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“I know, I just want to climb his bod like a tree,” Francine said. “I had a crush on him all through high school.”
“He went to St. Mary’s too?”
“The whole family did,” Francine answered. “All those hot boys sitting around the table in there? All firefighters. Even the uncle is a stud.”
“The women are a little mousy,” a friend said, straining to look.
“You’re nuts. They’re all gorgeous. Even the mother. That blonde woman in there? She’s pushing sixty.”
“She’s had a lot of work done.”
“So what? When I start to see lines, I’ll be the first one of our group to go under the knife. I’m going to fight it every chance I get.”
They put their order in, including mimosas and bloody Marys. After half an hour, they looked up to see apresencewalking toward their table.
“Oh my God,” someone hissed. “Don’t look now, but the hunk is in the room.”
“Leon, hi. These are my friends,” Francine said, introducing her friends all around.
“I don’t want to interrupt your breakfast. I’m going to take off, but I wanted to know, if you’re not busy, if you’d like to take a walk later this afternoon? I go on the track around the park.”
He pointed over his shoulder, and everyone looked in that direction, confused, and then Francine said, “Oh! I know what you’re talking about. I’d love to. Text me when you’re ready. I just need to change shoes.”
“Great. I’ll talk to you later, around three if that works for you.”
“Three is great,” she replied. “See you then.”
Once he was in the truck driving away, he felt better. He was being what his mother calledproactive. Instead of sitting around feeling sorry for himself, he was taking steps to move forward. His only regret, having moved out of his parents’ house. It was a premature need to be available to Ava, who didn’t really want his availability. A little anger crept in, as much as he didn’t want to place blame.
“Face it, dude, she hurt you. You’ll get over it.”
He tried to conjure up some desire for Francine, but there wasn’t any. She was attractive, tiny and dark in contrast to Ava’s willowy curves and wild red hair. A surge of heat went through his groin, thinking of Ava’s legs wrapped around his waist. Or over his shoulders, holding her legs by the back of her thighs while he drove into her.
“Whoa, knock it off,” he said, shuddering. “She was a great conversationalist, too, wasn’t she, Violet?”
A coo, as close to anything baby-like she’d ever uttered besides crying, tickled him, and he longed to call Ava to tell her, but restrained himself. He’d let Roberta know instead.
That afternoon, he met Francine at the park. She wore color-coordinated fitness-wear, which showed off her curves. They walked around the track at a brisk pace while he pushed Violet in her fancy stroller. On narrow sections of the walk, he let Francine go ahead so he could look at her butt. It was tight and round, and he imagined his penis planted right there. He decided that if she came on to him, he’d have sex with her just to get his mind off Ava.
After an hour, they’d had enough. “I have a cooler in my truck,” he said, nodding his head over to where he was parked.
“That’s so thoughtful of you.”
“I figured we’d be hungry, and it’s almost time for Violet’s bottle, so we can take a break. Hold on to her stroller and I’ll get it.”
She watched him haul the cooler out of his truck. It was a big one, too. “What’s in that thing?”
He laughed out loud. “I’m a big guy. There’s enough in here for me and a few more mouths.”
They spread a blanket out near a picnic table.
“I hate that it gets dark so fast now,” she said.
“Me too. But we have at least an hour. Help yourself to a soda if you want. It’s dinnertime for baby Violet.”
He got Violet’s bottle out and fed her while they talked. It was clear the baby was his priority, and her heart melted a little bit watching him with her. They didn’t know each other well enough for her to ask too many questions about Violet.
Soon the baby was sleeping, her mouth still sucking on the air. “I’ll stick her back in the stroller while we eat.”
