Chapter 5

Wednesday

I woke up suddenly but kept my eyes shut. I didn’t want to see the light. Didn’t want to be blinded. I listened for waves and could tell they were at least bigger than the day before but the eight to ten footers were long gone. The bed had a lean in it that could only be explained by one thing.

“Lisa,” I croaked.

“Try again,” the voice said. That got my attention and my eyes flew open.

“Tina. Hi,” I said, trying to get my voice to work right.

“Have a nice night?” Oh, oh. Why would she be asking.

“Pretty nice.” My eyes began to focus on her. She had her patented I-know-stuff-you-think-I-don’t-know look.

“I think it might have been more than pretty nice,” she said. She wasn’t mad or accusing or anything but it sounded like she wanted more than a brief description.

“You’re right. It was really nice. I like Fallon a lot more than I thought I would.”

“I’ll bet. She’s still sleeping. And she has a smile on her face. Anything you want to share?”

“No. So, you haven’t talked to her,” I said, now satisfied that anything Tina thought she knew was pure speculation.

“I’ve known her for a long time. She has a special smile on her face. You two didn’t...”

“No,” I said, cutting her off before she could get any more out. “Where were you guys last night,” I asked, changing the subject.

“I’m just checking on my girl. That was her first date ever. I know how she is.”

“She’s very enthusiastic about everything she does. And you don’t want your best friend to get pregnant on her first date. You don’t have to worry about that,” I said, hoping my preemptive approach would stifle any more conversation.

“That’s right.” She looked at me and smiled. It was genuine. An appreciative smile. I liked it. “I know you asked me out and I said yes, but it’s okay. You don’t have to take me out.”

“What? Wait. You’re not bailing on me, are you? Because I want to. Why would I want to back out?” She had surprised me by that. “No. You said you’d love to and I want to.” I took a breath and slowed down. “It’s not like I HAVE to.”

“I just wanted to give you the chance without feeling like you had to.”

I got it. I propped myself up on my elbows. “That isn’t about you and me, is it? You’re saying that because of your best friend.”

“Yeah,” she almost sighed it. “She’s happy most of the time but I saw her all day yesterday and that smile she has ... I don’t want to be the one to take that off her face.”

“Well, that’s just wrong. If we don’t go out tonight, she’ll think it was her fault. No. She’ll know it was her fault. I bet you don’t want that, either.”

“That’s actually pretty good thinking, sport.”

“Every now and then. I don’t pretend to understand girls. Maybe a little more this week than last. But I know people. She’s your best friend and you want to protect her. I get that. But you’re her best friend, right?”

“Yeah. So, what have you learned about girls this week,” she asked. She arched her eyebrows up, begging for an answer that I’m sure she thought would be amusing.

“Oh, no. I’m not giving away all the secrets you ladies think you still have.”

“Ha.”

“I’ll tell you what I learned about me, though.”

“This ought to be good.”

“I think so. I found out that I take people and friendship for granted. I didn’t realize what kind of good friends the Musketeers are and I probably still don’t know but I have a better idea. I didn’t realize that I thought of LuAnn as a friend. Not just a date or maybe a potential girlfriend but as a friend. By the end of the night Monday, she had wowed me. I honestly was hoping I’d have a shitty night with Fallon because I had such a good time with Lu. But I had asked her out and I did my best and it turned into so much more than I thought. Fallon is amazing. She’s really, truly amazing. And now, I think of her as more than I thought I ever would. And by the end of the night...”

“You were hoping you’d have a shitty night with me.”

“Yeah. Because I had such a great time with Fallon. But I don’t want to have a shitty time with you. And I don’t want you to have one either.”

“Nice to hear.”

“There’s more.”

“Go on.”

“Well, when I went out with Lu, I thought maybe she would end up as my girlfriend. She’s pretty nice and I actually thought that before we went out and then we went out and I still thought that. But when I went out with Fallon, I didn’t think that before we went out. But by the end of the night, I could see that as a real possibility. Very real and I hadn’t thought it was even a possibility.”

“Okay. All the more reason to cancel.”

“No. Exactly the opposite.” I sat up and pulled the blanket up. I was decent, having fallen asleep in my shorts. “I probably have dragon breath. Sorry,” I said and leaned forward.

