Tully

‘No trouble at all,’ Robin answered, not looking at Gail. He glanced over at the grandfather clock. Tully looked, too. Ten-ten. Time to go.

‘Can you be a little late?’

‘It is late,’ Tully said.

Robin looked at her peculiarly. Tully managed a smile. ‘Gotta cook my mom something to eat.’

‘But you haven’t been here long.’

He noticed. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘But my mother’s sick.’

Robin did not look at Gail when he said to Tully, ‘We could go now if you want.’

Tully nodded. ‘If it’s no trouble.’

Reluctantly turning to Gail, Robin said, ‘Gail, I’m going to take Tully home. She lives far away and doesn’t have a car. I’ll be right back.’

Gail blinked and said, ‘I’ll come with you.’

Robin touched her hair. ‘I’ll be right back. Besides, you know I have a two-seater.’ He did not look at her when he spoke, and she did not look at him but stood up quickly and walked away. Not so quickly, though, that Tully wasn’t able to stare at Gail’s chest. Hmm, she thought. Nothing there. Totally perplexing.

Robin and Tully got up. ‘Want a quick dance before we go?’ she asked.

He said yes, never taking his eyes off her, while hers were all over the room. ‘Hotel California’ just finished. Tully wasn’t sure if Jennifer was hugging her drunken blond or holding him up. Julie was making out with Tom and adjusting the zipper on the side of her dress at the same time. Stones again, and Jagger’s hoarse ‘You’re out of touch, my baby…’

Tully grasped Robin’s fingers and skated with him onto the ice. Closing her eyes, Tully saw the music and moved to the music, while Robin moved to her. Tully, eyes closed, swayed her hips and thrust them closer to him, almost grinding against him. With her eyes still closed, she let go of his hands and ran her palms up and down her torso, from her breasts to her thighs, pulsing to the rhythm. When the song ended, she was sweating, panting, grinding up to him. She opened her eyes. Tully saw him looking at her with an expression she knew very well and had seen very often. He was definitely closed. Okay, now she was ready to go.

They said their good-byes quickly. Tully ran upstairs and got her clothes out of the hamper. Striding over to Jennifer, Tully noticed Jen had an embarrassed look on her face, having just finished talking to Gail. Jennifer let Tully kiss her on the cheek. ‘Happy Birthday, Mandolini,’ Tully whispered. ‘And thank you.’

‘Are you coming with us to St Mark’s tomorrow?’ asked Jennifer.

Tully shook her head. ‘Not tomorrow, okay?’

‘Tully, you haven’t been since school started.’

‘Not tomorrow, okay? I’m going to have to rake the leaves in the morning.’

Jennifer made a skeptical face. ‘You don’t have a rake.’

‘With my teeth, okay?’ said Tully, moving away and waving.

Robin opened the door for her, and they were out. The cool air smelled so fresh after the staleness of the living room. It was quiet and windless, unusual for Kansas. Tully’s head throbbed and her ears rang a continual dog whistle, as they always did after hours of loud noise, even if it was Jagger noise.

In the car, Tully silently bit her nails.

The walk home was long, but the ride seemed short. If he is going to get to work, he’d better get to work fast, thought Tully.

‘Would you like to see me again?’ Robin finally said.

‘Yeah, sure,’ Tully replied laconically.

He drove slowly, at one point obeying the stop sign for about a minute.

‘Tully,’ Robin said at the stop sign. ‘Tully. That’s an unusual name.’

‘Robin. That’s an unusual name. Is that Italian?’

‘Third generation DeMarco,’ he answered. ‘My mother was of mixed blood and my father wanted to Americanize the family. Also,’ Robin added, ‘they were bird lovers.’

‘Were?’ said Tully.

‘My mother is dead,’ said Robin, and drove on.

Tully swallowed, and said, ‘My brother couldn’t pronounce my name properly and it stuck.’

‘So is that your name?’ asked Robin. ‘Properly.’

‘Yeah, that’s me,’ said Tully. ‘Properly Makker.’

‘What’s your real name?’

‘Natalie,’ said Tully. ‘Natalie Anne Makker.’

‘That’s nice,’ said Robin. ‘What’s your brother’s name?’

She paused. ‘Henry, Hank.’ She almost did not mind the questions, for this one was particularly cute. Still, she bit her nails furiously. She had no harmless answers. Why do they always have to know so much before they fuck you? she thought. Why?

‘There are three brothers in my family,’ Robin said. ‘I’m the oldest.’

‘How old is oldest?’

He looked over at her and smiled. ‘Oldest is twenty-five. Is that very oldest?’

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Ancient.’

‘How many kids in your family?’ Robin asked. ‘Two?’

He is tough, she thought, shaking her head. She had nearly forgotten how tough they all were. ‘Only one,’ she replied. Only one left.

‘One? I thought you said you had a brother.’

‘I did,’ said Tully, ‘have a brother.’ Two brothers, even. Two that I know of. ‘He’s not around anymore. Make a right at the next corner.’

Tully navigated him through the short streets near her house. And then the Grove. Robin pulled up near her house, took one short look at it – broken porch, long grass – and then one long look at her.

‘Can I come and see you tomorrow?’ he asked.

Nothing would be better, thought Tully. My mother on one side of him, Aunt Lena on the other. And so Tully smiled and gave him her stock answer, the answer she gave to all the boys, the only answer she had. ‘Sure, great, come. Maybe we could go for a ride in the afternoon.’ She looked around her. ‘Am I sitting in a red Corvette?’