Charlie Opera

Chapter 13

Charlie was too self-conscious for a day at the water park. The lines at the entrance gates were long and crawling with families and young children. He slipped the taxi driver a twenty-dollar bill to go ask the pretty lady with the picnic basket and cut-off jeans to come back to the taxi for a minute.

When Samantha leaned into the window of the taxi, Charlie said, “Would you hate me if I told you I was too uncomfortable to be around all these kids looking like this?” He pulled his sunglasses off for emphasis.

She smiled for him. “Can you take me to my car in the parking lot?” she asked. “We’ll figure something out there.”

She decided to take him back to her apartment instead of guessing where to have lunch together. She set a round white table on the small patio behind her apartment. She opened the table umbrella for shade while they ate.

They exchanged stories about themselves while they ked at a pasta salad. Samantha learned some more about his marital problems. She, in turn, confessed her own marital failure. When Samantha learned how Charlie’s wife had left him, she was much more sympathetic to his situation.

“How could she do that?” she asked, then quickly apologized. “I’m sorry. Please, forgive me. I shouldn’t have asked that.”

Charlie seemed to take it in stride. “It’s a legitimate question. How could she do that in the middle of a vacation? I don’t know. To be fair, though, her note said it wasn’t planned.”

Samantha couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said again.

“I think Lisa wanted out for a long time,” Charlie said. “This vacation must have been her breaking point.”

Samantha steered the conversation away from his marriage. She told him about her roommate, Carol. She explained how they had met on the Internet and how Carol was a victim of abuse until she ran away from her husband six months earlier.

“So you took her in?”

“She’s run from two places since she left Alabama. The first was New Orleans. Her husband found her there after a few months. Then she ran to Chicago. He almost got her there after another few months. Carol thinks he’s determined to kill her.”

“How long has she been with you?”

“A little less than a month. But she keeps one suitcase packed, she carries her laptop computer everywhere she goes, and she hides extra money for the day she says she knows she’ll have to run off all over again.”

“I assume the law can’t do a thing.”

“Not until she’s dead. O.J. proved that.”

“O.J. proved you could get away with it, too,” Charlie said.

They had coffee in the kitchen. He liked the way she looked in the cut-off jeans and white T-shirt. When she let her hair down, he liked the way it curled in around her face.

“How far are you from your degree?” he asked.

“Thirty-four credits. But it may as well be ninety-four. Either I can’t afford to take the classes I need, or they don’t offer them, or I can’t take the time off when they are offered.”

“I was a two-year wonder before I dropped out to become a window cleaner and get married.”

“High-up window cleaner?”

“Very high.”

“And your kids were from your first wife?”

“Both.”

“So, where does the opera come from?”

Charlie smiled. “My grandfather,” he said. “He lived with us when I was young. Listened to opera all day. You hear something enough, you start to like it.”

“Or you think you do,” Samantha said.

“Touché,” Charlie said.

Samantha mentioned how long it had been since her last relationship with a man and how she was trying to be extra careful with men since she was so close to erasing the final debts from her marriage to a compulsive gambler.

“So you don’t trust men anymore to punish yourself,” he said.

Samantha was taken off guard. “Huh?”

“That’s what it sounds like. You’re pissed at yourself for what happened with your deadbeat husband so now you don’t take chances.”

She looked at him with one eye closed. “Is this a trick question?”

Charlie smiled again.

“I hada boyfriend from where I work until six months ago,” she said. “A partner.”

“Like I had a wife.”

“I guess. Only he didn’t live here. But he wanted too much too soon.”

“Marriage?”

“And kids.”

“Ouch.”

“Exactly. So we broke up. So it has been a while.”

“For what it’s worth,” Charlie said, “it’s been a while for me, too.”

It was pretty late by the time they finished their coffee. He asked Samantha if it would be all right if they went out again before he returned to New York.

“Take off your glasses,” she said.

“My eyes are black.”

“I can tell a lot more about you if I can see your eyes.”

He took the sunglasses off. She stared into his eyes a moment and giggled. “You look silly,” she said. He put the sunglasses back on. Samantha took them off again. “No. It looks even sillier with them on.”

“This part of a ritual? Humiliation before a simple yes or no?”

“I’m sorry. I can get used to your eyes like that. Well, not used to them, but, you know. I’d rather see your eyes.”

“Well, will you go out with me again?”

“Of course. Whatever made you think I wouldn’t?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “The glasses?”

Charlie stayed through dinner, and they learned a little bit more about each other.

Samantha loved dogs but was afraid to leave one alone while she worked. Charlie loved dogs, too, but he could never find the time to train one. Samantha loved to cook French cuisine. Charlie could cook a limited number of Italian dishes, hamburger, or steak. She loved to swim. He preferred walking. She had always wanted a house. He couldn’t wait to sell his. She was a basketball fan. He watched football and boxing. They were both morning people, but Samantha required eight hours of sleep to Charlie’s five. She loved country music. He was an opera aficionado.

“Ah, the hobby that drove your wife crazy,” she said. “I don’t know. You don’t look that old.”

She giggled into his arms. He was surprised. He held her loosely, barely touching her back with his fingertips. She smiled up at him and pecked him on the lips.

He was more surprised at the kiss. He held her until she stood up on her toes to kiss him again. The kiss was casual at first, their lips barely making contact. They held it for a few seconds before smiling at each other. Then they kissed again, and their mouths became involved. It was awkward for Charlie with his bruised upper lip. He held her tighter. She leaned into him. They kissed for a few minutes before they eventually backed off from each other.

They said good night when the taxi he had called finally arrived. She watched him leave from her doorway. She smiled when she saw he turned to look back at her from the taxi.