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PART I
SPEAKING IN TONGUES

14

THURSDAY AFTER SCHOOL, Trey and Gene were waiting for Marina and Dot in their booth at Kresge’s. Marina had said nothing to Dot about Gene’s feelings for her, but Dot was noticeably more peppy all day and less inclined to flirt with anybody not named Gene. She wasn’t flirting with Gene, either. Marina couldn’t tell if Dot was in love with Gene or not, but she sure was happy to see him and the fact that she didn’t notice his change in demeanor was telling.

“Hello, boys,” Dot said gaily as she stood at the table waiting for Gene to slip out of the booth and allow her in.

“Ladies,” Trey and Gene said at the same time.

“Hi,” Marina said softly as she slid into the booth Trey had vacated and patted the seat.

“Hi yourself,” he returned just as softly.

Dot and Gene were paying no attention whatsoever after Gene asked how her day had gone and he listened attentively. It might have seemed like an act, but Dot could make a study hall of one sound like a grand adventure.

“How’s your hand?” Marina asked Trey. “You aren’t wearing a bandage anymore.”

“Better,” Trey said, holding it up and flexing it, albeit slowly and with a grimace. “More aspirin, I suppose.”

“How was your day?”

“You have good days and bad ones. Had to pay out on a policy today.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Was it a lot of money?”

“I don’t care about the money. A family was put out of their house and their baby died. There is no amount of money in the world that can make up for that.”

Marina clapped her hands to her mouth, horrified. “Oh my. Oh, goodness gracious.”

He nodded soberly. “That is the worst part of my job, watching people’s lives get wiped out. Could be anything. Their pipes could burst and flood their house. All their whatnots and pictures and memories, gone. Robberies. That’s usually just stuff, but having someone break into your house disturbs your peace. You can’t replace that, either.”

His sorrow was real and deep, and Marina felt it. Gathering all the courage she could, she reached out and took his hand. He wrapped his other one around hers and gave it a little squeeze and a smile. “Thank you.” He paused, then said, “You’re a good woman, Marina.”

It was said so sincerely, she swallowed her hurt and pain and envy at the compliment. “Thank you,” she murmured.

His brow wrinkled. “Was that … wrong? I meant it, I truly did.”

She smiled. “I know you did. Thank you. I appreciate it.”

“Please don’t fib,” he said lightly. “Tell me why that upset you.”

Marina bit her lip and again had to swallow but now because she couldn’t seem to speak. She didn’t want to tell him but he was too perceptive and persistent. They’d been meeting every day for a little over a week but the fact that he knew she was distressed made it seem like they knew each other far better than their short acquaintance would indicate.

“Hey, why don’t we head outside?”

The day was warm when they emerged. Trey put on his fedora after Marina positioned her wide-brimmed sun hat on her head. They turned right and headed to Petticoat Lane. He didn’t take her hand, which disappointed her a little and he kept a respectable distance between them.

“Why did that upset you?” he asked again.

“Anybody can be a good woman,” she blurted.

They strolled for a while without speaking. Then he said, “Would interesting be better?”

She bit her lip. “Not much.”

“What would be?”

“Pretty,” she whispered.

“You’re not,” he said flatly, and she gasped, her head snapping up. He looked at her steadily and said, “I don’t like pretty girls.”

Marina blinked because that didn’t make sense.

“‘Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.’”

Marina was thoroughly confused.

“Tolstoy. Anna Karenina. That was a metaphor. Pretty girls are all alike; every interesting girl is interesting in her own way.”

Marina had so many feelings and thoughts and questions she didn’t know which one to pick first. “What’s the difference between a simile and a metaphor?”

Trey stopped cold, blinked at her, his mouth partially open, then laughed, stuck his injured hand in his pocket, and rubbed his chin with his other hand. “The second I think I understand you, you surprise me.” He looked back at her with a grin, then he waggled his finger at her. “That’s what I mean, Marina. How’s this. I could look at you all day long and listen to you talk because you say the most unexpected things.”

Marina was hopelessly lost and now felt like a sap. She gulped, knowing her face was completely scrunched up. “I … ”

He leaned toward her, still grinning. “I could look at you all day long,” he repeated. “Better?”

His words seeped into her mind, but they seemed to float there. “Um … yes? I … don’t … ”

He waggled his eyebrows.

“I don’t believe you.”

His smile vanished. “What do you mean, you don’t believe me? You think I’m acting?”

Her brow wrinkled. “White lies,” she murmured, looking downward. “To make me feel better.”

“If I didn’t like you, I wouldn’t bother trying to making you feel better. Trust me, doll, I don’t give out compliments.”

“Nobody thinks I’m smart,” she said flatly.

“You don’t think the way everybody else does,” he insisted.

Marina shook her head slightly.

“Say … you’re a frog with a bunch of others. You all want to get across a pond. It’ll be easy because there are a whole lot of lily pads. But you’re stronger than your friends so you jump over a whole lot of lily pads and get to the other side of the pond a whole lot sooner. You don’t even notice there are any lily pads between you and the one you want to get to.”

She blinked. She might not like being compared to a frog but she sure liked hearing she was the strongest one of a group and didn’t need all those lily pads. “So I’m … efficient?”

His face lit up. His eyes sparkled. “Yes! And it takes a very smart person to be that efficient. The trick is to trust your efficiency. You don’t.”

