The Brass Ring Ch. 04-05

"I'm sorry," she said finally, looking at me.

I nodded. I didn't need to add anything to that. I was pretty sure she was apologizing for not being straight with me.

"It's not like we were going steady, or anything," I managed.

"I know ... but you asked me that first time I met you if I had a boyfriend and I said no. I didn't want to discourage you."

"How long have you been seeing Harley?"

"A month. Not long. I guess I got caught up in how nice and ... successful he was. I didn't think he was the one ... at least ... I didn't think he was serious. Guess I should have been smarter."

"You still seeing him?"

"No," she said, looking at me. "It's over." The expression on her face looked ... what ... hopeful?

"So what to do want to happen now?"

"Do you still want to go out with me?"

This was starting to sound like two high school kids trying to work out who was dating who. What the hell. I was thirty and she was twenty five. Surely to Christ we'd gotten past this by now.

"Look, Merilee ... you're a really nice gi ... woman. I mean you're beautiful and everything, but you've got to make up your mind what you want. We're both adults, not kids. This isn't some game we're playing. This is about real life. Just so you know ... I don't share. I'm a one woman guy and I expect my lady to be a one man woman. Simple as hell when you think about it."

She nodded.

"Why don't you take some time to decide?" I suggested. "I'm in no rush. Just think about what's important to you and let me know. I'll be around," I said, getting up.

I looked at her as she sat there, still looking like she was unhappy, or maybe confused. I couldn't tell which. I was kind of hoping she would have jumped off her seat and grabbed me and told me I was the guy since Harley was history. That didn't happen. I turned, walked down the steps and over to my truck. When I looked back from the cab, I could see she was still sitting there, not looking at me, just staring off somewhere else.

When I got back to my place, I walked upstairs and went inside. I grabbed a beer and some potato chips and turned on the TV. Pop and Marla were out, so I was alone, and I was feeling alone. I don't know what I expected to happen this afternoon, but I left knowing nothing more than when I had arrived. I had a hunch I'd seen and heard the last of Merilee, and that didn't leave me with a good feeling. The baseball game was boring and at some point I drifted off to sleep, my beer only half gone. I don't know how long I was out for, but it came to a quick end when my phone rang. It was right next to me on the table, so I jumped pretty good when it went off.

"Hello," I said, pretty sure I sounded groggy.

"Duke? Is that you, Duke?"

It was a female voice and it sounded a bit familiar, but I couldn't place it.

"Yeah, that's me. Who's this?"

"Joanna Milliken, Duke. I used to be Joanna Hansen. Remember me?"

"Yeah ... sure I do, Joanna. How are you?" I asked. I was wide awake now.

"I'm fine, Duke. I'm back in town again. Moved back a few weeks ago. I've been meaning to call you, but I didn't know if you were still around. When I saw the big building on the south side, I figured that might be you or your family. I should have looked you up in the phone book, but to tell the truth, I wasn't sure if you'd want to talk to me."

"Hey, Joanna, you know me better than that. I'm glad you called. We should get together and find out what's been going your world. Unless ... maybe ... your husband would mind," I added as an afterthought.

"I'm not married ... any more. So, no problem. I'd like to see you. It would be good to talk about stuff, unless you have a wife ... or something."

Both of us were dancing around and not really learning much more than we were both single and we wanted to see each other.

"Listen, Joanna, it's Saturday and I'm not doin' anything with anyone. Why don't we get together for dinner? I know a nice, quiet place we can go and get caught up. How does that sound?"

"Okay. Are you sure, Duke?"

"Yeah, JoJo," I chuckled. "I'm sure." One nickname deserved another, I figured.

"You haven't forgotten," she said, sounding surprised.

"Naw. A guy never forgets his first girlfriend. Especially one as good lookin' as you. How about I pick you up at six-thirty? Does Italian food sound okay?"

"That sounds fine. I'll give you my address," she said, and read off the number and name of the street. It wasn't that far from my place, so it wouldn't take me long to get there. She also gave me her phone number in case anything unexpected came up.

After we hung up, I sat there for a few minutes, just thinking. It had been almost twelve years since I'd seen JoJo. I wondered what she looked like. We were the same age, and I figured she couldn't have changed that much. She'd got married, but it wasn't to the jock that stole her from me. His last name was Asshole.

