We are confused.
We are rebelling.
He is afraid of marriage.
I am afraid of being alone.
We are falling in love.
We are already in love.
And the most common: we have no idea.
This is the one I offer up. 'I don't know.'
'Neither do I,' he says softly. 'Should we talk about it?'
'Do you want to?'
'Not really,' he says.
I am relieved that he doesn't. Because I don't. I am too afraid of what we might decide. Either choice is scary. 'Let's not, then. Not now.'
'Then when?' he asks.
For some reason, I say, 'After July Fourth.'
It sounds arbitrary, but it has always been a benchmark of sorts, the summer midpoint. Even though more than half the summer is left after the Fourth of July, the part that follows is the faster half, the part that always flies by. June, although a day shorter, feels so much longer than August.
'Okay,' he says.
'No examining anything until July Fourth.' I state the rule clearly, as I would at the outset of a law-school exam. My voice is firm, even though I'm not sure what we've just decided. That we are finished as of July Fourth? Or maybe… no, he couldn't think that I meant that is when he would tell Darcy he can't go through with marrying her. No, that is not what we just decided. We simply decided to decide nothing. That is all.
Still, picking the date scares me. I picture a giant countdown of days, hours, minutes, seconds. Like the clocks set up in 1999 for the countdown to the new millennium. I remember watching the seconds roll off such a clock in the post office near Grand Central Station sometime in December. That clock made me nervous, frantic. I wanted to attack my to-do list, clear my desk of backed-up calls, finish it all immediately. At the same time, watching those numbers tick by paralyzed me. I had too much to do, so why do anything at all?
I try to calculate the number of hours left before July Fourth. How many nights we will have together. How many times we will make love.
My stomach growls. Or maybe it's his. I can't tell because I am flat against him. 'Are you hungry? We can order food,' I say, and kiss his chest. 'Or I can make us something.'
I imagine myself whipping up a tasty snack. I can't cook, but I would learn. I would make an excellent, nurturing wife.
He tells me that he doesn't want to waste time eating. He can get something on his way home. Or just go to bed hungry. He says he wants to feel me against him until it's time to leave.
The next day I ask Dex if there were any problems when he returned home. It is a vague question, but he knows what I am asking. He says that Darcy was not home when he got in, so he had time to shower, reluctantly wash me off him. He says that Darcy had left him a message: 'It's eleven and you're not answering your cell or your phone at work. You're probably having an affair. I'm going out with Claire.'
It is her usual tongue-in-cheek accusation when Dex works late. She asks him if he's having an affair, never believing that he would do such a thing. She changes the person every time, selecting a random female name from his office. The less attractive the woman, the more amused she is. 'I know you're in love with Nina,' she'll say, knowing that Nina is a chubby word processor from Staten Island with fake nails adorned with glitter art.
I think of Dex returning home last night. A whole scene unfurls in my mind-Dex stealing into his apartment, hurrying to shower and get in bed, waiting for the key to turn in the lock, pretending to be asleep when Darcy enters their room. She hovers over him, studying him in the dark.
'How was your date with Nina?' she asks in a wry, loud voice.
He wipes his eyes with his fists as people do on television when they're awakened from a sound sleep. 'Hi,' he says wearily and then pretends to fall back asleep.
She cuddles up to him in bed, tossing out an 'I love you.'
His jaw clenches, but he says it back. What choice does he have? He falls asleep thinking about me. Thinking that her chin is too sharp against his chest.
I am watching them on the beach, down by the water.
Darcy and Dex standing together in the not-too-hot June sun. This weekend is the first that I have seen them together since Dex and I soberly, willfully, made love. I am wearing dark sunglasses so I can study them from my towel without being obvious, while Claire babbles to me about-what else?-the wedding. What if the night is chilly? Should we buy matching wraps, a light, gauzy cardigan? I nod and murmur that it is a good idea.
Dex has just finished a quick swim, even though the water is freezing. Now they are talking, huddled close together. Perhaps he is giving her the report on the water temperature. She hesitantly steps closer to the ocean's reach, just enough to let the water coat her feet. They are both smiling. Dex kicks water onto her shins and she shrieks, turns, and scampers a few feet from him. I can see the muscles strain in her long, tanned legs. She is wearing the nude-colored bikini. Her hair is down, blowing around her face. He laughs, and she raises her index finger as if to scold him and then walks toward him again. They are engaged in a full-fledged frolic. It pains me to watch them, but I can't stop. I can't look away.
I feel as if they are putting on a show. Well, Darcy is always putting on a show. But Dex is a willing participant. Surely he knows we are all watching. That I am watching. It is always that way when you are in a group and someone decides to go for a swim or walk to the water. The ocean is like a giant stage. It is natural that the others watch, if only for a moment. Dex must be aware of this, yet he is still in full-throttle playful-couple mode. He should be brooding on his towel, napping, or reading a novel-something dark, to give me the impression that he is confused, upset, torn. But instead he is splashing Darcy and grinning.
Marcus cups his mouth with his hands, yells down at them. 'How cold is it?'
'Freaking freezing!' Darcy announces, her hand stroking Dex's back, while he reports a manly 'Nah, it feels good. Come on down!'
Rage commingles with hurt. For the first time, I completely regret having sex with Dex. I feel foolish, suddenly sure that it meant next to nothing to him. Tears sting my eyes as I force myself to turn away from them, slip on my headphones. I order myself not to cry.
Before I can hit play, Marcus asks me what I'm listening to. I have only seen him once since our date and that was just for a quick weekday lunch at a deli near my office, but we have talked several times, and one conversation lasted over an hour. The only apparent reason why date number two has not happened, at least as far as he knows, is mere circumstance. He's busy, I'm busy. Work has been crazy. That whole routine. So the door is still wide open, which I am very glad about. I need to focus more on him. Feelings for him might emerge once I put Dex behind me. I smile and say, 'Tracy Chapman. It's a good CD. Wanna listen?'
I hand him my headphones as Dex and Darcy walk toward us. Marcus listens for a few seconds. 'That's nice.' He gives my headphones back to me and fishes a Coke out of our cooler. 'Want a sip?' he asks just as Darcy and Dex are standing over us.
I tell him sure, take the can, and wipe the lid with the edge of my towel after I swallow.
He says with a knowing, goofy look, 'I don't mind your germs. If you catch my drift.'
I laugh and shake my head, as if to say, Marcus, you crazy nut, you.
Marcus winks. I laugh again.
Perfect timing. Dex catches the whole exchange. I do not look at him. I will not. 'Is anybody else getting in?' he asks.
Claire gives him the standard response. 'Not yet. I'm not hot enough.'
Marcus says he hates to swim, particularly in freezing water. 'Please make me see how that is fun.'
Darcy giggles. 'It's not fun. It's torture!'
I say nothing, hit the play button on my Discman.
'What about you, Rachel?' Dex asks, still hovering over me.
I ignore him, pretending that the volume is too high to hear him.
He and Darcy return to their towels on the other side of Claire. Darcy brushes sand from her feet and ankles,
