The Older Woman

Doyle pulled the door closed after him and paused for a moment on the patio. The morning was cool, washed clean by yesterday’s rain. Meehan’s array of wind chimes tinkled softly in the breeze—glass, melodic chrome tubes and tiny brass bells, and, every now and then, a dull and hollow clunk of bamboo. Flowers grew in numerous pots and hanging baskets, most of which he couldn’t identify. He recognized the red and purple petunias, but he had no idea whatsoever about the green thing that smelled like lemons. His knowledge of plants was limited to farm crops and survival-training edibles. His knowledge of Kate Meehan was limited, as well. Who would have thought she liked these kinds of things?

An assortment of birds flew back and forth to the fancy blue-and-gray ceramic bird feeder, all of them vying for a perch. He stood and watched the no-guts-no-glory chickadees out maneuver the larger birds for more than their fair share of the sunflower seeds. What they lacked in size they made up for in speed and audacity. There was a lot to be said for both qualities, and he longed for the time when he might regain at least one of them.

Look and learn, he thought, his mind immediately going to his grandfather. The old man used to say that all the time.

Look and learn.

Listen and learn.

Live and learn.

Pop Doyle had believed that life’s lessons were everywhere if a man had enough sense to stop and pay attention—which had amused his grandson in a way that only a smartass punk kid could be amused. Doyle knew the truth of it now, though. Now when the old man was long gone, and he couldn’t tell him so.

Doyle had stood in one place too long, and he maneuvered himself slowly down the brick patio steps. He definitely could have used Meehan’s shoulder to hold on to.

In spite of the pain, he opted for the long way around the hedge and headed down Meehan’s driveway to the street. It was slow going, his progress accomplished in fits and starts and nothing like the days when he went running at six-thirty in the morning no matter what.

He missed it, damn it! He once had a sense of accomplishment, and he had taken such pride in being one of the best. It was so hard to give it all up.

No. It was so hard to have it all taken away.

A passing car honked, and he caught a glimpse of a rolled-up, OD camouflage sleeve waving out the open window as it disappeared around the corner. Somebody who knew him, Doyle guessed. Or knew of him. Somebody who still had legs that worked like they were supposed to and who was lucky enough to have somewhere to go and something to do.

He took a deep breath and fought down the self-pity that threatened to overwhelm him. One foot in front of the other, that’s all it took. Pop Doyle and his drill sergeant said so.

Doyle had worked up a sweat by the time he reached Mrs. Bee’s back door. He expected it to be locked, but it wasn’t. Mrs. Bee was awake and busily ironing pillowcases in the still-cool, wide central hallway. He expected the third degree, too, but she only smiled and kept ironing.

“You’re a good boy, Calvin,” she said when he was halfway up the stairs.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said dutifully. “That would be me.”

Mrs. Bee still didn’t ask him anything about his mission of mercy, so he kept going. Not that he had much to report. Meehan had been dumped—which Mrs. Bee likely already realized if she’d witnessed even half as much of the scene next door as he had. He’d have to hand it to his landlady, though. She said she only wanted Meehan in out of the rain, and that accomplished, she apparently didn’t need to know whatever sordid details he might have uncovered or why he was just now reporting in.

He made it to his quarters eventually. Unlike the downstairs hall, the apartment was hot and stuffy. He switched the air conditioner to high and stood in front of the cold blast of air, staring at nothing. The morning stretched endlessly before him, as did the afternoon, the week, the rest of his life.

He fried some bacon, then didn’t eat it. He maneuvered painfully to the floor instead and did an altogether impressive number of stretches and “ab crunches” just to keep the physical therapist happy. Then he showered and dressed in the uniform of the day—PT-gray running shorts and T-shirt—and running shoes that were hell to get tied.

As a reward he picked up his guitar and managed to strum what might pass for an actual melody. Then he refined it. Embellished it. Sang along.

And didn’t let his mind go anywhere near Rita Warren.

He was getting better at playing the guitar, helicopter crash or no helicopter crash. He had never had much of a singing voice, but he didn’t let that stop him. If he felt like singing, he sang. The residual huskiness from the fire and who knew how many hospital breathing tubes didn’t particularly concern him. The good news was that his fingers were much more inclined to do what he wanted them to do of late. They still hurt, of course, but what else was new?

Just to break the monotony, he hobbled to the window a couple of times to look out at Meehan’s house. Absolutely nothing was going on there. She hadn’t come home yet, and the boyfriend hadn’t returned with another little white bagel bag.

It took considerable willpower on his part not to make a third trip to the window.

“I have got to get out of here,” he said to no one in particular. He was becoming way too interested in the neighbors—sort of like the guy with the broken leg in the Hitchcock movie he’d stayed up late watching the other night. Of course, that guy had had all kinds of people to spy on. Doyle only had Meehan and the boyfriend—and it suddenly occurred to him that he wasn’t all that interested in the boyfriend. He was interested in Meehan, and he was letting himself get all concerned about her just like he did with Rita. He needed to go somewhere, do something, anything to take his mind off his troubles—and hers.

