New Experiences
June 1976
Rollin was due to arrive at the house to pick up Jen at
Cinnamon cringed when she looked through the window at the
top of the stairs to see both cars, Ted’s Jag and Rollin’s
convertible, pulling up in the circular front drive together at about
In the driveway, Rollin hesitated as he opened the door of the car. He cursed himself for running late and now having to meet Cinnamon’s lover. He relied on his skill of becoming a chameleon at a moment’s notice and stepped from the car. There was no way this doctor was going to know he was uncomfortable about his presence here.
Rollin stepped over to Ted and put out a hand, “Hi,” intentionally being obtuse in his knowledge of Ted’s identify, “I’m Rollin Hand, Jennifer’s father.”
“Hi, Ted Ayres,” he returned nonplused, “Good to meet you, you have a fantastic daughter.”
“Yes, I think so….” Rollin turned and looked toward the house for rescue from this topic of discussion.
When the front door did not open immediately, Rollin continued, noticing the suitcase in the small backseat of the sports car.
“Nice car.” Rollin said, eyeing the Jaguar convertible. "You heading off somewhere?"
Ted smiled at Rollin's obvious appreciation of the car. “Thank you, yes, I’m dragging Cinnamon off to a medical conference I’m speaking at this weekend in
“Yeah,” Rollin did his best to sound interested, “
“Yes, these conferences are always a little dry but when they told me it was at the Hotel Del, well….I couldn’t refuse.”
Rollin did his best not to let the mention of the grand hotel
register on his face. He and Cinnamon had spent a very memorable weekend there
early in their relationship, close to ten years ago. He had to admit he didn’t
get to see much of the hotel, as they had spent most of the trip in bed. Now
he knew why Cinnamon had been vague when she suggested he pick up Jennifer at
While this marking of territories was going on in the drive, Cinnamon watched from the upstairs window.
She jumped when Maria came up behind her and laughed, “You going to go out there or hide up here?”
Cinnamon shook her head, embarrassed at being caught avoiding the situation.
“I was pretty content in hiding…suppose I should go rescue them both, huh?”
“Probably. Jennifer is on her way out there, I was almost run over on the stairs just now.”
Just as Rollin and Ted ran out of small talk, Jennifer burst
through the front door and into Rollin’s arms.
”Hi Daddy! You’re late!”
He retuned her fierce hug and put her on the ground.
“Yeah, sorry Sweetheart, my meeting went longer than it was supposed to.” He had also spent an additional few minutes flirting with the director’s secretary and now wished he had not, as his lateness made him look like an irresponsible father.
As she moved away from her father, Jen ran to Ted and hugged him as well. “Hi Uncle Ted.”
“Hi Kitten. You gonna have a big weekend with your Dad?”
“Yeah, tomorrow we’re going sailing!”
“That’s great, you be careful around the water like we talked about last weekend, ok?”
Rollin decided he had endured enough of Dr-Father-of-the-Year and moved to extricate himself from the situation.
“Jen, we need to get going, where’s your stuff?”
“In the hall, Daddy.”
“Ok, go ahead and get in the car, I’ll get it.”
Rollin entered the foyer as Cinnamon reached the bottom step with her own luggage.
“Hello, Rollin.”
“Hi.”
There was an uncomfortable silence as they each thought of something innocuous to say.
“Sorry I’m late. Hope I didn’t mess up your plans.”
She shook her head, “No, not at all. Did your audition go ok?”
“Yeah, I think I’ve got a good chance at it if I want it.”
“Great…”
“Can I get that for you?” he asked, motioning towards her suitcase as he picked up Jen’s small Barbie bag, “I understand you’re going away for the weekend.”
“Yes, Ted has been asked to speak at a medical conference…”
“Yeah, I heard, Hotel Del, huh?”
Although he tried not to sound flippant, she saw the hurt in his eyes for a brief second.
“Rollin, please…” She tried to think of something to say to avoid an argument.
“Don’t worry, Cin, I think the statute of limitations on that weekend is over.”
