The sound of the key turning in the lock of the front door was like magic to him. He dropped his dilapidated suitcase at the foot of the stairs with a tired sigh. He wandered down the hall to the kitchen being careful to avoid the creaky floorboards.
He laughed at himself for doing it. It wasn't like he was trying to sneak in past curfew. Hadn't had one of those in a couple of decades. It was just that old habits die hard.
He opened the door to the fridge and pulled out a beer while making a note of what he needed to stock up on. Mick McKenzie, his neighbor and childhood friend had been keeping an eye on things and in the process had damn near eaten him out of house and home.
He chuckled and stepped out onto the small back porch. He sat down on the porch steps and relaxed as the cares of the world slid off his back.
It had been a long two months, but he was finally home.
Home…
The house was the one he had grown up in. He had bought it off his parents when they had decided to move to Florida to be closer to their grandkids.
It was situated in a quiet neighborhood of Queens. It was a small, two story clapboard house that had been built at the turn of the century. It was a faded demin blue, which had at one point in the distant past been a deep royal blue.
He laughed thinking back on the summer that he and his father had painted it that color. He thought his mother would have killed his father for the choice of color, but she refrained from commenting and only gave them each a kiss on the cheek.
That had been a good summer, he thought as he took a pull from the bottle that dangled from his hand.
The house sat on a small lot with a tiny yard in the front and room for a small garden in the back. It sat between two similarly designed houses that had seen vast improvements in recent years.
His parents had placed great store in it. His mother had kept it spotless inside despite raising three active children and mothering half the neighborhood. His father had kept it immaculate on the outside always getting immense joy out of tending the small garden in the back.
It had felt ancient when he was growing up, but now its history soothed his weary soul.
It was his getaway from the world; his best kept secret.
&/&/&
Dino silently let himself in his house while balancing a bag of groceries on his hip. Another bag rested at his feet as his sunglasses slipped down his nose. Sweat trickled down his back under his black t-shirt.
It was summer in the city.
"You know you can make more than one trip?' a voice to the left of him said.
Dino turned his head and regarded his friend over the top of his sunglasses. Leave it to Mick to show up when food was involved, he thought with a grimace. "How illuminating? Any other gems of wisdom you'd like to pass along?"
"No need to get sarcastic."
"Mick, you wouldn't know sarcasm if it walked up to you in a dark alley and kicked your sorry ass."
"Welcome home, Dino," Mick said with a grin. "You want some help?"
"I'd appreciate it."
&/&/&
"Chris is in town for a visit," Mick said, breaking their companionable silence. They had been lounging in Mick's garage enjoying a couple of cold ones catching up on things.
"That's nice," Dino replied after a brief pause to swallow his heart. It had leaped into his throat at the mention of Chris' name and he never could pin down why, but it just did. Chris was his oldest and dearest friend. He had heard some people say that she was his on-again off-again lover, but what he felt for her went beyond mere physical attraction. If he were to put a name to it, it would be true love.
"That's not how I would describe her," Mick groused.
"That's because she is your sister," Dino retorted half-heartedly. "Did she bring the kids with her?"
"No, thank God," Mick replied with a tired grin. "She left them with Bill's parents."
Dino chuckled. "You love playing uncle."
"Hmmm…."
"You know you do."
"I guess I do," Mick finally admitted. "Laurie loves having them around even though they are at the age where they think they know everything."
"I think I can vaguely recall that age."
"Yeah, right," Mick scoffed. "You haven't grown up yet."
"Ouch!" Dino clasped his chest. "That hurt, Mick!"
"Sure it did."
"Okay, so it didn't," Dino retorted. "But what's wrong with staying young at heart?"
"I don't think there is anything wrong with staying in touch with the inner child, but sometimes that isn't enough to keep one happy."
"Voice of experience?"
"You could say that," Mick said with a shrug.
Dino sensing a change in the conversation was needed asked, "So when are we going to take this old girl out for a spin?" He patted the fender of the light blue Mustang convertible that he and Mick had spent several summers restoring.
"That depends on how long you are planning to stick around."
"I'll be around for a few weeks," Dino replied. He finished off his beer and tossed the bottle into the recycling bin. "I'm in between jobs at the moment."
"Is that a good thing?" Mick teased. He knew from past experience the amount of trouble Dino got into when he stayed in one place for too long.
"We'll see," Dino murmured. He stood up and stretched. He glanced over at the backdoor of Mick's house and saw his wife standing there with a sour expression marring her pretty face. "Laurie is shooting daggers at me, so it must be getting late."
Mick looked at his watch and muttered, "Shit! I promised to be on time for dinner tonight." He stood and walked out of the garage sliding the door close behind him.
"I'll take the blame for that…. this time, pal."
"Gee, what a friend you are?" Mick retorted.
"Finest kind," Dino tossed over his shoulder as he opened his backdoor and walked into his house.
&/&/&
Dino puttered around the kitchen throwing something together since he was starving. It was a half-hearted attempt to distract his tired mind. It wanted to dwell on Mick's sister, Chris.
Christiana McKenzie Reynolds.
They had become friends the moment her family had moved in next door. Even the birth of Mick the following year hadn't put a damper on that friendship.
When they were teenagers, they had started dating. Their families had thought they were destined to get married and grow old together, but one night changed all that.
In a dark Broadway theatre, he had lost his virginity to her.
Lost my virginity to her? he thought in self-derision. Hell…More like the first notch on the bedpost.
He shook his head in bemusement wondering what other memories would resurface as he had time to take stock of his life. He had been moving from place to place for so long that sitting still was somewhat of a novelty.
His partner had suggested that the redhead spend some time in the Caymans, but Dino had merely smiled. He went on to tell Terry not to call and that he would see the Aussie in a few weeks time.