I took her face in my hands and kissed her gently. Just a nice, easy, gentle kiss on the lips. I don’t think she knew why I wanted to kiss her right then.

“I totally short-changed Fallon when I thought we couldn’t be more than just friends. I don’t want to do that with you. Fallon taught me that I can’t. I know a hundred girls at school. Maybe more. I don’t know any that I like as much as the three of you. Not even close. Tina, I’ve never even thought about dating until this week. So ... yeah. All of that. So, you can’t back out and I’m not going to. And I really want to take you out. And, and this is really important to me, and I hope you don’t see this as some sort of duty that you have to do. I want you to want to go out with me. There. That’s it.”

“You’ve been thinking.”

“You’re not kidding. This is harder than Mr. Applebee’s trigonometry class.”

“Good. I’m glad we’re not making this easy on you. What time do I need to be ready and what should I wear? I don’t even know where we’re going.”

“My mom said she’d swing by your house yesterday and pick up the right clothes for you so she should have it. Me too. Hey. Where were you guys last night?”

“Ah. I bet you guys felt deserted when you got home. Funny story. It is now. Not so much last night. Your dad said there was a meteor shower last night and he convinced us all that we should go watch it. He said it was going to be a big one with two or three meteorites per minute. And your mom kind of encouraged us to join. Plus, we didn’t have any plans. To be honest, we were all thinking about Fallon. So, we went out on the beach to watch for meteorites. It was cloudy but it wasn’t as cloudy toward Huntington. So, your dad thought we could see them if we walked a hundred yards north on the beach. We did but the clouds must have moved. We’re all standing on the beach, staring at the clouds, waiting to see a meteorite that’s behind the clouds. We moved north again and again and again, just trying to see the meteorites. And none of us really cared except your dad. Don’t tell him I said that. But by that time, it’s like we were committed. Before we knew it, we crossed the Santa Ana River jetty into Huntington Beach and we’re all pretending to be interested and your mom is trying to figure a way to call it off. I think your dad was really bummed, not because we didn’t see meteorites but because he was the one that talked us all into it.

“By then, it’s probably one in the morning or something, and we’re two or three miles from the beach house and there’s nothing out there. No phones. No restaurants. Nothing. Your dad starts talking to your mom and he says he’s going to jog back to the house and get the car. But then he says he can’t do that because it would mean leaving a bunch of young ladies alone on the beach. He’s really feeling bad about it. So, LuAnn asks Lisa and me if we want to run back to the house and we said ‘sure’ so we did. We started jogging and your mom and dad were still talking. Lisa turns around and hollers at them and asks if they’re going to come too or if they want her to drive back and get them. And your dad thought Lisa meant it and she doesn’t have her license yet so they were jogging too. We ended up running and laughing two miles home.”

“Was my dad embarrassed.”

“He was, but now he’s not. We laughed too much for him to be embarrassed any more. But it would be funny if you told him he had a curfew now, because we were out so late.”

“I can’t let that go. What time did you get back?”

“It was almost two. You two were already back and in bed. And since you were back before us, and asleep before us, and up after us, because we’re all awake, I have to figure that you two must have had a hell of a night.”

“We did. We really, truly did.”

“Alright then. I’m expecting big things. What time?”

“Two thirty,” I answered.

“Two-thirty in the afternoon. What kind of a date are you taking me on?”

I grinned. “You’ll see. It will be fun.”

“That’s it. That’s all you’re telling me? Your mom has clothes for me so I need to be ready to go at two-thirty?”

“Yup. And eat lunch first, because we won’t get to dinner until seven. Since my dad had you out until two last night, I’m going to petition for a later curfew.”

“I like how you think,” she said and she kissed me, giving my lips a lite flick of her tongue before she left.

Hot damn. If anyone could get me wound up quickly, it was Tina.

I showered and shaved, for the fourth time that week, then realized my mom had my pants. I threw on shorts and a T and found her on the second story deck with my dad. They were reading. So, I took a seat and waited for one of them to acknowledge me. I learned the etiquette of waiting when I was very young. My mom paused first.

“Morning sunshine.” It was almost noon.

“Morning. Did you pick up clothes for me and Tina?”

“Yes. I needed to water my plants anyway and Tina’s was on the way. Nice time with Fallon?”

