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“Yeah, she’ll be twenty-four next month. There are times when it seems like she’s older, then there are times it’s like she’s a kid again. I guess. I don’t really want to cut her loose. She’s the best fuck I’ve ever had, like ever.”
“Are you serious?” Marshall had fucked his way through fourteen countries. He called himself a connoisseur of women. I called him a manho.
“Serious as a heart attack. I don’t know what it is with her, but it’s never been as good as it has been with her. She got upset when she found out I was keeping Diana as a sugar baby to go out for the charity gigs and dinner out.
“I caved like a bitch to her ultimatum, when she told me she wouldn’t fuck me if I was fucking someone else. It wasn’t even a question, I told her okay right then. Honestly, I had actually only fucked Diana twice after signing Rachel. Fucking Diana just made me wish she were Rachel.”
“Okay, you are a serious. I’ve never known you to give in to a woman’s demand.”
“She had a point, I had it in the contract she couldn’t fuck anyone else. I shouldn’t be fucking anyone, either.”
“Give Rachel some time, you are less of an asshole when she’s around. She’s good for you. Would you still pay out her contract if you ended it?”
“Fuck you, no way. If it ends, she gets a month as severance, then it’s done. Are you going to pay out if you cut off Anne?”
“Yeah, it’s in the contract.”
“Are you fucking with me? You’re going to pay for pussy you aren’t even fucking?”
The way he refers to Anne as pussy pisses me off. I serve with heat, point. “I think she’s worth it. She’s not pussy, don’t call her that again.”
His hands go up, “I’m sorry, you’re right. My bad, I won’t do it again.”
We finish our game with neither one of us knowing who won. When we leave the gym we find the rain has stopped.
When I get home I expect Anne to already be gone but she’s still in bed. I finish breakfast wondering if I can join her, only to hear the door to her own office close. Since I have the rule about my own office time and I don’t want to invade her space I shrug off my desire. Going into my office I bring up my work and dig in.
I hear the front door closing behind Anne and Emilio. Glancing at the corner of my computer I see it’s a little after one in the afternoon. What I’m working on is forgotten as I think of Anne going out with Emilio as her shadow for the day. Emilio and Walters have been with her a little over a month now.
While she says she’s grown used to them and doesn’t mind them, I know that isn’t entirely true. I’ve figured out she feels more comfortable with Walters than Emilio. When Walters is working she would be out all day. If it’s Emilio then she usually didn’t leave until after lunch, and was usually only gone for a few hours. Sometimes she didn’t even leave the condo, using the excuse of being too tired or just not feeling like going out.
I’ve spent hours vetting them both, I wonder what I missed. The program I’m deep in is forgotten as I think of Anne out with someone she didn’t want to be with. Saving what I have, I shut down. I make a quick change and pull on some sneakers. I’m out the door only fifteen minutes after Anne has left.
In the elevator, I bring up Anne’s tracker for her phone. Outside the building, I close in fast to see Anne up ahead of me. She’s got her camera but she doesn’t stop to get a picture.
Grabbing her hand, I slip it into mine. Her head turns with a smile so bright I stop, it’s blinding with her happiness. “Where are we off to today?”
Leaning into me, she laughs. I love it when she laughs. “The Art Institute, it’s been a while since I’ve been. What about you? How long has it been since you’ve been there?”
Thinking hard I give up. “I took a stroll around when I first got to Chicago, it’s been about a dozen years or so. Oh, wait, no my friend Marshall’s charity held some event there a few years ago. It wasn’t really about the art though, more about writing a check. I wrote the check then I sat back with a beer and watched the masses adore Marshall.”
I let Emilio know he’s done for the day. Anne’s sigh of relief is so light I would have missed it if I wasn’t tuned into her every breath. Just like our time together in the Shedd, her happiness sucks me in.
What I thought would be a trial, simply to make her happy, is the most pleasure I’ve had with my clothes on since our time in the Shedd. I remember thinking last time was a one off, simply because she was new. Only today, I know with every fiber of my being it’s not because she’s new. It’s because it’s Anne.
When her eyes light up, becoming a soft dove grey and she smiles, knowing she’s happy gives me a rush of exhilaration I’ve never known before. I wonder how it is her happiness makes me as happy as she is, if it’s normal. Then I don’t care anymore because I’m too happy to care about anything but Anne.
Her chattering over the paintings she doesn’t like is as interesting as the ones she does like. Then there are the moments where she simply stands in front of a painting, her arms around my waist staring at it dreamily with nothing to say. Her happy little sighs tell me everything I need to know about how right it had been to come with her today.
Out on the steps of the building I don’t want to go home yet. “How about some calamari, sweetheart? Want to visit that restaurant again for dinner?”
“I’d like to, but aren’t we a little underdressed?” She’s wearing a long summer dress in comfy Keds. I’m in jeans and a polo with sneakers.
I laugh as I pull out my phone. A quick call tells me they will be happy to have a table ready in the next half hour, dress code not in effect. Taking her hand again, we take our time walking to the restaurant. We share the calamari and this time we both order the braciole.
“What? No wine?”
She blushes, “I don’t drink. I only ordered wine because you made me mad.”
