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Day 9: Mervin/Naomi "Museum Date"
For all intents and purposes, they've technically been dating for about a week now, but Mervin really doesn't know how to navigate a relationship with his DS. It's not that he doesn't want to, but Naomi is young and vivacious and gorgeous and well, he doesn't consider himself to be any of those things.
So the first night he'd taken her out to dinner he'd given her a chaste kiss at the door to her house and refused her offer to come inside. After all, he doesn't want her to think that he's only interested in sex.
Tonight he isn't really sure how he'll respond if presented with the same opportunity. Then again, tonight isn't really a real date. It's an opening of an exhibit for a local artist at the Honore Museum, and because a police presence is required everybody in the department will have to be there. However, this is the kind of event that would be a date if there wasn't a requirement to be there and this makes him nervous.
It doesn't help that Naomi looks stunning when he sees her. She's wearing a sparkly blue cocktail dress and when she turns he realizes it is backless and the sight of her skin makes his mind go funny places, although he supposes they aren't entirely inappropriate since she is his girlfriend now even if nobody else knows about it.
Even so, it is a bit of an embarrassment when he gets so caught up in thoughts of Naomi's shoulders and back that he zones out and comes to only after Seb waves a hand in front of his face and states, "Seb to Inspector Wilson. Are you still with us, Inspector Wilson?"
"Yes, I'm with you," Mervin snaps and then immediately feels guilty when he realizes that Darlene and even Naomi herself are staring at him.
He really doesn't want his new girlfriend in particular to be upset with him.
"Officer Curtis, Officer Rose, why don't you do a patrol of the perimeters." At least this will give him a chance to be alone with Naomi, or at least alone with her in a crowd. Again, this isn't technically a real date.
They slip into the group of people watching as Catherine introduces the artist onstage and Mervin tries to pay attention to this, but honestly the art piece displayed next to him isn't that spectacular and the man is kind of boring.
When he takes the chance to again glance at Naomi, he finds she is already staring back at him, and then she asks in a whisper, "Why didn't you come inside on our date?"
"I didn't want you to think I was only interested in sex," Mervin whispers back although his own whisper apparently isn't as quiet as he'd like because the old woman standing next to them turns to glare at them.
When Mervin tries to plaster on a fake smile she turns away again, apparently convinced that she hadn't actually just heard the DI talk to his DS about having intercourse.
"I thought that was your way of trying to ghost me," Naomi hisses back.
"What? No. If I wasn't interested in continuing a relationship I would have told you I wasn't interested in continuing a relationship! I don't ghost people." This time he definitely is too loud because the old woman turns around to glare again and this time Mervin mutters to Naomi, "Let's go look at the other exhibits."
It is only when they get far enough from the crowd that Catherine's voice becomes an indistinguishable drone that Naomi asks, "So, we're still dating?" Her fingers reach out to brush his in what isn't quite hand holding and he turns to look at her.
Her face reads exactly what he feels, a shy nervousness that still isn't unhappy. "I haven't done relationships in a really long time," Mervin admits, "And I really want to do this right for us."
Naomi pauses to look at an exhibit of some local flower, and with her back turned to him she responds, "I'm nervous about this too. That's why I wore this dress tonight, because I wanted to impress you."
Somehow this actually shocks Mervin, but he responds, "Well, you're a strikingly beautiful woman and you did impress me. That's actually what I was thinking about when Officer Rose caught me zoning out." He considers putting a hand on her shoulder, but her skin looks so soft and so smooth and they happen to be far too public for what he'd probably want to do to her once he knew exactly how she feels.
Naomi turns around and he watches as she fully takes in his appearance. "You look nice too."
"Yeah, well I wanted to look like someone who knew how to be laid back and have a good time, even though you know damn well that I'm tense about everything."
This leads to a giggling snort from Naomi and again her hand moves to not quite hold his own.
"We should probably get back to the art exhibit," Mervin states as he feels a lump form in his throat. He's old enough to not become leaden when a beautiful woman giggles and tries to hold his hand, but then again Naomi isn't just any beautiful woman. She's also impressive in so many other ways, and she was his friend long before they mutually decided to date.
