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‘You can hang around with me if you like,’ I tell her. ‘I know the city fairly well, so I’m happy to be your tour guide.’
‘Are you sure?’ Her big blue eyes are filled with gratitude. ‘I’m not sure the others like me very much.’
‘That’s because they’re jealous of your youth,’ I tell her, as we set off. ‘You’re also a threat, because they sense their husbands eyeing you up, and that makes them insecure.’
‘Wow. I never thought of it like that,’ she tells me. ‘How do you know all this stuff?’
‘Years of working with people,’ I reply. ‘In my work, a little amateur psychology goes a long way. It helps a lot if you can pick up on difficult dynamics, because then you know who holds the power, who is likely to cause trouble, and so on. As soon as Bill walked into the sitting room with you on his arm last night, I could see their feathers were ruffled.’
‘I did notice that the men were much friendlier than the women,’ she observes.
‘That’s because the men see you as a prize. If Bill can snare someone like you, they reason, then maybe they can as well. I suspect a number of them were forcibly warned off you in the bedrooms last night. Ah, here we are. I thought we’d start with a coffee, if that suits you. They do a lovely slice of carrot cake in here as well, if that’s your thing.’
I have to confess I’m not being one hundred per cent altruistic here; buying her a coffee (and probably lunch) makes the cost something I can charge to expenses. I do genuinely feel sorry for her, though, and I’m more than a little curious to find out what on earth she sees in an oaf like Bill. She’s very attractive and would have no difficulty finding someone closer to her own age to go out with. I guess she could have an Electra complex, but even then, she could do a lot better than Bill. He’s enormously overweight and, based on what I heard of his conversation last night, unutterably dull.
‘So, how did you and Bill meet?’ I ask nonchalantly, as I place a mug of hot chocolate and a slice of coffee cake in front of her. I’ve just got a coffee and a chocolate chip cookie that I have no intention of eating. I’ll have a couple of small bites just so that she feels like I’m keeping her company.
‘I know what you’re thinking,’ she replies, a little defensively. ‘What’s someone of my age doing with someone so much older than me?’
‘Well,’ I reply, carefully, ‘you are a slightly unusual couple, you have to admit.’
There’s a pause before she speaks again. ‘If I tell you,’ she asks, ‘will you promise not to tell the others? They hate me enough as it is.’
‘I won’t breathe a word to them,’ I tell her.
‘Okay. I’m Bill’s sugar baby.’
‘I’m sorry, you’re hiswhat?’
‘I’m his sugar baby. Surely you’ve heard of it?’ My silence obviously gives the answer, as she continues. ‘Do you know how expensive it is to go to university? Even ignoring the tuition fees, which are covered by the loan, you’ve got accommodation, food, bills, books, and all the rest of it. My parents can’t afford to cover the cost of those things, but that’s where Bill comes in.’
‘So, he gives you money towards your uni fees, and in return you give him—’
‘It’s not prostitution,’ she says firmly, and her eyes are blazing defiantly. ‘He gives me certain gifts, and in return I have dinner with him sometimes and accompany him to things like this.’
‘But you’re sharing a room.’ I’m trying really hard to keep the judgemental tone out of my voice, but I’m not sure I’m succeeding. ‘Doesn’t he have, you know, expectations? He was very hands-on with you before dinner, I noticed.’
‘It’s not a cash-for-sex relationship; that’s not how it works. When you enter into a relationship with a sugar daddy, you both have to be very up front about what your boundaries and expectations are. I belong to a website for sugar babies, and it was all made very clear when I signed up. He also signed up to the same website, so we both know exactly what is expected. I’m not exploiting him; his eyes are wide open and he knows this is a time-limited thing. Lots of my friends are sugar babies too. Some of them choose to have a sexual relationship with their sugar daddies and some don’t. It’s entirely our choice. Bill knows that I’m not a done deal. I might choose to have sex with him sometimes, but it’s not a given that every encounter will end in the bedroom.’
I’m mesmerised. ‘But how do you, you know, if you’re not in love with him?’
She laughs. ‘Easy. It’s not quite close your eyes and think of England, but it’s not a million miles away either. A bit of lube helps and, between you and me, he doesn’t last very long.’
‘How do you stay safe, though? What if he turned out to be some sort of stalker, or he became obsessed with you?’
‘I admit that’s a risk,’ she replies. ‘But I’m very careful what I tell him about myself, and he knows not to try to pry. He doesn’t know where I live, because I always meet him at hotels or other public places. He doesn’t have my main mobile number or even know my real name. I’ve got a crappy pay-as-you-go phone that he has the number for, so I can just throw it away and he wouldn’t be able to contact me any more if things started to get out of hand or I didn’t feel safe.’
‘I’m sure he could find out those things, if he really wanted to.’
‘He probably could, but why would he? The people who sign up to be sugar daddies get a kick out of being benefactors to people like me. It makes them feel good, so if I dropped off his radar, there are any number of other sugar babies out there who would be willing to take him on.’
‘Do your parents know?’
‘God, no! Can you imagine? They’d hit the roof. But this is the thing. I’m not stupid, and I thought about this long and hard before I signed up. If I got a job in a burger bar or something like that, I’d have to work way more hours than I can afford to, just to pay the bills. My college work would suffer and, if I’m going to succeed later in life, I really need a good degree. Bill isn’t the most exciting man in the world and he’s no Greek god, I’ll grant you. But he’s kind and we both know what we’re doing.’
‘Is he married? What about his wife?’
‘I have no idea. It’s none of my business, the same way my life is none of his business.’
