Loft Weekend
by
Reagan Kavanagh and Diana Walker
This
work of adult fiction, loosely based on characters portrayed by
Russell Crowe, includes adult language and experiences; you have been
warned. No
copyright infringement on
original works is intended. ©
Reagan
Kavanagh and Diana Walker 2007.
Authors’
Note: The panorama
at the top of the photo actually IS the First Baptist Church
complex in
Downtown Dallas. The
remaining photos
are interior shots of Dakota’s.
REAGAN
Max had the desk for TEO
every third weekend before Sooze became a
partner. With Sooze
becoming the fourth
musketeer, Max is the main contact every fourth
weekend, and he truly
enjoys that additional weekend off each month.
Having the desk in DoD,
FBI, or any time-sensitive, crisis management
organization – as well as in any customer-service
organisation – includes
dealing with the more benign utility and computer support problems in
addition
to a bourgeoning crisis; you’re the one to
field phone calls from clients. You
are
‘The Firm’ until the suits return on Monday morning. As regards TEO, the person
with the desk on
any given weekend is the one who would activate the troops should one
of TEO’s clients
be kidnapped between 1700 on Friday and 0900 Monday.
Having the desk for the
weekend includes monitoring world affairs and bringing
the rest of the crew up to speed on Monday mornings.
Additional items that would go in the ‘other
duties as assigned’ category – assuming the
principals had what most
would consider job descriptions – included responding to the
odd need at the
office itself, e.g., reporting things such as mechanical
failures to the Facility’s Maintenance office.
Fortunately, that hasn’t happened since a pipe
broke in the floor’s public
lavatory a year ago. The
three
principals not on duty for the weekend rarely have any contact with the
office unless
all Hell breaks loose; that doesn’t happen often. The last time it did was
when Max was
kidnapped, and that happened during the week.
When TEO gives you the weekend off, you really do
have down time,
a very precious commodity in their line of work.
You might wonder why the
firm is still TEO with Sooze having joined the partnership. Terry, Dino, and Max were
ready to put her
name on the door when they did the reorganisation.
All of us had been at Terry and Dee’s for
dinner when Sooze declined that option, saying she’d rather
be the silent
partner where the name was concerned, and she didn’t want to
screw up the
acronym. “TEO
sounds good …TEOR-V sounds
a little suspect, even to me.”
We’d shouted with
laughter after trying to pronounce the possible new
name. ‘TEOR-V’
sounded Scandinavian, and
that was one of the few ethnic heritages on the planet not represented
in TEO’s
history.
With modern news sources,
computers, and cell phones, Max isn’t required
to be physically in the office for the entire time he’s on
call, but we do live
farther out of the city than any of the other partners.
Mr. Strength-and-Honour – and add Commitment
to that phrase – prefers
being in closer
proximity to the office on the weekends when he’s Thorne,
Espan and
O’Reilly. It
likely goes without saying
that with the advanced state of my pregnancy, he won’t
consider leaving me at
the farm ALONE, and I think it’s unfair to drag Dee or Ellie
to our farm and away from
Terry and Dino on one of their free weekends in order to pacify Max. Our compromise is that
when he has the desk,
we stay at his old loft. It’s
nice to be
in town periodically; we can go to a film without having to drive 40
minutes;
we can dine out at restaurants other than Howard Johnson’s
…. It’s
also an opportunity for me to do any
dreaded, but necessary, shopping.
Max had the
desk this weekend, and Dee
had come into town for
the day to help me shop for furnishings for the baby’s room. We paid the bill
– we’d had lunch at Avanti –
and waved to Bobby the maitre d’ on our
way out the door. Max
and Terry had taken Dee and me for lunch
at Avanti several times over the past few months, and we liked it. Bobby would probably see
more of Dee and me
over the next few weeks because it was a convenient place to have lunch
given
all the shopping I had to do. She
gave
me a look as we walked out the door.
“Please
promise me you aren’t going to pay Highland Park
prices for things you can order online and get
much cheaper.”
“This is a
recon mission. If I
find things I like,
I’ll check online before buying.
Besides, when have you ever known me
to pay retail for
anything?”
“Thank you,
thank you, thank you!”
