Free One Unforgettable Evening by Dusty Miller Page B

was such a long time
ago.
    Her jaw dropped as Leon rose,
half-bowed, extended a hand and invited her to dance.
    There was a weird air of unreality
about it as the couple followed several other people, through the
dining room, past the eyes of all the other people in there, and
out into the shuffling mass that was the dance-floor.
    Well, well,
well.
    What’s gotten into
you?
    She’d have to get him
drunk a little more often.
    As they took their positions and began
waltzing through the first few fumbling steps, Adelia caught a
glimpse of Mister Darban over the tops of heads and through the
archway, sitting there like a tiger poised to spring, in the the
brightness of the Fieldstone Room.
    He was watching her still, with those
big dark eyes like just coal.
     
    ***
     
    After a couple of numbers, they were
back at their table. Darban must have come up on silent feet. She
twitched nervously.
    “ So sorry, Madame! Excuse
me, Mister De Marco, but may I have the honour of dancing with your
wife?”
    “ Uh—oh—sure.” Leon looked
at her, realizing that she might have other ideas.
“Honey?”
    He lowered his chin, opened his eyes
wide, raised his eyebrows and waggled them.
    “ Why, thank you. I would
love to.” She stuck out her lip, gave Leon a pouty look, a slight
headshake, and then turned and took Darban’s hand with a ravishing
smile.
    The bit of colour high up on the
cheekbones gave her away.
    She picked up her glass and had a
quick slug, giving Leon a tolerant look.
    Leon grinned. He nodded and winked at
them indulgently.
    Good for her. She’d always had a way
of standing up to him. It’s one of the things he liked about her,
then and now.
    She rose, the epitome of grace, with a
polite inclination of her head in Leon’s direction and the couple
went off to the dance floor. As she brushed past, the heat of her
body could be felt on the back of his hand.
    Huh. Interesting. Leon was just
contemplating the dregs of the champagne bottle, his wife’s empty
glass and the notion that he had a couple of cans of beer at home.
Also, some real food, in real proportions, proportions not meant
for the habitually anemic.
    Leftovers were always good.
    Still, this night might work out. She
had been kind of starved for attention lately. He’d been working
like a madman for about the last six months now, and there wasn’t a
whole lot he could do about it.
    Right about then the waiter arrived
with fresh glasses, ice and another bottle of Dom.
    “ Oh, nice.” Leon muttered
lugubriously, but he was too polite, or merely too slow, to wave
off the man before he could refill his glass.
    “ Oh, boy.” Leon took the
smallest possible sip of the sweet and bubbly stuff and looked
around to see how they were getting on.
    Hopefully there would be a fresh
gallon of milk at home, what with the boys being away at their
grandmother’s for the weekend.
    As the revolving crowd swept past the
archway, he picked out Adelia and Mister Darban in amongst the
crowd. They were doing a lovely foxtrot, and honestly, Adelia was
in her element.
    He really couldn’t deny it. She was in
her glory now. He turned away thoughtfully.
    The music was really good
here.
    You had to get a ways back from your
life sometimes, just to see the true beauty in it. Seventeen years
of marriage. Wow. Whoever would have thought?
    The truth was that they were happy.
They were having a pretty good life.
    His wife really was beautiful.
    She really did dance well. He
remembered things, many things. Leon looked at his
watch.
    It was interesting to see her in the
arms of another man.
    A bit of a lesson in life there. If
only one had the wit to see it sometimes.
     
    ***
     
    “ He put his hands on my
bum, Leon.”
    “ Yeah, that’s kind of
rude, Hon. It’s understandable, though. I wouldn’t worry too much
about it.” They hustled across the dark parking lot, with the wind
whipping the trees and the sky ripped by nearby lightning, still
inside the clouds but it would be