The Driver

(Click here to read Part 1 of the Driver)

(Click here to read Part 2 of the Driver)

A yellow cab screeched around the corner and come to a halt in the parking lot. An ancient cab driver hopped out of the cab carrying a baseball bat.

“I’m all right, Sam. This man is nothing.”

Sam opened the passenger door to the cab. Lily stepped in.

In a moment, she was gone.

~~~~~~~~

Six hours later

When his shadow fell across the end of the pew, the child turned to look into his face. His heart stopped beating. Her eyes, so like his own, peered from her delicate and beautiful face. His heart jerked in his chest. My daughter.

“Is this seat taken?” Vince asked.

“Mom?” Amelia said to Lily.

“She likes to sit at the end,” Lily said.

“Great. I’ll sit next to her.”

Lily gave him a dark look, “You may sit over here.”

He tried to catch her attention but Lily’s eyes never left the empty pulpit. When their hips pressed together on the crowded pew, a pulse of her warmth reverberated through him. She shifted her hips away from him.

Feeling a slap at the back of his head, he turned to see his Army friend and her husband. She gave him an ‘it’s about time’ look. He wagged his eye brows then turned back to Lily. He was about to introduce them but Lily stared at the triptych.

“I’m sorry,” he said under his breath as the music started.

Lily ignored him.

Her father stood at the door when Vince returned last night. Lily called her father on the way home from City Park. Her father said that she was crying. He was furious at Vince for upsetting his daughter. Again. Unable to contain his own self rage, Vince vented at her father. After all, how could this billionaire allow his daughter to work as an escort?

They argued and accused each other. Finally, the old man poured them a drink. They drank and talked until nearly dawn. Vince dragged himself out of bed to sit next to her at mass.

The moment mass was over, Amelia ran to meet some children near the back. Vince leaned toward Lily but she bent away from him to pick up Amelia’s jacket and backpack. When Vince’s friend leaned over the pew to hug him, Lily walked into the aisle.

Her intentions were clear. Lily did not want to have anything to do with Vince.

“Go,” his Army friend said.

Scanning the crowd, Vince trotted down the aisle. She could not be far. He let out a breath when he saw her talking to a woman near the door. Moving through the crowd, he stopped just inches behind Lily.

“Oh,” the woman said. She curled her lip and looked Vince up and down. “Why don’t I call you this week?”

“Thanks Marilee,” Lily said.

Amelia ran to Lily for her jacket and backpack. Lily bent to kiss Amelia’s cheek then rubbed the lipstick off her pink cheek. Amelia hugged her mom, then ran after her best friend.

Trapped by Vince’s body, Lily whipped around to face him. But he didn’t move or notice her. He was staring at something. Following his line of sight, she bristled. His parents were making a beeline toward them. The look on his mother’s face could strip paint from metal.

“I….”

“My thoughts exactly,” Vince said under his breath.

With the slightest pressure on her elbow, he maneuvered through the crowd and away from his parents. Once on the sidewalk, he walked them toward his BMW sedan.

“I won’t be needing your services, today,” she said. “I prefer to walk.”

Vince smiled. At least she said something to him.

She gave him a scathing look then shook her elbow from his hand. With a flip of her hair, she set off on foot toward her home. He followed at her side.

“Please stop,” he said.

“No,” she said. “I’ve been hurt enough by you. I don’t really want my Sunday messed up by your bullshit.”

“I love you,” he said.

“So what?”

She walked off.

Jogging to catch up with her, he said, “Please. Ms. Lamberton. May I take you to lunch?”

She spun around to face him. She raised her hand and opened her mouth to say something. When she looked into his face, her shoulders sagged and her eyes filled with tears. Pinching the bridge of her nose with her hand, she pierced her lips then shook her head. She turned to walk again.

He caught her hand and turned her to him.

“What is it that you want?” She shook her hand from his grasp.

“I want a chance to start over.”

“Why? Why should I give you that chance?” She asked.

“Because you love me.”

“You imagine much,” she said.

Gripping her arms, he pulled her to him. Their faces were less than an inch apart.

“May I?” His lips brushed hers with the words.

She slapped his face.

Chuckling, he let her go.

“Against my better judgment, I gave you a chance last night,” she said. Her hand stabbed at the air. “’Your baby needs her Daddy.’ ‘It’s been twelve years.’ ‘What do you have to loose?’ Papa said. And what do I get?”

She jammed her index finger into his chest.

“You insult me. Twice.”

“I’m a complete jerk,” he said. “I don’t have any idea how to make up for all that I’ve done to you. I want a chance to try. That’s all. Just a chance to try to make it up to you.”

“My father told you to say that,” she said. “You’re a complete loser.”

“Your father told me I would never get a chance to hurt you again. And you’re right, I am a complete loser. I lost everything when I lost you.”

“Why would I want to waste my time with a complete loser?”

“Because you love me,” he said.

“Love?”

She made a derisive face. Turning, she stalked toward her home. He continued at her side. They walked in silence until they were standing outside her building.

