Chapter 17: Playing Tourist

Friday, November 23rd, 2007

Friday, Hathor and David played tourist, setting out for a day of culture. First, though, Hath needed gas in the truck. She stopped at the station she always went to, and opened her door.

“What’re you doing?” David asked.

“Um, getting gas?” Hath was confused. What the hell did it look like she was doing?

“You pump your own gas?” David was surprised.

“David, I’m a single woman with a car that occasionally needs fuel,” Hath said, “I learned. It isn’t that difficult.”

David growled. “You aren’t single anymore,” he said, stopping Hath’s heart for a minute. They just stared at each other – Hathor surprised by his vehemence, David a little shocked by his own reaction. They only looked away when they saw a line of people queuing up behind them at the pump.

Hath laughed nervously. “Well, it doesn’t get in the tank all by itself, you know.” She looked at him. “You’re from Jersey! They don't believe in pump-yourself.” She giggled at her innuendo. “Don’t tell me that you’ve never been anywhere that you had to pump your own…” She trailed off and shook her head. “Look who I’m talking to. Let me rephrase that.” She smiled wickedly. “Don’t tell me that you’ve never been anywhere that your driver had to pump his own gas?”

“You are such a smart-ass,” he said, getting out of the car, and circling around to the pump. “I’ll have you know that yeah, I’ve pumped gas before.” He smiled at her as he filled the tank. They let the other comment, the ‘single’ comment, go for now.

Hath took him into town on the subway (the T as it was called in Boston) and they hit the museums. They started at the Children’s Museum, which was near Hath’s work, and they had a high time playing with everything. Once the museum became crowded with families with children, they headed out across town to the Museum of Fine Arts.

“I just love the MFA,” Hath said. “I can spend hours just staring at one painting. In fact,” she said, “I have on more than one occasion.”

“If you like art, you should see Tico’s work,” David said, then stopped when he saw that she was looking away and blushing furiously. “You already have, haven’t you?” he asked.

“Yeah, I have,” she said sheepishly. David just laughed and hugged her close.

“I’ve gotta ask,” he said, “is there anything about us that you don’t know?”

Hath just looked at him. “Of course there is! I don’t know any of the important stuff. I just know the superficial stuff you guys talk about on stage or in interviews.” She stopped and thought for a moment. “I mean, I know about your kids and families and divorces and that kind of thing,” she said, “because it’s in the papers and all over the boards. But the real stuff, the personal stuff, no, I don’t know.” She kissed David gently. “I’m starting to, though,” she said, “with you, and that’s all that matters to me.”

Their next stop on the museum tour was the Museum of Science, where they took in the planetarium show, holding hands in the back and necking like teenagers.

“What about the Aquarium?” David asked when they left the MOS.

Hath just shook her head. “We can go if you want, but the one in Mystic is better,” she said, naming a city in Connecticut. “Next time you’re feeling touristy, we’ll go down there,” she said.

David nodded. “Let’s go anyway, so I have a basis for comparison.” And so they did, watching the sea lion show, which was fun, and spending a long time watching the fish swim in the giant tank; circling around and around. The penguins were always a big crowd-pleaser, but David and Hath were content to just stand with their arms around each other, watching the tank.

“What’s next, boss?” They were getting back onto the subway, and David’s arms were laden with bags from all the museums; Hath having felt the need to scour the gift shops for little trinkets and souvenirs.

Hath looked at her watch. “Well, it’s past dinnertime. We can go out, or head home and I’ll fix us something. If you don’t want leftover turkey, we need to stop at the store on the way. I haven’t gone food shopping yet.”

“When are you going to do that?” he asked.

“Oh, I’ll scrounge around until after you go,” she answered. “Why?”

“I don’t want you to feel that you have to entertain me,” he said, taking her hand. “I don’t want you to think of me as a guest. If you have things to do, I want to do them with you.”

Hath looked surprised. “Really?” she asked.

“Really,” David answered.

“You asked for it,” Hath said. “I have yard work to do too. You sure about this?”

“Absolutely. But tonight, let’s have leftovers.”

Hath laughed. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

When they got back to the house, Hath set about getting dinner ready. “Why don’t you open a bottle of wine?” she asked. “This’ll be set in a minute.” She put some gravy into a skillet, and set it to simmer. Next, she sliced up some of the leftover turkey breast, and laid it in the pan. While that warmed up, she started the oven and scooped leftover stuffing into muffin tins. The leftover rolls went into a foil pouch and joined the stuffin’-muffins in the oven. She accepted a glass of merlot from David and joined him at the dining room table. “Dinner in twenty,” she said, and took a deep breath.

“So,” she said, “about this morning…” David just looked at her. “I didn’t mean anything by the ‘single’ comment other than I’m not married.”

“Oh,” he said, ducking his head.

“Yeah, ‘oh’,” Hath answered. “Have I done something to make you think you aren’t the only one in my life right now? Or that this relationship is a casual fling?”

“No, not at all, no,” David hastened to answer. “It’s just,” he sighed, “I don’t know really. It just hit me wrong I guess. I’m sorry.”

Hath got up from her chair and knelt in front of David. “Don’t apologize for your feelings. Ever.” She took his hands. “Let me lay this out for you once and for all. In the last ten years, my parents have met exactly one of the men I’ve dated. You. Not that there have been legions of them, mind you, but there have been a few. That you’re the one they’ve met may not mean anything in your world, but in mine, that makes this serious.”

David started to talk, and Hath put up a hand to stop him. “Wait a sec,” she said. “Let me finish. I want to put this into clear language.” She looked in his eyes. “There is no other man in my life right now but you. I don’t want any other man in my life right now but you. I won’t lie to you and tell you this didn’t take me by surprise. When you showed up at my hotel room, I thought you were just looking for a diversion. It was days before I believed you really wanted more than just a one-night stand.”

