Act I
By Micki L. Bailey
[Let’s back up in time now to scenes that began taking place about two weeks previously, one week after Maggie’s painful confrontation with Roger over Shannon…….]
Earl Ray instinctively turned his head to follow the sound when he heard her tell-tale laughter. He hadn’t been aware that she was here today. But there she was.
Maggie stood casually at Palisades’ massive bar, conversing with Benjamin, snickering at whatever he was saying quietly to her. Her right foot was balanced on the tips of her toes as she rocked it back and forth. She didn’t notice Earl Ray, nor feel his eyes on her.
He smiled before turning away. His "eyes" would most likely be the ONLY thing touching her ever again. After his atrocious behavior at that party last month.
I’ve done some damn foolish things in my life, he mused to himself. But that – forcing her against that strong will of hers to slow-dance and mouthing off all that sexual crap in her ear – certainly took the cake. What in the hell possessed me?
And Maggie had gotten her fill too. Since that ill-fated night, she’d hardly glanced at or spoken to him whatsoever – only when absolutely necessary. Her little ice cube impression was classic. And, regrettably, he knew he deserved it.
He’d treated her badly. Even in spite of his learned discipline and self-control. And he’d done so only because he’d felt lonely and she was, tragically, the ultimate yet forbidden cure for his loneliness.
To make things more uncomfortable, Roger, the reason she was forbidden, worsened the heavy guilt a few days after the incident occurred. The two men were sitting behind the desks in their new office space. Earl Ray jotted down an appointment on his calendar.
"By the way, Michaels……….If you’re gonna feel up my wife, don’t do it ‘round lotsa people we know……..Tongues wag."
Earl Ray froze and slowly looked up. His eyes met Roger’s steely, serious stare. "Look, man……..I didn’t mean to upset ‘er or offend ‘er………Tell ‘er that for me, okay? I wasn’t trying to—"
Roger smirked as if this conversation was wasting his precious time. "Maggie didn’t say a word. I’m just giving you a heads-up……….People like to talk………Be careful next time."
With that, Roger had smiled for a half-second – a cool, unkind turning up of the corners of his mouth – and then quickly grabbed the phone beside him to make a call. He was finished discussing it. But Earl Ray understood fully that "Be careful next time" translated perfectly to "Be careful getting the hell outta town if there IS a next time."
He tried to concentrate on something besides Maggie’s ringing laugh as he finished his lunch. His companion, a client, was raving about the ‘74 Mercedes 450 SL convertible they’d unearthed for him two days before. This guy was a customer from back east who Roger usually handled. Roger, however, was currently in San Diego checking out a ’55 Porsche they desperately wanted to acquire.
Over the past few weeks, he’d made three different short trips to surrounding areas in order to inspect potential buys. Business was booming. "The market’s hot as hell right now," he’d said off-hand once between jaunts, flashing a pleased, self-assured smile.
Earl Ray, holding down the fort back at home, had wondered if Maggie was "hot as hell" also over him being gone so much lately, and how she was handling being separated from her other half. But he dared not inquire. Besides, she seemed fine today. And she’d been well enough two days earlier, Saturday, as she’d breezed into the office where Earl Ray had been sitting with this client, Mr. Santucci.
"Don’t mind me," she’d said, hardly looking at them at all. "I’m just dropping off some blank compact discs Roger asked me to get."
"No sweat," was all Earl Ray had answered. And she’d left almost immediately.
Now, as he walked slowly through the lobby area of Palisades, Maggie herself glided up to him from out of nowhere. Her eyes were bright and glowing. She bristled with life. No sign of the sullen, sour mood she’d been in since she’d discovered Shannon, Roger’s new pal – another subject Earl Ray refrained from asking about.
"Where’s your lunch partner, Earl Ray?" she whispered hurriedly.
A little surprised, he answered. "In the john. Why?"
"Who is he? Does he live around here?" She looked past him frantically, searching the premises.
"He’s just a customer, Maggie. One of Roger’s best buyers. And no, he’s from New York. Not around here." He stared at her, confused. This odd behavior was unfamiliar to him, and not like her.