“Are you working today?”

“I don’t work on Sundays. I need a day to catch up on my life. Amelia spends every other Sunday at her best friend’s house. Marilee and I trade off.”

“And today?”

“It looks like I’m stuck with you,” she said.

Clenching her teeth for a moment, she smiled a kind of grimace. Their eyes caught and she let out a breath.

“Let me take you to lunch.”

“It would be better for me to have something here,” she said. “Would you like to come up?”

“Yes,” he said working to keep the ‘yippee!’ from his voice. “I’d very much like to come up.”

“You’ll behave yourself?”

“Yes ma’am. Scouts honor.”

She opened the door. While the concierge’s eyes scanned Vince, he made pleasant conversation with Lily. When they stepped from the polished marble floors to a sparkling gold elevator, the concierge picked up a telephone.

Lily inserted a key into the elevator control panel, pressed a button and they zipped to the penthouse. He watched Lily’s reflection as she talked to herself. When the bell rang, she seemed to have come to some decision.

“The housekeeper is off on Sundays,” she said stepping off the elevator. “Want to see what she left us for lunch?”

He followed her into the kitchen. She opened a cabinet for a plate then bent into the refrigerator. His breath caught at the sight of her round hips and tight behind. Ripping his eyes away, he stuffed his hands into his pants pockets shifting the fabric way from him.

She retrieved a container labeled “Sunday lunch” from the refrigerator. Pulling the top off the container, she found a rosemary chicken and mixed green salad.

“What do you think?” She asked. “Should we just order a pizza?”

Not trusting words, he smiled.

She moved the chicken to the plate then opened a drawer for two forks. She gave him a chilled bottle of Pinot Gris.

He took the bottle. When he reached for a couple of hanging wine glasses, he glimpsed her face out of the corner of his eye. Her eyes were trained on his bulging pants. Her signal ignited him in one stiff spasm.

When she realized he was looking at her, her face shifted to neutral. She walked out of the kitchen leaving him to shift his legs to make walking possible.

“Let’s eat out on the patio.”

She opened a sliding glass door to a sunny patio with a view of the snow capped Rocky Mountains. She set the lunch down on the patio table. He pulled out a chair for her and sat next to her. In an effort to slow his racing heart, he focused his full attention on filling the glasses.

“Do you mind sharing a plate or shall I get you your own?”

“I’m happy to share anything with you,” he said.

She gave him a genuine smile. Safe in her home, she was more relaxed and confident. She was much more intimidating, as well.

“Try this,” she said.

She offered him a fork full of chicken. He opened his mouth and she placed the chicken in his mouth. This simple gesture was so reminiscent of how they used to be. He smiled.

“Every single thing is perfect,” he said.

She flushed at the implication of his compliment.

“My father owns the building. Remember the beautiful building Mom and I lived in when I was growing up? When Amelia came along, my father insisted on taking care of his granddaughter. He pays for everything. You probably know this, but I’m his only child.”

“And your mother?”

“She lives in Florida,” she said. “You’ve driven her a number of times. She calls you ‘that boy’?”

“Oh,” he said. “I didn’t recognize her.”

“She doesn’t like you much.”

“I don’t blame her.”

They ate in silence under the warm sun. Vince was at a loss for what to say or do. He was certain that if he moved too fast he would lose her. He was lucky to even be sitting here. He sighed.

How to begin again?

“I’d like to kiss you.”

“I know,” she said. She smiled and looked at him. Her pale blue eyes searched the contours of his face. “I’d like a lot more than that.”

“Like what?”

“Ok,” she said.

Squaring her shoulders, she answered his question as he challenged her to a duel.

“If you want a spot in my life, and my bed, you’ll need to get a real job. I’d like to get to know you again. No secrets. I’d like you to speak with your parents about me and Amelia, especially about Amelia. You need to be loyal to me, and only me. You must be faithful in every sense of the word. I’d like you to be a real father, not a playtime father or a weekend father, but a real father to Amelia.”

She stared at him in defiance then added in a quiet voice. “Maybe father another child.”

She clamped her lips closed as if she wished she hadn’t let that wish out.

“Anything else? Because I’d like all of that as well,” he said.

“Yes, I’m very sexual. You would have to be available to me if I want you. And, you’d have to be a much better lover than you were.”

He cleared his throat to keep from jumping her right there.

“I’d need you to stop working as an escort,” he said.

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. She opened her mouth to say something but she was overcome with laughter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Driver is a serial fiction. The story will continue next Friday at Miss-Britt.com.

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claudia hall christian is a novelist living in Denver, Colorado. For more stories, visit: storiesbyclaudia.com or visit her weblog at: On a Limb with Claudia

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