Chapter 89

The restaurant where Jay took us was in a plain-looking, wood-sided building on a hillside overlooking the ocean. The valet, an Asian man, broadly smiled when he saw Jay and welcomed him by name as we pulled into the parking lot. I didn’t see a sign anywhere, but it was like stepping into a garden when we got inside. There was even what looked like a stream running through the place. An Asian woman welcomed us, smiled at Jay, and led us to an ornate round door in the back of the room where she asked us to remove our shoes. The door moved aside as soon as we did, and we entered an odd-looking square room. One wall was a window that faced the ocean, and the other three were covered with what looked like grass. There was no furniture anywhere. But the odd thing was a square hole in the floor that looked like it was a little over a foot deep. There were a bunch of pillows spread around the edge of the hole. Jay sat on one, put his feet into the hole, and motioned for us to join him.

Two Asian girls came in as soon as we were seated. They were dressed in white robes and their hair was made up to look like the geisha girls I’d seen in the movies. They scurried around the room placing pillows behind each of us and positioning them until we were sitting correctly, then quickly disappeared. It was actually pretty comfortable, almost like sitting on a couch.

Something that looked like a slab of rock supported by four ropes then began slowly lowering from the ceiling and it formed a table top in front of us when it stopped.

Jay watched us as all this happened, then he said, “Pretty neat, eh? My folks and I are regulars here and I’ve taken the liberty to pre-order. Is that okay with everyone?”

He clapped his hands when we all agreed, and the two girls returned with a cart loaded with odd-looking things a moment later. They put what looked like a piece of driftwood next to each of us first.

Sitting on it were five small china bowls and each had something different in it. The others seemed to know what was in them, but I didn’t have a clue, so I bent to Monique and whispered, “What’s in the bowls?”

She whispered back, “The green stuff is wasabi, and the rest are dipping sauces.”

Jay took a fancy-looking bottle from the cart, held it up for us to see, and explained, “This is my favorite. It’s Junmai-shu sake. It has a kick to it, so be careful.” He looked around the table, grinned, and said, “Everyone here is over twenty one, right?” He then began filling glasses and placing them in front of us without waiting for an answer.

I tried it and quickly put it down. It tasted a little like alcohol flavored motor oil to me, but the others seem to like it.

The server girls then brought several different kinds of soup in. There was no silverware, but everyone surprisingly seemed delighted and began drinking right out of the bowls.

Our family was never big on Asian food. We occasionally ordered ‘Chinese’ when we lived in Arizona, but Erin said that it looked ‘Icky’ and wouldn’t eat it. I wasn’t crazy about it either, so we rarely had it at home.

Everyone seemed excited when the servers brought plates of round things in that looked like they were made of rice. I’d never tried it, but I recognized it as sushi because I’d seen it on TV. Everyone started in on them, making yummy noises, but Meg was the first to say, “Oh, God, this is the best I ever ate,” I watched her as she took another one and dabbed some green stuff out of one of the little bowls on it, so I grabbed one and slathered it with a thick layer of the green stuff. She saw me do it, and cried, “Oh, Pete ... No!” as I popped it into my mouth.

I was trying to figure what was the matter with her, when my head suddenly exploded. It was the hottest thing that I ever tasted. I immediately spit it into a napkin, then jumped up, nearly upsetting our ‘rock table’, and I began running around the room waving my hand at my open mouth, trying to put the flames that I was sure were coming out of my mouth, nose, and probably my ears, out.

I observed my dinner companions laughing and pointing at me when the pain subsided enough in a minute or two so that I could see through the tears that were streaming down my face. I briefly thought about strangling them all, but one of the servers came up and handed me a cup of something just then. I stared at it until she said, “Queek, you drink,” or something. I was desperate, so I took a sip. The pain almost immediately began to subside. Monique was watching me with a concerned look when I looked around this time, but Marla was the one who asked me if I was going to live.

The rest of the meal went better. The server girls kept bringing bowls of odd-looking food in, and Monique assured me that I’d be okay if I stayed away from the green paste, so I began to try everything. Some of it was delicious and some was just okay, but everyone else seemed to enjoy everything. I think part of it was the presentation. The Asian girls would bring something in and serve it with a flourish, then they would stand back and watch us. They would disappear when we were almost finished with that dish and they would come back with something else a minute or two later. There would be lots of oohs and aahs every time the girls brought a new dish in, and Jay would explain what each dish was, or if it needed a particular dipping sauce when someone asked.