Maria had been listening at the top of the stairs and came down them quickly in an attempt to rescue her boss.
“Hello, Mr. Hand.”
“Hi Maria. How are you? We’ll be back Sunday night.”
“You and Jen have a good weekend and call if you need anything,” Maria said politely before turning to Cinnamon, “Do you have everything you need? Did you remember your dress?”
The threesome began walking out the front door as Cinnamon and Maria discussed details and confirmed arrangements.
Jennifer was already belted in the front seat of Rollin’s car, as her mother had taught her. Ted walked up to meet the trio and take Cinnamon’s luggage from her. He realized she was more than a little uncomfortable with the situation when she tensed as he leaned in to kiss her on the cheek.
“Hola, Doctor Ted!” Maria greeted cheerfully.
“Hola, Maria, que pasa?”
The two continued on in a brief conversation in Spanish and Rollin rolled his eyes at their familiarity as he busied himself putting Jennifer’s bag in the trunk.
“Come on, Jen, let’s get this weekend started!”
Cinnamon walked to the car and leaned in to say goodbye to her daughter and remind her to be good for her Dad and careful on the boat. She remained at the passenger window until Rollin got in the car and started the engine.
“Happy Birthday, Rollin.” She met his eyes and tried to express her apology to him for Ted’s presence, the hotel they were staying at, and so many more things. So much of her wanted to get in the car with them instead of going on the trip she was taking.
“Yeah, thanks, have a good weekend.” And with that they drove
off as Maria walked back into the house with a call to the couple to enjoy themselves in
When they were finally alone and Ted had finished arranging their bags in the small trunk, he walked over to open the car door for her and took her in his arms.
“Ted, I’m sorry…he was supposed to be here at
“It’s ok, Darling. It had to happen sooner or later. We behaved ourselves. I’ll get you back next weekend when Carol drives Ryan down here from camp.”
She laughed, not necessarily relishing meeting Ted’s ex-wife but knowing all of this was inevitable if the relationship was to progress.
After their awkward start, the couple resolved to make it a pleasurable trip.
It would be a busy weekend, with Ted attending various presentations throughout the day and cocktail receptions and dinner parties in the evening.
With Cinnamon on his arm, the attention of the room was drawn to Dr. Ayers and his date as they entered the cocktail reception Friday evening. Ted shook the hands of his colleagues as they moved deeper into the crowd and his arm dropped to encircle Cinnamon’s waist.
Cinnamon could feel every eye on her as they moved toward the bar for a drink all the wives wanted to know just where she had come from.
Cinnamon nodded politely as she made small talk with several of the wives. She was surprised at how quickly Ted had left her on her own to discuss child rearing with the white-wine-sipping-wives-club.
On Saturday Cinnamon indulged herself with a massage, manicure and pedicure. She ran into several of the other wives’ who were doing the same thing. They invited her shopping, but she opted to stay at the hotel. They did talk her into a game of bridge on the veranda of the hotel overlooking the Pacific. After several bottles of wine, the ladies were getting down to business.
“I’ll tell you this.” Rosemary said of their husbands’ indiscretions. “We all see it, hell, we put up with it.” She was the wife of a pediatric heart surgeon.
Cinnamon had kept pretty much to herself for the afternoon, politely interjecting thoughts when necessary. She learned that they wives accepted their husbands behavior to kept their position in the community. She was also quickly beginning to realize that several of the women were borderline alcoholics. She was glad when Ted appeared, rescuing her with the suggestion of a swim.
Swimming was the last thing on his mind as they returned to the suite.
Dinner was a dressy affair with dancing afterward. She was
grateful they were seated with a couple who had traveled extensively in
Ted was obviously pleased to be there with her as he spun her about the dance floor that evening. Ted was a good dancer, but she could still hear Rollin singing softly in her ear when they played ‘Something Stupid’.
Sunday, she relaxed in the lounge chairs near the tennis
courts. She watched as some of the wives played doubles. They would start
back to
She closed her suitcase as Ted zipped up his garment bag. She smiled as he caught her watching him. “So, did I pass the audition?” She asked.
