Page 91 of Hell Bent

“You wanted to know when I fell in love,” she said. “I fell in love that night. Because the way he touched me … it was so careful. So gentle. But so confident, too, knowing what a man did to please a woman. So intense, like all he wanted was me.” She sighed. “I never did find out where he learned to make love like that, a nice Jewish boy like he was. I always thought I should have sent her a card.”

I was laughing. “Oma. This issharing.”

She laughed, too. “And why not? Your grandfather isn’t here to be embarrassed anymore. So is it like that, then? Is it good?’

“Yes.” I had to admit it. “It’s—he’s the most exciting man I’ve ever known. Maybe because he’s so physical.”

“And so are you,” she said.

“Oh.” That one surprised me. “I guess so. All right, now that we’ve disposed of my love life—I’d say more, but it would be boring, gushing on about how great he is—I need to say, I’ll come see you as soon as I can. Like I said, there’s no time. I’m a foreman now, and that’s good, but I?—”

“But you want to have a life,” she said. “And you should have a life.”

“Now if I can only figure out how,” I said.

She laughed. “I have every faith in you,mein Schatz.You haven’t done badly so far, have you? But there is one thing. I don’t like to discuss it, not now that you’ve told me all of this. But it’s there, bothering me still.”

“What’s there?” I asked. “Tell me.”

“The tiara,” she said.

I blinked. “The tiara?”

“I’ve left the past behind,” she said. “I’ve never wanted togo back there, to Germany, not even after the Wall came down. To Dresden. To theResidenzschloss.Go back to all the horror? Never. But it was my mother’s tiara, and my grandmother’s. Now it’s mine, but more importantly, it’s going to be yours. I think we need to try to get it back.”

36

MAD

Sebastian

Here I was, ready to give a woman a birthday. If she’d been here.

Instead, I’d woken to find her gone, and not just her. Ben, too. She’d left a note on the kitchen counter.

We’re running. Took Lexi. Then groc store. Took your list too. Text me if need more. Will bring home breakfast stuff. Back maybe 9:30?

I looked at my watch. Eight. Great. How long had they been gone? I made coffee and tried not to be restless. The dryer buzzed, and I went and opened it. Alix’s clothes. She’d already gone runninganddone her laundry? Also, maybeI’dwanted to go running.

By the time they finally got back, I’d checked my finances, put my own laundry and Ben’s into the washer and then the dryer, drunk an extra cup of coffee, received a delivery, decided that if Alix was buying my groceries, I should fold her clothes, tried and failed to think of any more chores I should do, sat down to read a book, stood up again, sat down again, and…

The door finally opened, and the three of them came in like a gust of wind. Voices, then a flapping sound of jingling tags and Alix laughing, saying, “Lexi! No! Go grab a towel, Ben. Go?—”

I was already there.Witha towel. Dirty drops covered the floor and reached halfway up the wall, and Alix took the towel from me with a laugh, started toweling Lexi dry, and said, “Get your shoes off, Ben, and go get me another towel for the floor and walls, because this is a mess.And so are we. My shoes arecaked.”She laughed again, because it was all true. Hair streaming wet below her watch cap, rain jacket and running tights soaked.

I said, “I’ve got it,” went back for the second towel, and started wiping things down as Alix and Ben removed shoes and jackets and Alix said, “Go take your clothes off and bring them to me, Ben. I’ll throw them in with mine. I think we’d better do our shoes, too. What did I tell you about how good it is to run hard in the mud, huh? Awesome. That Forest Park is so great,” she told me. “So many trails, all right here! Aren’t you lucky.”

I said, “I wouldn’t know. I haven’t had a chance to run them yet. What are youdoing?That’s Lexi’s towel!”

Alix paused in the act of toweling her hair with, yes, the dirty dog towel, and said, “What? I’m going to take a shower. Not planning to get dog germs all over your bed, or whatever you’re worried about. Oh, Ben? Once you’ve showered and changed, can you take those grocery bags into the kitchen and start putting things away for me, please?”

I said, “I’ll put things away. I’ll clean the dog. I’ll clean the hallway. As it’s my apartment.”

She turned a startled gaze to me as Ben said, “Oh-kay. I’m going to go take that shower.” And disappeared, possibly prudently.

Alix’s color was up now, or maybe it always had been. “Right,” she said. “We’ve never fought before, so I’m winging it here.”

“We haven’t fought before?” I said. “We’ve fought ever since I met you.”