Her blazing eyes met his. "Well, does this customer have a name?"
Earl Ray frowned. "Nick Santucci."
"I wanna meet ‘im." Unmistakable but muted excitement flooded her voice.
He still frowned, shaking his head. "I dunno, baby. He’s bad news."
Now she frowned – no, scowled – her face distorting drastically. "Bad news? Who the fuck are YOU to be deciding who’s bad news, huh? YOU’RE bad news as far as I’m concerned, Earl Ray. And if you won’t do me the courtesy of an introduction, I’ll damn sure do it my self." Her whisper now carried an ominous snarling undertone.
"Maggie, he plays rough……..and his line of work is………well, questionable. Roger says he’s probably connected……..You know…….with the mob or something worse. Roger calls him a ‘head-buster.’ Says he’s got a god-awful short fuse."
She squinted her eyes, but it prevented none of the heat from escaping from them. "Um…....Did I ask to meet him or for an in-depth character analysis? Oh, and did I miss the part where you got appointed as the censor of who I associate with?"
He looked down and let out a resigned, loud sigh. The Maggie he knew and loved. But before he could speak again, they were joined by the topic of their banter. And Earl Ray thought he heard Maggie suck in a gulp of the dense air.
"Okay, Michaels. I’m ready for the entertainment you promised. What’s the name of this joint you claim is so fine?" The man who had approached them clapped Earl Ray on the back with a grin and didn’t as much as glance over in Maggie’s direction. As if she wasn’t even standing there.
Earl Ray raised his head. "Hold up a sec, Nick. This is Maggie…….Roger’s wife. Maggie, Nick Santucci."
He watched her face, which flushed instantly, and her eyes, which attached themselves magnetically to Nick as if they were helpless to do otherwise. As if they’d been desperately waiting forever to absorb him.
Nick finally looked over and gave her his full attention. "Howya doing?" he asked her casually with a small smile and a thick, obvious accent.
She returned the smile, politely. "Nice to meet you."
"Yeah, same here. I thought maybe Lococco was making you up since I nevah saw ya before now."
Ignoring the reference to Roger, she said, "I hear you’re a favored customer." Earl Ray detected something in her voice he wasn’t used to. A weakness. Or a hunger. Or maybe they were one in the same.
Nick seemed to narrow his eyes and peer at her momentarily. Her eyes never left his face.
"Eh, just a sucker for old cars…………somebody these guys can always count on scamming. Right, Michaels?" He laughed and slapped Earl Ray on the back again.
"Aw, Nick. You’re a little smarter than ya look," Earl Ray responded.
Maggie laughed too, almost trance-like. "So how was lunch?"
"A damn fine burger," Nick said. Then he turned up his nose. "I don’t even botha trying the lasagna out here on this coast……..These guys can’t come close to what I get back in Brooklyn."
"Maggie can match it, man." Earl Ray interjected. He glanced over and caught her inconspicuously wetting her lips, still staring at Nick. She really was hot for this guy.
"She’ll blow ya away with her extraordinary skills and talents." Earl Ray chuckled. "This one can cook, lemme tell ya. You’ll think you died and went to heaven." He smiled now, proud of the double entendre that he was sure Maggie had understood.
Nick pursed his lips and widened his eyes. "Really now?"
Maggie blushed but didn’t look away. "Oh, I can boil water, so they say."
"Boil water my ass! She’s got her own place, Nick. Fancy joint with some damn good food," Earl Ray volunteered. He was a little unsettled, but more amused, at the way things were going.
"Is that a fact?" Nick raised his eyebrows, and Earl Ray definitely heard Maggie utter a tiny, involuntary sound from deep in her throat – something he’d heard many times……..but not in many years. A sound that only Roger was privy to now.
"Yeah," she said, almost gutterally. "You should come…….by sometime and check it out."
Earl Ray couldn’t restrain a grin, and he made sure she saw it. This was fun, and he was rather enjoying himself.
