“Johnny’s a science teacher. He’s tall, although not quite as tall as you are. I was tired of going places with men who were shorter than me, and I think that’s why I said yes when he first asked me out. Eventually, going out with him got to be a habit. I thought he was nice, and at the end of the night he never seemed to grow an extra pair of hands. At the time, I thought those things were love. I was very naïve, wasn’t I?”
I made a seesaw gesture with my hand.
“We met at Georgia Southern and then got jobs at the same high school in Savannah. Coed, but private. I’m pretty sure his daddy pulled a wire or two to make that happen. The Claytons don’t have money — not anymore, although they did once — but they’re still high in Savannah society. Poor but genteel, you know?”
I didn’t — questions of who was in society and who wasn’t were never big issues when I was growing up — but I murmured an assent. She had been sitting on top of this for a long time, and looked almost hypnotized.
“So I had a diaphragm, yes I did. In its own little plastic lady-box with a rose on the cover. Only I never used it. Never had to. Finally threw it in the trash after one of those getting-it-outs. That’s what he called it, getting it out. ‘I have to get it out,’ he used to say. Then the broom. You see?”
I didn’t see at all.
Sadie laughed, and I was again reminded of Ivy Templeton. “Wait two years, she said! We could have waited
“What happened?” I gripped her upper arms lightly. “Did he beat you? Beat you with a broomhandle?” There was another way a broomhandle could be used — I’d read
“No,” she said. “The broom wasn’t for beating. George, I don’t think I can talk about this anymore. Not now. I feel… I don’t know… like a bottle of soda that’s been shaken up. Do you know what I want?”
I thought so, but did the polite thing and asked.
“I want you to take me inside, and then take the cap off.” She raised her hands over her head and stretched. She hadn’t bothered putting her bra back on, and I could see her breasts lift under her blouse. Her nipples made tiny shadows, like punctuation marks, against the cloth in the late light.
She said, “I don’t want to relive the past today. Today I only want to fizz.”
An hour later I saw she was drowsing. I kissed her first on the forehead and then on the nose to wake her up. “I have to go. If only to get my car out of your driveway before your neighbors start to call their friends.”
“I suppose so. It’s the Sanfords next door, and Lila Sanford is this month’s student librarian.”
And I was pretty sure that Lila’s father was on the schoolboard, but I didn’t say so. Sadie was glowing, and there was no need to spoil that. For all the Sanfords knew, we were sitting on the couch with our knees together, waiting for
She watched me dress. “What happens now, George? With us?”
“I want to be with you if you want to be with me. Is that what you want?”
She sat up, the sheet puddled around her waist, and reached for her cigarettes. “Very much. But I’m married, and that won’t change until next summer in Reno. If I tried for an annulment, Johnny would fight me. Hell, his
“If we’re discreet, everything will be fine. But we have to be discreet. You know that, right?”
She laughed and lit up. “Oh yes. I know that.”
“Sadie, have you had discipline problems in the library?”
“Huh? Some, sure. The usual.” She shrugged; her breasts bobbed; I wished I hadn’t dressed quite so fast. On the other hand, who was I kidding? James Bond might’ve been up for a third go-round, but Jake/George was tapped out. “I’m the new girl in school. They’re testing me. It’s a pain in the keister, but nothing I didn’t expect. Why?”
“I think your problems are about to vanish. Students love it when teachers fall in love. Even the boys. It’s like a TV show to them.”
“Will they know that we’ve…”
I thought about it. “Some of the girls will. The ones with experience.”
She huffed out smoke. “Great.” But she didn’t look entirely displeased.
“How about dinner out at The Saddle in Round Hill? Get people used to seeing us as a couple.”
“All right. Tomorrow?”
“No, I have something to do in Dallas tomorrow.”
“Research for your book?”
“Uh-huh.” Here we were, brand-new, and I was lying already. I didn’t like it, but saw no way around it. As for the future… I refused to think about that now. I had my own glow to protect. “Tuesday?”
“Yes. And George?”
“What?”
“We have to find a way to keep doing this.”
I smiled. “Love will find a way.”
“I think this part is more lust.”
“It’s both, maybe.”
“You’re a sweet man, George Amberson.”
Christ, even the name was a lie.
