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Benny and Ray 11 Hello, Stranger Rated R By Dee Gilles

Angie knew the back of that narrow head anywhere. She was intimately familiar with the ears and the angle that they stood out from that head, and the way the short dark hair was sculpted to the back of the skull. Funny, after all this time, how she could pick him out from a crowd, know the sound of his voice from just one syllable picked up among a cacophony of sound. Ray. Funny thing about being from such a tight-knit community. You were always bumping into people you knew, or at least knew of you. Because she worked with Elaine, still talked to Maria, Jack Huey, Tommy deBenedetto and a half a dozen other people they had in common, Ray was still a part of her life, if only indirectly; She knew what he was up to. Like recently, some people were implying that Ray was intimate with his handsome Mountie friend. Not that anybody had any proof, mind you, as the two of them had been best friends from day one, but all the same, people liked to talk. There weren't many secrets left in this day and age, but there were a few. Everybody knew that Ray had messed around with Carla deBenedetto in junior high. But what most people didn't know was that Ray had had a thing with her brother Tommy a couple of years later. The only reason Angie knew was that she was best friends with Carla's sister Patricia, and Patricia had told her, when Angie and Ray had started dating, that when she was in high school, she saw Ray and Tommy feeling each other up in the garage behind the house one night. She had been making out in the gazebo with her boyfriend-on-the-sly, Junior, at the time. She couldn't tell anybody what she had witnessed, because she was grounded and shouldn't have been outside of her room in the first place, panties wrapped around one ankle, getting the best oral sex of her young life. She didn't want anybody to think she was one of those loose and easy kind of girls, and didn't want to incriminate herself. So the secret stayed mostly a secret through the years. Angie sat on a blanket on the lawn of the Ravinia Festival, listening to the Steve Miller Band perform "Fly Like an Eagle," while many other people around her danced or sang along. John had gone to one of the cafes for food and drink. A cool breeze kicked up from Lake Michigan. It had been scorching hot all day, but thankfully, had begun to cool as the sun went down and the wind shifted. The breeze caressed Angie's skin and ruffled her hair. Her skirt lifted a little from her thighs, and she smoothed it back down, tucking her legs in. Ray and his friend were two sections in front of her. They were not aware of her, and for some reason, she didn't want to reveal that she was there. She sat back, putting her hands back behind her, and watched them unnoticed. Ray had on sunglasses, a white cotton shirt and loose linen pants. His friend Ben wore jeans, boots, and a plain blue T-shirt. Like most of the patrons in the Pavilion, they sat on a blanket, striped with bold burgundy, yellow, and blue. The two of them shared a picnic dinner between them, and Ray occasionally took a sip of wine from a disposable cup. During the next few songs, the two of them were attuned to the stage, one or both of them singing along. Angie had to smile. Ray had one of the worst singing voices she'd ever been unfortunate enough to hear. But that never stopped him from singing, loudly, in his tone-deaf, offbeat way. Many mornings, she could hear him wailing away in the shower. Ray especially loved to sing after sex, and in the beginning, there had been a lot of singing. The singing slowly faded away in time. Ray had been a wonderful man to date. To be married to, on the other hand, was another story. Ray was passionate about everything he did. He pursued her with ferocity. He fucked like a stallion. His Valentine's Day proposal was heart-felt, touching, and tear-filled. Their wedding a few short months later was full of more tears, laughter, dancing, and singing. They were both euphoric. But Ray was also passionate in his anger. He was angry at some of the perverts and reprobates he had to deal with on a daily basis; he got angry at his dyslexia sometimes, and the frustrations and slow-downs it caused him. Talk about secrets. That was a big one that he kept from her for a long, long time. He was ashamed, and never got comfortable talking about it with her. Ray was angry when his dad died. He was mad that he never, ever, got approval from the man, and now, never would. Angie hurt with Ray for all his disappointments. But he couldn't seem to stop himself from taking things out on her, when all she ever tried to do was help and support. They were both so young when they got married. He was a very rash twenty-seven, and she, at thirty, knew who she was and what she wanted. She wanted the sweet home life, the children. He wanted to go out every Saturday night, and every Friday night, and eventually, every Thursday night. He liked to gamble, like to spend the money on flashy clothes, like to piss it all away. She had to beg him to move out of his folks' place, to an apartment of their own. Otherwise he would have been happy staying there forever in the house that was already bursting at the seams with three siblings and their three spouses with children and more children on the way. Ray was very much a child himself, happy to have his mother cook, do his laundry, and keep the house clean. The transition from that lifestyle was a little bumpy when they finally got their own little place on Taylor Street. Ray still expected to be waited on, and Angie was old-fashioned, but not all that old-fashioned. There was nothing Angie could do to stop the inexorable degradation of their marriage from boredom, to distance, to blamefulness and disappointment, to anger and frustration and drinking. Eventually, Ray had a thing with his partner Lorie. She had found out soon enough through the friend of a friend. Then, the confrontation, the angry denial. Finally, he admitted to it, saying it was just sex, "just fucking, Ange. Didn't mean anything." They went to counseling for several months, and she thought they'd be okay. But the drinking continued, often on the sly, sometimes on the job, even. Ray turned into his father when he was drunk, and he hated himself for it, but couldn't seem to stop himself entirely. She made Ray start a twelve step program to get out from under the drinking before it got too bad. Ray stumbled through it, really struggled with that. But he got through it, because the last thing