Wine and Sympathy

Alex had texted again last night.

Maeve upended the bottle of wine into the pan and stepped back quickly as the gas burner flared up from the splashes. Right, right, don’t pour alcohol over open flames unless professional chef or itching to give the kitchen a makeover. More carefully she measured and added sugar in the grey light of early morning.

This would be, what, like her tenth “first date” with Alex? They never made it to a second date before he met someone new and then she would not hear from him until that breakup happened. Before last night's text, she had almost been thinking she would have to go on yet another awful dating website, which threw guys at her who liked to cook, and relax, and some who cut straight to the chase and included genital measurements in case their possible date “couldn’t handle it”.

By contrast she was already very familiar with all of Alex’s dimensions and while he was not the most exciting person, he provided company every few months. This last girlfriend of his had almost made it nine months before Maeve got his sad text. And now she couldn’t help feeling bad for him. He had certainly given this one his best try.

She stirred the pan, watching the sugar and gelatin dissolve into the muddy red of the merlot. Her phone buzzed, Alex saying he was almost there and how about a sunrise stroll on the beach?

“How romantic,” Maeve murmured, half sarcastic, half wistful. Alex always tried to make his visits seem like a proper date, like he was ashamed of just showing up for tea and sympathy, and possibly sex, and then forgetting her until the next break up. Maeve wasn’t sure if she found his guilt more amusing or annoying.

She left the wine gently simmering and changed into a yellow dress and big floppy beach hat. Alex had an obsession with starting everything early, he said it was to maximize the whole day with her, but he got bored easily and she knew he would leave by early afternoon to maximize something else.

A knock broke the excited bird song from the bushes at the front of the house and Maeve sashayed down the hallway to let in her date for the morning. Despite having been awake and driving for almost an hour, Alex looked like he had just rolled out of bed and was late for work. Maeve noticed that he had the comfortable “in a long-term relationship” body. All the gym work went into new women, not the stand-by’s.

“Hey, you look great. Ready to go, we can just catch the sunrise?” Alex gave her a quick hug and kiss as he rushed to maximize the sunrise.

“Yeah, hang on, just need to finish something.” Maeve went back to the kitchen and gently poured the contents of the pan into the six wine tumblers standing on the counter.

“Ok, ready.”

Alex walked the half mile to the beach briskly, Maeve walking at her normal pace just a little behind. It was colder than she had thought, and she was shivering a little when they reached the ocean, but they were just in time for a very pretty sunrise.

Alex had brought his camera and darted around the beach snapping pictures of the wispy pink clouds and the incremental amounts the rising sun showed released over the water.

“That looks really cool.” He examined the screen critically.

“You should have been a professional photographer,” Maeve laughed, holding out her hand for the camera. “Let me get one of you.”

Alex hesitated, it was a very nice camera, Maeve would have hesitated too. But he shrugged, adjusted the settings and showed her how to focus it, then walked toward the water, caught in the single beam of sunlight that stretched across the water and sand to meet him.

Maeve took a couple shots and looked at the screen. Alex blocked the light and it glowed around his silhouette a deep purple. He looked so alone; he could have been on another planet. Maeve handed the camera back to him and shivered.

“Do you want my jacket?” Alex asked, touching her fingers as he took the camera. “Your hands are cold.”

Maeve was not a demurring damsel in distress and happily accepted the jacket, warm from his body heat. He kissed her again and the sunlight was trapped behind the irises of his eyes as he looked down at her. When he looked at her and smiled, Maeve sometimes thought she would like to date him for real.

But as soon as the sun stopped being a perfect morning moment and became just another day, Alex was ready to move on to breakfast and, most likely, the hoped-for main attraction of his visit.

“I have bacon and eggs and toast at the house,” Maeve suggested, and Alex immediately began steering her off the warming sand, toward home and food. He offered to cook but Maeve felt proprietary about her kitchen. She sent him into the living room to look through his sunrise pictures while bacon sputtered angrily in the pan and the toaster coils sluggishly joined with their own red-hot fury.

Alex poked his head into the kitchen after patiently waiting five minutes.

“That smells awesome. What’s that?” He pointed to Maeve’s line of wine tumblers with the cooled glossy jelly in them.

“Merlot wine jelly. I didn’t have any jam jars and tumblers are more appropriate anyway. Want to try?” Maeve picked up a spoon and scooped out some jelly, holding it up to his mouth, wondering when she had become the mama bird, always feeding other people.

“Oh.” Alex’s eyes flew open as the jelly hit his taste buds. “Oh wow. That’s really good.” He took the spoon from her and slowly licked it clean. “Wow. Can we have that with the toast?”

Maeve stared at him blankly. She had never seen him like anything that much and she was surprised by how much it hurt.

“Yeah, of course.” She pulled the bacon off the heat as the toast popped up and began plating everything.

Alex ate with enthusiasm and speed. After breakfast and a few attempts at some things Maeve found she was not in the mood for, he decided if he left now, he could beat the rush hour traffic and have time to mow the lawn before dark.

“I should come down more often, take you out somewhere nice for dinner, yes?” He asked, lingering at the door.

Maeve sighed inwardly and smiled outwardly.

“Would you like to take some jelly home?” She offered instead and wrapped up a tumbler for him. It caught the light of the sun-filled hallway and glowed a deep warm purple as she held it out. It was the same color as the sunlight he had been blocking earlier she noticed.

“Thank you! I will enjoy this very much.” Alex kissed her goodbye and left.

Maeve walked slowly back to the kitchen, retrieved a spoon, and thoughtfully ate another spoonful of jelly. It really was surprisingly good.