“Did I really make you feel that way?” David asked.

“No, you made me feel cherished and wanted and loved. It was me. I was the one who refused to believe it,” she answered. “I thought you were just telling me things that I wanted to hear.”

“But why?” David was genuinely confused. “I told you that wasn’t what I was doing…”

Hath sighed. “Look at me.” David complied, and she stood and turned under his scrutiny. “I’m not exactly rock-star-girlfriend material. I’m not tall and thin and blonde and photogenic. I get wowed easily and gawk unrepentantly when I meet famous people. I am so out of your league, I’m still amazed that you’re here.” She knelt back at his feet and took a deep, shaky breath before continuing. “When I wake up in the morning, I have this split second of ‘Damn, it was just a dream’ before I turn and see you.” She shook her head. “I don’t question you, I question ‘why me’?”

“Are you through?” David asked. When Hath nodded, and looked down at the floor, David said, “Good. Now, you look at me.” He waited until she did. “I argued with myself for well over an hour before I weaseled your room number from Richie. I felt a connection to you and wanted, no needed, to see if you felt it too. I just didn’t know if my attention would be appreciated.” He sighed hard, and his voice got quiet. “I saw the way you swooned when Richie kissed you. I read the board; I know you had a thing for him.” Hath paled, and he knew he was right.

After a minute, Hath answered, her voice quiet. “Hey, every Jovi fan has her favorite, and you’re right, Richie was mine. I swooned partly because I could hardly believe that I was backstage meeting all of you and,” she smiled wryly, “partly because he is a helluva kisser. But,” she added quickly when it looked like David was going to interrupt, “a couple of things. First, I don’t poach, and he’s taken. Second, there was no chemistry at all behind that kiss – there was no sizzle there; no click. So, yeah he was my favorite. Was. Past tense.”

David nodded. “I did notice that once you and I got into it, you didn’t give him a second glance. Not for the rest of the night. That’s when I decided I’d regret forever if I didn’t find out if the flirting and stuff had anything behind it or was just part of the GSA thing, so I turned up at your door. When you didn’t answer, I was really disappointed. When I ran into you in the hallway, I was elated. I felt the connection to you again instantly, and not just because you were prancing around in hardly any clothes, and trying to kill me.”

Hath chuckled at that. “First of all, I was not prancing, I was stalking. Second, it’s your own damned fault I tried to kill you, you know,” she said. “You shouldn’t have grabbed me like that.”

“Hell, darlin’, I wanted to do more than grab you in that hallway,” he said. “When you crashed into me, and I felt you up against me, I wanted to press you against the wall and kiss the shit out of you.” Hath just stared at him. “Yeah, I did,” he said, answering her unasked question. “When you turned away from me, I thought that was it, but when I followed you to return your key, and saw the look in your eyes, well, you were there, you know what happened.”

Hath just blushed, remembering. “Yes, I know; I remember everything,” she said.

“As do I, sweetheart, “he said. “Every word, every sigh, every moan, and every scream is indelibly etched in my memory.” He smiled at her fidgeting; she was just so damned easy to fluster; he loved that about her. “I already told you once ‘why you’, but I’ll tell you again. You give as good as you get, and I enjoy being with you. The other things you said? None of that matters – it’s all superficial crap. You’re plenty tall enough for me; you can wear those sexy heels of yours and not tower over me. I like real women, not stick figures, and you are definitely real. I love your curves. I don’t care that you’re not blonde. I think you’re beautiful, and I have just enough ego to be glad you get star struck around me and my friends.”

Hath was smiling a little, but having a hard time meeting David’s gaze. He was saying all the right things, and she knew he meant them which meant that this was as serious as she thought it was. She was overwhelmed. David put a finger under Hath’s chin and lifted her face to meet his gaze. “I just want you to think of yourself as part of an ‘us’. In my mind, I’m not single anymore; I’m with you. I just want you to – hope you – feel the same way,” he said softly.

“I do, David,” Hath said with tears in her eyes. She knelt up to kiss him, and the timer went off in the kitchen. They laughed. “Dinner’s ready,” she said.

David nodded. “Are we good?” he asked.

Hath got that GSA gleam in her eye. “Baby, I don’t know where you’ve been, but from my perspective, we’re fantastic. Let’s eat.”

They brought their plates up to the loft and turned on the television. “Oh,” Hath said happily. “This is one of my new favorite shows.” Wayne Brady was hosting a show called “Don’t Forget The Lyrics” where contestants have to sing in the missing lyrics. The more songs they know, the more money they can earn.

After a few rounds, David was in hysterics. She didn’t sing that well, but Hath knew all the songs, made up for her lack of perfect pitch with enthusiasm, and yelled at the other contestants when they got the words wrong. “Hey,” she said, “Why are none of you guys’ songs on here? I’d think that you’d have your own category like Aerosmith or the Stones or, hell, Barry Manilow for cripe’s sake.”

David laughed. “I’ll ask Jon. I don’t know if we’ve been asked.”

“Crying shame, that,” she said. Hath saw David just staring at her. “What?” she asked.

David shook his head. “Nothing, I was just thinking you should go on this show. You’d do great.”

“Yeah, right,” she said, laughing. “I could just see that now. TVs all over the country would shatter at the first note I tried.”

“It’s not that bad,” David said.

“Yeah, it is. But you’re sweet for saying so.” She kissed him, and smiled. “Hey, I’ll consider it if you will come on as my backup.” The two of them burst into hysterics. “Could you just imagine?”

“They probably wouldn’t let me on,” David said seriously.

“Don’t worry about it, I’m not even considering it,” Hath said.

They snuggled in together for the evening, flipping through the channels and arguing over what to watch. Finally, they gave up and went to bed.