Free The Queen and I by Russell Andresen Page B

man. When asked what a real man looked like, she would point at Jeffrey and say, “The brilliant one over there.”
    Walking over to him in a pair of sweatpants and a New York Mets t-shirt, she sat down, and he poured her a glass of wine. She stretched out her legs over his lap, and he gently massaged her feet as she sipped happily away at her glass of pinot grigio.
    “So, what’s up?” she asked. “I thought I was coming to your place tonight?”
    Jeffrey smiled and said, “I was in Brooklyn and …”
    “Oy vey, what did her Führer have to say about me this time?”
    Rachel called Zelda that from time to time, even though Jeffrey had asked her not to considering his grandmother’s history, but as long as she never said it to Bubbe’s face, he let it slide in private.
    “She actually asked how you were doing and wanted to know why you didn’t come with me,” he lied.
    “Ha! You’re such a bad liar.”
    “Seriously, she wanted to know, so this way you could bring the spoon.”
    “I didn’t take her fucking spoon!” she snapped, not getting the joke. Jeffrey laughed at her reaction. “You bastard,” she said and hit him with a pillow.
    He continued with the foot massage and sat in silence for a bit. This was one of the things that he loved about her; they were able to be in a room together and not feel the need to say anything, they could just be and that was fine with both of them. Finally, he turned to her and said, “I bought a house.”
    Slightly stunned by the announcement, she asked, “A house? Are you serious? What house?”
    He shrugged his shoulders and replied, “A house on a lake.” “Where is there a lake in New York?”
    “Upstate.”
    “You bought a house in upstate New York?”
    He smiled and said, “Yes, Zion, New York.”
    Her eyes nearly popped out of her head. “Zion? Where the hell is Zion?”
    “In the Finger Lakes area.”
    She shot him an incredulous look and repeated, “The Finger Lakes? Why the hell would you want to go up there? They’re weirdos.”
    Jeffrey knew what she was talking about. Upstate New Yorkers had always had a reputation for being somewhat odd, a little on the eccentric side, and to be perfectly honest, devoid of all personality. He knew this was what she was talking about, but it did not matter, his mind was made up, and he had already closed on the purchase of the house.
    “I was hoping you would consider coming with me.”
    She laughed and answered, “No thanks, pal. I enjoy being nearly killed whenever I try crossing the street too much for that kind of peace and quiet.” She stood up and walked over to her kitchen table to get one of her emergency cigarettes. Rachel was not a smoker per say, but always kept a pack around exactly for moments like this when she was beginning to get stressed out and needed a release.
    She took a long drag and let it out slowly. “Why now? Is it because of what’s been going on with Schultz?”
    “That’s part of it,” he acknowledged, but he was afraid to tell her he was struggling to write as badly as he had been. He had not yet told her the depths and severity of his writer’s block and had no idea how she would take it. “The truth is I just need to get away for a while, and this way I’ll always have the house for quiet getaways—maybe for the two of us?”
    She gave him a quizzical look and asked, “And what is that supposed to mean?”
    “What would you like it to mean?”
    “Jesus Christ!” she exploded. “Don’t start this shit again, not now!”
    “What shit is that, Rachel?”
    “I am not getting married, Jeffrey, not now, not when things are the way they are.”
    He shook his head and replied, “Who said anything about getting married? I just thought that maybe we could think about living together …”
    “Oh my God, you are so full of it! I know what you were thinking, Jeffrey. It’s not happening, not now.”
    They faced each other in silence for a while, and she finally continued,