Jeremy Peyton played the grand piano at the Vanity Club as if his entire soul poured through his fingers onto the keyboard. Dressed in a tuxedo which was demanded by the management of the club because of its notoriety for elegance and fine dining, Jeremy sat night after night playing songs that emitted the romance of the venue. Songs from the forties through the sixties were the menu as the melodic tones permeated the room as the guests ate steak and lobster and drank expensive champagne. He didn't seem to notice the well-dressed men and women who entered the doors of the dining establishment and took their seats at tables with white tablecloths that held arrangements of flowers sitting at their center of the table. It was all he could do to keep going. When Sharon had left him, he was had little money and a mortgage that was twice what he made working at the library of the local university in a month. Fortunately his training as a pianist came to his rescue. With the single purchase of a tuxedo, he was readily signed on at the Vanity Club, not only for his ability to play the piano, but also because Jeremy was a handsome man who was well built in his early thirties and blended in well with the ambiance of the club.
Little did anyone know, that the songs that Jeremy played were part of his healing for losing Sharon. Each strand of music soothed him while his heart ached. It helped heal him as he disappeared into the music until it was time for him to leave and the reality that he was trying to escape returned in the darkness of an empty house.
It wasn't uncommon to see Jeremy, late at night and still in his tuxedo, walking through the park only to sit on one of the park's benches, light a cigarette, and blow the smoke into the heaviness of the night air. He had once quit smoking because she had asked him to and he didn't mind because it was her. Now that she was gone, there was no reason to deny himself. It was his constant companion. A crutch he always carried with him. Tubular sticks of tobacco like a salve on his open wound.
The moon had gone behind a cloud and emerged again casting a long shadow down the path as a young, trim woman walked with her German shepherd towards him. She wore jeans and a red pullover sweater as she approached and her light brown hair which bounced when she walked made Jeremy smile. He lit another cigarette as the woman walked by.
"Don't you know it's dangerous for a woman to be out alone late at night like this?" Jeremy asked more out of concern than anything else.
The woman stopped and turned, walked back to where Jeremy sat, and allowed her dog to sniff him.
"Don't you know that most men do not sit on park benches at night in a tuxedo? It wrinkles the suit," she smiled as she leaned over to pet the dog. "What do you think Barkley? Is he safe?"
The dog sniffed and looked back at its owner. If the dog had sniffed danger, it would have attacked, but he didn't. He just remained by her side and waited.
"Well you've met the Barkley approval," the woman said.
"And what if he didn't approve?" Jeremy asked.
"He would have bit your leg off," she replied flatly.
Jeremy stubbed out his cigarette, "I'm glad he approved."
"Me too," the woman said. "So what's your name?"
Jeremy looked up at the woman and smiled when he noticed how pretty she was with her easy smile and brilliant blue eyes.
"My name is Jeremy Banks. I play the piano at the Vanity Club on the hill. That's why I'm wearing a tux," he replied.
"Oh I see. That makes sense. My name is Angela Coleman. I work the late shift at the Carmen hotel. That's why I'm out walking Barkley so late. I don't get off work until after midnight and Barkley needs to be walked or I'll wake up in the morning with an accident on the floor," she said crinkling her nose.
"I understand completely," Jeremy chuckled. "Still it isn't safe here even if you have Barkley. You should be with someone."
"Are you offering?" she asked.
"I might," said Jeremy as he stood. "I have always been a gentleman and would never abandon a woman in distress."
"But I'm not in any distress," Angela said almost defensively.
"True. I then should walk with you so it doesn't happen," Jeremy replied.
"Agreed," she said.
So they walked and talked and for the next several nights, they would meet at the park bench and continue their conversation. He told her about Sharon and she told him about her divorce from Eric after he cheated on her with her best friend. They were midnight walks of commiseration that had somehow, unbeknownst to both led to the next step.
It was two in the morning. The weather was beginning to turn from summer to the coolness of fall and the night air became brisk making Angela shiver.
"Are you cold?" Jeremy asked.
"A little," she replied.
Without hesitation, Jeremy wrapped his arms around her and drew her into him. She slid into the safeness of his arms and he could smell the gentle scent of her shampoo mingled with the night air. It smelled good like honeysuckle does on a warm summer day.
"Feeling warmer?" he whispered in her ear.
She smiled up at him. "Yes. I believe I do."
"Then let's see if I can get you warmer," Jeremy said as he cupped her face with his hand and kissed her with the kind of kiss that said he wanted to be more than just friends.
"Much better," she replied when he released her lips.
"Now comes the tricky part," he said with a sly grin.
"And what is that?" she asked kissing him again.
"Do we go to your place or do we go to mine," he grinned.
Angela thought for a moment and looked at Jeremy as if sizing him up like she hadn't already done so a half dozen times before.
"Well, I do need to feed Barkley," She said with a sparkle in her eyes and a cheeky grin on her lips.
"Then your place it is," Jeremy said. "Which way do we go?"