He looked at the noisy, battery-operated clock on the wall and sighed.

Oh-nine-thirty.

He could call Sergeant Beltran. Beltran would have transportation here in a heartbeat. Doyle could go to the grocery store—except that he didn’t need groceries. Or to the barber shop—except that he didn’t need a haircut, either. And he had way too much pride to let it be known that he just needed company—somebody to baby-sit.

He ate the bacon after all and read yesterday’s newspaper. His dress uniform hung on a hanger on the half-open closet door, and he hobbled over to put it away. He smiled slightly to himself as he hung it in the closet. He hadn’t exaggerated too much when he’d told Meehan he had looked good at Rita’s wedding. At least he’d regained enough weight so that he wore the uniform instead of the other way around. Except for the fact that he couldn’t half walk, he was a lean, mean fighting machine.

Hoo-ah!

“There it is,” he said out loud. His audacity. It was back after all. And as long as he was up and moving, he got a can of cola out of the refrigerator and hunted up an empty plastic grocery bag. Then he took himself out into the summer heat of the upstairs hallway, hesitating for a moment to secure the can in the bag before he tackled the back stairs. He had no real plan other than to get himself and the can down the numerous steps in one piece. Once he accomplished that, then he’d decide what to do. No problem there. Given his physical limitations, the list of possibilities was very short.

He ultimately ended up sprawled on the cushions on the wicker swing on the shady front porch. It was hot, though—shade or no shade—but he could put up with the heat for the prospect of a little entertainment. Something was bound to happen—mail delivery, garbage pick up, a dog fight.

Something.

Anything.

“There you are,” someone said behind him, making him jump. He turned in the swing to see Meehan standing with the throw she’d said he could have over her arm. She must have come down the back stairs after he had. She was wearing her nurse clothes and she looked sleep deprived and tired.

“For a man who can’t get around you’re hard to track down,” she said. “You forgot this.” She draped the throw over the back of the swing.

“No—hey—I don’t want to put you out.”

“I told you I have three. I can spare one. Use it when you get the muscle spasms in your legs. If you’re not going to take your pain med, it’ll help as much as anything.”

“You really don’t have to—”

“I know that, Doyle. Just take it, okay? I’ve had a very rough night. Don’t make me hurt you.”

He couldn’t keep from smiling, because it was nice of her to go to all this trouble and because she was being—and looking—more than a little cute here, in spite of the obviously rough night.

Cute.

She’d twisted her hair up and fastened it with some kind of clasp thing—but some strands had come loose and fell around her face, making her look kind of soft and rumpled and just out of bed. He tried not to stare at her. There was absolutely no doubt about it—and Meehan cute was even more jarring than Meehan with wind chimes and lemonscented flowers. He wondered idly why he hadn’t noticed it before. No, he must have noticed. He paid attention to things like that—half-dead or not.

“Okay, okay,” he said. “But there’s one condition.”

“What kind of condition?”

“You let me buy you a steak in appreciation. A really big one—with fried onions and a cold beer. Today. Anywhere you say.”

She was watching him closely, and he tried not to look as needy as he felt.

“Today,” she said after a long moment.

“Right.”

“In appreciation for the throw.”

“Right.”

“Are you that desperate to get out?”

“Yeah,” he said truthfully, and she laughed.

“I’m desperate,” he said. “And I want to say thanks. You helped me out yesterday.”

“I think maybe the help was mutual.”

“Yeah, but I had Mrs. Bee’s foot in my back. You didn’t. Maybe we could just kill two birds with one dinner and call it even. Simple as that.”

She was still watching him, and he let himself look into her eyes. Interesting eyes. Hazel blue. Nice.

“Don’t you—?” she started to ask, then abruptly broke off. He had no problem guessing the direction she’d been about to take. She wanted to know why he was bothering her when he could be going out with his buddies—until she suddenly remembered that he didn’t have any buddies…and why.

“So?” he persisted. At this point he’d take whatever he could get—even a pity outing.

“Thanks, but I can’t. I just got off work and I still have some things to do. I have to sleep at some point. Besides, it’s really not necessary for you—”

“Okay,” he interrupted. “Just a thought.”

She began to walk away from him toward the porch steps, but she stopped before she got there and looked back. She didn’t say anything, and neither did he. He could almost feel her trying to make up her mind.

He waited. She definitely had questions, but for some reason she wasn’t quite comfortable asking them.

“It would have to be late,” she said finally.

“No problem—fine with me. Did I say you get to drive?”

“I guessed as much.”

“Around nineteen hundred then? Or whenever. I’ll be here.”