She may
have access to more money than Croesus, but she’s always
going to be frugal;
it’s not a bad thing.
Babies
“R” Us
was our first stop.
DIANA
Number one,
I hate shopping, and number two, I never thought I’d be in
Babies “R” Us for
what I suspect is going to be my godchild.
“You do
know the only reason I’m here is because I love you. Have you and Max given any
thought to
godparents?”
She gave me
a withering look. “Do
we actually have
to ask you and Terry to be the baby’s
godparents? Jesus, Dee,
who else would we even want, much less ask?”
“Given the
somewhat chilly atmosphere in the office lately, I wasn’t
sure. I thought an
actual question would be wise.”
“Dee, we both know
what’s coming at TEO. Max
and Terry may not see it, but you and I have
enough experience in corporate America
to recognise the signs.”
I’d been
careful not to smoke around Reags too much since I found out about her
pregnancy, but discussing TEO’s management problems drove me
to it.
“Reags, you
do know that I’m going to support Terry
when Max takes a run at the CEO
position.”
“I
wouldn’t
expect you to do anything else, and that presumes Max does
make a
bid for it. Frankly,
I support Terry in this.
I don’t want Max in at that level. My husband’s
first responsibility now
is to his wife and our children.”
“This
coming power struggle’s not going to damage our
friendship?”
“I
certainly hope not. You
and I were
friends long before we met those two, and that isn’t likely
to change. I know
you’re far more interested – and
involved – in the machinations of Thorne, Espan, and
O’Reilly than I am or have
any wish to be, and that’s fine with me.
Unlike you, I’m truly not intrigued by office
politics – had enough of
that when I was in the Army and with the Bureau, thanks very much
– and prefer
staying out of it unless I have no options …and I make very
sure that I always
have options. From
what you’ve said, I’m
guessing there’s something going on other than Terry costing
Max the Saudi
contract. You
don’t have to answer that
if you prefer not.”
“Terry’s
had some lapses recently. If
TEO were a
larger firm, they’d probably be overlooked.
I think the Saudi was the final straw for Max.”
“And?”
“There are
a couple of things – one’s already repaired
– and the other will be. I
do want you to know that I’ll be working
behind the scenes advising Terry.
The
Saudi incident really rattled him.
I
didn’t realize how much this company means to him. He used the phrase
‘my company’ when he told
me what happened. My
consulting with
Terry doesn’t mean I’m disrespecting you or Max,
but I want Terry to
keep his company.”
“I have no
objection to that, and I truly don’t believe Max does. The issue – at
least as I see it – is that
Max is accustomed to giving the orders and shouldering the
responsibility …and
the consequences for his decisions.
I think his issue at this point is feeling he’s not
in a position
to make a difference in the outcome, and
that’s very frustrating for him. Remember that the
only person he answered to prior to joining Terry and Dino was Marcus
Aurelius. Max is accustomed to calling the shots …all of
them.” I
hoped she was right about Max’s motivation.
Terry would absolutely understand Max’s sense
of responsibility and his resulting frustration.
Knowing that – and if Reags objected to my
passing it on to Terry, she’d never have mentioned it
– might help us come up
with a way out of this potential mess. Of
course, the operative term here is ‘might.’ I waited a minute to see
if she had anything
else to say; she didn’t.
“Then there
isn’t a whole lot more to say, and you need plausible
deniability with
Max. You’re
better off not knowing any
of the corporate strategizing Terry and I’ve been doing. You and I are better off
not discussing this
again.”
“Dee, you’re the one
that brought it up – granted in the
context of the baby’s godparents – but right now
mixing our various respective professional
and private lives is getting a little complicated.
Suffice it to say that if Max makes a
bid for the CEO position, he’ll do it without my agreement
and without my
support. His
loyalty at this time in his
life – and for the next 50 years – needs to be to me, our marriage, and
his child or children. He
doesn’t need the responsibility of running
a firm. He let
‘duty’ interfere in his
first marriage; that is not going to happen this
time round.”
“OK. But you and I will to have
to do a shitload
of compartmentalizing when this hits the fan, and at this point, I
don’t know
when that’s going to be.”
“Then
we’ll
deal with it as it happens.”
