20 Chapter 20: I KNOW WHAT YOU WANT

"I know what your real problem is." Tory spat. "You want Lee. You want him—and not as a family friend, not as a brother. He may not be able to see how you look at him, but I do! Am I right, Rosalind? You want him the way a woman wants a lover! "

"You're sick!" Roz said. "Lee, let's get out of here!"

Lee reached out his hands and Roz took them. He yanked away from her. "Tory?" She brushed past Rosalind and gave Lee her hands. Then she glared at the woman who no longer held a superior look on her face, who now looked scared and filled with anguish.

"The novelty is going to run out for her, just like it did for all of the others-"

"Don't do this here-" he said.

"Family will be here when she isn't! I'll be here, like I've always been here."

He scratched his head. "Roz...you're married. You have the boys. I mean-that was a long time ago. We were just kids and...you ended that."

"I was stupid. I was young and stupid. I thought that the world was my oyster, Lee. I didn't know what I had in you until I went out there and everyone else was-"

"Don't!" He said. He rubbed his face and Tory watched. He hadn't known. He honestly hadn't known...but now that he did, would he want her? They obviously had history.

Lee blew out a loud voice. "Roz...you're like a sister to me. I mean, we were like fourteen years old. I was broken hearted when you dumped me but I got over it."

"But...I haven't."

"Roz...I met someone that I really like. I'm sorry but...I don't feel that way about you."

Roz looked at Tory, not with anger, but with so much hurt and pain that she almost felt it herself. It was the hurt that she'd felt more than once in her life when she wanted a man and she knew that he wouldn't want her...not ever. But for Roz it was a hundred times over.

"I'm sorry," she choked out and then hurried out of the apartment.

Tory was silent for a moment. "Do you want to go after her?"

"No," he said firmly. "I'm here with you." He gripped her fingertips and pulled her into his arms. "I'm so sorry. There's enough baggage without that-"

"Shh!" She kissed him lightly. "I don't think that about you at all."

He frowned. "Are you sure? If this ever gets too much-"

"Lee."

"No. If it does I'd rather you walk away then just stay with me out of guilt. If I start thinking that..."She kissed him again. "I guess you have to say that, huh? But the same thing goes for you. If you don't want me anymore-"

He sighed. "Unless you turn into a maniac over night, I don't see that happening...and even if that did happen, it'd be hard to let you go. I'd have to get a long chain and keep all sharp instruments away from you." She giggled and then grew serious.

"You didn't get your shopping done."

He smiled. "I can do my shopping alone. I just call up there and the grocery store that I shop at gets one of the baggers to guide me. Of course, it's more convenient when I have someone with a car for the bigger stuff like litter for Cat, or bottled water. But truthfully, sweetheart, I am very self-sufficient. Do you know what the ACCESS bus is?"

"I've seen that." She'd seen handicapped people using it.

He nodded. "They take me to and from my appointments when it's not convenient for me to take the metro or when my family isn't available." His eyes crinkled a bit. "I do have one problem though; when I'm in a lovely lady's apartment and I find that I've skipped breakfast and am ravenously hungry. We should do something for breakfast...or is it lunch now?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm starving myself. What we had yesterday was interesting but not a meal."

"True." He gripped her butt. "We can't go having you dropping weight and losing this booty that I love so much."

She laughed. "Did you just say booty?"

"I was going to say ass but I didn't want to be crass."

"Mmmm." She kissed him again and then pulled out of his grip. "Okay." She gripped his hand. "I'm going to lead you to the kitchen, but there are a lot of things to see along the way so it might take a while."

He nodded happily and had an expression as if he was about to open presents at Christmas.

It took nearly half an hour before they finally reached the kitchen. He touched each knickknack and each knickknack held an interesting story. He listened intently as she described a rock that her mother had found on a beach in Florida, where she and her Dad had moved. There was a photograph of the three of them during a happier time and even though he couldn't see the photograph she described it for him. She placed a kewpie doll in his hand and he tilted his head in confusion at the ghoulish figure. Her Daddy had bought it for her and she loved it dearly. She finally let him 'look' a chipped porcelain pig that she purchased out of a sense of kinship.

Eventually reaching the kitchen, she decided to show him what magic she could do in here. She made a huge frittata omelet with potatoes and cheese, bacon, peppers and onions. He had two servings. As they ate, they talked mainly about her; about her being an only child and her parents living down in Florida now and how much she missed them.

"You seemed really happy when you were a kid."

"I was."

"But not so much now." He observed. "What changed?"

Her face fell. She wasn't sure if she wanted to talk about that yet. She pushed the subject into a different direction. "Well, it's just that being a fat woman in our society is tough."

"It seems that the worst of it is that it makes you feel as if you are less. When actually, I think you're perfect the way you are. But what matters is not what I think, but what you think."

"I think that I'm overweight. But I don't think that I would have been an unhappy fat woman if it wasn't for the way people look at me." He nodded and reached for her hand.

"You know that I don't dislike your weight. I like you—all of you."

"I know you mean that."

He sighed. "I think I'm ready to take a tour of the bathroom." She laughed and left him at the bathroom door to explore it all on his own.

"Tory." He called when he was finished. She was in the kitchen cleaning up. He was making his way down the short hall using his cane.

"I'm here."

"I want you to take me to the bus stop."

"What?"