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He saw her struggle, and held up his hand. “Forget it. If the answer is no, it’s no. I won’t bother you again.”
I believe you, Je
Her extreme unhappiness must have shown in her face, because his look suddenly softened. He almost smiled.
“Don’t look so tragic, paleface. Believe it or not, it’s not the first time I’ve been turned down. I think I’ll survive it.”
“I had a lovely time,” she said in a small voice.
His mouth twisted. “Ever the soul of graciousness,” he responded. “I think if you were about to be executed you’d be thanking the headsman for the use of his ax.” He inclined his head slightly. “Good night.”
Je
She heard the sound of his footsteps on the stairs, followed by the roar of the car’s motor. Then all was silence.
The kettle began to whistle. She automatically shut it off, feeling more alone than she had for a long time.
Chapter 5
Weeks passed, during which Je
But she knew she would have to deal with her feelings on Labor Day, when she would see him again. His presence always brought everything she was trying to bury to the surface, so she began constructing an elaborate defense several days before they would have to meet. She would be polite, but distant. She would be friendly, but reserved. There was nothing to worry about; it was very simple. Right.
The holiday morning was warm and su
When they got to Lee’s house, he was not outside, ready, as he had been the last time. Je
Lee’s voice hailed her from the depths of the house, telling her to come in, the door was open.
Je
“Hi,” he said. “Want some coffee? According to the timetable which management so thoughtfully provided, we’ve got a few minutes.” He gestured to another mug sitting on the counter.
His ability to dismiss their previous encounters and start afresh left her at a loss. Didn’t he remember what had happened the last time they saw each other? Je
But he regarded her impassively over the rim of the cup. “My instructions were to dress casually,” he added. He jerked a thumb at himself. “This is it.”
He was wearing white jeans and a blood red shirt. Je
“Joined the navy?” he asked, indicating her outfit, smiling slightly.
Je
He choked on his coffee, sputtering with laughter. He set the cup down and shook his head, regarding her with a grin. “Touché. You give back as good as you get, every time.”
She smiled back at him, caught in the spell once again. “Part of my charm,” she said negligently.
He sobered, watching her. “Yes, it is,” he said quietly.
Je
“Want some cream?” he asked, going to the refrigerator.
“Thanks.”
He took a fresh pint from a shelf and pried the cap off with his teeth.
“Good heavens, Lee, your dentist would have a heart attack if he saw that,” she said.
“Nah,” he answered, adding a dollop to her cup, “these Indian choppers are indestructible. They may not be perfectly straight, we didn’t go in much for orthodontics on the reservation, but they’re strong as iron.” He cast her a sidelong glance. “Comes from chewing buffalo hides.”
He was teasing, as usual. “I may not be that well versed in the practices of your culture,” Je
Lee shrugged. “That was before the ERA hit the tribe. Now we all do it.”
Je
His eyes twinkled. “Actually, the Blackfeet were always a pretty liberated bunch. The teepee belonged to the wife, you know, and if she and her husband had a fight, she could throw him out and leave him homeless.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Je
“And,” Lee went on, “the wife kept her maiden name all her life. She was not regarded as her husband’s property, but his partner.”
Je
He gri
Je
“Yes, ma’am,” he responded, putting the cups in the sink. He walked around and switched off the stereo just as the record was going into the title cut, “Born to Run.”
“My theme song,” Lee said. He looked back at her. “In more ways than one.”
What exactly did that mean? He was talking on two levels, and Je
As they walked into the hall she pointed to one of the photographs on the mantelpiece. “Is that your father?”
Lee nodded.
“He must be very proud of you.”
Lee’s eyes became distant, focused elsewhere. “Yes, he is. I think he’s living his life over again, through me. The reservation mined him, took away his ambition, initiative, everything. He wanted to see that the same thing didn’t happen to me, so when sports gave me the chance to break free of that life, he made sure I took it.”
Je
“Of course,” Lee continued, “getting off the reservation isn’t always the answer. Take my sister. Please.”
Je
“Her name,” Lee said, “is Spring Flower, except now she’s changed it to ‘Reur.’ She says it sounds more sophisticated, but what she really means is that it sounds French, which is okay, as opposed to Indian, which is not.”
His voice was filled with rancor. “She won a scholarship to college, like me, except once she got there she forgot where she came from. She hasn’t been back to see my parents in six years.”
Je
“She’s a research chemist for some big laboratory in New Jersey. It’s not that far from here, actually, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to go see her. She acts like she has no past, that her life began at eighteen when she left home. I’m sure none of the people she works with know about her background. She’s careful to conceal it That doesn’t explain her looks, though, so I understand the guy she’s engaged to tells everybody that her mother is Greek.”
Je