“Oops!” she said, grabbing some kind of a measuring device before it slipped out of his grasp entirely.
“Thanks, eh,” he said. “And about the coffee-”
“A rain check,” she said.
“Pardon? Oh, right. Yeah. Right.” He chuckled. “They say there’s going to be some rain. Like soon.”
Mimi grinned. “Good,” she said.
“Yeah,” he said. “Like it’s a sign?” She nodded. And he looked as if he wanted to say more but couldn’t think of a thing. Then, with his head bobbing, he started off. He turned and waved. “Thanks,” he said.
“You’re welcome.”
Then he stopped and came back. “Hey, you still got my number, right?”
“You betcha,” she said, giving him a little salute.
“Well, just phone if you need any help.”
“I will.”
He nodded seriously. “I hope you don’t,” he said. Then he looked horrified. “That’s not what I meant to say. I meant I hope you don’t run into any-”
She cut him off with a laugh. His confusion was endearing. “I knew what you meant, Cramer,” she said. “And I won’t hesitate to call if I need you… uh, need to. Thanks so much.”
He took a deep breath, as if this interchange was burning a great deal of calories and he’d soon have to skate back to the bench to recuperate.
His face got serious again. “And no one’s been bothering you up there?” he said.
“No,” she said. “We seem to be out of the woods.” Then she laughed at the unintended pun.
“All right,” he said. “Good one!” And he gave her a thumbs-up.
She returned the gesture.
And then with a tip of his head, he left, swiveling to look at her again, a few paces down the path. He flashed her a smile.
She sighed. Nice smile, bad teeth or not.
“Hey.”
She turned and there was Iris approaching from up Forster. “Hey, yourself.”
“Who’s the muffin?” said Iris, shielding her eyes to catch the last glimpse of Cramer as he ducked down the alley to PDQ Electronics.
“Mr. Cute Butt,” said Mimi. “A little short on the snappy repartee but nice. Very nice in a hockey-player kind of way.”
“Charm enough for your charm bracelet?” said Iris, and Mimi laughed out loud, a little raucously.
“Who is he?” said Iris.
“Cramer. He’s the one who fixed my computer. I don’t know his last name.”
“I thought Hank Pretty fixed your computer.”
Mimi shook her head, holding open the door to the restaurant for Iris. “Maybe Cramer’s a Pretty, too,” she said.
“There are lots of them around these parts,” said Iris, and then stopped in her tracks. “Cramer, Cramer. Why does that ring a bell?”
“Because of Jerry Seinfeld?”
Iris shook her head. Then she snapped her fingers. “Cramer Lee,” she said, and turned to Mimi with her dark eyes sparkling.
“What about him?”
Iris dropped her voice. “Cramer Lee was the kid who used to follow Jay around in high school.”
Mimi looked at her in disbelief. “Get out. The one you were talking about? He sounded like a nerdy kind of kid-a twerp.”
“He was,” said Iris. She turned as if to make sure Cramer wasn’t still around. “ That was Cramer Lee we were leering at?”
“I guess.”
Iris made a wry face. “He certainly bulked up.”
“Oh, yeah,” said Mimi, as they took a table. “Pecs, traps-the works.” She picked up her menu and fanned herself vigorously. “Is it hot in here or what?” she said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
He wanted to ask her out. He had a couple more days off. They could do something. He wasn’t sure what. Just go for a walk maybe. Go for that coffee-cash in his rain check. But how? She had his number, but he didn’t have hers. Could he just show up at her place? How about if he ran into her? He could go out running along the Upper Valentine around the time she did. It would be this big coincidence. But would it appear like too much of a coincidence? That’s what he was afraid of. What was far stronger than his fear, however, was his desire to see her.
Friday bloomed an August day of rare perfection. Cramer worked out hard but slow, took his time, enjoyed every curl and crunch. He felt every muscle fiber in his body stretch and contract. He had sculpted himself into something. She had noticed. He had been someone no one noticed, but Mimi had noticed. He’d seen how she looked at him. It was worth every chin-up and dead lift.
He showered and changed and made himself a few sandwiches. He wouldn’t come home at all that day. Mavis wasn’t around. He had offered to drive her into Ottawa for art supplies, but she had said she’d go alone. He wasn’t sure when she was planning on doing that, but he didn’t care anymore. He had gotten her the money she wanted. It had not been easy. And that was it. He was done. The rest was up to her.
From a tree he watched Mimi sitting by the snye in white jeans and a peach-colored halter top, her hair tied up in a rose-colored scarf. She just sat, her feet bare, occasionally reaching out a toe to stir the water gurgling by or leaning back on her elbows until her face was full of dappled sunlight.
How he would have liked to sit there beside her. Not talking-not doing anything. Not so much as touching her. He had never felt like that before. Someone he just wanted to be with.
He would take her out in Bunny. He could imagine her leaning back against the thwart-except he’d take pillows along for her to lean on. She could drag her fingers in the water, like in some old movie or like that. They would have a picnic-he knew just where. He’d buy wine. He’d ask her to choose. She could teach him about things like that: wine and fancy stuff and conversation.
He suddenly felt this huge sense of shame about what he had done to them. To Jay as well as Mimi. It was envy, jealousy. It had coursed through his veins as thick as sludge. But that had all changed. Kind of like open-heart surgery.
Mimi got up and walked back to the house. She came out a few minutes later in a bikini, with her flotation device on. She took the kayak and made her way down the snye to the river. He followed her on foot, along the bank, a safe distance back, quiet as a ghost. He watched her from the shore. He imagined her overturning and him swimming out to save her. He imagined giving her mouth-to-mouth, watching her chest rise and fall as life flowed back into her lungs. Then, as her eyes opened and she saw who it was that had saved her, she would take the hand resting on her chest and she would hold it against her breast.
At a little after six, Iris showed up at the snye in the white Camry in a turquoise blouse and black skirt and slingbacks, with her hair tied back in a yellow ribbon. She had just come from work, he guessed. She was carrying a bag from the liquor store. Jay, all dressed in white, met her at the bridge, and they kissed for a long time, before they made their way across the bridge, balancing with their arms out on a plank someone had placed there.
There was a perfect breeze on this perfect day, so the mosquitoes stayed away. The three friends moved a table out onto the grass and placed a white tablecloth on it and set it with plates and silverware. Soon they were sitting there eating some kind of salad and drinking wine.
The summer evening closed in around the dinner party on the lawn. It wasn’t completely dark, but they brought out tea candles. Cramer shimmied down his tree and moved silently closer. They would not hear him. Jay had his acoustic guitar, and they were singing. They drank and sang and laughed. Then one or the other of them