I kept my eye on Monique because she seemed uneasy with the people around us. She was quiet at first, but I watched Marla make a deliberate effort to draw her out as dinner progressed. She seemed to relax and began taking part in the conversations before long. Part of the reason may have been because Jay kept refilling everyone’s glasses with sake. I was only sipping mine, but I noticed that the servers had replaced the bottle several times.

I also noticed the body language between Marla and Jay. He was obviously enamored with her, she seemed to be responding to him, and they were feeding each other pieces of food off their plates before long. I was glad to see them both so pleased with each other, but even though I was the one who set this up, I remembered how it was to be with her and I had to admit to a little pang of jealousy.

The servers finally cleared the table and brought dessert, which turned out to be green tea ice cream, cookies, and a fresh bottle of sake. We all sat back and listened as Jay told a funny story about work, then Marla asked Monique to talk about New York and what life as a model was like. She hesitated for a minute, then Marla said, “C’mon, Monique, you’re among friends here.”

Monique slowly began telling about some funny things that happened to her as a model at first, then she seemed to relax as she warmed to the subject, and the almost regal look that she usually wore began to fade away for the first time since I met her. It was as though she forgot who she was for a minute, and she began to look younger, more vibrant as if by magic, and even more beautiful, if possible.

I looked at the others when I could tear my eyes away from her. She was affecting them as well. Both Jay and Lane seemed mesmerized by her, and they hung on every word, but I was surprised by the looks she was getting from Meg and Marla. Meg was listening, but some of her glances at Monique were cold. On the other hand, Marla seemed to be watching over Monique like a mother or an older sister. I made a mental note to ask her about it when I had a chance.

Everyone had a chance to talk, and I began to realize that it was fun listening to a group that was older then me. I was a little worried that I might be out of my depth, but Meg came to my rescue when it was my turn and asked me to tell how I knew Kristen Baker. I gave them a much modified version of how we knew each other. It caused a lot of questions from everyone and the conversation was only broken up when one of the server girls came in and politely mentioned that there were others waiting for the room.

The girls went to the bathroom when we got up to leave. I said, “I didn’t see a check. Is Lane the one we thank for this?” as soon as they left.

Jay answered, “No, tonight is on me,” then he pointed his thumb at Lane and said, “Tomorrow is his turn. We’re going somewhere fancy and we’ll put a real dent in this tightwad’s wallet.”

Both he and Lane laughed, but I said, “Gee, I don’t know about the other girls, but Meg and I didn’t bring fancy clothes.”

Jay winked at Lane and said, “Don’t worry about it. You’ll be surprised at what you’ll be wearing,” which got a smile from both of them.” Jay then said, “ You may need this where we’re going, by the way, “ and he handed me something. It was a driver’s license showing my age as twenty one, and it even had my picture on it.

Astonished, I asked, “Where did you get this?”

He grinned and said, “The place where we’re going tonight is a nightclub with dancing. They let the girls slide if they’re over eighteen, but they’re pretty strict with the guys.”

“But this looks like a real license!”

“One of our business branches is a document company. My secretary got a copy of your license off the internet and one of our guys made this up for me. You shouldn’t have any problems; you look a lot older than seventeen. One thing though ... I’ll want it back after this weekend.”

I nodded and said, “Thanks a lot. I won’t use it unless I have to,” then I asked, “ Are you guys pleased with the girls, by the way?”

Jay was the first to answer with, “Marla is great. She’s everything I thought she’d be and more. She has a great sense of humor and she’s even prettier than I remember.”

I looked at Lane and he seemed kind of quiet, so I asked him why. He answered, “ I know that Jay told you about my situation, Pete. I really don’t know how to react to someone new yet. Meg seems like a very nice girl, but I don’t know what to say to her.”

I offered, “I don’t think that you have to say anything special, Meg is just here to have a good time. This is the first vacation she’s had in a long time, and she’s probably as nervous as you are.”

He looked curious and said, “Really? But she’s a fox, why would she be nervous?”

I smiled and answered, “Because she said the same thing about you.”

He brightened considerably and asked, “She said that I was a fox?”

Jay broke in with, “Of course, she did you jerk, now shut up, I want to ask Pete a question.”

Jay grinned at Lane, and then he asked me, “Uhh, Monique. Is she your girlfriend?”

“No, she’s just an old friend. Why?”

He made a face and said, “She is fucking unbelievable, why haven’t you said something about her before?”

