The continuing tale of a woman who escapes her nowhere life by traveling the world of imagination.
“So the lumberjack says, ‘Sahara forest? You mean Sahara desert?’ The little old man just shrugs. ‘Yeah, now.”
Maya laughs so hard, wine comes through her nose. Rick doubles over, cracking up at the sight of her. She reaches for a kitchen towel and dabs at her blouse.
“Oh thanks a lot! Very funny. Now I have to change my shirt.” She scrunches her nose at him.
“That’s just like when we were up at that cabin by San Luis. Remember? We were laying in front of the fire, all romantic like, and then I said something that set you off—“
“Frank Sinatra.” Maya rolls her eyes.
“—Frank Sinatra, right. And you just lost it. You were spraying everywhere.”
“Oh god, I was so embarrassed!”
“C’mon, it was cute.”
“No, I do not remember it being cute.”
“Well, I remember it differently. I remember lots of cute things, MyMy.”
Knowing in another second she’d be locked in his eyes forever, Maya dropped her gaze, gulped and reached for her purse.
“We should probably get going, huh?”
“I was hoping maybe we could order in. Chinese sound good?”
Maya’s heart hammers in her chest, her voice chokes. “Chinese?”
“Yeah, that place with the good moo shu. And some spring rolls. ”
“Sure, spring rolls. I’ll call now.” She nervously rummages through her bag. “Why don’t you go on in—”
But Rick has already wandered into the living room, browsing her knick-knack shelf.
“—there. I’ll be right in.”
“OK. Bring the wine in with you.” Rick scans the CD rack.
Pulling out her iPhone, Maya searches for the restaurant’s number. She’s about to place the order as the Smashing Pumpkins blare from the other room. Covering her ear to hear, she motions to Rick that she’s going into the bedroom, but he’s playing air drums with his eyes shut.
Order taken, she sits down on the bed and stares down the hallway. Could this really be happening? Were they really going to get back together? Just like this? She let out a satisfied sigh.
“It’s gonna take forty-five minutes to an hour.” Maya rounds the corner into the living room, where Rick is back to scanning CDs. “Oh.” She backtracks to the kitchen and grabs the wine bottle, then holds it out and turns it over. “Oops. Guess we finished it.”
Rick takes the bottle from her. “Well, we’ll have to find something else to do for an hour then.” He pulls her petite frame to him for a lingering kiss. Maya goes limp in his long arms. She was home.
“I’ve missed that.” Rick brushes her cheek with his hand, then runs it down her shoulder, her arm, finally taking her finger and slowly leading her down the hallway. Maya succumbs, then stops.
“They did say it could as soon as forty-five minutes.”
“Oh, MyMy….”