I phoned Luciano's and made a reservation for seven o'clock. Then I went and picked out some clothes to wear, shaved again, and brushed my teeth. I was anxious to see what my first girlfriend looked like after all this time. It didn't matter. Even if she'd ballooned up to 200 pounds, I was still interested. I wondered if she had kids.

I don't know where Pop and Marla got to that afternoon, but they still weren't home when I was leaving to pick up JoJo. I decided to take the 'vette even though it was still raining a bit. Might as well try and impress her with my success when I had the chance. Maybe she'll see what she'd missed.

I arrived at the address just after six-thirty and noticed it was a townhouse in a row of a dozen, all looking the same. Not too old, and not too plain. They looked pretty nice, actually. I rang the bell and immediately heard footsteps pounding to the door. It was flung open and I was looking at two tow-heads, both about the same age I figured.

"Hi ... are you a real Duke?" one of them asked, immediately guessing who I was.

I laughed. "Nope. That's just my nickname. What's your name?"

"I'm Mike, and this is my brother Tony. Mom's still getting her clothes on. Come on in," he said like he did this every day.

"Are you guys twins?" I asked, thinking it was possible.

"No way!" Tony shouted. "I'm seven and my brother is almost nine. I'm big for my age."

"You wait," I said. "Mike will start to grow again and you'll have to catch up."

"That's what Mom says," Mike agreed.

"Drink lots of milk and eat all your vegetables and it'll happen," I assured them.

That brought a groan from both of them.

There was a knock on the door and Tony ran to open it. It was a teenage girl, obviously the babysitter.

"Hi Wendy. Come on in. Mom's boyfriend is here. His name is Duke," he said pointing to me.

"Hello, Wendy," I said. "I'm Dieter Hunsinger."

"Hi," she answered shyly. "Wendy Simpson."

At that moment, Joanna made her appearance and I guess I just stood there with my mouth open, sucking wind. It took me a moment, but I did manage to say something.

"Jeez, Joanna, you look fantastic," I gasped. She did too. The years had not only been kind to her, they had added to what I always thought was the prettiest girl in school. But this was no girl. She was all woman now, and it showed. It showed everywhere. She was wearing a shiny blue dress that didn't hide a single curve on her body, and there were plenty of curves.

"You look very handsome too, Duke. Do you still go by that nickname?"

"Naw ... not so much. I've learned to live with Dieter," I grinned.

"Nobody but you remembers me being JoJo. I lost the second 'Jo' somewhere along the way, so most people call me Jo now."

"I'll try to remember that," I promised.

Joanna gave Wendy the usual instructions about bedtime and her cell phone number and we left after saying good night to the boys.

"Nice young boys, Jo," I said. "You must be pretty proud of them."

"They are good kids, Dieter. They've gone through a lot in the last couple of years and come out without too many scars."

"Divorce?" I asked

She nodded. "Unfortunate ... but necessary."

When we got my car, she stopped. "Oh, this is nice. I've always wanted to ride in a Corvette. Is it a '61 or '62?" she asked.

That stopped me dead. "You know, there isn't one woman in a thousand that would know to ask that question. Have a look at the front fender."

"A 327! Wow, a '62! Fuel injection?" she asked, wide eyed.

"You bet. Now you're going to have to explain just how you know all that. The last time I saw you, you didn't know a Hummer from a Hudson."

She laughed. "Things change, Dieter. I guess we've both learned a lot in the last twelve years."

I helped her into the car, then drove to the restaurant. We'd be a couple of minutes early for our reservation, but I didn't mind sitting in the lounge if there wasn't a table ready. It would give us another chance to talk.

As it turned out, we had to wait about twenty minutes for our table, but that gave us some time for a glass of wine (both of us preferred red) and more conversation.

"Tell me about you and your family business," she said as we relaxed in the lounge.

"I worked for another company in the auto parts business for a couple of years, but they were hopeless. I knew I could do better if I got the chance, so ... like the saying goes ... you gotta take a chance to have a chance."

"By the look of that building, you've done really well," she said.

"Yeah ... well ... I've got the old man to thank for that. He's the guy that makes it work. I'm better at looking after the customers and finding new things to sell. We've grown like crazy in the last ten years. It's been a real good business and it's still growing."

