the shelves, amongst which were an old signed baseball, photos and a glass jar full of coins.
“So….” I said, at a loss for words.
“So….” he repeated.
I smiled shyly.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” he said, urging me to confide all my deepest secrets. I’ve never enjoyed talking about myself so I was at a complete loss for words.
“Cat got your tongue?” he teased.
I’m not sure what possessed me to say this, but my next words were, “I got my first period a few weeks ago.”
He froze and blanched for a beat, but recuperated fairly quickly. “Uh… that’s interesting, I guess. So how about them Red Sox?”
I was mortified. Why in the hell would I tell him that. “I… I was just telling you because Izzie’s mom made a whole big deal out of it. We had a ‘celebration of my womanhood.’”
He laughed out loud. “Right…”
“We had cheese and crackers and grapes.”
He shook his head, and offered me his hand. “Congratulations on your womanhood.”
“And… uh, congratulations on your manhood, I guess.”