She was still looking at him, still sitting on the fence about it. “Okay. I’ll see you when I wake up. I get to pick the place, right?”

“Right,” he said.

She was smiling again—this smile a kind of spider-to-the-fly one that challenged him—and made him a little leery about her expectations. And he’d seen the boyfriend up close. There was money there and a lot of it. He, on the other hand…

“Maybe you should bring along some plastic,” he said. “Just in case.”

“Plastic,” she said as if she wasn’t sure she’d heard right.

“Correct. Hey, you always got to have a contingency plan, Meehan.”

“Right. And you military guys are all alike,” she said, the smile broadening. “See you later, Specialist.”

She turned and ran lightly down the steps.

“Outstanding,” he said under his breath—and he didn’t mean just her capitulation. He watched her as long as he could, infinitely pleased with himself, because he thought she was as surprised that she’d accepted his offer as he was. In any event he was actually going to get that steak and beer, and the company wasn’t half-bad, either. Meehan was used to men who had to hobble, and she knew all about Rita. He wouldn’t have to put up a macho front if he didn’t want to. He could just kick back and be his miserable self.

He took a deep breath, fully aware of how little he had been thinking of Rita just now. And there was the other thing. He had just had a stellar opportunity to tell Meehan that the boyfriend had made a reconnaissance bright and early this morning—and, for whatever reason, he hadn’t taken it.

Chapter Three

S he is going to bail.

It didn’t take a genius to figure that out. She was late by anyone’s calculation, even with parameters as loosely defined as these had been. And she didn’t look as if she was planning anything so ordinary as a steak and a beer with a broken-down army specialist. And, on top of that, she’d caught him waiting on the front porch swing like the last puppy at the pound.

The boyfriend’s back, Doyle suddenly thought as she stepped up on the porch. And the mission had been scrubbed. He sat looking at her, wondering what to say.

Nothing, he decided. She was the one bailing. He’d let her do the talking. She could talk, and he would just look.

Man, she cleaned up good. In all his years in the army, he’d never gotten used to the way some women could pull that off—looking one way all the time until you more or less forgot they were even female—and then doing whatever it was they did to end up looking like this.

Meehan was wearing a dress. He’d never seen her in a dress. It was colorful—really flowery. It made him think of watercolors—and it was kind of floaty and thin.

Thin.

He couldn’t see through it—but he kept expecting to. It wasn’t an all-tarted-up kind of dress or anything like that. It was just…attention getting. Her shoulders were bare, except for little string straps, and soft looking, even in this light. Smooth. Touchable. He could easily imagine how good they would feel if he ran his hands over them, how good they would smell…

Don’t go there! he thought, but it didn’t keep him from wondering.

Like what? Flowers? Roses—or something citrus maybe. But nice.

One of the little string straps dropped off her shoulder.

Very nice…

Take it easy, Doyle!

This was Meehan here—and he was acting like she was a real woman or something.

“Bugs, are you listening to me?” she said.

“Sure. It’s too late to go out.”

“You think so.”

He frowned. “I thought that was what you said.”

“It was a question, Doyle. Is it too late to go out?”

“With me, you mean.”

She tried to look into his eyes. “You took a pain pill, didn’t you?”

“No,” he said, grinning. “But I think we need to start over here. You asked me if it’s too late to go.”

“Right. Is it?”

“No way. I’m starving.”

“Can you wait a half hour or so?”

He didn’t think he could wait five minutes, so he didn’t answer her, for no other reason than the way she looked. That alone was worth the delay.

“I didn’t mean to be this late—but I just woke up. I got hung up with a family thing after I left here, and I still need to make a phone call or two.”

“A family thing,” he repeated, because he’d been expecting her to say she was sorry, but she had to run along now, with the bagel guy.

“Right. I’ve got three sisters—two older, one younger. Unfortunately, they think up things for me to do for entertainment.”

“I hear that,” he said. “I’ve got one of those myself. So what are you fixing?”

“My uncle Patrick.”

“And your job would be…?”

“He’s a widower. He’s not taking care of himself. I get to call him up and yell at him.”

“Poor Uncle Patrick,” he said, trying not to grin.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means I’ve been there.”

“I’ve never yelled at you,” she said, clearly believing it.

“Sure you have.”

“I have not.”

“Oh, then that must have been somebody in leg casts who just looked like me.”

A smile was just about to get away from her. “Why did I yell at you?”

“No reason whatsoever. I was totally innocent. I guarantee it.”

“That’ll be the day—so are we on for tonight or not?”

“On,” he said. “Definitely on.” Things were getting better and better here.

“Then I’ll be back,” she said.

He expected her to go home, but she went inside Mrs. Bee’s house instead. She didn’t stay long. If she’d used Mrs. Bee’s phone to yell at Uncle Patrick, she’d made it short and sweet.

“That was fast,” he said as she stepped out onto the porch again.

