Page 15 of Our Secret Summer
Dylan huffed out a deep-throated chuckle. Raffo sure could come up with a killer question. Although Dylan had left the door wide open for this particular one.
“Well.” Dylan savored a sip of champagne, letting the memory surface. “The first one was in college—cliché of all clichés, I know. Her name was Alex. She was a TA, a few years older than me. Nowadays, what we did would be more than frowned upon, but I didn’t mind one bit forty years ago.” Dylan hadn’t thought about Alex in decades, that’s how far away the memory of her first time with a woman was stashed. “It ended when I graduated and moved to LA.”
“How long were you and Alex together?” Raffo appeared relaxed, her ankle on her knee, her glass of champagne on the armrest of her chair, her body angled toward Dylan.
“About five months, if I remember correctly. God, it was so long ago.”
“What was she like?” Raffo really wanted to know everything.
“So fucking hot.” Dylan chuckled. “I know how shallow that sounds, but I was twenty and very horny.”
“Can you describe her to me?” Raffo asked.
“You want me to describe my first girlfriend to you?”
“If you don’t mind. You did say she was ‘fucking hot’. I guess I’m curious what that means to you.”
“Fair enough.” Dylan could still easily picture Alex and she wondered what she would look like now—and what she was doing. “Short, dark hair. Brown eyes. Such a friendly face with a big smile. Not overly, um, feminine. She had this walk… I couldn’t look away from it if I tried. I loved seeing her dash across campus. Alex Petrovski.” Dylan made a mental note to Google her later, just out of curiosity.
“Was it hard to leave her behind?” Raffo was clearly enjoying this, judging by the smile playing on her lips. “Where did you go to college?”
“Boston.” Dylan expelled some air while trying to remember the answer to Raffo’s other question. “I guess it was hard at the time, but it’s been forty years. I’ve been married since. I’ve had a son who’s in his thirties now.” Dylan met her future husband—Connor’s father, Joe—not long after. He was a client at the first agency—the one in West Hollywood that she’d been hoping to emulate—she’d worked at.
“You gave birth to Connor and raised him.” Raffo nodded. “That would make you forget about your first female lover.” She held up her hand. “Your son is truly one of the best people I’ve ever met. I love Con to absolute pieces. And not just because of what he’s done for my career. I mean as a friend. He’s more than a friend. He’s family.”
“Aw. Thank you.” Dylan’s mother heart grew a size in her chest.
“If you could divulge some embarrassing moments from his childhood that I can drag out at his next dinner party, that would be amazing.” Raffo grinned at Dylan.
“I really miss him,” Dylan said. “We usually talk every day. I always know what’s going on with him, but right now I don’t even know if he’s in LA or in New York with Murray.”
“There’s a pretty easy solution for that.”
“Yeah.” Dylan was aware that all she had to do was pick up the phone and call her son, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it yet. “Soon.”
“He’s in New York with Murray. He will be until next Sunday.”
“Yeah.” Dylan nodded. “What do you think of Murray?”
“Murray is incredibly sweet. I like him a lot, although he just loves to talk and talk and talk. Oh my god, that guy cannot shut up. But it’s okay. It’s who he is and he has really interesting things to say. And, most importantly, he says them well.” Raffo sat up a little. “Don’t worry, I’m not telling you this behind Connor’s back. I’ve told him the exact same thing.”
This didn’t surprise Dylan in the least. “And the long-distance thing? Do you think it’s… viable long-term?”
“They’ve been doing it successfully for three years, so yes, I think it’s very viable and it’s already long-term. Not every couple wants to be together all the time.”
“Connor hasn’t mentioned moving to New York?” Dylan’s heart shrank a size now.
“Ah, that’s what you really want to know.” Raffo sent her a gentle smile. “I told him he’s not allowed to. Our interests are totally aligned here.” Raffo shook her head. “Connor is such an LA boy and he’s built his gallery in Los Angeles, which is such a huge part of his life, of who he is. Never say never, but I don’t think he’ll be moving to New York any time soon. He wouldn’t be able to deal with the winters, for starters.”
“I’m glad he has you as his friend.” Dylan meant it from the bottom of her heart. If her son had friends like Raffo, she knew for certain that he was doing all right.
“So I tell him every time I see him.” Raffo winked at Dylan, her eyes reflecting the flames of the fire. “But, um, I feel like my question is, once again, expertly being dodged.” She tilted her head and gave Dylan a quizzical look. “Your second female lover?”
“I wasn’t willfully dodging. The conversation just went off in another direction, as conversations tend to do.”
“Okay, but now we’re firmly back on topic.” Raffo drank, then peered at Dylan over the rim of her glass.
Dylan’s affair with Angie was much fresher in her memory.