“Great time with Fallon.” My dad looked up. “Surprisingly so. Did you know she is a musician,” I asked and my mom nodded and smiled. “She can play anything. Well, she says she’s yet to really try brass instruments but I bet that just means she would be like, second chair trumpet or something.”

“I did know. Lisa and I went to a piano recital a long time ago and she was good then. She’s a very fast learner and can be highly motivated. I’m sure she’s very good now. How did you discover this? Did she tell you? She doesn’t talk about it much.”

I described our trip to the guitar shop and then told her about her skill on the ice.

“Sounds like you’re having a pretty good week, son.”

“So far. I have a plan for tonight I think Tina will enjoy. Not thrilled about tomorrow though.”

“What’s tomorrow,” mom asked.

“Well, each of the Musketeers knew I would be taking them each out once but there is no plan to take any of them out a second time.”

“And you’re worried you might hurt some feelings?”

“That. But also, I’m finding out that I like each of them.”

“Be very careful, there, buddy boy,” my dad said.

“Exactly. It’s all fun and games until...” I ran out of analogy. “Until it isn’t fun anymore.”

“Who says you have to date any of them a second time?”

“Mom. That’s crazy. Any guy would be nuts not to want to date Fallon or Lu and I’ll bet I’ll have a great time with Tina, too.”

My dad put his paper down and leaned forward.

“This is practice. It’s a bit like a test drive. I love my Carrera but it wasn’t my first car. Sometimes it takes a while to find out what you really want. You’re sixteen. Expect to test drive a lot of cars before you find the one you really like.”

My mom was shaking her head. “I don’t like that test drive analogy very much.”

“No?” my dad asked.

“Won’t hold up in court. Cars don’t have feelings and they don’t improve. They wear out. You’re right to be concerned and it shows a lot of maturity. But you can’t decide to date whoever’s feelings would be hurt the most if you didn’t. You couldn’t possibly know who that is, anyway.”

“I think it would probably be Fallon.”

“And I think you’re wrong. I think Fallon is very resilient. She might be the one who would be hurt the most at first but she is probably also the one who would get over it the quickest.”

“I hadn’t thought about it that way.”

“Tina might surprise you.”

“She already has. She’s really concerned for Fallon.”

“Tina thinks Fallon needs a big sister and Fallon isn’t going to tell her otherwise. She loves having a big sister,” mom said.

“So, if I asked Tina out a second time instead of Lu or Fallon...”

“Fallon would be disappointed but then happy for Tina.”

“And Lu?”

“That’s a bit of a mystery.”

“Dad, how many girls did you date before mom?”

“I’m going to take the fifth on that.”

“C’mon dad.”

“First, I’d like the car analogy stricken from the record.”

“No objections,” said mom.

“The more I thought about that, the worse it got. What’s your real question, son?”

“How did you know that mom was the right one, and how did you know that others weren’t. How’s that?”

“Much better but not easier. With your mom, I just knew. We clicked. You’re looking for objective answers when there aren’t any. What works for one person won’t work for another. Ask your mom how she knew.”

“How did you know, mom?” I was easy to get along with.

“We didn’t just click. He thought we did but I didn’t. He wouldn’t quit.”

“That’s not a real answer. He said he knew so of course he wouldn’t quit. But how did you know?”

“He wouldn’t quit. He was persistent. That kept him in the game long enough for him to grow on me. I didn’t love him right away. I liked him. Sometimes I tolerated him. But the first quality that really intrigued me was his tenacious persistence.” I must have looked skeptical but my dad didn’t interrupt. “If he wanted me so bad that he would put up with a lot of rejection and hesitance on my part, then I knew that once I said ‘yes’ he would be impossible to deny. I took my time but he just wouldn’t quit.”

“Women like to be pursued. They like to be cherished. That’s different than love but they’re close.”

“But you knew before she did. How am I supposed to know,” I asked. Silence. Then more silence.

“Gotcha. I’ll just know. Arrgh. Can I have a curfew extension tonight?”

“Why would you want a curfew extension?”

“Well, sir, I believe a precedent has been set and I would be foolish not to avail myself of that opportunity as well.”

“Ooh, honey, you should have seen this coming,” my mom laughed. “Word is out.”