"That's great. I'm so happy for you, Dieter. I love your car, too," she grinned.

"Yeah ... me too. Anyway, that's one of the nice things I can afford because the business is doing good."

"No girl friend yet?"

"Yes and no. I've had a couple, you know. Do you remember Patricia Peppar?"

"That weird goth girl?"

"Yeah. That's her," I chuckled. "We were going together for a while, but broke up. She wasn't right for me, but it took me a while to figure it out."

"That's a surprise ... I mean hanging out with Peppermint Pattie. I can't picture you two together," she giggled.

"It's true. I almost asked her to marry me."

"You're kidding! Oh, Dieter, you can do way better than that."

"Yeah, I know. I figured that out too."

"So ... who else?"

"Oh ... I thought maybe a girl named Merilee Jenkins and I might be able to get together, but that's still undecided."

"How so?"

"She wasn't straight with me. She was seeing another guy when she was saying she was interested in me."

She seemed to choke a bit when I said that. "A little bit like I did, huh."

"No ... not really Jo. She said she didn't have a boyfriend, then I found out she was going out with this sleezeball. At least you were upfront about it."

"I wonder if Jake Demeter would like to know he's thought of as a sleezeball," she laughed.

"No ... no ... you've got it wrong. Jake was an asshole, not a sleezeball."

She threw her head back and laughed.

"Well ... you had him pegged all right, Dieter. He was an asshole. It took me a while to find out that I made a bad trade. Big learning experience for me," she said with a hint of regret.

"We were pretty young, Jo. Both of us eighteen and definitely not ready for a lifetime commitment. Like you said ... a learning experience."

"Well ... I didn't learn enough, I guess. The guy I married, Ted Milliken, was a really nice guy. I really did love him, but his mother was always interfering. She thought I wasn't good enough for her son. She was always criticizing my cooking, my housekeeping, how I was bringing the boys up.

"After a while, I couldn't take it any more. I told Ted that as much as I loved him, he had to decide; his mother or me. I should have been smart enough to know that he would choose his mother. So, reluctantly, I filed for divorce."

"How long were you married?" I asked.

"Nine years."

"Wow ... you must have a thick hide to take that kind of abuse for nine years."

"I kept telling myself that she would mellow after a while. That she would see that I loved her son as much as she did. She never did. After a while, I just gave up. I hated to do it, but I moved back here so I wouldn't have to see her. It's hard on Ted. It takes him almost all day to drive here, and he can only come once or twice a month. But I don't want the boys to forget him either. He's their father."

"That's tough, Jo. I hope things get better for you now that you're back here," I said.

She looked at me with a slight smile. "They already have."

The waitress came at that moment and led us to our table in the dining room. Luciano's was a converted old hotel with four different areas for dining. I think that was the main reason it wasn't so noisy, considering the place was packed as usual on a Saturday night.

We ordered an appetizer and continued catching up with each other's lives.

"So how do you keep a roof over your head, Jo?"

"Ted has been very generous with alimony and child support. I think his mother is just glad to get rid of me, but is upset that I took the boys. Anyway she's loaded, so I don't think there are any money problems in that family. I also have a job, so I'm in pretty good shape financially."

"That's good. That has to take some pressure off. What do you do ... your job I mean?"

"I catalogue information for an international auction house. I receive descriptions of items to be put up for sale, and load them into their database. Then I send the information to dealers, collectors, and even other auction houses. It's really interesting work. You'd be amazed at some of the items that come across my desk."

"Do they have an office in town?"

"No. I work from home. It's great ... I can be there for Mike and Tony to send them off to school and when they come home. It couldn't be better. The pay's not fabulous, but with my other income, it's good enough."

"Your townhouse looks pretty nice," I said.

"It is. Three bedrooms, so the boys each have a room. I'm happy with it."

The waitress arrived with our appetizer and took our meal order at the same time.

"So ... tell me how you know about '62 Corvettes," I challenged.

She laughed. "I cheated. I saw you a few days ago at the shopping plaza. You had the top down, so that's how I recognized it was you. I took a couple of pictures with my cell phone and sent them to the guy who does the automotive appraisals at our firm. He gave me the information."

"Very clever," I said with a grin. "So you aren't a car expert after all."

"Nope. Sorry. I just thought it might be fun to surprise you. I guess it worked," she smiled.