"You know……..Stop in and try the lasagna," she stammered. "Or there are cacciatore and piccata dishes on the menu most every day too. I even do a cannelloni sometimes." Then she stopped, breathlessly awaiting reaction.
Earl Ray chuckled again. "Aw, Maggie…….I’m sure ol’ Nick here can find something there to tickle his fancy. He’s got a damn hearty appetite."
Nick, still unaware of the ulterior goings on, smiled. "Sounds like ya know your way around the ol’ kitchen, Maggie. Tell ya what. I’ll check my Daytimer. Maybe Friday when I get back in town to pick up this sweet little Mercedes, I’ll swing by. Deal?"
"Deal, Nick. I look forward to seeing you there," Maggie said. Earl Ray still heard that different, tone in her voice. That quality of desire.
He prodded Nick. "Ya ready, man?"
"You bet. I said I’m up for it," Nick replied, removing his eyes then from hers.
"You just wait ‘til we get there………THEN you’ll be ‘up for it.’"
"Where ya off to, Earl Ray?" Maggie asked innocently.
Earl Ray boldly and deliberately faced her. "Tattle-Tales." He smiled, rather evilly.
She swallowed. "I see." But her smile concealed anything more she might have been feeling.
Again Earl Ray found himself trying to forget the sound of her as he and Nick left Palisades. He didn’t want to analyze what had just happened. Not now.
What strange force had taken over that woman? Her uncharacteristically aggressive flirtation was downright disturbing to him. Blatantly attracted to Nick is what she’d been, he heard bouncing around in his head. And that’s eating at you, isn’t it? It’s cutting into your spirit, right? But why? For your own sake? Or for Roger’s?
Shut the fuck up! he screamed back silently.
Not now.
"Nice girl," Nick said as he stepped into the silvery-blue Expedition.
"Yeah." Earl Ray slammed the door shut. He would recall those two little words from Nick’s mouth many times over later. Because they had sounded so very innocent and safe.
* * *
When she spotted them in the dining room at Palisades that Monday, Maggie very nearly dropped the glass of iced tea she was drinking. She’d come by only to say hello to Benjamin. She hadn’t expected to see that guy again – the guy she’d seen two days earlier at the office with Earl Ray. The guy she, oddly, couldn’t seem to force out of her thoughts, as hard as she’d been trying.
And now here he sat again. As intriguing to her as ever. What was it about him that captured her interest as he was so successfully doing? The only answers she’d been able to come up with to that query involved comparisons to Roger. Guilty comparisons.
But what the hell was she supposed to think? Roger, in all his gorgeous, arrogant splendor, had been her psyche’s sole focus for years. Every one of her known thought processors were perfectly accustomed to all-things-Roger being the dominant subject.
So where in time and space did this stranger hail from that he could just appear in her world and claim her main thought artery as his own? Since she walked into the office Saturday and glanced at Earl Ray’s "client," she’d felt totally arrested. And after dropping the blank discs on Roger’s desk and stealing another long look while they weren’t aware, she’d decided that there was something definitely different about "this one."
Different how, though? He wasn’t as classically handsome as Roger. Far more rugged and chiseled, but not as disarmingly good-looking. This guy looked hard and rough – protruding veins in his forehead and deep-set lines around his mouth. He was very attractive in his own way, and not aware of it whatsoever. But, oh, those eyes……..huge dark, engulfing windows to the soul.
Had he caught hold of something inside her because of the bad situation with Roger? Was this guy filling a needy void she might be feeling? No, she told herself. He was simply captivating, and that was all. No rebounding or getting even going on here. No, sir.
When she arrived at Benjamin’s restaurant around noon, Fredo the chef had told her in the kitchen that Benjamin was out in the dining room. She found him behind the bar, and he clasped her hand warmly and kissed her cheek.
"Is your endlessly competent husband home yet?" he inquired after a few minutes of small talk.
She sipped her tea. If Elyse had told him about hers and Roger’s recent "semi-trouble," he showed no sign of it. "He’ll be back tonight. His plane leaves San Diego at six fifteen," she answered.
"Well, your ex is only tables away……..FYI."