“I’ll consider it. Are your client’s parents in agreement with this request,” dad asked.

Mom answered for me. “I spoke with her mom yesterday when I picked up clothes for her date. She was content to allow Tina to follow our guidelines.”

“Yes. My client is in agreement,” I said quickly. “If the court has no further...”

“Yada, yada, yada,” dad said, holding his hand up. “Fine. One.”

I got up to leave. “Thanks. We’ll probably be back before midnight anyway but I couldn’t waste that one.” I walked away and mom smacked me on the butt as I passed. Love my folks.

I grabbed our clothing off the kitchen counter and went back up to the third floor and knocked on Tina’s door. Fallon answered.

“You,” she said.

“Who did you think?”

“What’s this?”

“Clothes for Tina. For tonight.”

“Hmmph.” She turned from the door. “Here’s some clothes for tonight. If you still want to go, I guess.”

“Brat,” Tina said and took the clothes. “Jeans and cowboy boots? Are we going to a rodeo?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I left your hat on the table. You can get it on the way out.”

Fallon was between us and enjoying Tina’s mystery.

“You get a good night’s sleep,” I asked, quietly.

“Pretty good,” she said smiling.

“You have a beautiful smile,” I said an gave her a quick kiss. “Tell your roommate to be ready on time.” Her roommate was standing right there.

“If I remember, I might. I’ll probably forget. I don’t usually remember things that aren’t important.”

“Brat.” And the door closed. What a relationship.

I went downstairs and scrambled some eggs and buttered some toast to go with it. I called ahead to confirm our afternoon. Dad had left the sports section on the table and I tried to read it as I ate. Dodgers did something or other and were five games back. The angels were eight games below five hundred. Neither team was having a good season and I didn’t care. I had zero concentration ability as my mind jumped from one thing to another. It was like a pinball machine. Ping, ping, ping.

I realized I needed a refresher course if I wanted to be confident that evening. I approached my mom and she helped me get my terms down and reminded me of a few things I’d forgotten. I thanked her, then went upstairs and changed clothes, brushed and gargled and checked myself in the mirror. I sure didn’t look like a guy that could score dates with each of the Musketeers. When I went back in the rec room, Lisa was the only one there.

“Hi. You ready for something different tonight?”

“Yeah. Girls in the bedroom still?”

“Lu is in the shower. Fallon was out earlier but I think she’s helping Tina get ready.”

“Good. They were ribbing each other earlier. They okay?”

“Oh, yeah. Fallon is just jealous. Apparently, she had the best time last night. She was crazy happy. LuAnn, I think is waiting the judges scoring.”

“That’s what it seems like to me. I feel like I get to go out with Tina tonight and after that, the judgment.”

“Maybe you should wait a while after tonight. Give it a couple of months.”

“What? A couple of months? No way am I going to wait that long.”

“Wait that long to do what,” she asked but she knew.

“Ah. I think I get it. Wait one day, two days, three days or until I can’t stand it anymore and then ask out the one I can’t stand not asking out the most?”

“It does seem like a preference would float to the top.”

“Why can’t you have Sarah Bingham or Lani Floors for your friends?”

“Are you kidding? Why would I do that?”

“Because then, this would be easier. Fallon was amazing, by the way. I had no idea.”

“Yeah. She hangs out with a bunch of band geeks that don’t appreciate her. If she had a bigger range of friends, one of them would have picked up on how amazing she is and you wouldn’t have a shot.”

“Don’t encourager her,” I said only half kidding. Then, I realized I wasn’t kidding at all.

We talked about other things for a few minutes and then Tina came out. You could have knocked me down with a feather.

“Wow,” I said, because that’s the only thing my tiny brain could come up with.

She performed a quick spin so I could admire her. She’d done something to her hair to give it nice soft waves, she had on a red, white and brown plaid shirt with the sleeves folded up to the elbow and buttoned in place. She’d left an extra button undone that showed off her cleavage. While a bikini covered her, the bra she had on supported her and it was doing a wonderful job. I was jealous of her bra. Her jeans were skin tight, showing off an amazing ass. How she got into them, I couldn’t imagine. Her face was a work of art. She knew how to put-on make-up to highlight her features without seeming like she had any on.