“I’d
love
to be able to ask you when Max brings it up as a topic, but I know I
can’t.”
“No, you
can’t, and I wouldn’t tell you if you did, because
that would be a violation of
Max’s trust in me; I will not be disloyal to him. I may not always agree
with him, but
he will always have my loyalty.
I’m
very protective of my husband, and you’re protective of Terry. That’s as it
should be on both counts, and I
don’t question your motives any more than you question mine. Having said that, I think
the best thing for
us – and for our friendship – is to do as you said
and not discuss this again,
but pray Max and Terry get this sorted with minimal damage to all
concerned.” That
was kind of a surprise, in that I didn’t
expect her to be quite so vocal. Reags
is far more guarded than I in discussing personal topics;
I’ve come to accept
it, though I’d occasionally wondered if it was part of her personality
or a function of her training.
She
rarely comments on her relationship with Max, and I suddenly realized
that I
honestly had no idea as to what their relationship really was.
She was
looking at me. “Do
we have a deal?”
I nodded.
“Deal!”
We shook on it and proceeded to raid Babies
“R” Us.
REAGAN
We were
walking into the loft when I remembered.
“I almost forgot to mention this, and
you’re going to love it.
Miranda was wending her way down the hall when
Max and I were coming into the loft this morning.
She’d obviously been out all night – I
do love
the walk of shame when someone other than me is making it –
and brazened her
way through it in typical Miranda style.”
Dee
didn’t bother trying to hide her
interest in Miranda’s activities; her eyebrows were almost at
her hairline. “She
made a point of telling us about the
mixer on the pool deck tonight and wanted us to come.
Max told her we had plans tonight, that we
had friends coming for dinner.”
Dee looked
down at her ‘uniform’ – Levis,
white t-shirt – and back up at me.
She’d
brought a nice dinner dress with her on the train, but with Miranda
snooping
about, I knew she was about to up the ante.
It wouldn’t be so much for Terry’s
benefit, though he would appreciate Dee’s
efforts, but to put Miranda in her place once and
for all. Diana
Walker would not be
caught underdressed again. She
was
dragging me back out the door almost before I dropped the shopping bag
in my
hand.
“We need to
go shopping for something more alluring for me to wear to dinner
tonight. You damned
well know she’ll stop by the loft
on her way to the pool deck to see who your guests are.
I want to look the best I can.”
“Why do I
think your Neiman’s account is about to hit its
limit?” She
responded with a smug smile.
“Think you
can pull a few strings and get us back into Diared’s
today?”
*
We didn’t
know what they were doing, but the sound of suggestive, male laughter
– Max,
Terry, and Dino – and the sound of hammering met us as soon
as Dee and I walked
in the door to the loft after our second shopping foray. We dropped our packages on
the bar, went
through to the lounge, and looked upstairs.
Oh, geeze …it looked as if they were installing
a sex swing over the
bed. My shriek
could probably have been
heard at the boarding station for the DART train, and that was a block
away.
“NO! You can NOT have it there. I will NOT
have that thing visible
from the lounge!” Dee
was speechless. Terry’s
voice filtered
down to us.
“You
can’t
tell what it is just from the hook on the ceiling, Reags.”
“Why the
Hell else would you have a hook OVER THE BED? That’s not the
place one would normally hang
macramé!” Max
couldn’t let that go.
“Cara,
it would be a lovely place for a potted plant.”
Dino’s laughter made his response almost
impossible to understand.
“Max, one
of us would bump our ass on it!”
That’s
a lead-pipe cinch. I
trudged up the
stairs to find the swing laid out on the bed.
Dee
was behind me, hand on my ass and
shoving.
“Hurry UP,
Reags, or they’re going to have it installed before we can
get it
repositioned!” Repositioned? She’s in favour
of this lunacy?
“Seriously,
guys, this is a corporate loft.
You have clients stay here on
occasion. A sex
swing is not the image you want
to project.” Dino
raised an eyebrow at
me.
“Well, hell,
Honey, we are a full-service firm.”
I waddled over and looked up, pointing as I did. If I couldn’t
talk them out of it, I could at
least make the bloody thing less obvious.
“This
beam.” Dee
ran downstairs to the far corner of the lounge where visitors would
have the
best view of the bedroom area.
