Tribute Part 34

"I believe the celebration called for naked dancing."

He glanced in the direction of his closest neighbors. Dusk had fallen, but torches tossed out light. He glanced down at his dog, who sat, head c.o.c.ked, obviously fascinated.

"Maybe we should move that event inside."

She shook her head, and her blouse slid down with the movement of her shoulders. "In the gra.s.s."

"Ah, Mrs. Berkowitz-"

"Shouldn't spy on her neighbor, even if she could see through that big black walnut tree." Cilla unhooked her pants, kicked off her shoes, which Spock retrieved and carried territorially to his ratty towel. "And when we've finished dancing naked, there's something else I'm going to do on the gra.s.s."

"What?"

"I'm going to give you the ride of your life." She stepped out of her pants, continued to sway, turn as she ran her hands over her own body, marginally covered now in two tiny white swatches.

Ford forgot the dog, the shoes, the neighbors. He watched, all of the blood draining out of his head as she flicked open the front hook, opened her bra inch by delicious inch. The torchlight glimmered gold over her skin, danced in her eyes like sun on a pure blue sea.

When the bra floated to the ground, she ran a fingertip under, just under the low-riding waist of her panties. "You're still dressed. Don't you want to dance with me?"

"Yeah. Oh yeah. Can I just say something first?"

She trailed her fingers down her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, smiled at him. "Go ahead."

"Two things, actually. Oh Christ," he managed when she lifted her hair, let it fall over those glowing shoulders. "You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. And at this moment? I'm the luckiest man in the known universe."

"You're about to get luckier." Tossing her hair back, she started toward him. She pressed her naked body to his. "Now, dance with me."

CHAPTER NINETEEN

On the morning of the Fourth, Ford rolled out of Cilla's bed. It didn't surprise him she was already up, even on a holiday. He considered it his duty as an American to sleep in, but apparently she didn't share his staunch sense of patriotism. He groped his way downstairs, and followed the now familiar sound of whoosh-bang! to the living room.

She stood on a ladder shooting nails into window trim.

"You're working." It was an accusation.

She glanced back. "A little. I wanted to see how this trim looks against the paint since my father finished it. I still can't believe he painted all this, and so well. If he didn't have a job, I'd hire him."

"Is there coffee?"

"Yes, there is. Spock's out back. He fears the nail gun."

"Minute."

He heard more whoosh-bang ing behind him as he dragged himself into the kitchen. The coffeemaker stood on a small square of counter as yet undemoed. Shielding his eyes from the sunlight blasting through the windows, he found a mug, poured. After the first couple sips, the light seemed more pleasant, and less like an alien weapon designed to blind all humankind.

He drank half the mug standing where he was, and after topping it off felt mostly awake. Carrying it with him, he walked back to the living room and watched her work for a few minutes while the caffeine wove its magic.

She stood on the floor now, fitting the diagonal edges of the bottom piece to the sides she'd already nailed up. In what struck him as wizard-fast time, the dark, wide trim framed the window.

She set the gun down, took several steps back. He heard her whisper, "Yes, exactly."

"It looks good. What did you do with what was there before?"

"This is what was there before, or mostly. I had to build the sill to match because it was damaged."

"I thought it was white."

"Because some idiot along the way slapped white paint on this gorgeous walnut. I stripped it. A little planing, a little stain and a couple coats of poly, and it's back to its original state."

"Huh. Well, it looks good. I didn't get the paint color until now. Thought it looked a little dull. But it looks warmer against the wood. Like, ah, a forest in the fog."

"It's called Shenandoah. It just seemed right. When you look out the windows in this room, it's the mountains, the sky, the trees. It's just right." She walked back, picked up another piece of trim.

"You're still working."

"We don't have to leave for ..." She looked at her watch, calculated. "About ninety minutes. I can get some of this trim run before I have to get ready."

"Okay. I'm taking the coffee and my dog and heading across the road. I'll pick you up in an hour and a half."

"Great. But you might want to put some pants on first."