He moved to her taking her into his arms. ”Darling, you were the hit of the weekend.” He said kissing her.
During the drive back to Los Angeles Cinnamon realized that while she was not looking for a surrogate father for Jennifer, Ted was looking for a woman who could be not only his lover and attractive escort for his professional responsibilities, but also a wife and mother to his son. He very much wanted full custody of Ryan and knew he could never achieve that as a single parent who was often on-call twenty-four hours a day. He often told Cinnamon she was a fantastic mother to Jennifer. Cinnamon could only assume he was thinking about his son as well.
They stopped in
The candle flickered in the breeze as they finished their dinner. Ted filled her glass with the last of the wine. “It’s been a wonderful weekend, Cinnamon.” He said appreciatively.
“I enjoyed it very much, Ted.” She said resting her chin in her palm as she watched him in the dim light.
Ted pulled a ring box from his jacket pocket and opened it. “Cinnamon,” he said, taking her hand across the table. “Will you marry me?” He asked, presenting the ring to her.
Cinnamon’s eyes went wide. “Ted!” She exclaimed as she looked at the stunning diamond ring he presented to her.
He smiled at her surprise.
She was shocked. She had not expected that. It had only been three months. “It’s beautiful.” She said approvingly taking the box in her hand.
“I love you Cinnamon. I want us to be a family.”
Her eyes left the ring and met his eyes. “Ted it’s so soon. I don’t know…”
It was not the answer he wanted to hear. “Darling we are terrific together, the kids get along great. I want you to be my wife.”
“Ted. I care for you, I do. But this…I’m just not sure.”
Ted sighed. “Is it ‘the actor’?”
Cinnamon eyes left his and she shook her head. “It’s complicated, Ted.”
“Tell me.” He offered.
Cinnamon set the ring on the table. “I’ve been wanting to tell you. I’m going to need to travel this summer for work.”
“We could make it a honeymoon.” He suggested with a smile.
Cinnamon returned the smile, but shook her head. “I can’t it’s all arranged. I have to go alone.”
“Alone?” He asked. “I’m sure I could get away and meet you.”
“No Ted. You can’t.” She said firmly knowing it was too soon to try and explain her work with Jim and the IMF.
“Cinnamon?”
“It’s business.” Her tone softened. “You really wouldn’t be interested. All those fashion shows and models.”
“I’m sure I could learn.” He said with charming smile.
Cinnamon smiled, “I know you could, but not this time.”
“What about us?” He asked nodding at the ring, his disappointment apparent.
Cinnamon closed the ring box with a sigh. “It’s just too soon, Ted.”
He reached across the table to take her hand and his sad eyes met hers. “How can I convince you?”
“It’s just too soon.” She repeated, putting the ring box into his hand and closing his fingers around it.
He took the box reluctantly and returned it to his jacket pocket.
“How long are you going to be away?” He asked.
“I’ll be back in time for school to start.”
“September!” It was his turn to be shocked. “That’s more than two months.”
She nodded her agreement. “I know Jen’s not going to like the idea either.”
It wasn’t the ending to the evening Ted had planned. “Maybe we should start back.” He suggested.
Cinnamon joined him as he rose from the table. He slid his arm about her waist. “I’m gonna get you to wear it.” He said with certainty.
She smiled as he kissed her softly.
The drive back was quiet. Cinnamon was lost in her thoughts. Ted was making his own plan to win her over.
It was a little after
She chuckled and shook her head at him. “You make it hard not to think about it.”
He pulled her tight and kissed her. “I’m going to miss you.” He said.
She met his eyes. “Can we talk while you’re away?” He asked.
“Of course we can.” She said as she kissed him softly and he reluctantly released her to open the door.
“Goodnight.” He said.
“Goodnight.” She said, closing the door behind him.
How could she explain to him what she really wanted?
THE END
Betsy Nicholas
April 2002