“Tina, you are flawless,” I said. I saw Fallon behind her raise her eyebrows. She knew I was right. I gave Tina my arm and we walked downstairs. Two pair of cowboy boots walking down wood stairs together made a racket. Everyone knew we were leaving. I grabbed my hat and she grabbed hers and put it on at a practiced angle, and we continued down to the car.

“I probably should have swapped this out for my truck,” I said as I offered my hand to help her in.

“You do have my curiosity up.”

I walked around and slid in. “Tina, you look amazing. You are beyond beautiful.”

“Thank you. You don’t look so bad yourself. Where are we going?”

“We are going south toward Scotchman’s Cove. We have some friends that have property there. They were sued about five years ago and my mom defended them and won the case. They could have lost everything in a liability suit. They were underinsured. Anyway, they were very grateful.”

“And this is leading to...”

“Ah, yes. Well, after the case, they were more than grateful and that resulted in not only a nice payout for my mom but a friendship and some time at their ranch. Mom and Lisa and I learned how to ride horseback. Dad was too busy and he said he knew how already. Today, they have a couple of horses waiting for us and we’re going to ride some nice trails. Sound good?”

“Yes. Definitely sounds more than good. I’ve never been. I’ve wanted to ride horses since I was a little girl but there’s no place to do it.”

“Well, we have a place and you’re going to love it.”

“How did you know, though. No one knows. It’s like a dream that can’t happen so I don’t dwell on it and so I don’t talk about it.”

“Well, the brat knew and she told me two days ago. We talked and she wanted to make sure you had a good time. She gave me a list of possibilities but when she got to this possibility, I knew it was the right one.”

“Does she know we’re going riding?”

“She didn’t. She just figured it was something from the list but when you put on boots, she had to guess.”

We passed out of Newport and into the empty spaces between it and Laguna Beach. I knew it wouldn’t go undeveloped for long. I found the dirt driveway to the ranch and pulled in. I definitely should have brought my truck. It was slow going on some bumpy patches but we made it. I helped Tina out and we walked toward the stables.

“Hi, Mikey.”

“Hi, Mrs. Covington. This is Tina. Tina, Mrs. Covington.”

“Call me Jan. Oh, aren’t you the pretty one? You watch yourself with this snake charmer. He’s got a pair of high-powered lawyers for parents.”

“Yes, ma’am. He’s sneaky.”

“As long as you know. I guess whatever he gets away with, it’s your own fault,” she joked. She was joking, I thought. We walked to the stables where a dozen horses were housed.

“You’ve added a few,” I said, figuring there were at least four new horses since the last time I’d been there.

“You should come out more often. I’ve got two picked out for you and ready to go. I’ll ride out with you until we get past the road. I don’t want them spooked.”

She handed the reins to me and I walked him out of the stable to where her horse was waiting. She followed behind with the other and I saw her talking with Tina.

“This fine beauty,” she said pointing to my horse. “Is Sonny. He’s new to us but he’s a good horse and he minds just fine. And this,” she said pointing to Tina’s horse.

“Is Cher,” I offered.

“This is Cher. You got that right. They’re a couple and they like to go out together. Sonny behaves himself when Cher is with him. They need the exercise so don’t be afraid to let them run a bit.” She turned to Tina, “If you’re comfortable with her. You get the feel of her and don’t go past your own comfort zone,” she said and Tina nodded. “If you’re ready to pick up the pace, you just let Mikey know. He’ll set it and Cher will follow Sonny’s lead if you let her. Sound good?” She nodded.

Tina was having a hard time getting up so I lowered the stirrup so she would have an easier time of it. Once she was up, I adjusted it for her height. She caught on and adjusted the other side. I told her that posture was key and that she should try to keep her ear, shoulder, hip, and heel in a straight line. She sat up straighter in the saddle. I showed her how much slack to keep in the reins and had her walk Cher in a circle, first one direction and then the other. When I felt comfortable that she could walk the horse, I mounted mine, adjusted my stirrups and we were off.

“That was good, Mikey. You two will do just fine,” Jan said.

She took the lead and reminded me that Cher liked to stay close to Sonny. We managed to get out to Pacific Coast Highway and waited for a break in traffic. This was the only tricky part. Jan was closer to the highway and I’d held back. When there was a good break, we set off across the road toward the beach and the trails above it.

