‘Agreed,’ she said, snagging a fried bit of powdered-sugar-coated dough off the end and popping it into her mouth.
Miraculously, one of six small tables had become free and he nodded towards it. ‘Want to sit for a moment?’
‘The mothers …’
‘Are scanning for deals. The coffee will stay hot.’
Dani sat, doctored her coffee with four packs of sugar and a small creamer. She ate another bit of dough.
‘So,’ he said, taking a deep breath. ‘Despite the obvious … life is good?’
She nodded after only a brief hesitation. ‘Yeah.’
He stared at her with those eyes. She noted the fairy rings of bright green around his irises. She’d forgotten about that.
‘That didn’t sound entirely convincing.’
It was her turn to shrug. She touched her topknot and tugged at a small piece of hair. A nervous habit she was entirely aware of and hated with a passion. ‘I guess I just feel in a rut, you know?’
‘I do.’ He ate a piece of dough and watched her but said nothing. She’d forgotten that too. How he always managed to pry things out of her that she never confessed to others.
‘I kept hearing this was a new Chapter in my life. Cut the dead wood, move forward, single woman with a passion for life, blah, blah, blah. And then …’ She laughed so loud she covered her mouth, embarrassed. ‘There’s my mother who’s got me convinced that I’m going to be either an old biddy with a house full of cats or miserable and alone and bitter if I don’t date like … yesterday.’
‘And you think?’
She sighed, taking a piece of the pastry but not eating it. She just held it like a talisman as she told him the absolute truth. ‘I think I need to do something entirely out of character and live something I’d never ever dreamed I would before I date. To be honest—’ She shook her head.
‘What?’
‘You’re like a hypnotist. Somehow, even after all these years, I spill my guts to you.’
He raised his hands palms up and winked. ‘It’s a gift.’
‘An evil gift,’ she said. But she barrelled on. ‘To be honest, I don’t know who I am at the moment. The years with Bob, the marriage ending, it all changed me. New job, no husband, bad years before the divorce was finalised. I’ve changed. I think I’d like to get to know me before I try to get to know someone else. Casual dating, sure. But something steady … not ready.’
‘So you’d like to step outside the box and do something you never thought you’d do?’
She grinned. ‘Yeah, I know it sounds stupid.’
‘Not at all,’ he said.
‘Good.’
‘And I think I might have just the thing for you …’
She opened her mouth to ask what when the mothers descended like two chattering birds. ‘There you are! There’s our coffee!’
They didn’t get a chance to talk again until the clothing exchange was over. The mothers took over, dragging them along to look at the wares, and Clara kept up a constant chatter, asking Dani a million questions.
When time was called and Dani had packed her chosen items and her mom’s in two separate bags, Chris helped her take the remaining clothes she’d brought that no one had taken and put them in the donation pile by the door. You had a choice: you could take your remaining stuff home or donate to the local clothing drive charity. Dani opted for the second, not wanting to haul the stuff home.
‘Those were some nice clothes,’ he said, eyeing the bags.
‘I’m kind of going for a Feng Shui kind of thing. If I don’t wear it, haven’t worn it in a year, or it doesn’t make me happy, I’m clearing it out. I’d rather they be put to good use.’
Clara and Helen had drifted out to wait in the parking lot, still catching up.
‘Sounds like you know more about yourself than you think,’ Chris said.
‘So tell me!’ she blurted. ‘Tell me what you have in mind. I’m dying to know but with Thelma and Louise hovering we couldn’t talk.’
He chuckled, reached out a hand and brushed a stray piece of hair from her eyes. ‘I told you I teach a night class.’
‘Yes.’ She drew the word out to show her growing impatience. ‘You don’t want me to paint, do you? Because, trust me, I’d be your first failure. I’d make you tear your hair out.’
He shook his head. ‘Nope. I need a model.’
She stood there, unsure of what to do or what to say. ‘A model?’
‘A nude model.’
‘A nude model!’
He pushed his hand over her mouth, laughing. ‘Don’t shout, Dani.’
When she inhaled she could smell the scent of him. It went right to her head like a drug. Chris somehow always managed to smell good. Even in the dreggy, soupy climate of an August in Maryland he’d always smelled good. Nothing had changed.
He looped his arm through hers and tugged her along toward the entrance. But they didn’t go out lest they be set upon by the mothers. That was how Dani was starting to think of them: the mothers. Almost like a horror-movie title. She giggled nervously.
‘Are you insane?’ she hissed by the door as the last of the attendees straggled past.
‘Nope. I’m perfectly sane. Look, you want to do something you’d never do. I need a beautiful model for my students to do a series of poses. It’s perfect. And it pays. You can use the money to restock your closet.’ He winked.
‘I … can’t. I mean … I couldn’t. That would be crazy.’ Her pulse pounded in her throat and she felt like her heart had lodged there.
‘No? See, I think you could.’
‘I …’
‘Just think about it,’ he said. ‘Give me your phone.’
Dani dug it out of her purse and handed it over without comment. He dialled a number and the phone in his pocket rang. He silenced it and then handed hers back.
‘There. Now you’re in my phone and I’m in yours. Just think about it. We can talk if you want. I can explain more.’
‘Christ,’ she said. ‘I’m thirty-two.’
‘You
