“Yeah,” she said.
The walk home was quiet as well. We held hands, watched other couples. “It’s hot,” she said. She was always sweating.
“Both,” she said. “I can’t decide.”
“Let’s get a cold drink at home.”
“Yeah.”
We carried on.
A lot of other couples we saw seemed happy. I looked at the women’s faces, tried to catch their eyes without their boyfriends noticing. I looked at Jackie sometimes to see where she was looking, but I couldn’t tell. She was inscrutable.
When we got home I decided to forget about the cold drink and take her straight to bed. The sex was incredible.
She had one green and one hazel eye.
“So what is it you do?” she asked me the next morning.
“I’m a civil engineer. These eggs are great.” She made excellent breakfasts. “I’m a civil engineer, but I’ve also been a professional referee—soccer—for almost eight years.”
I took her to a game that weekend. It had turned cold, so I dressed her in an oilskin coat, which made her shoulders look small and cute. I made some controversial calls that game. My mind was elsewhere.
When I found her in the stands after the game, she was sipping a hot chocolate. I hadn’t given her any money so I wondered how she got it.
“I have my ways,” she said.
She looked so pretty.
For a while she came to all my games. “A referee’s wife should never cheer, one way or the other,” I told her. I think she was happy with that. Anyway, “Wife?” she said. “Wife?” and she wiggled her bare ring finger.
Everyone at work wanted to meet her.
“So when do we meet your Jackie? Where are you hiding the beautiful Jackie?”
“Ha ha,” I said.
I like to keep my private life separate from work.
She took me out of myself. When I wasn’t refereeing on a weekend she would say, “Let’s go away.” She had all the ideas—weekends at wineries, hang-gliding. I just went along and found new abilities within myself.
“I’m starting to be able to taste the difference between wines.”
“Huh,” she said.
Comments