He glanced down at his boxers. "Right. I'm going to put on pants, possibly shoes, take the coffee and so on."

"I'll be ready."

HE DIDN'T EXPECT her to be ready. Not because she was female, but because he knew what often happened when he himself got lost in the work. If he didn't set an alarm, being late, or in fact missing an appointment or event altogether, was the norm.

So it surprised him when she came out of the house even as he stopped in front of it. And her appearance left him momentarily speechless.

She'd left her hair down, as she rarely did, so it spilled dark, aged gold, down her back. She wore a dress of bright red swirled against white, with a kind of thin and floaty skirt and thin straps that set off those strong shoulders.

With his paws planted on the window, Spock leaned out. Ford translated the series of sounds the dog made as the canine version of a wolf whistle.

He got out of the car-he just had to-and said, "Wow."

"You like? Check this." She did a turn, giving him a chance to admire the low dip of the back with the flirt of crisscrossing ties.

"And again, wow. I've never seen you in a dress before, and this one pulls out some stops."

Instant distress ran across her face. "It's too much, too fussy for a backyard cookout. I can change in five minutes."

"First, over my dead body. Second, 'fussy' is the last word I'd use. It's great. You look all summery s.e.xy, ice-cream-sundae cool. Only now I wish I'd thought to take you out where you'd wear dresses. I feel a fancy dinner coming on."

"I prefer backyard picnics."

"They are permanently top of my list."

SHE'D EXPECTED IT to be awkward initially, the introductions, the mixing. But she knew so many of the people there that it was as easy and pleasant as Matt's backyard with its generous deck and smoking grill.

Josie, Matt's pretty and very pregnant wife, s.n.a.t.c.hed Cilla away from Ford almost immediately. "Here." Josie handed Ford a beer. "Go away. Wine, beer, soft?" she asked Cilla.

"Ah, I'll start with soft."

"Try the lemonade, it's great. Then I'm going to steal you for ten minutes over there in the shade. I'd say walk this way, but waddling's unattractive unless you're eight months pregnant. I've been dying to meet you."

"You're welcome to come by the house, anytime."

"I nearly have a couple times, but with this." She patted her belly as they walked. "And that." And pointed toward a pack of kids on a swing set. "The little guy in the blue shorts and red shirt squeezing Spock in mutual adoration is mine. So between this and that, and a part-time job, I haven't made it by. Either to welcome you to the area, or to poke my nose in to see what's going on. Which Matt claims is pretty great."

"He's terrific to work with. He's very talented."

"I know. I met him when my family moved here. I was seventeen and very resentful that my father's work dragged me away from Charlotte and my friends. My life was over, of course. Until the following summer when my parents hired a local contractor to put an addition on the house, and there was a young, handsome carpenter on the crew. It took me four years," she said with a wink, "but I landed him."

She sat with a long, heartfelt sigh.

"I'll get this out of the way. I adored Katie. I had a Katie doll. In fact, I still do. It's stored away for this one." She ran a gentle circle over her belly. "We're having a girl this time. I've seen most if not all of your grandmother's movies and have Barn Dance on DVD. I hope we come to like each other because you're seeing Ford and I love him. In fact, Matt knows if I ever get tired of him and decide to ditch him, I'm going after Ford."

Cilla sipped her lemonade. "I think I already like you."

IN THE HEAVY, drowsing heat, people sought out the shade of deck umbrellas or gathered at tables under the spread of trees. Seemingly unaffected by spiraling temperatures and thickening humidity, kids clambered over the swing set or raced around the yard like puppies with inexhaustible energy. Cilla calculated that Matt's big yard, st.u.r.dy deck and pretty two-story Colonial held nearly a hundred people spanning about five generations.

She sat with Ford, Brian and a clutch of others at one of the picnic tables, plates loaded with burgers, hot dogs, a wide variety of summer salads. From where she sat, she could see her father, Patty and Ford's parents talking and eating together on the deck. As she watched, Patty laughed, laid a hand on Gavin's cheek and rubbed. He took his wife's hand, kissed her knuckles lightly as the conversation continued.

