Act V
By Micki L. Bailey
On Monday as she sat at her antique vanity and fixed her face for work, Maggie heard the loft’s front door open hurriedly and then slam shut. She knew it was Roger, but since he glided so silently like a big cat, she didn’t hear him until he was in the bedroom with her. She looked up at him in the mirror. A storm was brewing all over his face, but his breathing was steady.
"Hey, honey. Whassup?" she asked him. It was early afternoon, and he’d left that morning with lots of work to do at the office he shared with Earl Ray.
His eyes landed on her then, and she felt an almost physical force coming from them.
"Ya know? I think I liked you better before, Maggie……..when you were vicious and hateful and bouncing off the walls every time I even LOOKED at another woman………That was kinda cute and actually turned me on……..But now……"
She turned around and faced him. "What in the hell are you talking about, Roger?"
His eyes flashed heat lightening. "Now you don’t care, huh, Maggie? You’re all calm and sedate, saying you don’t wanna discuss it and all that bullshit when I come home after being out with somebody else! No tantrums…….no cussing me out or cutting me off in bed for a week or so!"
"What’s your point?"
"My point? You can’t guess?" He stood across the bed from her, glaring. "My point is that I’ve been clued in on why you’re suddenly and miraculously Miss Cool-and-Collected!"
"What?" She had a good idea where this was going, but it was going too fast for rational thought.
Roger squinted. "You’ve got your own little thing going on, don’tcha, baby? Sexy Nick Santucci comes along and sweeps you off your feet, so you don’t havta worry ‘bout anything I might be doing…….Am I getting close, Maggie? Ya know how people talk."
She took a deep breath. "I don’t know what you heard, Roger, but I do not have my ‘own little thing’ with Nick. He dropped by the restaurant Saturday night instead of Friday, and we had dinner. THAT’S what you’re getting close to."
Roger paced around the room. "A private, secret little dinner upstairs…….complete with slow-dancing and the works! What a fabulous hostess you are, baby!"
"Did I come home smelling like him, Roger? Hmm? Did I?"
He stopped in front of her, his eyes still flashing fire. "Revenge, huh? Is that it? You’re a real bitch!"
"You’ve got a shitload of nerve, Roger. Coming in here and calling me that. Why don’t you go over to SHANNON’s and cool off?"
"Maybe I will. At least she’s honest with me."
"Fuck you and your honesty! You never did explain to me why you reeked of her, you bastard!" Maggie yelled. She’d lost her temper then.
Roger glared at her for a few seconds and then turned and stormed out of the room. She heard the loft door open and slam shut again.
She sat there at the mirror and took deep breaths until her heart slowed back down to normal. What was happening here? What kind of freaking script was this anyway?
* * *
As soon as she passed through Renaissance’s front door, Maggie was told, "There’s a gentleman waiting for you in your office…….He was kinda insistent."
"Good afternoon, beautiful," came from his mouth as soon as she burst into her office. He was sitting comfortably behind her desk, his hands clasped in front of him.
"God, Nick. I probably shouldn’t be, but I’m so damn glad to see you." She felt as if she’d just run two miles uphill.
He smiled that sideways smile. "Whatsa matter now, huh?"
Quickly shutting the door and flinging her purse down on the desk, she huffed. "Roger knows, Nick. About Saturday night. Some moronic employee of mine musta yapped, and it got back to him."
The smile faded, but he was non-affected. "What’s there to know, baby? We ate. We danced. I left. What else was there?"
When she saw his smile return, she understood that he felt far less flippant about what had happened than he sounded. And that helped. She was better for that smile.
"Roger’s got it in his head that there was lots more." She shrugged and sighed with exasperation. "Oh, hell…….I don’t know what he thinks anymore…….It’s all so fucked up."
"C’mere." Nick stood up. "You need to sit down."
They met face to face at the side of her desk, and both stopped. She scanned his features while he scanned hers. Where did you come from and what are you doing to me? she heard crying in her head. Dying to touch him, she kept her hands at her side.
"Turn around," he whispered.
As she obediently did so, she felt his strong hands begin to gently massage her shoulders, expertly kneading the tight muscles. "This tension isn’t good for ya, Maggie," he whispered still. And his mouth was right at her ear. Minuscule shivers streamed through her.
"Can’t do much ‘bout it, now can I? First there’s my husband gallivanting all over town with a beautiful, exciting woman who’s succeeded in turning his head, and then there’s you…….who I can’t seem to get outta my mind……..My life is simply a disaster, and tension is the name of the game." She whispered too as her body relaxed under his touching.
"Well, if I’m part of the stress, then the least I can do is a little massage. Right?"
His warm breath on her skin was giving her chills. "I really am glad you’re here, Nick."
"Baby, if he thinks you did something wrong……..then maybe you should."
Maggie turned around to him quickly, staring urgently into those black eyes. "What?"
"You heard me." He moved closer to her, pressing his body to hers.
The desk was behind her. She couldn’t retreat if she’d wanted to. "I dunno, Nick."
He smiled, disarming her. "Yeah, ya do, Maggie. It was in your face when we first met ovah at that other restaurant. You make quite an impression."