"Sure did."

The dinners arrived and that put an end to any real discussion we were having for a while. Both of us had ordered the house special, Veal Marsala. I knew I'd eat it all, even though it was a full plate. What surprised me was that Joanna ate everything as well. I guess I had chosen the right restaurant, because she made a point of saying how much she enjoyed the meal. For my part, I was enjoying the scenery and the conversation as well as the food.

I drove her back to her townhouse just before ten o'clock. We had passed on the dessert, and talked some more over a couple of coffees. I was really excited about how we were doing together. It was like the twelve years hadn't really happened. She always was easy to talk to, and that hadn't changed. I was hoping there would be a second date. Hell ... I was hoping there'd be a dozen dates.

We sat in the car for a couple of minutes, just finishing a conversation when she leaned toward me and gave me a kiss. Not a tongue swapper, but a nice, soft kiss on the lips. She smelled amazing. Whatever perfume she used, I wanted to get her a large bottle to tell her how much I liked it. We looked at each other after the kiss, and then we moved in for a second, both of us at the same time. It was just as nice as the first one ... maybe even better.

I walked her to the front door after promising I would phone her during the week to talk about getting together again. She said that would be fine, so I automatically assumed there would be a second date. That jacked me up like nothing else could.

As I drove home, my mind was going ninety miles-an-hour. This had all come right out of the blue. I had only just had a downer of a conversation with Merilee when Joanna called me. Talk about pulling me out of a bad mood. And she looked fabulous. I don't think I'd ever used that word before, but it was exactly the right word for her. I couldn't stop thinking about her; how great she looked and how quickly we reconnected.

I lay in bed thinking about what had happened in the last few hours. I knew already that I wanted to see more of Joanna. A lot more. I got the impression she felt the same way. We were both free of any problems that might hold us back. I also knew I would have to include the boys in any of my plans. If there was going to be a future for us, it had to include them. A ready-made family was a thought floating around as I finally fell asleep.

Sunday morning I was expected to have breakfast with Marla and Pop. It had started out as a once in while thing, but soon became a regular. Marla was a good cook, always coming up with something tasty for the three of us. Today it was an omelet, with peppers, mushrooms, onions, and cheese. It was great. Lots of toast and some fresh fruit to go with it. Naturally, the coffee pot would be full.

"Well, Dieter, are you going to tell us about your date last night?" Marla sprang on me as I finished my plate.

"How did you know I had a date?" I asked.

"Well, if you'd had eyes for anyone other than the hot babe you were having dinner with last night, you'd have seen your father and me when we walked by your table," she smirked.

"I didn't know you were there. I was with Joanna Milliken. Pop, you would remember Joanna Hansen. That was her," I explained.

"Jeez, kid, she never looked like that when you were goin' out with her. No wonder you didn't see us," he said with a look of surprised admiration.

"Yeah. She's back in town. Divorced with two kids. Lives over in the Wildwood district. Has a townhouse and a home-based job. Something to do with a big auction house."

"We thought about stopping to say hello," Marla said, "but I don't think you'd have heard us. You were making goo-goo eyes at her when we walked by."

"Yeah ... well ... she's changed a lot since I last saw her. It's been twelve years."

"So ... I guess the talk with Merilee didn't go so well," she said carefully.

I shook my head. "She doesn't know what she wants. I told her to make up her mind and let me know, but right now, I don't think we're going anywhere. She's not as mature as I thought she was."

"Too bad. I thought she was a nice kid. She certainly seemed to like you," Marla said.

"Yeah ... well ... just goes to show you can never tell. I couldn't believe it when Joanna called me yesterday afternoon. It was like she knew exactly when she should let me know she was back in town and wanted to get together."

"Maybe she did," Marla suggested, her back turned to me as she rinsed some dishes. I couldn't see the expression on her face, but I'd come to recognize when she was trying to tell me something.

"You be careful, Dieter," Marla warned. "I saw the look on that woman's face and it was a hungry one, and I don't mean for Italian food. Didn't you tell me that she dumped you to go with some other guy back then?"

"Yeah ... but that was a long time ago. We were just kids, Marla. People change. I know she has."

"Just the same, you be careful," she continued. "I don't want to see you hurt again. You need a woman you can rely on. One that's going to be around for a lifetime, if you're lucky."