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I ignore my discomfort when Gina wants to be close. I think it s the latter.
We got into the boat tonight, and Gina sat, as I expected her to, in the
pilot s seat. I stayed on the dock until everybody else was in the boat, and
when I jumped on, Gina smiled at me and patted her lap. Without
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pausing to think of how it would look or how it would make Dana feel, I
kissed her cheek and snuggled in between Gina s legs.
It took a few seconds for Dana to comment.  Is it a good idea to be
having Driver s Ed?
Gina replied, calmly saying,  Oh, Hayden s very good. She s been
driving all summer.
 Then why do you need to be there?
 I don t need to be, Gina said.  I want to be. This is just a good
excuse to have her sit on my lap.
 Like you need an excuse, I said, laughing.
 It hasn t been that long for us either, honey, Renée said.  You
remember what it was like when we were falling in love. After a pause of
a few seconds, Renée added,  That wasn t presumptuous of me, was it?
 Not a bit. I rubbed my shoulders against Gina s breasts, settling in
for a nice long ride with my best girl.
)
It was still fairly early when we got home from our trip to Montauk.
After Dana got Maya settled for the night, Gina suggested we go for a
walk on the beach. Elaine didn t want to go, so she volunteered to listen
for any disturbance from Maya s room. Both of the new parents seemed a
little reticent to leave, but Elaine said she d call if Maya woke.
So, the four of us went for a long walk on the beach. Gina was very
voluble tonight, and she chattered like a little magpie. Renée seemed
genuinely interested in the ferry business, and she asked many insightful
questions. Before long, Renée was walking next to Gina, having an in-
depth discussion about transportation and the benefit of ferries to cities
like New York. Dana and I lagged behind, and she surprised me by
putting her arm around my shoulders.  You ve really fallen for her
haven t you?
 I didn t fall; I jumped. And you d better keep an eye on Renée, I
teased.  Gina s like a stealth virus. She gets in your blood before you re
even aware she s there.
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Dana laughed, but it wasn t one of her normal laughs. There was an
edge of anger to it that I didn t like.  I don t think I have to worry about
losing Renée to someone like Gina.
I moved away from Dana, letting her arm drop. I tried very hard to
keep the anger from my voice, but I m not sure I was successful.  Why
don t you try to think back to how I treated Renée when you were first
together? And don t forget the small detail that you broke up with me so
you could take the best of all possible jobs. Also, don t forget that your job
was more important than our relationship. Now, put all of those facts
together and think about how gracious I was to Renée. Then do one of
the things you re not best at, Dr. Little, and do a little introspection. You
might see that a true friend would be not only happy for me, but would go
out of her way to make Gina feel welcome. Renée is doing a great job;
why not parrot her? I started to storm away, but Dana caught me,
grabbing the leg of my shorts.
 I just meant that Renée wouldn t give up our relationship for anybody.
We promised each other that even if things got hard between us, we d
stay together to raise the baby. That s all!
I scanned her features in the moonlight, wondering if I used to buy this
line of bullshit when we were together. I probably did.  If that s what you
meant, you would have said,  I don t have to worry about losing Renée.
There wouldn t have been any reason to add the  to somebody like Gina.
It won t fly, Dana.
Luckily, Dana still hated to get into trouble. She started backpedaling
so fast she could ve wound up back in Boston.  I meant like Gina or
anybody. Really.
She looked at me with her big brown eyes, doing a good rendition of a
sad puppy. But the puppy look didn t work for me anymore. I did,
however, have some empathy for her. It s hard to see an ex-lover move on,
even if you moved on first.  Let s drop it. We re having a nice weekend,
and I don t want to spoil it by fighting.
In some ways, being with Dana had been like being with a guy. She
hated to talk about our relationship, she hated to talk about her feelings,
and after we had a fight, no matter how bad it was, she never mentioned it
again. It hurt like hell when she broke up with me, but I think it was good
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for both of us. She seems happy with Renée, and they re very good
parents to Maya. And if I were any happier with Gina, I might actually
explode.
On our homeward walk, I took hold of Gina s hand and didn t let go.
She kept giving me the most adorable looks, and I knew that if we didn t
have guests she d be propositioning me. But she was very well-mannered,
and she kept her propositioning subtle enough for only me to be able to
see it. I d gotten to know her very well over the past few months, and one
thing I knew was that she was always ready to go the week before she got
her period. Our cycles have synced up, and we re both due next week. I
think I was more receptive during this week, too, but since I wanted her
nearly every minute, it was a little hard to tell.
)
Gina went to take a shower while the rest of us slowly got ready for bed. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]