She glanced up to see her host smile. "You omitted a qualifier for that one, Benjamin." Then she looked down again and stirred the tea with her straw. "And I suggest ‘mashuguna.’"
He chuckled politely. "You’re a clever one, Maggie. Earl Ray seems to care quite a bit for you."
"Spare me the melodrama, would ya?" She sneered playfully. "What kinda bimbo whore has he got with ‘im today?"
"Ah, his companion isn’t a female at all………some dark-haired gentleman in casual attire."
At this description, she whirled around and scanned the room. When she landed on their table, she gasped quietly. Yes, it was him, and he was looking more splendid than she’d remembered.
Far too wound up and anxious now to remain sitting, Maggie stood up and rested against the bar. Nervously, she rocked on the toes of her right foot. While she outwardly continued to chat with Benjamin, inwardly her mind raced to find a logical, mature ruse by which she could gracefully insert her persona into this guy’s immediate presence. It must happen. She’d surely perish of curiosity if it didn’t.
The next time she discreetly glanced over at their table, her anxiety escalated to full-blown panic. They were gone! Crumpled napkins thrown on the table and all!
She quickly excused herself from Benjamin and walked briskly to the front lobby. Earl Ray stood there. Alone.
Out of desperation, Maggie decided to go with the easiest, most certain ruse of all, even if it meant losing the arctic routine. Her "ex" owed her one anyway. She rushed over to him.
"Where’s your lunch partner, Earl Ray?" She tried to keep the urgency out of her voice, but when she looked at his face, she realized she’d failed.
He was staring at her, a little unsure of how to respond. "In the john. Why?"
"Who is he? Does he live around here?" Okay, too late. Just let him wonder, she thought. No time to worry about that now.
"He’s just a customer, Maggie. One of Roger’s best buyers. And no, he’s from New York. Not around here." He still stared at her. She knew he was trying to figure out her motives.
But she was beginning to lose patience. The "stranger" wouldn’t stay in the john forever. "Well, does this customer have a name?"
"Nick Santucci." Earl Ray frowned at her, and she realized that he was putting two and two together.
"I wanna meet ‘im," she blurted out, no longer trying to tone down her excitement.
"I dunno, baby. He’s bad news." Earl Ray still frowned at her and shook his head.
This incensed her, and she felt the simmering begin in her blood. Taking a chance with her temper, she blasted him. "Bad news? Who the fuck are YOU to be deciding who’s bad news, huh? YOU’RE bad news as far as I’m concerned, Earl Ray. And if you won’t do me the courtesy of an introduction, I’ll damn sure do it my self."
Earl Ray hadn’t been surprised, as if he thought he deserved her vicious words. He remained calm and tried to speak to her patiently. "Maggie, he plays rough……..and his line of work is………well, questionable. Roger says he’s probably connected……..You know…….with the mob or something worse. Roger calls him a ‘head-buster.’ Says he’s got a god-awful short fuse."
The situation’s imperativeness was getting to her. "Um…....Did I ask to meet him or for an in-depth character analysis? Oh, and did I miss the part where you got appointed as the censor of who I associate with?"
If Earl Ray responded, Maggie didn’t hear it. At that moment, he joined them and clapped Earl Ray on the back. She missed what he said as well because she was entranced with being so very close to him. Even though he didn’t look her way, she stared at him, taking in the flashing, dark eyes and the smooth, brown skin. He was simply beautiful.
"Hold up a sec, Nick," she heard Earl Ray say. "This is Maggie…….Roger’s wife. Maggie, Nick Santucci."
And then Nick turned those eyes on her. My god! What color WERE they? It was no color at all, or maybe all the colors ever dreamed of melted into liquid blackness.
Sure that her heart had skipped a beat or two, she tried to breath. He wore a T-shirt with a button-down shirt over it, both tucked into jeans. Very casual and unadorned. Not polished and gleaming like……..well, never mind.
"Howya doing?" he asked her. The rough, raspy voice filled her ears, and she identified the heavy accent immediately as NYC – just like Vinnie Terranova’s.