“It’s kind of a long story, she’s been out of town and...”

Lane broke in with, “Here come the girls,” just then.

The outside looked like what I’d seen on TV when we got to the club. A long line of people were waiting, and a bouncer about my height, but thirty pounds heavier, was standing guard at the door. Jay went to the front of the line and whispered something to the bouncer who looked over at us, nodded and turned when Jay slipped something into his pocket, and he opened the door for us to hoots and complaints from the people in line.

I was the last one in line and the bouncer suddenly stepped in front of me, blocking the way. He looked me up and down, then said, “You’re a big one. I’m not going to have trouble with you, am I?”

Dad always told me that I should never show fear or indecision when faced by a bully, no matter how I felt. I wasn’t sure about his intentions, so I put my best stone face on, glared at him, and said, “Probably not.”

He stared at me for a minute and seemed to reach a decision. The rest of our group was standing there watching us. He turned to them and said, “Go ahead and get a table, Folks, I’ll bring your friend back in a minute.”

He said to me, “I need you for a minute,” and he locked the door behind us when we stepped inside. He then motioned to someone, and a guy with a crewcut who was nearly as big as he was, came over to us and the bouncer said, “Follow me.”

Crewcut and I followed him to a table where a bunch of rough-looking people were sitting, making a lot of noise. He said, “Wait here” when we got a few feet away, and he walked over to the table. He went to the biggest guy there, leaned down, and said something to him. The guy just glared at him at first, then he looked over and saw us standing there. He quickly lost his ‘attitude’, nodded to the bouncer, and began telling the people at his table to quiet down. The bouncer turned around, winked at me and said, “I’m short a guy tonight and I needed some visual backup” when he got back to us. “Thanks, I’ll send a little something to your table.”

Everyone laughed when I got to our table and told them what happened, and Meg started calling me the ‘Enforcer’.

The inside of the place was a surprise. I expected loud rock music and a madhouse of writhing bodies. There were plenty of bodies, but the band was playing swing music and many of the dancers were dressed in costumes from the 1950s.

Jay explained, “I thought that you might get a kick out of this. The show tonight is one of the hottest things in town. It features a professional swing dance group. They dance together a lot and they meet at a dance club and put on a show once a month. They even bring their own band. It’s become so popular that they get big crowds. That’s why all the people were in line outside.”

Marla said, “It looks like a lot of fun.”

Jay answered, “Yes it is, and these kids are wonderful. Everyone is encouraged to come up and dance with them after each show.”

A waitress showed up with a couple of pitchers of the most delicious Sangria I ever tasted just then, but I was still a little buzzed from the sake so I reminded myself to take it easy.

The dancers were great and so was the music. Mom didn’t teach swing dancing in her classes, but she showed me how when I was growing up and I loved it. Mom would sometimes grab me when the radio played a swing number and we would dance around wherever we were. These kids were wonderful. They tossed each other around like it was an athletic event. It was tremendously entertaining and the audience went wild and the applause lasted for several minutes when the set ended.

The dancers ran off the floor to wipe their faces and gulp some fluids down, but most of them came right back when the bandleader stepped forward, announced they were going to play some slower music and asked everyone to come up and dance.

Jay and Marla immediately headed for the dance floor. I stood up and so did Meg, but both Monique and Lane hesitated and began complaining that they didn’t dance well. We were able to convince them it was okay and dragged them to the floor. The first tune was a simple two-step. Monique was able to follow me, but she wasn’t much of a dancer. I didn’t mind, just holding her close to me was wonderful. I then realized something and I laughed to myself. I had made love with her, but I had never held her in my arms.

I glanced at Marla and Jay part way through the first tune. They seemed to be dancing well together. She was resting her head on his shoulder and he had a silly grin on his face. The jealousy thing raised its head for a split second, but it quickly went away when I saw how happy they were.

Meg and Lane were smiling too when I looked over at them, but Lane was holding Meg at arm’s length, then I saw why. Lane was having a hard time keeping up with Meg even at this slow pace,, and she was trying to prevent him from stepping on her toes.

The next tune was a little faster, and Monique asked to sit down after she made a few missteps. She said, “I’m sorry, I haven’t danced very much,” when I led her back to our table, then she suddenly sat up straight and said, “That’s not true. I haven’t danced at all. I’ve never even been to a dance.”

“You did okay with the first tune.”

“I try to follow along sometimes when I’m alone and watch dancing on TV.”

“What about when you were growing up, didn’t you go to parties where people were dancing?”

