Читать книгу Kawanga - Jack Halliday - Страница 15

CHAPTER ELEVEN

It seemed like they had been together forever. Maybe it was the fact that she was older, maybe that she was more mature somehow. The past few weeks seemed to have blended into one tangled ball of physical and emotional love of a certain sort. He had divorced Carla emotionally years ago, now he was acting on the fact. Maybe his and Rita’s relationship would “upset the cosmos”; she was the one who should have gotten away.

The restaurant was quiet; the only sounds were the quiet conversations of lovers and the faint kitchen sounds of Chinese food preparation. C.J. was devouring “Hong Kong chicken.” Everywhere they went the surroundings were a movie set. Their romance was picture-perfect.

‘Seriously, C.J.; will we get married?” asked Rita, stabbing the chow mein with her fork.

‘Honey, I really don’t know. I’m sure not afraid of marriage...or commitments: God, I stuck it out with Carla for nearly eight years.”

“It’s just that, well, maybe I need the sense of security; that we’re real, all of this. I’ve never experienced this,” Rita continued. “Definitely not while I was in England. And now that I’m back in the States permanently, well, maybe it’s time for me to do something normal, like marriage.”

“What did happen, I mean in England?” C.J. asked. His curiosity demanded that he pry. He honestly wanted to possess every part of her: past, present and future.

“I’ve told you already, C.J. I just did a relatively unsuccessful stint as an assistant at the American consulate. I got bored; I came home.” She looked down at her plate, avoiding his searching eyes.

“That’s it...no...men?” C.J. was as uncomfortable asking as she was answering.

“One...one man,” she whispered, looking away to the kitchen. She looked back at him, stared sternly into his eyes. “It only lasted about a month; then it was over.” She burst into a smile. “And he was a lord or something. Can you believe it, C.J.? Me, with a member of ‘royalty?’”

He coughed, trying to disguise the hot flame of jealousy flashing through his stomach. “Wow, that is crazy,” he laughed. “You and a lord, of all things; crazy.” His smile faded.