“Thank you.”
They went back in the apartment.
“So, what do you do?” She sat on the bed this time and tested it with her hands. He sat in the chair.
“I’m a reporter.”
“Here?”
“Yes, right in Sarasota.” He told her his beat and she sighed. He changed the subject.
“Well, what do you do?”
“I’m between jobs.”
“I see.”
“That means I was fired.”
“I see.”
She laughed.
“Do you smoke?”
“No. Do you?”
“No, I was just asking for fun.” She tilted her head to the side and laughed. She took a single cigarette out from behind her ear. He hadn’t seen it. She didn’t light it. Good.
“What are you looking at?”
“Nothing.”
“If you have a date tonight, you need to go.”
“I have to change. And buy a suit. Thanks for the directions.”
“Go ahead.”
“It was nice meeting you.”
She stayed seated.
“Yeah. Come over sometime.”
She stood near him and then put out her arms. She took the cloth from his jacket and pulled it taut. He walked closer to her. They were a foot apart. Then half a foot. She looked at his side and pressed the jacket buttons against his stomach.
“You have lost a lot of weight, Jake.”
“How do you know I’ve lost weight?”
“Because men don’t buy suits this large for no reason.”
“Right.”
“Don’t be embarrassed.” She pulled it tighter and he stepped closer. Four inches between them. “You don’t need to be embarrassed now.”
“Good.” Then she let him go. The fabric flopped around him, loose as a sheet. She turned a little and started walking to the door.
“Go on! Change already. We can catch up later.”
“It was nice to meet you.”
She’d already shut the door behind her. He took off the jacket and gathered it in his arms. He couldn’t believe he’d worn it. He smiled. This was how things were now. This was how it felt to need a new jacket.
CHAPTER 8
“I like your suit,” Mel said.
“I like your dress. A lot.”
It was blue and shiny and ran down to her calves. She was wearing heels and they made her almost as tall as him. Her shoulders looked tanner than he thought they would. She must have sun bathed at home.
They walked to his car from her office. They were already in the car when he realized his mistake.
“Damn.”
“What?”
“I forgot. You’re supposed to open the door for the woman.”
She laughed and looked at him.
“You’re such a gentleman.”
“It’s because I’ve never driven.”
“Jake, should you be telling me you’ve never driven?”
“No, no. I’ve driven. But I didn’t have a car in New York. And then I came down here and had to get one. So I’ve never driven as an adult.”
“You’ve driven here as an adult, haven’t you?”
“I meant…” He looked at her and waved his right arm. “I meant I’ve never driven on a date.”
He could feel himself blushing and thought she would too. She started laughing.
“Jake, do you have a tag on your sleeve?”
He thought he’d removed all of them. He was wrong.
“Do I?”
“Yes, right here,” she said and grabbed it. He lifted his hand off the wheel.
“It must be from the dry-cleaners.”
“No, it looks new.”
“Right.” They were on the highway. He tried to make it seem like he needed to pay attention. It didn’t work.
“Is this a new suit?”
“Yeah.”
“It is?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Just for this?”
“Well, that depends.”
“On what?”
“On how you look at it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I got it today. But I’ve needed one for a while.”
She let go of the tag and put her hand around his wrist. She squeezed it and let go. The smell of her perfume mixed with the air freshener’s pine. It smelled like a season they didn’t have in Sarasota.
The drive was only a few minutes long. Rothschild’s headquarters was nearby, almost equidistant between all of its developments in the Sarasota area. Sunset Cove was the second largest community in the county. The competition had the biggest one. They passed it on the highway. Palmstead. Jake and Gary had gone there more than a few times. It was bigger than Sunset Cove, but for the most part the places were the same.
They weren’t actually going to the headquarters, but to a banquet hall nearby. It was a big poured building, a product of too much concrete. Palm trees surrounded the drive as they went to the parking lot in back, a half empty grid with cars clustered at the front. The building stood next to an office supplies store and it was a few hundred feet from a place that sold pool supplies.
“Do you have a pool?” Jake asked.
“My building does.”
“I’m envious.”
“Doesn’t yours?”
“No, I wish.”
“It’s nice. I swim a lot.”
“I saw your tan,” he said and touched her shoulder. It was warm, like she’d just been in the sun.
“Look.” She pointed to a sign. Right beneath the name of the place, Giordano’s, block letters were spread out. “Congratulations to Simeon Rothschild.”
“That’s him.”