“I didn’t go to parties, Pete. My life really didn’t begin until I met Alice, and all we thought about was my career from there on.”

I was about to ask her more about her life when Meg and Lane showed up. Lane was apologizing about stepping on Meg’s feet when the bandleader announced that a swing number was coming up.

Meg looked at me and said, “I want to dance. You looked pretty good out there, do you know how to swing dance?”

She looked at Monique when I nodded and asked, “Do you mind?”

It wasn’t what she said, it was the way she said it. Her tone was cold, almost confrontational, but Monique didn’t seem to notice, she just shook her head. I wanted to ask Meg what was going on, but she grabbed my hand, and we got to the dance floor the music had started by the time.

Meg was an excellent dancer. Much better than I expected, and after a few moves with each of us trying out different things together, we began to recognize each other’s style and fell into a rhythm. I began to have a really good time. We didn’t try the wild, over-the-head or between-the-leg things that the pros did just yet, but Meg began to anticipate my moves and the pushes, pulls, and twirls began to go off without a hitch. We started to really come together as the tune went on, and I took a chance towards the end of the song when I heard the music start to build to a final crescendo. We’d been swinging around each other in a tight circle, and I stopped, lifted her by the waist, and I spun her away from me with a hard push. She instantly knew what I was doing, and she deliberately landed on one foot with her arm outstretched instead of trying to catch herself. She was completely off balance, but her body was still turning and I caught her hand and pulled her hard when her arm swung toward me to kill her momentum, then she did three quick, snap spins, and ended up in my arms as the music stopped.

It’s a great feeling when a complicated move like that works, and we stood there for a minute holding each other. Our bodies were tightly pressed against each other, our faces were only an inch apart, and we were grinning like fools.

Our embrace lasted a little longer than it should have and I think that we both realized it at the same time. We were there with other people and continuing to hold each other like this was inappropriate, but she felt so good that I didn’t want to let her go and I think that she felt something as well. Jay was the one who brought us back to reality when he came to us and said, “Damn! We were watching you. You guys are GOOD!”

We straightened up, thanked Jay, and we began to make our way back to our table as the band announced they were going on a break. I had never seen Meg so happy. She was smiling from ear-to-ear, grabbed Lane by the shoulders when we got to the table, and said, “Did you see that?

It took Lane by surprise, but he smiled back and said, “Yes! You were wonderful!”

Meg then did something that surprised me. She slid her chair close to Lane first and sat down, then she put her hand in his, looked at me and said, “Thanks, Pete. That was really fun.”

It took me a second to realize that she was smoothing over our lack of judgment at the end of the dance. I’m not sure that Lane had even noticed that it happened, but he seemed pleased about what was going on now, and he was looking at her with surprise and affection.

Monique began complimenting us on our dancing and I heard something strange in the middle of her conversation. It was barely noticeable, but she seemed to be slurring her words, then I noticed that the pitcher of Sangria in front of us was nearly empty and so was her glass. I was wondering what to do about it when Marla stood up and said, “C’mon, Girls, we need to freshen up,” and the three of them headed for the bathroom.

Jay and Lane both immediately started talking about tonight. Both said that they were having a great time, and Jay began teasing Lane about what it was like to be back in the ‘dating scene’ again. Lane had a silly grin on his face when he told Jay that he would have started dating a long time ago if he’d known there were girls like Meg around, then he turned to me and said, “Thanks, Pete.”

Jay chimed in with, “Me too, Pal, Marla is terrific. I can’t remember when I’ve had such a good time.”

Surprised, I said, “But you date a lot, don’t you, Jay?”

He replied, “Yes I do,” with a smile, “But I wasn’t kidding when I said there was something special about Marla. I don’t know what it is, Pete, but she knocks my socks off.”

The girls came back a few minutes later, and I noticed that Monique was carrying a big glass of something. She slid in alongside me and whispered, “Iced Tea,” when I looked pointedly at the glass.

The professionals swarmed onto the floor when the band returned, and they put on a show for nearly an hour that was fantastic. The music was so great that it was hard to sit still, and there was a rush to the floor when the show ended to thunderous applause and the band invited everyone to come out and dance. Monique was doing much better this time, especially to the slower tunes. It looked like she was really enjoying herself. We decided to trade partners. Jay went off with Monique and Lane went with Marla. I offered my hand to Meg, but she glanced at Lane, then she said, “Hold on for a minute,” and she took her shoe off and began rubbing her foot.