“I delegated the situation to Mrs. Bee—well, actually she volunteered. She knows Uncle Patrick, and she’s a lot more tactful than I am. So let’s go. She wants us to take Thelma and Louise,” Meehan added as he heaved himself up off the swing.

“The more, the merrier,” he said, because he still couldn’t believe that she had actually shown up. At this point he didn’t care who went along, and he was only mildly concerned about the possibility that he might have to swing feeding two more people.

“What?” he said, because of the look Meehan was giving him.

“Well, I expected you to be a little happier about it.”

“About what?”

“Thelma and Louise. Will you pay attention?”

“I’m happy. I don’t think I know who they are, though—or maybe I do. Church ladies, right?”

“No,” Meehan said, laughing. “Thelma and Louise is a car.” She held up a set of keys and dangled them.

“Okay,” he said, still not getting it.

“A 1966 Thunderbird convertible.”

“You are kidding me. Like the one in the movie, you mean?”

“Except this one is red. Leather seats. Mint condition.”

“You are kidding me,” he said again.

“Nope. The late Mr. Bee gave it to her, brand-new, for her fiftieth birthday. She’s called it Thelma and Louise ever since she saw the movie. He didn’t want her to be depressed about hitting the half-century mark.”

“Did it work?”

“Well, driving it certainly cheers me up. She wants me to blow it out on the interstate.”

“You know how to do that, I guess,” he said, trying not to smile.

“You just hold on to your hat, soldier.”

She led the way down the steps, and she didn’t offer to help him. He liked that about her—that she didn’t act as if she even noticed that he was incapacitated. Unless he was about to fall on his face.

Everything was working pretty well at the moment, though. Some pain. Not too bad. He wished he’d dressed up a little. He’d traded the PT outfit for civilian cargo shorts and a blue golf shirt, but no way was he in any kind of league with that dress.

The car was carefully locked away in a wooden building in the backyard, one Doyle had seen a million times and never wondered about.

He followed Meehan in that direction, then abruptly stopped.

“What’s the matter?” she asked, looking back at him.

“Before we get too far along here, I better tell you the boyfriend came by this morning—in case you want to do something about it.”

“Oh, I know,” she said.

“You know? What did he do? Call to report someone had broken into your house?”

“Something like that,” she said.

He started walking again. “And you said?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“I don’t have to explain what you were doing in my house to anyone—except maybe my sisters. Those three would definitely have to have an explanation.”

He grinned and continued walking to the edge of the driveway, waiting well out of the way while Meehan unlocked the padlock on the door of the outbuilding.

“Damn,” he said under his breath as she eased the shiny red car out of the shed and into what was left of daylight. The vehicle was nothing short of spectacular. How had he missed knowing about this? The car was so fine it would be a privilege just to wash it. Mrs. Bee was full of surprises.

“How do you like it?” Meehan said through the open window.

“Damn,” he said again.

“Exactly,” Meehan said.

“So will the top go down?”

“No problem.”

“Outstanding!” he said with every bit of the enthusiasm he felt.

He hobbled around to the other side. She had the top moving before he reached the passenger-side door. It took some doing for him to get himself inside, but he managed. He sat there for a moment, admiring everything—the seats, the dash—Meehan’s legs. The radio worked, but it wasn’t original. Mrs. Bee apparently liked her sounds. This one had FM bass-expander stereo.

He was beginning to feel like a kid on Christmas morning. Or the cowboy in the Thelma and Louise movie.

“So where are we going?” he asked when he’d finished appreciating everything.

“I’ll leave that to you.”

“No—you pick. Anywhere you want.”

She looked at him for a moment in a way he couldn’t quite figure out. Like she wasn’t sure he meant it—and if he did, why.

But he did mean it. He didn’t care where they went—of course, his ensemble limited the options.

She picked a place near the mall—the same one he would have picked actually.

“Parking lot is pretty crowded,” she said as she pulled the car into a space.

“No, this is fine. They have great food.”

“And beer,” she said helpfully.

“And beer,” he agreed.

“You might see someone you know here.”

“You, too,” he countered.

“I don’t care.”

“Well, me, neither,” he assured her.

“This might work out then,” she said.

“Damn straight.”

“Can you walk that far? I can pull up to the door and let you out.”

“No, I can make it.” He opened the car door. He didn’t want to be let out. He wanted to hobble across the parking lot in plain view—with her—so all those people neither one of them cared about could see them together and eat their sorry hearts out.

It was hard work, though. He had to stop once to rest before he could make it all the way to the door. There was a line, but the bench full of paratroopers in the crowded waiting area immediately cleared a place for him to sit down. His legs hurt badly enough for him to forego the macho stuff and take it. They even made room for Meehan—which was clearly not a hardship. He didn’t miss the fact that they all appreciated her nonseethrough little dress as much as he did.

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