Rita Hayworth's Shoes Read Online Free PDF Page A

shoes, her blue denim clogs, and searched everywhere for the other. It was nowhere to be found, but it was too late already to care. She settled instead on a pair of Chuck Taylor low tops, swung her improbably large bag over her shoulder, and headed out the door.
    As she exited her building, she was stopped, “Yo baby!”
    â€œDammit,” she whispered under her breath before plastering on a polite smile and turning to face the group of white-T-shirt-wearing, gold-chain-donning, twenty-somethings who lived in her building with their mamas, and who spent most of their time hanging out on the front steps.
    She knew them all, of course. Having lived in this building since they were in middle school, she’d even watched them grow up—from pre-adolescent boys who had occasionally needed her help with their English homework, to these men standing here. These sexy young men. She felt a shudder, not unpleasant, course within her.
    â€œHi, Tony,” she waved. “Hi, Mario and Frankie. And hello there, Angelo.”
    They each nodded their hellos as they looked her up and down. “Where you off to, Miss Amy?” asked Angelo.
    She held up her bag. “Work. You know?” From the looks they gave her, it was clear they did not.
    â€œSaw your old man the other day,” said Mario, puzzled. “Looked like he was moving?”
    â€œHere with his aunt or something,” added Frankie.
    â€œA little chummy for an aunt,” sneered Tony.
    â€œ Chum being the key word there,” Angelo said, and they all burst out laughing. Except for Amy. A fact of which they were soon painfully aware and which silenced the mirth.
    â€œWho was that broad?” Frankie wanted to know.
    Angelo laughed again. “ Broad being the key word…”
    Now Amy burst into tears and Tony immediately threw his arms around her. He held her a bit too close as he glared at Angelo. “Whatsa matter with you? Show some respect.”
    â€œUh, sorry,” said Angelo.
    Amy cried in Tony’s young, strong Italian arms, and she felt a stirring of something like lust. But she quickly shook it off. Truth was it had been so long since she and David had done it, a shrub scratching up against her legs would likely have had the same effect. But still, there was something so gentle, yet manly about him. Something so unexpected about his touch that she looked up at him and smiled for a second.
    He smiled back. “You okay, toots?”
    She pulled herself away and took a deep breath. “Long story,” she said.
    Tony pulled her back again and she stirred again, this time with a little more intensity. “We gonna have to kick someone’s ass?”
    She smiled. “Thanks, but I don’t think…”
    â€œI never liked that guy,” said Tony, shaking his head. “Total dick.” Though the way he said it, full of manliness and rage and sex, made Amy even hotter than before. She pulled away again, and this time took a few steps out of his reach.
    â€œThanks, guys. But it’s just a temporary thing. David will be back and everything will be back to normal before we know it.”
    Mario shook his head. “I sure hope not,” he said, undressing her with his eyes.
    She shuddered, but not with disgust. “Gotta go!” she gasped and ran off.

    ##

    An hour later, Amy was sitting in her cubicle outside Professor Heimlich’s office in the English department of Stratton University, chatting with Jane on the phone instead of dealing with the pile of files mounting on her desk as she tried to make sense of things. Including the strange new stirrings her young neighbors had sparked.
    â€œBut they’re barely twenty ,” said Amy, cradling the receiver between her shoulder and chin as she shuffled through stacks of unopened mail.
    â€œAnd what? You haven’t done it since they were all in middle school?”
    â€œOh, come on. It hasn’t been that