Scenes From Her Life: First (Part 2)
Teddy waits, listening to the music, watching him and just waiting.
"What does that mean?"
"Huh?"
"You said 'uh-oh'. What did you mean by that?"
The older woman smiles broadly. "I told you to watch out. I believe I
actually said it several times. Not my fault if you didn't take my advice."
The music, his voice, corkscrewing through her head again, she dropped it and turned back to watch him. Her heart was hammering in her chest just a little harder and louder and by the end of the night she thought she might suffocate from the weight of it.
Dee is still smiling when she finally faces her. The lights are up, now, people are leaving and he is somewhere shaking hands and signing autographs.
"Do you think I could get a ride home?"
"Seriously?" Dee looks hard at Teddy and shakes her head. "Sure. We can get out of here in a few minutes. I need to talk to Doc, first."
"Of course. I want to thank him, anyway. Tonight was great."
"Thanks, I will take that as a favorable review." His voice, too close behind her, Teddy turns and smiles up at him.
"You may quote me, if you'd like."
He laughs and Teddy's sight blurs a little. "I definitely will."
"I'm going to get Bill. We'll take Teddy home and be back at the hotel in about an hour."
"What?"
"Here it comes."
Teddy looks at Dee and the older woman looks away and she suddenly feels that heavy feeling in the middle of her chest again.
"Where are you going?"
"Home. It's been great. But, it is really late."
"Dee didn't give you my message."
There is suddenly no air in the room and the pressure in her chest is deadly. "M-message?" she stumbles over the word and hears Dee stifle a giggle.
He turns to Dee, gold eyes questioning. "Seriously, Doc. I haven't had two minutes."
"Good excuse. Anyway, I was thinking you might want to join us."
A thick silence as Teddy's brain tries to parse the statement she just heard.
Dee leans forward and says "What?"
He looks hard at her, "What do you mean 'what'?"
"I mean, what do you mean 'join us'?"
He laughs. "In retrospect, I'm glad you didn't give her the message. I think I might not have made myself very clear."
"Apparently not. I. . . Never mind. I need another beer."
"Join you, where?"
"Well, we're in Seattle on Monday and then Utah and Colorado and . . ."
"On the tour?"
He nods.
"Why?"
This time Dee nearly strangles on her last mouthful of beer.
He rolls his eyes and smiles. "I thought you might enjoy it. You can stick around until you get bored. We can always make arrangements to get you home."
The strangeness of the last couple of hours is a deep lake and she is drowning now. What is she supposed to say. This man, this person that she has admired and adored all her life is asking her an impossible question.
She has no answer but suddenly the word, "Yes," is on her tongue.
Dee stares at her, amazed, but laughs.
An arm around her shoulders, turning her just a little. "Fantastic. You and Bill can still take her home. Pack a few things and come back to the hotel. Shari's missing a roommate since Laura left. She won't mind."
Dee, seriously startled, now. "Uh. Okay. Doc?"
"What?"
"Nothing. Just. . . I wish I worked for a normal person."
"That's alright. So do I." A long yawn and he brushes Teddy's hair gently with the fingers of his right hand as he pulls away. "I'll see you later. We'll have a late lunch."
The two women stand, suddenly alone, watching the man walk away.
"It's possible I've lost my mind," Teddy says, into the air.
'Yeah. Me, too. You don't think it's catching, do you? Or maybe there's a gas leak in here."
