He refilled the wine glasses, and she proposed a toast to "new relationships." Ray was all in favor of new relationships. Could she mean them?
"I had never formally met him, and I never dreamed he knew I existed. So, there I was in my bare feet carrying one shoe and following Tony to some room in the back. He introduced me to the great man. When Al noticed I wasn't wearing any shoes, he reached down and slipped off both of his own shoes. Wasn't that sweet? I'm standing there sweating, straggly hair hanging down, looking like a barefooted third-world refugee, and he takes off his shoes."
"Very classy. What did he want?" His eyes wandered around her hair and her warm blue eyes. He decided that he liked her a lot.
"Our block captain had failed to show up for a precinct get-out-the-vote canvass. The volunteers started to disperse, so I stood up and told them we could do it without a leader. I fumbled through it."
"Actually, you became the leader."
"Somehow, Al heard about it and wanted to thank me. He offered me a job at City Hall. He was mayor for eight years. I was his personal assistant. I started selling real estate part time."
"You must have been pretty close to him. I heard about the disposition of his estate."
"A complete surprise. His attorney called me to his office. He said Al had changed his will recently, and left me those Chinese dishes. I'll give them to charity unless you want them. I wouldn't know what to do with them. You're the only person I know that understands what they are. I know you'll appreciate them."
"That's far too generous. I could never accept them. They are extremely valuable, and you must be very careful about disposing of them. You'd be making a big mistake by casually giving them to charity. Promise me you'll not take any action until you talk with an appraiser. I've a friend at Sotheby's in New York."
"I'm sure they're very nice, but I've no use for them. She reached across and closed her hand over his. "You want coffee now or shall we stick with the wine?"
"I had coffee in jail. Let's stick with the wine."
She was standing by the sink when he cleared the sorbet dishes from the table and handed them to her. She turned and gave him a quick, light kiss on the lips. "You know, you're very nice, Ray. I'm certain that you're innocent, and I hope everything works out for you."
He wondered what would happen, if he just pulled her to him and kissed those lips hard. What he actually did was mutter, "Thanks."