It struck, a dull blade of envy and its keener edge of understanding. They loved each other. She'd known it, of course, on some level. But she saw it now, in the absent gestures she imagined neither of them would remember, the steady and simple love. Not just habit or contentment or duty, not even the bonds of-how long had they been together? she wondered. Twenty-three, twenty-four years? No, not even the bonds of half a lifetime.

They'd beaten the odds, won the prize.

Angie walked by-so young, fresh, pretty-with the gangly guy in baggy shorts she'd introduced to Cilla as Zach. Angie stopped, and for a moment Cilla was stunned to realize how much she wished she was close enough to hear the quick, animated conversation. Then with her hand resting on her mother's shoulder, Angie leaned down to kiss her father's head before moving on.

That said it all, Cilla decided. They were a unit. Angie would go back to college in the fall. She might move a thousand miles away at any point in her life. And still, they would always be a unit.

Deliberately, she looked away.

"I think I'll get a beer," she said to Ford. "Do you want one?"

"No, I'm good. I'll get it for you."

She nudged him back as he started to rise. "I can get it."

She wandered off to the huge galvanized bucket filled with ice and bottles and cans. She didn't particularly want a beer, but figured she was stuck now. She fished one out and, thinking of it as a prop, crossed over to where Matt manned the grill.

"Do you ever get a break?" she asked him.

"Had a couple. People come and go all day, that's how it is at these things. Gotta keep it smoking."

His little boy raced up, wrapped his arms around Matt's leg, chattering in a toddlerese Cilla was incapable of interpreting. Matt, however, appeared to be fluent. "Let's see the proof."

Eyes wide, the boy pulled up his shirt to expose his belly. Matt poked at it, nodding. "Okay then, go tell Grandma."

When the boy raced off again, Matt caught Cilla's puzzled expression. "He said he finished his hot dog and could he have a big, giant piece of Grandma's cake."

"I didn't realize you were bilingual."

"I have many skills." As if to prove it, he flipped a trio of burgers expertly. "Speaking of skills, Ford told me you ran some of the living room trim this morning."

"Yeah. It looks, if I must say-and I do-freaking awesome. Is that your shop?" She gestured with the beer to the cedar building at the rear of the property.

"Yeah. Want to see?"

"You know I do, but we'll take the tour another time."

"Where are you going to put yours?"

"Can't decide. I'm debating between putting up something from scratch or refitting part of the existing barn. The barn option's more practical."

"But it sure is fun to build from the ground up."

"I never have, so it's tempting. How many square feet do you figure?" she continued, and fell into the comfortable, familiar rhythm of shoptalk.

As evening drifted in, people began the short pilgrimage to the park. They crowded the quiet side street, carting lawn chairs, coolers, blankets, babies and toddlers. As they approached, the bright, bra.s.sy sound of horns welcomed them.

"Sousa marches," Ford said, "as advertised." He shifted the pair of folding chairs he had under his arm while Cilla led Spock on a leash. "You having fun?"

"Yes. Matt and Josie put on quite a cookout."

"You looked a little lost back there, just for a couple minutes."

"Did I?"

"When we were chowing down. Before you got up to get a beer, and I lost you to Matt and Tool Time Talk."

"Probably too much pasta salad. I'm having a really good time. It's my first annual Shenandoah Valley backyard July Fourth extravaganza. So far, it's great."

The park spread beneath the mountains, and the mountains were hazed with heat so the air seemed to ripple over them like water. Hundreds of people scattered through the park, sprawling over its greens. Concession stands did a bustling business under the shade of their awnings, in offerings of country ham sandwiches, sloppy joes, funnel cakes, soft drinks. Cilla caught the scents of grease and sugar, gra.s.s and sunscreen.

Over loudspeakers came a whine of static, then the echoey announcement that the pie-eating contest would begin in thirty minutes in front of the north pavilion.