Next, Chris Shafer moseyed over. He wanted to know when we’d be back from our honeymoon for more dancing lessons. I shrugged, and Timothy promised we’d call. Tai Taketo came over when Chris left. He pretty much wanted to know the same thing, except for him, it concerned my private karate lessons.
The most interesting visitor to our table was Lillea Torn. She was Andrew’s mysterious girlfriend who had been too busy to meet us before. She had straight black hair that fell down to her hips. Her eyes were smoky hot – deep, dark brown, and, well, she was absolutely gorgeous. Andrew seemed to think so, too. I could tell by the way his tongue dropped down to the ground when she came over. (No, not really, but he was obviously deep in infatuation.)
Simone and Lillea seemed to know each other. That wasn’t a good thing, if Lillea was of the same sexual preference as Simone, but I guess that was Andrew’s problem. And Lillea did do some heavy flirting with Timothy’s best friend, which led me to the belief that she was truly interested in Andrew, and maybe even wanted to be the girlfriend Andrew claimed her to be.
Lillea seemed nice, if a little strange. She went through all the polite expression of congratulation, then asked if I’d ever gone scuba diving. I told her that I was partial to ping pong, and she merely blinked as if she had no idea what that was. But a moment later she was telling me about her favorite sport and how a great white shark had come up behind her one time.
“I shook my Cressi Cherokee fast rubber gun at the shark, ” she informed me, “and it backed right away. Smart animal. It sure wouldn’t have wanted to tackle me in a hand to hand.”
I was speechless after that. Tackle a Great White and laugh about it? But Andrew picked up the conversation, asking Lillea if he could go out on the boat with her. “I’d dive into the water, too, but I’m afraid my shark-fighting days are over,” he said, laughing a bit.
Lillea gave Andrew a funny look. “What are you, ninety? Whatever your true age, it hardly matters. I’m much older than that!”
I think Andrew realized then what he’d almost revealed, or at least hinted at, but he recovered smoothly. “No, I’m not an old man, but I started early,” he said with a tweaky smile. “By age thirteen I’d moved on to arm wrestling with gophers.”
I thought Lillea had no sense of fun, but Andrew’s grin and ridiculous line made her throw her head back and roar with laughter. Sammy and I glanced at each other, and then at Cara.
“You’ve met your match, girlfriend,” Sammy told Cara in an aside. And it was true, this woman’s cackle of a laugh was every bit as loud as Cara’s casual exuberances.
Andrew congratulated Timothy and me once again, as did Lillea, and then they departed, Lillea with her head leaning against Andrew’s neck, as if she were sniffing his skin. It was an odd posture that went with the odd girlfriend, but what did I know? If Andrew liked Lillea, that was enough for me.
Simone stared after them. “I hope Lillea maintains her faithfulness,” Simone said, which was an even stranger remark. Was Lillea flighty? Did she have a score of young men circling her?