Death Calls – A Normal Lunch

DEATH CALLS Deleted Bits “ A Normal Lunch
DIRECTOR’S CUT from DEATH CALLS

She was positively radiant, Diana thought about Sylvia Rodriguez, her friend and former college roommate. She didn’t know what it was, but there was something different about Sylvia since when she had seen her two months ago. Her dark brown eyes glittered brightly and her smooth olive skin bore a wonderful blush of color on her cheeks.

“You look wonderful.” She hugged Sylvia as they met on the sidewalk in front of Luigi’s, Diana’s favorite Italian restaurant.

Never one to mince words, Sylvia said, “And you, mi amiga, look troubled.”

Diana shrugged and motioned for her friend to enter the restaurant. Once inside, Mama Isabel called out a greeting from behind her hostess podium. “Mia amica. It’s been such a long time.”

It had been way too long, Diana thought, wondering when it was that she’d stopped coming to all her normal haunts and started going almost exclusively to Ryder’s. She walked to the podium and embraced the rubenesque older woman. “Forgive me, Mama Isabel. Things have been crazy.”

“I can see. You look too thin, Diana,” she said and out of the corner of her eye, shot a glance at Sylvia. With a smile, she said, “Bene, not like your amica here. Look at how wonderful her little belly is.”

Diana looked and then did a double-take as the meaning of Mama Isabel’s words registered. Sure enough, as she perused Sylvia’s body, she noticed the first little swell of belly. Pregnancy belly. “Syl?”

Sylvia blushed and held up her hands to wave off the excited chatter of the hostess as she called out for a busboy to set up a special table for them to celebrate. Then Sylvia said, “Es verdad, amiga. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to have lunch with you today.”

Diana smiled and enthusiastically embraced her friend. “Congratulations, Sylvia. That is absolutely great news.”

The waiter, a young man named Rocco who was one of Mama Isabel’s brood of children, approached at that moment to lead them to a table. After they were seated, Sylvia resumed the conversation once more. “Raul and I would like for you to be the godmother,” she said and grasped Diana’s hand as it rested on the tablecloth.

Diana twined her fingers with Sylvia’s and smiled again, delighted by the prospect. “I’d be honored. So when’s the big date?”

“Not for another five months. In fact, except for Raul, and now Mama Isabel, you’re the only other person I’ve told, mainly because I was worried it would be another few months before we got together again.” Her voice trailed off and a sheepish look passed over her face.

Diana recognized the truth of Sylvia’s words, but there was little she could do about it given her choice of profession. “I promise we will get together way before this little one’s born.”

Sylvia examined her and nodded, although it was obvious her friend was doubting the truth of that statement. “Are things even remotely closer to normal for you?”

Funny thing was, Diana thought, things were almost normal. She had a load of cases to profile, two of which she was actively investigating. Melissa and Sebastian would shortly be having a baby, making her an aunt. Even the lives of the assorted vampires they had befriended had quieted into a peaceful routine. If anything, the only troubling part of her otherwise close to normal life was her totally not normal involvement with Ryder. “Things are fine,” she acknowledged, but the uncertainty behind her words was painfully obvious.

Eyeing her shrewdly, Sylvia asked, “Still together with Ryder?”

It was weird to discuss Ryder with Sylvia as if he was just a regular boyfriend. But of course, that was how she had represented him to Sylvia during the course of various conversations and how he had presented himself on the few occasions when Sylvia had met him.

And because as far as Sylvia was concerned Ryder was just another guy, there was no reason not to girl talk about her feelings and how uncertain she was regarding their relationship. “I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to keep on seeing him,” she admitted.

“Girl, it seems to me that if after two years you’re not living with him, that alone is a sign of trouble.”

Diana let out a playful snort. “Chica, look who’s calling the pot black? You dated Raul for how long before you lived together?”

Sylvia raised her index finger to emphasize her point. “Number one, we never lived together. Mamita would have had a stroke if her good Cuban girl lived with anyone. And two, it was six and a half years, but we were in college and grad school with such different lives. It was to be expected.”

Different lives, Diana thought. You couldn’t get any more different than undead and human! “Well, Ryder and I are in the same boat,” she answered in self-defense. “He’s a . . . night owl what with his club and other things. My days and sometimes even nights are hectic. It doesn’t make for an easy relationship.”

A hard look crossed Sylvia’s face when she answered. “Di, I know you want to be Ms. Save the World and all, but who’s going to save you?”

It was a testament to their friendship that she didn’t get up and walk right out of the restaurant. She might have if it had been anyone else, including possibly Ryder because she was itching for an excuse to get mad at him. But she and Sylvia had shared a lot together. Plus her friend’s honesty was actually welcome since it rang so close to what she’d been thinking for a week or more — she had to save herself before there was nothing of her left to save. “You’re right, Syl,” she confessed and signaled for the waiter to come over for their orders. He had noticed their conversation and decided to hang back to give them privacy.

Sylvia raised her perfectly waxed eyebrows in surprise. “I’m right? You’re actually admitting that?”

“What may I get you today? The usual, bella?” the waiter asked with a wink.

“It’s been so long I’m surprised you remember, Rocco, but yes, the usual,” Diana teased and glanced at her friend to see if she was ready.

Sylvia seemed more eager for talk than for food since she immediately handed Rocco back the menu without looking. “The same for me.”

“I’ll make sure to bring some breath mints for dessert,” he kidded as he grabbed their menus and walked away.