“Somebody
put your finger on the exact location the hook is going,” she
shouted from
below.
Terry
stretched up and touched where I was pointing with a single finger
salute.
“Smart
ass.” He
giggled and then curled his
fingers and wiggled them as if he were stroking Dee’s
g-spot. Max and
Dino were moving
installation tools and missed his silent part of their exchange.
“Promises,
promises!” He
giggled again.
Dee gave the final, compromised approval.
“Yeah,
that’s good …can’t see that corner at
all from down here. And
because it’s in the corner, you really can
hang a macramé pot holder there.”
DINO
We’d all
changed clothes and were gathering in the living room for a drink when
the
doorbell rang. Dee
was just walking out of the powder room.
“I’m
right
here. I’ll
get it.”
She opened the door,
and Miranda breezed into the room.
It
took her a couple of seconds to realize who she was looking at. She stopped short when she
saw Dee. I don’t think
Tio heard Miranda’s comment, but I sure as shit did.
“Well, so
you’re part of Max and Reagan’s dinner plans.
I didn’t think you’d still be around
after all this time. I
had you pegged as the nurse.”
Now that her boss wasn’t around, all the bitchy
things she’d wanted to say to Dee
in the
summer of last year came out.
Terry had
been leaning on the bar with a beer in his hand and turned when he
heard voices.
“Miranda. What a surprise.” He put one arm around Dee’s
waist, took a pull at his beer, and handed it to Dee who took a swallow
and
smiled up at him. Can’t
make it much
plainer than that. Miranda
looked around
and realized she’d just stepped in it.
“Oh …I
didn’t realize you were on your way out.”
I smiled.
“Yeah, we’re on our way to
Dakota’s for
dinner. Looks like
you’re on your way to
the pool deck.” She
was Turtle Creek
casual, peach pants and a little top, but the rest of us were dressed
for an
evening on the town. Dee
looked like a million bucks in her royal blue, cut-to-there sheath that
showed
off her rack to its best advantage and five-inch come-fuck-me pumps. Obviously, Terry
hadn’t seen her take either
the dress or shoes out of the shopping bag before she changed into
them, and
his eyes were out on stems once he got a look at her …or
rather down her.
I doubted he was thinking about the
engineering prowess required to make that dress.
He swallowed hard.
Reags had
that glow that pregnant women get and looked great in her little
mommy-to-be
dress and low-heeled pumps. I
guess us
guys looked okay …what can you say about three men in sports
coats? No one said
anything, and the silence was becoming deafening, so I played host.
“Miranda,
can I get you a beer? We
have a few
minutes before we have to leave.”
I love
stirring the shit, and I was looking forward to the possibility of a
Dee/Miranda
face-off. They were
on neutral turf, and
the rest of us could keep either of them from going over the balcony if
it
turned into a brawl.
“Sure,
thanks, Dino.”
“You
remember Reagan? I
don’t think you’ve
seen her since she and Max married.”
Reags put out her hand like the lady she is.
“It’s
so
nice to see you again, Miranda. How
have
you been?”
“Fine
…how
far along are you? The
last time I saw
you, you had a nice flat tummy.”
I could
see Max’s jaw set as his arm went around Reagan, and he
answered Miranda’s jab.
“Yes, her
tummy, as you phrase it, is quite fecund.
We are expecting our first child in
December.” Miranda
shot him a look as she looked at
Reags.
“Aren’t
you
a bit old to be starting a family, Reagan?”
Reags smiled; the honey in her voice was so thick I almost
gagged on it.
“If memory
serves, I’m three years younger than you, Miranda.” The look on
Tio’s face was classic, and
Miranda looked like she wanted to slit Reags’ throat. Tio’d had no
idea Miranda was older than he
was. I knew it but
hadn’t told Reags
…she must have done a bit of online snooping and held the
data for ad hoc
purposes. This was
turning into a
Dee/Miranda/Reags set-to.
Dee smiled again and looked at Miranda.
“To
answer your question, Miranda, yes, I’m still around and will
continue to be
around. I’m
also not the nurse.”
Okay, it was time to get all of us out of
here before this erupted into a full-fledged catfight.