She smiled, hoping it wasn’t too much. "Nice to meet you."
"Yeah, same here. I thought maybe Lococco was making you up since I nevah saw ya before now."
Great. He mentions Roger right off the bat, she thought. "I hear you’re a favored customer," was all she could come up with to answer.
Then he batted huge eyelashes over those incredible orbs that seemed to squint slightly as he stared at her. "Eh, just a sucker for old cars…………somebody these guys can always count on scamming. Right, Michaels?" When he laughed, he glanced at Earl Ray for a second before returning his attention to Maggie.
Earl Ray appropriately said something back to him then, but Maggie wasn’t concentrating. To her, it sounded like the adults’ speech on the Charlie Brown cartoons. She was captured by all of Nick’s facial expressions that she was finally permitted to watch. The deep lines in his face appeared natural and moved as he laughed.
"So how was lunch?" she asked finally.
"A damn fine burger," Nick said. "I don’t even botha trying the lasagna out here on this coast……..These guys can’t come close to what I get back in Brooklyn."
Before she could tackle that one, Earl Ray got in a comment. "Maggie can match it, man." She felt him watching her. She knew he understood her intentions all too well now.
"She’ll blow ya away with her extraordinary skills and talents." Earl Ray chuckled. "This one can cook, lemme tell ya. You’ll think you died and went to heaven." He smiled now as she glanced at him.
"Really now?" Nick said.
"Oh, I can boil water, so they say." Maggie felt her cheeks warm when he looked at her again.
"Boil water my ass! She’s got her own place, Nick. Fancy joint with some damn good food," Earl Ray said. She knew he’d seen her blush and was probably enjoying this immensely.
"Is that a fact?" Nick raised his eyebrows, and Maggie unintentionally let a little sound escape from her throat. She was standing in a top-notch restaurant and starving to death.
"Yeah," she responded "You should come…….by sometime and check it out." How gutter-mouth and suggestive this sounded didn’t occur to her until it was too late.
She caught the grin Earl Ray couldn’t resist. Oh, that she could call him an asshole right then.
"You know……..Stop in and try the pasta dishes," she heard herself stutter. "Or there are cacciatore and piccata dishes on the menu most every day too. I even do a cannelloni sometimes." God, don’t let me sound like I’m begging, which I AM doing, she prayed.
Earl Ray chuckled again. "Aw, Maggie…….I’m sure ol’ Nick here can find something there to tickle his fancy. He’s got a damn hearty appetite." Yes, he was having a barrel of fun with this little scenario, and she wouldn’t soon forget it. She shot him a quick, stinging glare to assure him of that.
Nick smiled again. "Sounds like ya know your way around the ol’ kitchen, Maggie. Tell ya what. I’ll check my Daytimer. Maybe Friday when I get back in town to pick up this sweet little Mercedes, I’ll swing by. Deal?" Obviously, he wasn’t tuned in to the shenanigans.
She replied, "Deal, Nick. I look forward to seeing you there." Oh, if you knew how true that really is…..
"Ya ready, man?" Earl Ray nudged Nick.
"You bet. I said I’m up for it," Nick said, removing his eyes then from hers. Suddenly, she felt a chill, a lack of warmth.
"You just wait ‘til we get there……. THEN you’ll be ‘up for it.’"
"Where ya off to, Earl Ray?" Maggie had to know.
"Tattle-Tales." A tits-and-tail bar. He smiled directly at her, a tiny little jab just for her.
"I see." She choked back a nasty response and said nothing else. Then they were gone.
Now as she watched Nick saunter away, she caught herself examining his posterior. Yes, a nice ass too. And then she felt a familiar moistness in her panties. Alarmed that what had caused it wasn’t familiar, she hurried into the ladies room and tried to calm her breathing.
You’re not in high school, Maggie. He’s just a guy……..of which you have one already. You want him, that’s plain to see. But just let it go. If you act on it, it’ll only further foul up a not-so-good situation. Concentrate on Roger coming home tonight. "For better or for worse." Remember? Stop letting that overactive libido of yours control you. Or at least put it to some good use.
* * *