Thinking about his partner made him return his attention back to fixing dinner. He wasn't in the mood to eat a burnt offering. He had had enough of that in the past two months. Terry Thorne was a decent negotiator, but he couldn't cook worth shit.
&/&/&
Eating in the kitchen had been made impossible with the afternoon sun beating down on the backside of the house, so Dino had eaten his dinner on the front porch. He left the back door open hoping it would cool down some by the time he got around to doing the dishes.
He relaxed on the porch sipping at a glass of iced tea listening to the neighborhood children squalling and carrying on as they ripped and tore around the neighborhood. He smiled as he thought back to those carefree days of his life when his greatest problem was convincing his mother to let him stay up past his bedtime.
He yawned as a wave of jet lag induced exhaustion swept over him, but he took another sip of tea. It was early evening and he wanted to enjoy it, so he ignored his body's desire for sleep.
He couldn't ignore the questions that rattled around his tired brain. Questions about Chris that he had managed to avoid answering earlier.
My first what…
Crush?
Conquest?
Love?
She had been the first woman he had ever slept with that he had managed to remain friends with. A friendship that had weathered the ups and downs of almost thirty years.
Dino sighed. He stopped the porch swing from gently swinging with the toe of his shoe. He got up and wandered into the house thinking a quick shower and a glass of Scotch would settle his chaotic thoughts.
&/&/&
Chris Reynolds cornered her brother in his garage after dinner. "What did Dino say when you told him I was in town?" she gently inquired.
"That's nice," Mick replied
"That's it?"
"He got a strange look on his face and then asked about the kids," Mick explained. "Did something happen between you two the last time you saw each other?"
"I got mad at him for marrying a two-timing, gold digger and he retaliated by pointing out some of Bill's less than stellar qualities."
"So you picked a fight?"
"It was one of our more sensational ones," Chris explained, recalling the fight that had sent them their separate ways after graduating high school. "We ended up having sex in the back seat of his rental car."
"Oh, sis," Mick breathed.
"Yeah, but it gets strangely perverse from there."
"Do I want to know?"
"A month after Bill's death I get a letter of condolence from Dino and at the end of it he thanks me for cluing him in on his wife's extra-curricular activities," Chris replied with a wry grin. "I didn't like his wife, but I never meant to ruin his marriage."
"I doubt he sees it that way."
"I'm kinda afraid to find out."
"Chris, it has been two years since Bill's death. When are you going to let go of the past and start living again?"
"It's not that easy," Chris murmured.
"Sure it is. You go over there, sit on his lap and see where it goes from there," Mick advised.
"Michaeleen!"
"Drop the shocked virgin routine, sis. You haven't been one of those since the night you and Dino returned home late from A Chorus Line."
"I knew there was a reason why I should have smothered you at birth," Chris groused, good-naturedly. Mick was right, she thought. I do need to quit obsessing about what I don't have and find what I need to make me a complete and happy person again. It's the least I can do for my kids.
"So what are you going to do?" Mick inquired as he watched his sister stand up and stare at the backdoor of Dino's house.
"I'm going to go see a man about fixing a broken heart," she replied. "Tell Laurie not to expect me for breakfast."
Mick smiled as he watched Chris take the first steps on the path to a new and richer life.
&/&/&
Dino stuck his head out his old bedroom window when he heard the knock on the backdoor. He smiled when he saw that it was the dark haired woman who had come to haunt his thoughts since her brother had mentioned her name.
"Hey, gorgeous," he greeted her.
"Hi, handsome," she said. "Do you have the time of day for an old friend?"
"For you, always. Come on in and make yourself at home. I'll be right down."
Chris stepped into Dino's home feeling a wave of nostalgia wash over her. She had spent many a happy time in this home with Dino and his family. She suddenly realized that she had missed that and maybe she needed to spend some time with Dino to recapture some of that happiness.
"You're thinking too hard," Dino said from the doorway that led into the rest of the house.
Chris laughed.
Dino felt his heart stutter in his chest at the sound of her laughter. "So how have you been?"
"I've been better," she replied once she was able to get her tongue unstuck from the roof of her mouth. Dino looked good in a white t-shirt and faded blue jeans, and in her mind's eye she was already undressing him which caused a blush to highlight her high cheekbones. "What about you?"
"Better now that I've seen you."
"Oh?"
"Let's go into the sitting room. I'll pour us a drink and we can do some catching up," he suggested.
"And afterwards?" she inquired. She didn't expect an answer as she followed him down the hallway putting her feet where he put his. It was a game they played when they were kids to keep his parents from guessing that he was smuggling her in and up to his room, which made her laugh.
"What's so amusing?" he asked once they were seated in the sitting room with drinks at hand.
"I was playing follow the leader."
"I noticed," he said with a grin. "I caught myself earlier avoiding the creaky floor boards."
"It's amazing the memories this place holds for me."
"Good ones?"
"For the most part," she said. She set her drink down on the coffee table. She did the same with his before she straddled his lap.
"Chris?" he breathed. Desire surged through him and it was all he could do not to carry her upstairs and make love to her. He instinctively knew that this was her show, and that he needed to sit back and just be a participant.
"Don't ask me any questions and I'll tell you no lies," she whispered before leaning against his chest. She placed a soft kiss on his mouth and then got bolder by sucking his bottom lip between hers.
Dino broke the kiss. "Are you certain you want this?"
"Yes," she breathed.
Dino nodded and let his head fall back on the couch. He allowed Chris the control she desired; she needed. He was amazed that he accepted this reversal in roles so easily, because normally he was reluctant to give a woman such power in a mere sexual encounter.
This wasn't a couple hours of meaningless sex or a one night stand. This was an exorcism of ghosts.