When we were well clear of the highway, we stopped. “You good, Mikey?”

“Yes ma’am. We’ll take our time and I’ll make sure we stay safe. Probably back by five or so.”

“Okay. You two have dinner plans?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Well then, don’t you worry about them when you come back. I’ll take care of them.”

“Thank you so much,” I said and she turned her horse back to the stables.

“You want to try trotting a little before we go down on the beach?”

“We’re going to ride on the beach?”

“I thought we might.”

“Then we should do whatever you think we should do. I feel pretty high up here. I can see a lot farther. They’re bigger when you’re on them, I think.”

“Takes some getting used to. Sonny’s really responsive and I don’t think Jan would have given you a more difficult horse to ride than me.”

For the next thirty minutes, I showed her some of the basics. I demonstrated first, then we did them together and finally, I let her do it alone. She was a fast learner and we didn’t do anything too complicated. I taught her to trot and when she was good at that and comfortable with it, we tried a canter. We spent enough time getting into and out of a canter for Tina to feel marginally comfortable with it. I was trusting Cher to follow Sonny and my lead. Satisfied that she could handle her horse well enough, I brought us to the trailhead down to the beach.

“My first time taking this trail, I thought it was too steep and I was going to fall over the top. The trail is wide, and I’ll be on the outside and if you looked at the trail from the side, you would laugh at how shallow it is. But it’s probably going to seem steep to you. If you want to walk your horse down the path to the beach, we can do that. It’s okay.”

“No. I want to ride down. I want the whole experience.”

“Okay. Good. But if you change your mind, it’s going to seem scary trying to dismount while on a hill, no matter how shallow it is.”

“Once we start, we go all the way. Got it. Let’s go. I wish I had a camera. This is so cool.”

“Having fun, then?”

“Definitely. This is great. Cher, you’re great,” she said, patting Cher’s neck. Cher twitched her tail.

We took the trail easily and Tina assured me she was fine. She did that about three times. I think she was trying to convince herself that she wasn’t going to fall over the top. The horses had been down the path a hundred times and probably far more than half those times, Sonny had been on the outside. They were comfortable like school horses. We got down to the beach and moved close to the water.

“It’s okay if their feet get wet but I don’t want to get their leather wet. Saddles and stirrups. Not my tack and I don’t want to presume. If it were hotter than it is, they would both enjoy it.”

“I think that would be fun.”

“It is. The best way to do it though, if you ask me, is bareback and with no shoes on. You save your boots and tack. Salt water is murder on leather.”

We walked our horses casually north and talked about all sorts of things. We kept coming back to horses and then we moved into cowboy movies. Tina knew nothing about cowboy movies. I promised to find one on TV and show her who knew how to ride and who was simply sitting on a horse. Some movie cowboys were pretty hilarious. We found a perfect stretch of hard packed sand and, with Tina’s approval, we went into a canter.

We were close enough together and I could give her verbal instruction. I showed her how to lift out of the saddle and put her weight in her heels so Cher could balance more easily.

“You’re going to be sore tomorrow,” I said. “You’re using new muscles to ride.”

“I don’t care. This is heaven. I love this horse. I love this.”

And that summed up our afternoon. Horseback riding, and especially on the beach, was a hit. We got our horse’s feet wet and then walked back up the trail. I talked Tina through our crossing of Pacific Coast Highway and by then she was comfortable enough and our horses were used to us. I waited, not just for a break in traffic but until there was no visible traffic in either direction to lead us across. We were back in the stable and I had our saddles off before Mrs. Covington got to us.

“I can take it from there, honey. Did you have a good ride?”

“It was amazing. I love it. Cher is such a sweetheart. She followed commands and I think she must love Sonny because she didn’t want to be far away.”

“They are a pair. No problems? Cher has balked at the climb back up once or twice.”

“No. None at all. We didn’t get any leather wet.”

I took the bridle off Sony and was cleaning it and Mrs. Covington took it from me.

“Mikey, I offered three times to do this. You have dinner plans and a beautiful young cowgirl waiting. If you don’t leave now, she’ll know she’s on a date with a fool and you’ll have missed your big chance.”