As much as I’d wanted to see it, it was time
to move because the hackles were up, and the women were circling for
positions. I’d
only ever seen the mud and Jell-O
professional kind of women’s wrestling match – some
well placed groping, a tit
popping out, and everyone goes away horny; Reags and Dee would
literally kill
Miranda if she pushed them much further.
“Okay,
folks, we need to get out of here, or we’re going to be late
for our
reservation. Miranda,
Honey, you’re
going to have to get that beer on the pool deck.” I hustled us out the door
and down the hall
to the elevators. The
door closed, and
Reags grinned at me.
“Dino
…our
reservation isn’t for an hour.”
We all
laughed. I
wouldn’t have survived
another five minutes with Dee and Miranda in the same room.
TERRY
I’d had no
idea Miranda was older than me. It
isn’t
anything that would have made any difference, but it obviously galled
her for
me to know. In most
circumstances, Reags
comment about Miranda being the elder of them would have been rude, but
that
comment about Reags being old for childbearing was inexcusable. I thought she handled it
very well; she
certainly put Miranda in her place and on the defensive. If Miranda was willing to
say that to Reags publicly,
only God and I know what she said to Diana before realising anyone else
could
hear.
I was also
surprised at the way Diana stood Miranda down.
That was another ‘I’d had no
idea’ moment. She
was quite obviously ready to fight for me
…for me.
I think I have quite the
little hell-cat on my hands, and I like it.
Diana held
her own with Miranda’s sniping about having been
‘the nurse.’ How
is it that I spent three bloody years in
Miranda’s company and never sorted out what a bitch she is? Probably it’s a
function of my never having
analysed her, never even considered looking beneath the surface. Miranda was well enough
for corporate
functions, and she does very well in that venue.
She doesn’t do so well one-on-one with other
women. I suppose I
was never
sufficiently interested in Miranda as a long-term companion to look
beneath the
surface gloss and glitter. Thank
Christ,
Diana walked into my life when she did.
We made our
reservation at Dakota’s with time to spare and sat in the bar
nursing drinks
until our table was ready. I
feel sorry
for Dino tonight as I often have in the recent past.
Ellie’s still tangled up with that case, and
he’s alone again. He
covers it well, but
it’s clear he misses her.
At least the
last time she was here – a week ago – she said it
was drawing to a close. I
know she’ll likely be happier about that
than Dino; our women make numerous sacrifices for us, and often, they
do it
with such grace we never notice. It’s
been a long struggle for both Dino and Ellie.
At least with Dino’s ring on her finger, he
knows that Ellie’s in it for
the duration, and they’re making more time to be together.
MAXIMUS
I had been
incensed when Miranda was so rude as to comment disparagingly on my
wife’s fecundity. I
was silent as we drove to Dakota’s,
ruminating on women and the tendency of many of them to attack others
of their gender
for no reason other than to cause discord.
Miranda was clearly seeking conflict.
I understand why she dislikes Diana; she perceives Diana
as having been
the cause of Terry’s termination of the relationship they
shared, but she is incorrect. Terry
had assured me the night he met Diana,
his relationship with Miranda had been over long since, though clearly,
Miranda
did not agree. The
woman has no reason
to dislike my wife, a gentle woman who was most cordial to her on the
one
occasion Miranda was at our home on Labour Day of the year we met. Perhaps her obvious
dislike of Cassandra is simply
collateral damage; the friend of my enemy is also my enemy.
It was
fully dark when we stepped out of the car at the restaurant, but the
peaceful
nature of the area in which it was situated was soothing to my mind. The restaurant is below
street level, sitting
in a triangular parcel of land in downtown Dallas.
The area is – in truth – a small park,
an oasis of calm in the midst of
the sea of skyscrapers that is our city. I
assisted my wife from the car and took a
deep breath before stepping to the sidewalk.
Diana looked over her shoulder and eastward before moving
away from the
car.
“Nothing
like a restaurant geared to obvious excess sitting across the street
from the Baptist
Vatican, is there?” The
others laughed,
leaving me to wonder at her meaning.
I
knew of the Vatican
in Rome, the seat of
so-called Roman Catholicism, but
was not aware the Baptist faith also had such an edifice; I was
certainly unaware
of it being in Dallas.
