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Brad laughed. “You’re ridiculous. This guy won’t last more than a week.” He winked at Wayne and then added, “I remember Mom said that to me about some girl who dumped me back in the seventh grade. At the time, I was so angry at her. Couldn’t she understand that what I had with Melissa was true love?”
“That’s the thing about moms, I guess. They never understand,” Wayne said teasingly.
Elise and Brad fell into easy conversation as Wayne watched the sun duck lower. Everything was cast in romantic light. Just in front of them, a couple in their mid-sixties sat together and kissed with their eyes closed. There was no way to know if their love was new or old as time. Regardless of its length, it rang true and beautiful. Wayne placed his hand over Elise’s on the blanket and cupped it lightly. Michigan was a whole lifetime away and he didn’t want to be anywhere else but right here with her.
They drove the rest of the way to Calabasas. On the way, Elise ordered a few pizzas to be delivered upon their arrival. Afterward, she glanced toward Brad, paused for a moment, and said, “I would really like it if you stayed the night, Brad.”
Brad shrugged. “Already planned on it. We’re headed up to Berkley tomorrow anyway, right?”
“Opening night! Your sister has no idea I’m coming, right?”
“No idea,” Brad affirmed. “She said she’s glad you’re out east finding yourself. She’s had her own round of finding herself this semester, seems like. She keeps talking about finding her true acting voice.”
“I can imagine she’s a little insufferable right now,” Elise said with a hearty laugh.
“Just the tiniest bit,” Brad said. “But I love hearing about it. I can feel how happy she is right now. She has dreams and goals. She’s going to light this industry on fire.”
Wayne was mesmerized by Elise’s house in Calabasas, which was much larger than he had envisioned. If hismath was right, it was something like five times the size of his cozy house on Mackinac Island and Elise had lived there alone for much of the previous year.
No wonder she took off for Mack. I would have gone crazy in a big house like this.
“It’s all just the same as I left it,” Elise said as they paused in the kitchen. She placed a finger across the cold tile of the kitchen counter and chuckled to herself. “Sean demanded this fancy countertop. He said he wouldn’t have a kitchen without it. Now, it’s here, unused, getting colder and colder with every passing day.” Her eyes flashed back toward Wayne as she added, “I guess it’ll come time soon to sell the place. Get out from under it. It’s such a weight pressing down on me.”
Awhile later, after pizza and two glasses of wine from Elise’s built-in wine cellar, Wayne’s east-coast-time kicked in and he headed up to Elise’s bedroom. When he collapsed on the mattress, she appeared in the doorway, crossed her slender arms over her chest, and grinned sheepishly.
“If you really do sell this place, you have to take this mattress wherever you go,” Wayne said with a soft moan. “I don’t think I’ve ever slept on a cloud before. This is ridiculous.”
Elise chuckled as she swept toward him and dotted a kiss on his lips. “You know, I’m not so tired. I’m just feeling a little jittery. I have to tell Brad everything tonight, I think. I’ve waited too long.”
“It makes sense,” Wayne said with a heavy sigh. “But I hope you’ll wake me up when you come to bed.”
“No way in the world that will happen,” Elise said. “It’ll be like waking the dead.”
