of years back.’
Tully stretched out her hard, small hand to Robin, who took it into his hard, wide hand. Tully did not offer her hand to Gail, who sat back and said nothing.
‘Jennifer! Come and dance with me, Jennifer!’ boomed a guy’s voice behind them, and Jennifer smiled into a broad, flushed, sloshed face. Pulling him by his arm, Jennifer said happily, dizzily, ‘Tully, Robin, Gail, this is Jack Pendel.’
And Jack Pendel pumped Robin’s hand, hard, without looking at him, too busy bending down to peer into Tully’s face. In his bloodshot, barely focused eyes, Tully saw a puzzling ray of a sober thought, a clean expression of…Tully couldn’t tell what, but she stretched out her hand, and Jack took it, held it, and said, ‘So you are Jen’s friend Tully,’ and then, not letting go, Jack bent – nearly fell – on top of her and pressed his beery wet lips to her hand. It was a drunken, funny gesture, and Tully had to push him back to help him straighten up. They all laughed. Jennifer and Jack left to dance, while Robin turned to Tully.
‘So how do you know Jennifer?’ he asked, looking straight at her.
‘We’ve known each other since we were five,’ said Tully.
‘Wow,’ said Robin. ‘I don’t think I know anyone that long, except my family.’
‘Well, there you go,’ said Tully. Then she pointed to Julie fifteen feet away. ‘I’ve known her since I was five, too.’
‘Are the three of you friends?’ asked Robin.
‘Best friends,’ said Tully.
Robin leaned over. ‘Almost like they’re your family, huh?’ he said.
‘Almost,’ said Tully. Robin smiled. She smiled back.
‘Have you lived in Topeka all your life?’ Robin asked.
She nodded. ‘I did go on a trip to Lawrence once or twice,’ she said. ‘You live in Topeka?’
‘Uh-uh. Manhattan,’ he said, looking at her face and neck. ‘You been to Manhattan?’
Tully glanced at her watch. Almost time. ‘Uh-huh,’ she said. ‘Once or twice.’
‘How far do you live from Jen?’ Robin inquired.
‘Oh, a few miles.’
‘Do you have a car?’
‘No, I walk it,’ she replied. ‘I walk it all the time. It’s no big deal.’ He was nearly caught. Like any good salesman, Tully knew by heart Dale Carnegie’s Five Rules of Selling: Attention, Interest, Conviction, Desire, Close. This guy was already attentive, interested, convinced, and desired.
He paused. ‘You walking home tonight?’
‘Yeah, of course. In fact, I kind of gotta go now.’ She saw his expression and said, ‘Told my mom I’d be home early. She’s sick.’
He was thoughtful; she held her breath.
‘Want a ride home?’
She breathed out. Closed.
‘Oh, sure, if it’s no trouble, that’d be great, thanks.’
‘No trouble at all,’ Robin answered, not looking at Gail. He glanced over at the grandfather clock. Tully looked, too. Ten-ten. Time to go.
‘Can you be a little late?’
‘It is late,’ Tully said.
Robin looked at her peculiarly. Tully managed a smile. ‘Gotta cook my mom something to eat.’
‘But you haven’t been here long.’
He noticed. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘But my mother’s sick.’
Robin did not look at Gail when he said to Tully, ‘We could go now if you want.’
Tully nodded. ‘If it’s no trouble.’
Reluctantly turning to Gail, Robin said, ‘Gail, I’m going to take Tully home. She lives far away and doesn’t have a car. I’ll be right back.’
Gail blinked and said, ‘I’ll come with you.’
Robin touched her hair. ‘I’ll be right back. Besides, you know I have a two-seater.’ He did not look at her when he spoke, and she did not look at him but stood up quickly and walked away. Not so quickly, though, that Tully wasn’t able to stare at Gail’s chest. Hmm, she thought. Nothing there. Totally perplexing.
Robin and Tully got up. ‘Want a quick dance before we go?’ she asked.
He said yes, never taking his eyes off her, while hers were all over the room. ‘Hotel California’ just finished. Tully wasn’t sure if Jennifer was hugging her drunken blond or holding him up. Julie was making out with Tom and adjusting the zipper on the side of her dress at the same time. Stones again, and Jagger’s hoarse ‘You’re out of touch, my baby…’
Tully grasped Robin’s fingers and skated with him onto the ice. Closing her eyes, Tully saw the music and moved to the music, while Robin moved to her. Tully, eyes closed, swayed her hips and thrust them closer to him, almost grinding against him. With her eyes still closed, she let go of his hands and ran her palms up and down her torso, from her breasts to her thighs, pulsing to the rhythm. When the song ended, she was sweating, panting, grinding up to him. She opened her eyes. Tully saw him looking at her with an expression she knew very well and had seen very often. He was definitely closed. Okay, now she was ready to go.
They said their good-byes quickly. Tully ran upstairs and got her clothes out of the hamper. Striding over to Jennifer, Tully noticed Jen had an embarrassed look on her face, having just finished talking to Gail. Jennifer let Tully kiss her on the cheek. ‘Happy Birthday, Mandolini,’ Tully whispered. ‘And thank you.’
‘Are you coming with us to St Mark’s tomorrow?’ asked Jennifer.
Tully shook her head. ‘Not tomorrow, okay?’
‘Tully, you haven’t been since school started.’
‘Not tomorrow, okay? I’m going to have to rake the leaves in the morning.’
Jennifer made a skeptical face. ‘You don’t have a rake.’
‘With my teeth, okay?’ said Tully, moving away and waving.
Robin opened the door for her, and they were out. The cool air smelled so fresh after the staleness of the living room. It was quiet and windless, unusual for Kansas. Tully’s head throbbed and her ears rang a continual dog whistle, as they always did after hours of loud noise, even if it was Jagger noise.
In the car, Tully silently bit her nails.
The walk home was long, but the ride seemed short. If he is going to get to work, he’d better get to work fast, thought Tully.
‘Would you like to see me again?’ Robin finally said.
‘Yeah, sure,’ Tully replied laconically.
He drove slowly, at one point obeying the stop sign for about a minute.
‘Tully,’ Robin said at the stop sign. ‘Tully. That’s an unusual name.’
‘Robin. That’s an unusual name. Is that Italian?’
‘Third generation DeMarco,’ he answered. ‘My mother was of mixed blood and my father wanted to Americanize the family. Also,’ Robin added, ‘they were bird lovers.’
‘Were?’ said Tully.
‘My mother is dead,’ said Robin, and drove on.
Tully swallowed, and said, ‘My brother couldn’t pronounce my name properly and it stuck.’
‘So is that your name?’ asked Robin. ‘Properly.’
‘Yeah,