High Noon

(1987)

(Cheyenne came up with this idea. Kind of. She suggested that Nikki, her, and myself have tea outside and chat. So that is the scene here. But i came up with all of the talk and everything else. So, here is the story, Cheyenne.)

Cheyenne sat Kayla down at a picnic table between the house and the large Redbud tree in her backyard and gave her a glass of iced tea.

Nikki looked at the pleasant old house. "So, where is Tom?" he said.

"He went to New York for the week. Ray had a few things up there for him to do."

"Yeah? Well it's about time Tom get back to work." Nikki said as kindly as he could.

Nikki heard the rhythm and syntax of his own speech in Kayla's voice. He had heard Kayla do that before, with other people. Often in intense conversation Kayla took on the other person's speech patterns. At first, Nikki had thought she was doing it deliberately, that it was a gimmick to get the back-and-forth rhythm going.

Later Nikki realized that Kayla did it involuntarily, that sometimes she tried to stop and couldn't.

Nikki dipped into his pocket with two fingers. He flipped a lighter across the table. "Do you still smoke?" he said.

Kayla stared at him a moment before picking up the lighter.

It was small: a black case with white numbers. 666.

After half a minute she put the lighter down again. She pushed it with her finger and looked far down the yard where Gizmo lay in the grass. "No. I quit before the wedding. You notice how whiter my teeth have gotten, Nikki?" She leaned back to swing her hair off her shoulders.

Nikki, ignoring her question, watched Kayla for as long as she had looked at his lighter.

Nikki was pleased. He kept the satisfaction out of his face with the same care he had used to choose the site of this conversation. He thought he had Kayla. Let it cook.

Gizmo wandered up and flopped to the ground around the table.

"My God," Nikki said. "fat enough, Giz?"

"You've got a nice life here, Nikki. Cheyenne and the dog. Do you know that?"

Nikki nodded. "I'm lucky here. I know that."

"I wanted to stay here with Tom. Philly. He wanted to move to Nashville at first."

"I meant to thank him for the books he brought me in the hospital, but i never did. Tell him for me."

"I'll tell him."

Two small bright birds lit on the table, hoping to find jelly. Nikki watched them hop around until they flew away.

"Kayla, do you think Cheyenne loves me? Really loves me?"

Kayla did not reply.

Nikki waited while a cool breeze whipped his hair across his face. He pushed his hair back with quick fingers. "I am thinking about proposing but i don't want to make a fool of myself. I know that i am getting better. The therapy is really helping. Cheyenne thinks so, too. Do you think she would say yes?"

Kayla was afraid of how she would remember this moment--ice melting in two tea glasses and paper napkins fluttering off the redwood table in the breeze and Gizmo laying under the bench.

Sunset in Birch Falls, the herons still and the red sun swelling.

"Well, i don't really know Cheyenne that well anymore. Not since two years ago. She's changed, you know. I could talk to her if you'd like."

"Do you really believe it?" Nikki asked.

Kayla watched three birds fly in line across the sky. "Nikki, i believe that she hasn't been the same since what happened in L.A. I'm not saying it's your fault. You know i don't think that. No one does. She only wants you to be happy. Sober."

Nikki looked across the yard to Cheyenne. She watched the red sun spread over the trees. Nikki loved the way she turned her head, artlessly giving him her perfect profile. He could see the pulse in her throat, and remembered suddenly and completely the taste of salt on her skin. He swallowed and said, "What the hell can i do?"

"What you've already decided."