Gerri Hill - One Summer Night

She watched a cardinal land on her empty bird feeder and frowned. She had forgotten to buy birdseed again. The ringing of the phone echoed in the house and she shut her eyes, not wanting to talk to anyone. She knew it was Betsy, wanting to know all about last night, and she wasn't ready to talk about it. She might never want to talk about it. After three rings, the machine picked up. She let her mind go blank as she focused on the rushing water and the hungry cardinal pecking at her empty bird feeder.

Her beer finished, Jo went back inside and stood before the answering machine. She had intended to ignore it, but the flashing light beckoned her and she pushed the “play”

button, her heart hammering in her chest. She expected to hear Kelly's voice, and she wasn't at all sure she wanted to.

She needn't have worried. None of the messages were from her. Betsy had called four times, and Susan Gruber, her 37

dean from the college, had called, inviting her to a barbecue the next weekend. She didn't know if she was glad Kelly hadn’t called or disappointed that she hadn’t bothered.

Perhaps Kelly was used to these one-night stands. Maybe she was feeling none of the anguish Jo felt.

Walking into her bedroom, she saw her clothes, still lying on the floor from the night before. She stopped, raising her eyes to the ceiling.

"Oh, God."

She gathered the clothing quickly and shoved it all into the hamper. Out of sight, out of mind, she thought.

The phone rang again, and this time she picked it up.

"Jo? Where have you been?" Betsy demanded.

"At Harry's.”

"I've been calling since early this morning," she retorted.

"Yeah, well I went early this morning," Jo lied.

"You didn't make the games," Betsy accused.

"I don't remember telling you that I was going today,"

she said dryly.

"Well, I just assumed. . . after last night."

Johanna let that pass and rolled her eyes to the heavens.

"How did they do?" she finally asked.

"They lost the first one, then won the next two and made it to the finals but lost five to four."

"Oh.”

She wanted to ask how Kelly had done but bit her tongue. She shouldn’t even care.

"Listen, we're going out to Adam’s Ribs for barbecue this evening. Why don't you come along?"

"Oh, I don't know," she said. "It's too hot to stand in line.”

38

She was scared to death of seeing Kelly again, although she wondered if she had already left for San Antonio.

"Come on, it'll be fun. Bring some beer. You know they don't sell any.” When Jo didn’t respond, she added, “We'll stand in the shade."

Johanna finally agreed, against her better judgment. She chastised the part of her that wanted to see Kelly again, and prayed that she had already left town.

39

Chapter Four

Adam’s Ribs was crowded, even for a Sunday. Located some twenty miles south of Austin, it had the reputation for the best barbecue around. People waited outside under the cedars, milling around the coolers of beer they had brought, waiting for tables to empty inside. Hummingbird feeders hung from every tree, and ruby-throated hummers buzzed around, dodging people as they fought for a turn.

Johanna sat in the back seat of Betsy's car while they parked along the road; the parking lot was full. They had dumped their beer into one cooler, and Janis carried it into the crowd as they looked for familiar faces. Jo had not asked if Kelly was going to be there, and they had not offered the 40

information. She scanned the crowd, looking for their friends, spotted Kay and waved, then followed Betsy and Janis.

"Hey, you came," Kay said. "You missed some good ball today."

"I heard. Sorry you lost."

"We made it further than we thought we would. It was fun," she said.

Jo scanned the crowd, seeing Deb, Sharon, Mattie and a few others she knew. Her eyes stopped when she spotted Kelly talking to a very attractive blonde.

She looked away quickly, pretending interest as Kay, Betsy and the others talked about the last game.

"Man, Kelly came that close to scoring," Kay said, holding two fingers millimeters apart.

"Who's the girl with her?" Deb asked. Jo listened intently, ignoring Betsy's glance her way.

"I guess it's her girlfriend. She showed up for the first game and has been here all day."

Jo felt a sinking feeling in her stomach and busied herself with the cooler, digging a beer out from beneath the ice.

Girlfriend? Girlfriend? Good God, she had a girlfriend?

Why did this surprise Johanna? Of course a woman like Kelly would have one, wouldn't she? Oh, God! She had taken a stranger home from the bar, home to her house, and had made love with her all night long, and she had a girlfriend!

Oh, God! She rubbed her forehead and squeezed her eyes closed tightly. What have I done? I'm no better than Nancy, she thought. She took a long swallow of beer, trying to still her pounding heart, trying to ease her shaky stomach.

Christy came over, and Jo smiled absently at her as she downed the rest of her beer. She wasn't driving. She could 41

drink, she thought, as she reached into the cooler for another. Anything to quell the embarrassment she felt. Oh, God, what had she been thinking?

"Who's that with Kelly?" Betsy asked.

"Sherry. One of her girlfriends," Christy informed them.

One of them? Oh, God. Jo took a deep breath and smiled, pretending to be unaffected by their conversation.

"I think she's pretty much got her pick," Christy added.

"She goes out a lot. I always see her with someone new,"

Christy continued, oblivious to Jo’s discomfort.

"I would guess so," Betsy said. "She's gorgeous."

They don’t know the half of it, Jo thought. Thankfully, the conversation turned away from Kelly. Jo actually was amazed with herself. She managed to contribute some, all the while keeping her eyes firmly away from Kelly and her girlfriend, Sherry. She decided at that moment that remaining celibate the rest of her life wasn’t such a bad idea.

The line moved and they did also, shoving their coolers along with them. The sun was setting in the west, the air had cooled, and Jo was on her third beer. I should be at home, she thought, anywhere but here, where she had to shield her eyes from the sight of Kelly listening so intently to Sherry. Try as she might, she couldn't avoid looking at her. Kelly’s head was bent toward Sherry, and she spoke to her softly, a smile on her face. Sherry was blonde and beautiful, her hair flowing nearly to her shoulders, and she frequently touched Kelly's arm when talking. Why she had to touch her, Jo didn’t know. And her hair? Surely that wasn’t natural.

Jo watched them, remembering last night and all she had shared with Kelly Sambino. She watched her lips and she watched her hands, thinking of them touching her intimately. Oh, what a fool she had been! She hoped she had 42

learned her lesson, taking a stranger home from the bar, how dare she!

She looked back at Kelly and was startled to find her staring intently. Kelly turned and said something to Sherry, then made her way through the crowd toward her, her eyes never leaving Jo's. Jo wanted to turn away, but Kelly’s held her captive and she waited for her.

"How are you?" Kelly asked quietly, moving between Johanna and the others.

"I'm fine," Jo managed to say.

"I'm sorry I left like that, but I didn't want to wake you,"

she said softly, her dark brown eyes peering into Jo's. “Well, I did want to wake you,” she teased, “but then I would have been late for the game.”

Jo didn’t answer but she couldn’t look away from those eyes.

"I called a cab," Kelly offered.

Jo shrugged and finally turned away. God, how she remembered every detail of the night before, the intimacy they had shared washing over her. She clenched her jaw, then raised her eyes to Kelly. She wanted desperately to forget everything about last night.