Instead of turning to walk back in the direction of the crowd, Naomi responds, "He's not a very good artist is he?"
"What?" Mervin had thought the same thing earlier, but he is surprised to hear it from Naomi's mouth as she's usually far kinder than he is.
"I just look at his pieces and I don't feel anything other than a sense of blandness, and I know it's unkind because he's young and he's following his dreams, but I just don't think he captures the spirit of the island well and I really don't want to go back in there and pretend to be complimentary to his pieces when I just can't feel his vision."
"Well…" Mervin is about to say something about how he's seen the rest of the museum before and once you get the feel for it the place really isn't that exciting overall, but that feels rude and insensitive.
Except the next thing Naomi says is, "And we've both seen the rest of the museum before. If I was a teenager I think I'd want to sneak off to canoodle or something…"
It takes a moment to realize that Naomi might be actually suggesting that they should do this. "We're in the middle of a museum right now." He's considering if it might be possible though. As a man of fifty he's considering whether it would be possible to sneak off to a quiet place to "canoodle" with his DS. "Although I mean logically, we will have to go back to the Josiah Samuels exhibit eventually and it wouldn't do us very good if we were in no mood to fake compliments and a little canoodling, I hate that word, could certainly serve as a mood booster."
"Oh." She looks surprised for a moment and he wonders if maybe she had merely been making a joking comment that went over his head. "I do believe there is a lounge in the wing they are currently remodeling. It's kind of an open floor plan, but nobody else should be in that part of the museum."
So this is a thing that is apparently actually going to happen now, and the thought briefly crosses his mind that this is so unlike his personality that Claudia, his former fiancee, would probably be shocked. Yet tonight isn't supposed to be about Claudia who is very much a part of his past. Tonight is about Naomi who finally has grabbed onto his hand and is tugging him along while they try to look as unsuspicious as possible because if anybody finds out they are considering whatever canoodling entails at a museum gala then he will certainly die of embarrassment.
They make their way into the closed lounge and Naomi sits down nervously on a couch. It is only after Mervin sits down next to her that she quietly admits, "I never actually did this even as a teenager."
"Well, I suppose we should start by…" Mervin finally reaches out decisively to put one hand on her lower back while the other holds the back of Naomi's head. Her skin is just as soft as he'd imagined it would be and then he kisses her.
The kiss deepens and soon they're both probing into each other's mouths with their tongues. A part of his brain is aware that they probably look like sloppy, horny teenagers, but nobody is going to come into this part of the museum and catch them. They'll get this fully clothed "canoodling" out of their systems and then they'll go back to the actual event and be happier and more composed.
Except this thought is almost immediately followed by the sound of Darlene's voice stating, "See, I told you they couldn't have wandered off too far."
Mervin pulls back from Naomi with a shock and they both turn to find that along with Darlene is Seb who looks genuinely mortified and Catherine whom he initially assumes is enraged.
It is the final person whom he decides to address his apology to. "Catherine, we're sorry for any trouble we may have caused with our completely unprofessional behavior. I assure you I am typically a very consummate professional and DS Thomas is an excellent detective sergeant. We will return to the art exhibit and we won't even stand near each other if that's what…"
"Soyez silencieux!" The anger continues to blaze in Catherine's eyes and in that moment Mervin is sure that his and Naomi's indiscretion means they will likely be killed with Darlene and Seb being bribed to cover up the crime. "You will not be returning to the art exhibit because I am kicking both of you out."
This time it is Naomi who responds, "Catherine please. We know it is completely unprofessional to act like this, but it won't happen again."
For a moment it looks as if maybe even Darlene and Seb will step in to defend them when Catherine continues, "I will tell Selwynn that you were both called away on a business matter. You both will go back to the beach shack and I do not need to know exactly what you will do there because that is your private business, but both of you are far too old to be sneaking around at public events like horny teenagers."