Placing her palms on his jacket, she took a deep breath. "Okay……You’re right……I’m busted."
Then, before she could pretend to protest any more, his hands were on her face and neck. His mouth was on her mouth, and his body pushed against her body. She resisted none and pressed closer to him, relishing the warmth and taste of him with the sensation of speeding downhill on a roller coaster. Her lips and tongue met his, and his beard stubble tickled her skin and sent more shivers through her.
When the magical moment finally wound down and came to an end, Nick slowly removed his huge hands from her face and backed up one step. Maggie followed him and kept her palms on his chest. They eyes remained locked even after their mouths parted.
After seconds of silence, he spoke. "Lemme take you for a ride in the new 450 SL."
She smiled. "You just took me for a ride, Nick." His eyes bore into her.
"Not like I wanted to, baby."
Maggie couldn’t resist sliding her arms around his neck and embracing him. Nick, of course, returned the gesture. Warmly and gently. Squeezing her.
"If you weren’t around………" she started and then paused.
"What?" he prodded.
"If you weren’t around……..all I’d have is the awful possibility that Roger’s cheating on me……..and I don’t believe I could handle that."
He hugged her tighter. "But I’m here."
"Ya know, Nick? I think you woulda spellbound me even if my marriage had been running beautifully……..Seriously…….I don’t want you to feel used."
"Shhhhh……Ya don’t havta define it, baby…….What happens happens, hmm?"
Maggie pulled back and let her hands drop to her sides again. "But I don’t know what’s gonna happen from here, Nick."
"It’s your life, Maggie. Your choice to make."
She looked down. "Not entirely mine……..I love Roger."
"Yeah, I know. But it’s not always that simple, now is it?" He raised her chin up with one finger.
"It’s not simple at all right now. Internal chaos is not a thing to be desired."
Nick laughed, and his face changed a million times. "Well, don’t forget I’m ‘round. For whatever comfort you’ll let me give you."
As she watched him, her heart swelled. Something inside her swelled. "Forgetting you ain’t likely to happen any time soon, Nick."
"Then call me, baby. I wrote down over there where I’m staying."
"Did the mercy goddess send you here to me?" She traced the lines in his face with her fingertips.
"Yeah, I guess she did. Now we gotta seize the day."
Then he was on her again, grabbing her up in his arms and planting his mouth on hers once more. His hands explored her body this time, and she shuddered at the pleasure it created in her. Forcefully, she kissed him back and hugged him tightly to her. Until, once again, breathing became necessary and their lips parted.
"I’ll call ya, Nick……..I need to go to work now."
He kissed her forehead. "See ya."
* * *
As if she’d already read the script, Maggie knew that Roger wouldn’t be at the loft when she returned home that night. And for this she was glad. He would read all over her that things between them were more amiss than ever before. And she might read new unpleasantness on him as well because Shannon, she discovered with a quick phone call, wasn’t at home either.
After Nick had left, her evening at Renaissance had been pure drudgery. Maggie had gone about her duties in the kitchen silently and sullenly, not sure which of her employees had morphed into a secret spy for her husband. Only the memory of Nick’s smell and taste brought lightness to her thoughts. Regret wasn’t something that had entered the picture yet.
She woke up later that night, very late, when Roger finally came home. As he climbed into bed, she turned over to assure herself that he was okay. Quietly, he covered up.
"Hey, sweetheart." She whispered and scooted closer to him, hesitating to actually touch him.
He turned his head to her, and his eyes flashed in the dark. "Hey…….didn’t mean to wake you."
"I was worried ‘bout you……….It’s so late." Hoping it hadn’t sounded like an accusation, she placed her hand on his bare chest.
He didn’t move, only sighed. "I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time, Maggie."
Oh, so impersonal, she thought. So icy and distant. She slid her body closer, against him. "Roger, are you still pissed?"
Still, he made no motion to touch her, but his tone was more gentle. "Nah……Forget it. It’s no big thing."
"You wanna talk about things? ‘Bout the way stuff’s been going between us lately?" she asked as she caressed his chest.
Yes, she was ready and willing to spill everything, lay it all out on the table. Regret over Nick was still being kept at bay, By what, she wasn’t sure. But if this mess could end now and return the status quo to normal, she was all for it.
She was, however, alone in that willingness. "Not particularly..……..Just drop it, okay?"
"But, Roger, surely you sense—"
"C’mere." He wrapped his arms around her and held her. "This is what I sense……You’re still warm and soft………and that’s good enough for me."
She buried her face into him knowing she’d never move him past this reserved, non-communicative mood. Not tonight. "Maybe tomorrow then," she whispered. But it came out so muffled that she was sure he hadn’t heard.
"Yeah, baby……..tomorrow."
Like Scarlet said, tomorrow was another day, Maggie thought. Still lying on her husband’s chest, she felt the familiar distress filling her up again. Confusion and uncertainty. Was that Shannon’s perfume she smelled ever so faintly on him again? Or was it her over-reactive imagination? Or maybe even a prelude to her own guilt?
Listening to him breathe, she finally managed to fall asleep. And, mercifully, dreamed of nothing at all.
* * *