he wanted was to turn into his old man. Things were stable for a while. She tried to get pregnant and it just wasn't happening. After a year of trying, they went to a doctor, and the problem was with Ray. Ray wouldn't look her in the eye for a week after the news. As though this were something he could control. As though this made him less of a man. They talked over adopting, but in the end, Angie wanted her own children, with her dad's eyes and her mother's smile. Over many tears, they decided it was best to part as friends, separate before they hated each other. Through a sad coincidence, their divorce became final exactly nine years after Ray's proposal. Angie watched Ray sing and do a seated dance to "Big Old Jet Air Liner". He was happy like when he was young. She wished he could have been happy with her. She was happy too, now. She was three months pregnant. Angie put her hand on her still-flat belly. Caressed. She thought she and John had better start picking out some names. She was drawn to female names. She'd grown up in a house with four brothers, and it'd be nice to raise a little girl. Ange didn't know how she was going to tell Ray. She had been thinking about it for a long time, and with a sense of dread. She wondered if she should call him, take him out to lunch, or stop by the station to break the news. She'd picked up the phone a few times, driven by the station more than once, but couldn't follow through. She wasn't up to facing the explosion anger, the yelling, the cursing, the name-calling. Tonight was a good opportunity to tell him about the engagement. But not the pregnancy. That would be like throwing something in his face, and she could never hurt Ray like that. He was going to go ballistic enough when he found out she was remarrying. Ray despised all her boyfriends on principal. As if he sensed someone was watching him, Ray spun around in that instant, and met Angie's eyes. Surprised, he smiled. His eyes flicked toward him friend, who also turned around to see what had caught Ray's attention. Now that she had been found out, Angie gracefully smiled and waved him over. Ray turned back to Ben. He spoke, and glanced back at Angie. Ben looked back at her also. They seemed to be deciding something. Ben spoke several sentences to Ray, who seemed pensive. Ben stood, unconsciously brushing his knees and fanny. Ray stood slowly, and walked toward her, atypically, smiling nervously. Ray glanced back at Ben, following two steps behind him, one more time. Angie steeled herself to break her news to him gently, somehow. She stood. "Hello, stranger," she said softly. "Angie," Ray said, once he was in earshot, "Hi. How you been?" "I'm alright, Ray. Oh, I just noticed you down there just now. You?" "Never better. Ange, do you remember Benny? Benny Fraser, Angie Milano." Angie spoke, "Hi, yes, I've seen you around. How are you?" "Very well, thank you." The Mountie smiled politely but coolly and briefly took Angie's proffered hand. "So, how's the new job going, Sarge?" Ray asked playfully. "Oh, I like it. Although it certainly puts people you think you know well in a differently light once you become their boss. It's a little weird, you know? I was thinking of transferring to the two-two. Nobody knows me there. Fresh start and all that." "Yeah, I can see what you mean. So how's Elaine doing?" "She's fantastic, Ray. So smart. She's going to make a great detective one day." There was an awkward silence in which Ben cleared his throat. "So, uh...Ray," she began. "I wanted to tell you...." Suddenly, her tall, handsome, and mustachioed man was at her side, with sparkling cider and two plastic "wine glasses", cheese, crackers, and the smoked salmon she had been craving so much. "Ray...This is my... fianc John." "Oh." Ray's eyes and mouth went round. "Oh," he repeated. "Nice to meet you. Congratulations," he said, recovering quickly. He forced a smile. "When's the big day?" Angie glanced into John's eyes and smiled. "Soon," was all she said. "Yeah, real soon! We're in a bit of a hurry!" John quipped, placing his hand on her belly. Ray's eyes fell on John's hand on her tummy, and slowly rose to meet hers. She couldn't say the words. Oh God. She couldn't tell him. After a long pause, Ray finally said. "You're a lucky guy," "Congratulations to you, also," Ben added. "John," she said, "this is Ray's friend Ben." "Ah, yeah," John said. "You're the Mountie." "RCMP, yes." Ray chuckled with mock exasperation. "Is there anybody in this town that doesn't know you?" Ben shrugged with a self-effacing grin. "So Ray...how's the family?" Angie politely asked. "Oh, they're good. Maria told me she ran into you in Chinatown last month. She didn't mention you were engaged though." "Yeah, well, he just proposed on my birthday, actually." "Oh right. Yours is three days before Benny's. This concert was my present to him, as a matter of fact. One of them, anyway." He added in a joking way, seemingly forgetting that Angie was present. Ray met his friend's eyes with a secret half-smile, `elevator eyes' roving over his friend's body. The man flashed him a brilliant, warm- eyed smile, their eyes lingering. So...the rumors were true. This handsome man was Ray's lover. Lucky Ray. She gave Ben a `once-over' of her own. Really lucky Ray. As though catching himself, Ray abruptly returned to the here and now. "Well, Benny and I better be getting back. You leave your spot too long around here, and people start moving in on your territory. " He glanced back at their picnic, could see how it was directly in her line of sight. No way she wasn't checking them out the entire time. Ray made no comment to this. "See you around, Ange." He took Ben's elbow. "Let the family know when the big day is. We'll send something, alright?" "Nice meeting you both," Ben called as he was lead away. "Likewise," John said. She watched them retreat. So that was it. No fireworks. No explosions. No yelling. No cursing. Ray Vecchio had finally grown up. Johnny turned to her and asked. "So who was that guy, anyway?" Angie responded without taking her eyes from Ray's retreating back. "Him? Oh, he's just a friend." She did not speak again until they took their seats again. Ray turned back to Angie, and held her eyes. "And...he's also my ex-husband." Ray and Angie smiled at one another, communicating a dozen things in those few seconds. Understanding, affection, sadness, more. John only sat and offered his hand to her as she slowly eased herself down to dine on salmon and crackers. The former Mrs. Vecchio and the future Mrs. Miller sighed softly, and resumed her life.

Finis