“I did not
realise the Baptists had an edifice similar to the one in Rome.
Where is it?”
I was peering round
as I made that statement and was surprised at the shouts of laughter.
Diana
reached over to pat me on the arm.
“There’s
no Vatican
here, Max. It’s
just my reference to the
fact that the First
Baptist Church,
its school, and parking lot chew up two, solid city blocks in downtown Dallas. That place has been a
major force in Baptist
politics for years. The
church is a
little pretentious.” She
put her hands
on my shoulders and turned me toward the referenced complex of
buildings. She was
correct in her assessment. The
Church and its buildings resemble any
other older, office building in the area but for the cross extended
from the
structure. Had I
not known that Diana had
been raised Baptist, I should have thought her comment derogatory in
the
extreme; knowing that to be the belief of her youth, I found her
ability to take
a jibe at what seemed excessive to be amusing and laughed with the
others.
We made our
way to a small steel cubicle and stepped into the lift that took us
below
street level and to the restaurant.
I
had not been there previously and was delighted at the ambiance of a
summer
garden that greeted me when the doors of the lift opened. It was spacious and
compelling, drawing one ahead
through the foyer and toward the bar.
We
had a drink and conversed whilst awaiting our reservation time.
Dino pulled
his cell from his coat pocket and answered,
“O’Reilly.”
Our isolated table immediately went silent.
“Hey,
Ellie.” He
turned his back to us; Terry
and Diana turned to each other content to sip their drinks and be
close, and Cassandra
and I resumed our quiet conversation allowing Dino what little privacy
was available
in so public a setting.
They spoke for
several minutes. He
turned back to us
and motioned for our attention. “I
suppose we could try it.”
He pressed one
of the buttons on the phone, laid the instrument in the centre of the
table,
and asked, “How’s this?”
Ellen’s
voice came from the phone. “I
hope you
don’t mind me barging in on dinner.”
“Ellie, you
aren’t barging in; you’d be here but for the bloody
trial.” Terry
conducted us in a “G’day, Ellie”
greeting to mixed success.
Ellen’s
laughter acknowledged our attempt.
“Where are you now?”
Diana
responded first. “In
the bar at Dakota’s. Ellie,
they make a really good dirty
martini.”
“Aren’t
you
there early?”
“Yes,”
was
the only similar word we uttered as we all hastened to explain our
revised schedule.
When our
laughter at our cacophony subsided, Ellen made a suggestion. “Let’s
try this. If I have
a question for a specific person,
I’ll address them by name.
You’ll have
to determine who’s going to talk when on your end.”
“Since it
was my ex who caused our hasty departure ….”
“Oh,
no. Not
Miranda!” came from Ellie.
It was amusing to hear the three women discuss
the encounter amongst themselves.
I
noted Terry’s attention to Diana’s careful lean
towards the phone to prevent
her dress from separating over her breasts and smiled at
Cassandra’s ability to position the table's
edge between her breast and swell of our babe.
As Dino, Terry, and I were no longer required for the
moment, Terry
ordered another round.
DIANA
Our
animated conversation began to wane when Ellie’s
“That bitch! Why
didn’t you toss her off the balcony onto
Central?” started us back up again.
Women seem to be able to talk over one another, and yet,
each word of
the conversation is fully understood by all involved.
Introduce a man into the mix, and chaos
ensues. No wonder
military orders are
single words or short phrases.
“…and she’s older
than Terry!” Reags
was still pissed about that age thing.
The
man in question tried valiantly to become part of the leather banquette.
“Now that
we have Miranda thoroughly trashed, what’s everyone wearing? I want to be able to
picture ya’ll throughout
dinner. I’m
in sweats and an A&M
sweatshirt.”
Dino began
the descriptions. “What
can you say
about what a man wears? Sport
coat,
dress shirt, no tie, Dockers.”
“What? No shoes?”
Max squared
his shoulders before responding to that one.
“We are not barbarians, Ellen.
Our feet are covered else we would not have been granted
entry.”
“This
isn’t
a Kenny Chesney concert!”
“You
don’t
care one whit what the men are wearing.
Let me ….”
