“Why predators?” Gordon asks.
“They cut the weak out of the herd and go after them.”
Gordon doesn’t like that answer. But he pushes on, trying to move the conversation on to the unveiling of the tattoo. He points to the painting of a dragon. “Did you use that painting as the model for your tattoo?” She silently stares. Gordon wonders if he’s made a mistake.
Suddenly Renee turns her back and undresses. The spectacular tattoo is an exact copy of her painting. “I have another one in the bedroom.” She takes his hand and he allows her to pull him into her bedroom. As he does so, Laura’s words echo in his head: “You live in the past too much.”
Afterward, Gordon is unhinged. His mind, his clothes, his body are all over the place. But he feels so alive. Never has he experienced such passionate beauty before. Renee makes love with the opposite of Laura’s calmness. He wanders half-dressed into the living room, hands shaking, buttoning his shirt, wondering how far Renee wants to go with this. She comes out wearing a kimono. Gordon looks out the front window. A guy sits in a black SUV, smoking a cigar.
“Who the hell’s that?” Gordon points. He feels his current life slipping away.
“Oh, that’s my old boyfriend. He likes to keep tabs on me.”
Gordon’s heart jumps. His mind tries to compute how long her ex has been outside. Was he there when Gordon rang Renee’s bell? Did he hear them in the bedroom?
“He stalks you?” Gordon is not happy about this revelation.
“He’s harmless. Would you like to go out for dinner?”
Gordon is even more confused than when he left the bedroom. Now he feels she’s testing him, skipping away from the subject of the ex-boyfriend to dinner. Seeing how he responds.
“You know I’m a chef, right?”
“Yeah, one of the girls at work told me.”
“My restaurant is only open Wednesday through Sunday. But I could cook for you here.”
“I’d rather go out.”
Gordon knows every good restaurant between Pismo Beach and Big Sur. He decides they should go where no one knows him. No sense of any reports getting back to Laura. “How about Lunada, with the gardens, up on Ocean? Those private tables are nice, surrounded by hedges; there’s moonlight.” He gestures upward.