“I’ve only had it once before and I thought you might like it,” she said and he smiled back at her.
“It will go perfect with the rib-eye steak I have prepared for us,” he said as he ushered her into the house. As soon as they walked in, her eyes could not help but wander at the brown monochromatic indoors.
“You have a great place here,” she said in a soft voice.
“Thanks.”
“And big too…huge actually.” They were now walking into the kitchen where she could smell the obviously well marinated steak.
“Four bedrooms,” he said as he uncorked the bottle and poured two glasses of wine. He forced out a laugh. “And to think that at some point I actually thought the space wouldn’t be enough.”
“Why? Did you have like six kids or something?” she asked and he shook his head.
“Not six but the wife always wanted more kids,” he started.
“Wait, wife?” Maya asked and he nodded. “You’re married?”
He looked at her and frowned as he handed her one of the glasses.
“Divorced. Remember, I told you about this?” he asked and she shook her head. “Wow, but you seemed so coherent as we talked and…”
“My friend Riley says that I am a very sober drunk. Whatever the hell that means,” Maya said, her cheeks flushing as she realized what was happening. She had actually heard that side of the story before and she didn’t remember a thing.
“Damn it, Riley,” she thought as she took a sip of her wine.
“Guess you took a shot too many, right?” Kyle asked and she nodded.
“I think the wine was to blame. I mean, I practically drank the whole bottle.”
He smiled and shrugged.
“I know a couple of other people with the same characteristics. I can’t say that this is new.” He took a long sip of his wine.
“So, would it be too much to ask if you told me about your family?” she asked and he shook his head.
“You remember my name, right? Kyle McCauley?” he asked and she rolled her eyes.
“I was not that out of it,” she said in a cynical tone.
“Just kidding.” He took another long sip of his wine before he took a long deep breath. “When I was still a private in the military, I was married to a woman I thought I would grow old with, her name was Leila. But after doing a few tours I noticed something was a little off with her. The way she was talking to me, the way she answered my calls…everything was just too strange.” He took another sip.
“What changed? What happened?” she asked as she leaned against the kitchen counter.
“One day I was on a Skype call with my daughter Ellie and she told me that her mother was out with Uncle Saul.”
Maya could tell that this was a sore spot for him. He suddenly went silent and then sighed after a long minute. She wanted to ask who Saul was but she knew that he would tell her soon enough.
“Saul was my…is my cousin. More like a brother really. He used to take care of my family when I was away. I should have known that he took care of more than just the obvious,” he said and she bit her lower lip. She wasn’t sure what to say. She didn’t want to say the wrong thing but at the same time, the atmosphere was a little too tense for her taste. The silence was killing her.
“I’m sorry,” she said but he shrugged.
“I’m better without her,” he said. “I mean, I miss my kids but I guess there isn’t much I can do about it.”
“Kids,” she echoed and he nodded. He walked her to the living room and picked up one of the photos on a table. “Ellie’s seven now and her brother Edgar, we call him Eddie…he is five. They were five and three when we divorced.”
“And are they…your ex-wife and Saul….” Maya started before he shook his head.
“You want to know if they are still together,” he said and she nodded. “They’re not. She got someone else.”
“I’m sorry,” she said again and he smiled.
“Don’t be. I get to have my kids three days a week and I finally got the courage to ask out this girl I have been seeing at my favorite bar.”
A smile played on her smile.
“And who might that be?” she asked.
“A beautiful curvy curly haired brown skinned girl.” He gently placed her glass on the counter and then took hers from her hand.
“Should I be jealous?” she asked as he slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. She whimpered lightly, surprised at how direct he was. “Are you always so…forward?”
He shrugged.
“If there is one thing Uncle Sam has taught me, it is to always trust your gut instinct and right now my gut instinct is to kiss you,” he said. “If you’ll let me,” he added quickly and for a moment, she was completely numb.