Marina was watching him with eyes wide, all the words he said making no sense because she had always been homely and, at best, an average student. She wanted to believe him. She believed he was sincere. But if he was, he was simply the oddest person she had ever met.

“I’m telling you why your marks don’t make you stupid and standing next to your pretty friend doesn’t make you homely.”

That was a new way of looking at it. Marina thought. “Comparison.”

“Yes,” Trey drawled, sounding very pleased. “The difference between a simile and a metaphor is the word ‘like.’ I didn’t say happy families were like pretty girls. I said they were pretty girls.”

Marina’s mouth opened wider and she began to smile. No, she couldn’t have stopped it if she tried, and launched herself at Trey. She didn’t care she was being too forward. She didn’t care she was not being a proper girl.

She pushed herself away from him and clasped her hands in front of her chest. “Thank you! You make everything so clear!”

He drew back in surprise. “All that for an English lesson in three sentences?”

“Yes!” she laughed. “Simile, similar, like.”

His expression opened up even more. “And you know what else? I’ll bet you’ll be crackerjack at geometry.”

She waved a hand. “Geometry was a cinch.”

He scowled. “You say that like it’s nothing.”

Confused, she said, “It is. Like home ec. Like looking at a picture of a dress and knowing how to make it. Or like reading a recipe and knowing what it’ll taste like.”

He blinked. “You can do that?”

She nodded and shrugged helplessly. “It’s just … something I do.”

“Do you … cook? At home, I mean.”

“Once in a blue moon. Mother doesn’t like my food. She thinks I use too many spices.”

His eyebrow rose. “I bet you’re plenty spicy.”

She nodded. “Father likes it but Mother insists. I do the baking.”

He pursed his lips. “I see.”

“I … know what you’re thinking,” she said with quite a bit of guilt, but she had to get it out to someone. “Mother doesn’t cook very well.”

His mouth twitched a little, but he said nothing.

“Sometimes I think maybe she does it on purpose so I won’t eat too much,” she blurted, adding embarrassment to guilt. “I have to watch my waist.”

“I can watch it for you,” he said gravely, which made her look at him suspiciously. “It was a joke, doll,” he said dryly. “My way of saying I think it’s fine the way it is.”

“What’s that called?” she asked, still warily. “Not a joke. Not sarcasm or a pun. It’s something else.”

His mouth twitched. “A double entendre.”

Her brow wrinkled.

“Means two things, but you have to be in the know to understand the second meaning. But since you’re not in the know, I’m not going to explain it. I am very impressed you understood there was more, though.”

“Double IN-tin-der,” she repeated carefully.

“Yes. How’d you pick it up?”

“It was in your voice.” She paused. “Are you … Did you go to college?”

“Oh no,” he said gravely. “I didn’t even finish sixth grade.”

Stunned, she blurted, “How do you know so much?”

“I told you. I read a lot. If I don’t understand something, like algebra, I hire a tutor. Most everything else I got from books.”

“Do you want to go to college?”

He hesitated. “Don’t need to,” he said gruffly. Marina said nothing because he seemed to be … sad. But just when the silence between them became unbearable, Trey murmured, “I’m sorry. I, um … I’m a little sentimental right now because of that family I told you about. I wanted to tell you what I think about you because you never know when—”

Marina’s eyes began to sting, which almost never happened, but the connection between the family who had lost their baby to a fire and never being able to talk to a loved one again was …

I would just like to enjoy having a beau for a little while.

They turned the corner onto Walnut. “Are you going somewhere?” she asked quietly, finally looking back at him. “Not interested in me anymore?”

“No!” he said, clearly shocked.

“Because if you get tired of me, I’d appreciate it if you say so and not just hint around or disappear.”

He stopped cold and stared at her for a few seconds, but she didn’t drop her gaze. “Marina,” he said finally, “my mother and three older brothers died in the epidemic.” She gasped. “One morning they were there and working, happy and healthy. A week later, they were dead. My father died a year later from a broken heart. Then it was just me.”

“Oh, my goodness gracious,” she breathed. “I am so sorry, I—”

“I was twelve when my father died, which is why I didn’t get past the sixth grade. I had to survive. So I know a little about things happening quickly and you never get to tell someone how you feel. How I feel about you is, I think you’re the bee’s knees. No matter what happens between us, I will always think that.”

Marina shifted her attention to the tip of his nose. It wasn’t a promise never to leave but …

I would just like to enjoy having a beau for a little while.

A little while. It would be best not to get too attached. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you. I appreciate it.”

“And thank you for telling me.” It was all she could manage to say without blurting that what she really meant was And I’d appreciate it if you proposed to me right now and married me tomorrow.

Because what would it be like, she thought as they continued around the block in surprisingly comfortable silence, to live with someone who could look at her all day long and thought she was smart and that she was the bee’s knees and told her that without any embarrassment at all?

• • •

What would it be like, Trey thought darkly as he lay on his divan and listened to the sounds of a city waking up as he was falling asleep, to know a girl so smart and sweet and intriguing, so heartbreakingly sad, to want her, to hold her and kiss her and make love to her until she was happy, and not be making plans to pull the rug out from under her?

14

If you don’t want to wait 2 years to get to the end, you can buy it here.

Speakeasy staff.