I was glad
Terry had rallied from our disassembling his prior girlfriend. I’d never let
him know how much I despised
her. Reags
interrupted Terry who seemed
most grateful that awful woman was no longer the focus of our
conversation.
“Ellie,
what do you do when Dino’s cowlick isn’t controlled? Water?”
“Most times
water won’t cut it. Spit. Go ahead and fix it. It’ll be good
practice for you.”
Dino was
already discreetly turned away from us, licking his handkerchief and
stroking
it across his own head. Terry
was
working on his own unruly spots but without spit.
Of the three men, only Max was oblivious to
any possible grooming mishap. The
approaching
waiter gave a quick shake of his head at the sudden outbreak of
possible head
lice and beat a hasty retreat.
“He did it
himself, didn’t he?”
“Yes,
Darlin’,
I did.”
“Geeze,
Ellie, what can I say about what I’m wearing?
I’m pregnant!
It’s an Isabella
Oliver wrap dress, and I’m watermelon-shaped at this point. I’d kill myself
in my sling-backs these days,
so I’m wearing two-inch pumps.”
“She is
beautiful, Ellen. Her
visage glows with
the life that blooms within her.”
I could
have let Terry’s last comment about Ellie not caring what
they were wearing
stand, but his ego could use the boost.
Terry
needed to hear from me how astonishingly handsome I think he is. Women do care about what
other women wear;
most times we do dress to impress
each other. “Terry’s
soft tonight.” I
touched his lapel as their titters died
down. “He’s
wearing a soft cashmere
sports coat with one of his new blue shirts that make his eyes snap
when he’s
joking and those soft grey flannel pants like
Dino’s.” I
trailed my fingertips down the outside of
his thigh. “He
looks a treat.”
“I
don’t
even have to be there to know it’s time to say,
‘Get a room!’”
“Not close
yet, Love. Remember,
I’m soft.” He
wasn’t, but I wasn’t going to announce
that. “I
look like a swagman in
comparison to Diana.”
DINO
They’re
lost. Max has Reags
hand in his, and
they’re drowning in each other’s eyes. Terry
and Dee are gone from this room, even though they’re sitting
right across from
me. Every time we
all get together at
some point in the evening each of we three couples check out from the
others
like we’re alone. I
picked up the phone
and switched it off speaker.
“Baby,
it’s
just you and me.”
“That’s
the
way I like it.”
“Why do we
do check out for private moments every time we get together?”
“You and
I? We do it because
we never have enough
time together. I
promise, Dino, I’ll
never accept another case like this.
Unless
I’m in Dallas.”
“I’d be
happy looking at the top of your head right now, being in the same room
with
you while you work. I
miss you, Baby.”
“Do you
want to know why the other two couples ignore us?”
“Yeah, if telling
me won’t get you thrown out of the women’s
club.”
“Reags and
Dee sat me down for some practical advice on coming into your life; it
was
their engagement present to me. You
guys
are always on call. You
never know when
you’ll be called out. They
compared it
to a constant state of war. You
have to live
in the moment. They
advised me to grab
every chance to show you my love whenever or wherever it presented
itself short
of being arrested. The
rest of the world
can go hang.”
“Baby? I’m sorry.
I’ve lived with it for so long by myself, I
didn’t ….”
“You
don’t
have to apologize. I’m
not looking
forward to your being deployed, but I have Reags and Dee. They’ll get me
through.”
*
The maitre
d’ came to tell us our table was
ready. I switched
the phone back to
speaker and handed it to him. “Please
escort the lady on the phone.”
He’s a good
guy and began chatting with Ellie as he led us to our table in a quiet
corner
of the room. He
made sure ‘Ellie’ was
situated so she could hear the conversation around the table.
MAXIMUS
We were
brought water, and the sommelier approached looking round to determine
to whom
to give the wine list. Terry
nodded and
accepted the leather bound portfolio.
He scanned
the list as we were given menus and laid the wine list aside whilst we
decided
on our meals. It
seemed all of us were
in the mood for beef …perhaps the near altercation between
our women and
Miranda had left us in the mood for blood.
I was surprised to find my wife desirous of a hearty
steak; chicken or
fish are her usual preferences. Poor
Ellen was left to a microwaved hot dog.