Sylvia frowned and her nose crinkled as she glanced at her friend. “What did we order?”

“Garlic bread topped with mozzarella, house salad with garlic parmesan dressing and shrimp scampi made with an amazing roasted garlic sauce,” Diana answered and took a sip of her water.

“We may need detox after all that garlic.”

And she would definitely need more than a breath mint if she went by Ryder’s that night. Garlic was definitely not his thing.

“What about your partner? How’s David?” Sylvia asked, with a tone that said she was refusing to let go of their earlier discussion regarding prospective men. Her friend could be like a pit bull when she got her teeth into something.

“David is just a friend. Actually, he’s been seeing Maggie Gonzalez. You remember her, don’t you?” Diana asked.

Sylvia shook her head, but then snapped her fingers as if suddenly remembering. “That tall too leggy redhead all the men probably drool over? I do remember meeting her when I visited your office.”

“David and Maggie are really in love, which is nice. David is truly a great guy and Maggie’s a wonderful friend,” Diana said wistfully, happy for her friends, but also craving the kind of simple love affair David and Maggie were sharing. One seemingly without complications.

“It’s not always that easy,” Sylvia jumped in as if reading her thoughts.

Diana gave a short chuckle once more. “You know me too well, amiga.”

“And I know you care for Ryder, Di. For two years, I’ve heard how you talk about him. And it was impossible to ignore how you felt about one another on the few occasions you’ve deigned to bring him with you.”

“I know we haven’t been around a lot, but it’s that whole different lives thing. I care for him. Too much, I think. Sometimes I think I care for him more than I care for myself,” she told her friend, for if anyone seemed truly sure with the choices she had made romance-wise, it was Sylvia.

Sylvia hesitated for a moment, considering her statement. “Normally I would have said that you can’t give up all of yourself to anything, Di. Not to Ryder or your job. But sometimes someone comes along that makes your emotions go all out of kilter.”

Diana examined her friend, wondering where she was going, until Sylvia glanced down at her little baby belly and placed a hand over it lovingly. Diana knew then. A jab of pain caught her right in the middle of her heart. She’d never know that sensation of having someone else growing within her. Of seeing her belly swell with her child. Not if she stayed with Ryder. It hadn’t bothered her when she’d first learned Melissa was pregnant. Or maybe it had and she’d driven it from her mind. It was impossible to ignore now as the most beatific of smiles crossed her friend’s face and she said, “Sometimes we’re a smaller part of the picture and someone else comes first. I think about when the baby will get here. How it’ll be to care about someone that much. Someone who’ll need so much of my love. It’s a scary thing, but a good thing.”

It definitely was scary when a good thing became so much of your life. So much of who you were, Diana thought. She nodded in response and said, “I understand, I think. I guess I just need a little time to consider where I’m going with him.”

Rocco brought the bread and salad over at that point and the deep conversation was replaced by more lighthearted talk of things like Sylvia’s plans for the nursery, Raul’s reaction to the pregnancy, and anything else that would not make her think about Ryder which was almost impossible.

Even the garlic bread made her think of him as did the meal, so similar to the first dinner they had shared so long ago. Before she’d known he was one of the undead. Before she’d lost her heart to him.

When they finished their meals, Rocco came over to ask about dessert, but Sylvia looked at her watch and grimaced. “I’m sorry. I’ll have to pass.”

“Big date?” Diana questioned, picking up on Sylvia’s sudden vibes of uneasiness.

“A meeting with a client who sounded way too edgy for my tastes. He didn’t want to talk about it on the phone — “

“Another clear indication that he thinks he’s in hot water,” Diana said in agreement with where her friend was going. “What does he do for a living, if that wouldn’t violate any attorney-client privileges?”

Sylvia took the check from the waiter, glanced at it and then quickly handed him her credit card. “My treat, so don’t complain. As for your question — he owns a small business and was an accountant at one time, but don’t go anywhere else, ‘cause the next question might be a problem.”

Diana smiled at her friend’s spunk. “Bueno. Let’s just leave it at that, mamacita,” she teased.

Sylvia placed her hand over the barely perceptible mound of her stomach. “Mamacita. I like the sound of that, don’t you?”

“For you, yes. For me, I’m not sure,” Diana confessed and again that little pain jabbed at her heart.

Sylvia gave an exasperated sigh, grabbed the receipt from the waiter as he returned and signed the credit card slip, saying as she did so, “In time, Di. In time. You just need to either meet the right guy, or decide that Ryder is the right guy.”

Diana shrugged, unable to argue with her friend after what had been a nice lunch and the very good news about her pregnancy. She’d met the right guy. Unfortunately, he might possibly also be Mr. Wrong. Way wrong and incapable of giving her the kind of life Sylvia would think of as perfect.

But then again, Sylvia’s concept of perfect was a condo on the East Side, partnership in her law firm and a husband waiting at home every night. That had never been Diana’s concept of a perfect life even before encountering Ryder.

Diana rose from the table as did Sylvia, and the two friends embraced before heading their separate ways. Sylvia back to her Midtown office and Diana to Federal Plaza.

Sylvia would meet her worried accountant-client who was probably guilty of no more than taking an unwarranted deduction or two and then head home to her devoted husband who would probably have dinner waiting for her. Diana, on the other hand, had to read through the case file on some murders, visit the morgue for a physical exam of the latest victim in the case, and after, go visit her undead boyfriend for whom she might possibly become dinner.

How much more different could two lives be?