Chapter 22

It was not but a few days later that I went home to Kansas City. Not seeing Lori for about a week-and-a-half, I had no idea if she went home, if she stayed in New York, or even where home was for her. It hardly occurred to me at the time that I had known her for quite a while, but never knew where she had come from.

A week after my return to New York, I met Lori. It was a crisply cold day, with snow covering any area in the city that was not either indoors or shoveled; the city had been dumped on during my absence. The sky was clear by the time I returned, however, so Lori and I headed over to Wollman Rink to ice skate, which we did for about two hours.

"Don’t you have ice in the Midwest?" Lori asked me after I took yet another tumble. My tailbone was aching and my forearms were going numb from the beating they had taken. I was a lousy ice skater and each fall made me that much worse.

"Yes, but most of it’s on the roads, so we try to get rid of it."

"But haven’t you gone ice skating before?"

"Not much. I tried it a couple times in college, but I left the rink in much the same pain I’m currently in."

"Here, let me help you," she pulled up on my arm. Though I wobbled a great deal, she remained steady as she helped me up.

"You know, I would have figured you’d take me to Rockefeller Cent… Oh shit, Ooof! That hurt."

"Yes, you really don’t want to use your chest to break the fall. Anyway, you were saying," she offered as she grabbed my arm again.

"I was saying that -- thank you for you help, by the way -- I was saying that I’m surprised you didn’t take me to Rockefeller Center to skate."

"Unfortunately, that closes after January 2. Otherwise I would have."

"Crying shame, it would have been neat to skate under that… um… big gold thing."

She laughed at me, "Yes, the gold thing. I’m not too sure what it is either, aside from a landmark. And try to keep your weight forward."

"OW!" I was afraid to see the bruises that were forming.

"Okay, not that far forward," Lori explained through a laugh. Though I was amusing her, I would have preferred a much less painful way of doing it.

"I think it’s getting about time for me to retire," I told her. "My legs are working in a less than stellar manner."

"Okay," she told me as she started skating backward away from me, "why don’t you use the wall to work your way around to the other side of the rink? I’ll meet you there."

"I’ll do that." She turned around and lapped me a few times before I finally managed to get to the exit.

As I unlaced my skates and put on a mercifully comfortable pair of boots, Lori sat down next to me asking, "Where would you like to catch dinner this evening?"

"Someplace with seat cushions."

#

Lori lit a cigarette as we sat down at Weddleman’s. We sat at the bar, since those seats were padded. It was not really what I had in mind, but it would work.

"Are you okay?" I asked Lori as a bartender handed us our menus. Dennis must have been off that evening.

She exhaled her smoke and replied with a smile that never reached her eyes, "I’m fine, why?"

"That’s the fourth cigarette you’ve had since we left the ice rink."

"And?"

"That’s a lot of cigarettes."

"Yes, I suppose it is."

"I just want to know if you’re okay. Ever since we got into the subway station, you’ve been very quiet."

"Oh, just… Well, it’s a lot of things."

"Are you and Ray arguing?" I asked.

"Well… a little bit, yes."

"About what?"

"Oh, nothing important, it’s just one of those things. People argue all the time."

"I know they do. It just seems to be bugging you."

"Don’t worry, I’ll be fine," she said.

"Would you like to tell me what it’s about?"

"Oh it’s a lot of things. By the way, Andy is coming back in a few weeks."

"Is he? What’s bringing him back here?"

"He needs to pick up some of his stuff. Essentially, he’s coming back to move out."

"It’ll be good to see him again. It hasn’t been the same here without him," I admitted.

"I know. I still haven’t gotten used to not having him around."

"It’s hard being away from friends."

"Yes it’s… but I suppose you know about that, being so far away from Kansas City."

"As well as anybody."

"And Andy, I’ve known him for… I’ve known him for quite a while now." Lori had almost slipped and admitted something she did not know I knew. She was always very careful about that.

"It’s not like you can’t go see him," I offered.

"I know, but Germany is a lot farther away than the Midwest," she returned as she tamped out her cigarette and pulled out another one.

"True. But you’ll be able to see him soon."

She brightened as that thought crossed her mind. "I will won’t I?"

"That’s the news about town."

Lori grinned a happy little grin at me. "Then everything will be okay."

"For a week at least."