We
agreed on a red wine, Ellen choosing a Big Red soft drink as it most
complimented her entrée, and Terry returned to the list.
He settled
on a 1977 Shiraz Penfold’s Grange, a vintage from his native Australia,
and
smiled as he nodded to the waiting sommelier.
“It’s
nice
to be able to order what you want rather than what you can
afford.” We
laughed round the table; we were all from
that group of people who had consumed large quantities of rather poor
vintage
because we could afford no better.
Dino
spoke for all of us with his comment.
“This is a
far cry from Boone’s Farm, isn’t it?” I
had learnt of that particular wine from Cassandra and Ellen. It was an inexpensive wine
of dubious
quality, popular among the young and poor when she and Ellen were in
school.
Diana spoke
before the sommelier left us. “Terry,
you always order Australian wines.
Try
the Ridge. Don’t
be so parochial.”
“Parochial? Wouldn’t you
consider a woman from California
requesting a California
wine parochial?” The
sommelier smiled, coughed, and spoke.
“Might I
suggest a bottle of each? There
are five
of you.”
My wife
smiled. “Four
…I’m one of those women
who doesn’t drink whilst pregnant.”
The man
smiled, and Terry nodded. “One
of each,
the Penfold and the Ridge. We’ll
try
both.” We
ordered our meals as the
sommelier returned with the bottles and opened them to breathe.
*
Diana
stabbed her steak with much the same ferocity as I had swung my gladius
at the
Marcommani.
Terry’s
eyes widened as he watched her. “Hold
up
there, Lady. That’s
not Miranda’s heart
you’re mining for.”
She
laughed. “I
wouldn’t be mining for
her heart. I’d
just rip it out of her
chest.” She
brandished her knife at him
as my wife spoke.
“That woman
is the most ill-mannered creature I’ve encountered in a long
time.” I
could not but agree. I
sought to move the conversation to less
contentious ground. In
truth, I feared
that if we did not find another topic of discourse, my wife and Diana
would
leave the table, take the car, and return to the loft in search of
Miranda with
the intention of inflicting bodily harm.
“Beef is
something yet new to me. We
did not
consider beef cattle a staple of our diet.
I am more accustomed to goat or sheep if not fish or fowl. I find myself most
appreciative of a fine,
aged steak.” My
wife gave me a sidelong
look.
“In truth,
if he doesn’t get heavy beef twice a week, he turns into a
really grumpy
bastard. He’s
taken to the foods of the
21st century very well.”
Diana’s
laughter preceded her comment. “And
the
hummingbirds of the world are grateful …poor little things,
trying to eat
without tongues. What
did you do with
their poor, pitiful, little bodies after ripping out their
tongues?” I
paused, fork halfway to my mouth.
Clearly her blood lust is not yet satiated.
“I have no
idea. I suppose the
servants in the
kitchen may have eaten the carcasses.”
Dino could not permit that to pass without comment.
“Those
little fuckers would be even bonier than quail …nice and
crunchy!”
Ellen
volunteered a family of quail had taken up residence on her property;
she
invited us to come hunting next fall.
We talked
and laughed our way through the meal, finally settling with coffee as
we
considered options for dessert. Diana’s
eyes widened with delight as she perused the dessert trolley.
“Ooohhhhh
…chocolate choices to tempt the hardest of hearts. I’m a gourmand
gourmet and usually prefer
entrees and
hors d’ oeuvres, but this
looks to die for.” She
glanced at
Terry. “I
think I’ll have one of each?”
“Sure
…I’ll
just have them bring a barrow along with your selections, and I can
roll you
back to the car!” We
all laughed along
with the target of his remark. We
were
back at the loft an hour later, shoes on the floor and feet on the
coffee table
as my wife made coffee, Diana’s offer to brew having been
politely rebuffed. Our
friends departed soon after finishing
their cups, and we made our way upstairs and to bed.
Cassandra laughed as she looked at the hook
now situated in the corner of the sleeping loft not visible from the
floor
below.
“I still
can’t believe you three put up a hook for a sex swing. Who’s going to
use it here? This
is a corporate loft.”
I turned on my side and looked at her as I
spoke.
“You will
not always be with child when we are here, Cara.”
