The Old Man in the Club

by Curtis Bunn

  “How well do you know this young lady?” he asked. “I think she has a problem.”

  “We know her from school,” Danielle said. “But what’s going on with you and her? First you’re at a club with her and now she’s at your front door? What’s going on?”

  “Nothing’s going on,” Elliott lied.

  “Dad, something’s gotta be going on,” Daniel said. “I wanted to ask you about her, but Danielle made me promise to not bring it up. But here she is anyway, in living color.”

  “Look, come on, let’s sit down,” he said, leading them to the living area. He looked into the eyes of his kids, the kids with whom he had spent the evening rebuilding a relationship. He was not going to implode what was just built.

  “I went to the movies by myself a few months ago up at CineBistro in Brookhaven,” Elliott started. “I stopped at the bar there and she was there, too, with her date. We all started talking and exchanged numbers. I told them that I had a couple of small car dealerships and she contacted me about getting a vehicle.

  “Evidently, she was looking for a car for her birthday. When we talked she asked me when I could meet with her. I told her I couldn’t do it on Friday because I was going to Vanquish. She said, ‘Wow, I’m having my birthday party at Vanquish Friday.’ So I told her I would drive the car she was interested in and she could check it out. That’s where we were going when I saw you that night. I wanted to talk to you but I was so shocked to see you… I didn’t know what to say.”

  “Our other friends said you bought a bottle,” Daniel said.

  “I did; I can write it off as a business expense,” Elliott said. “I weighed the difference between a three-hundred-fifty-dollar bottle of vodka or whatever it was over a twenty-one-thousand-dollar car she was interested in buying. It was a business decision.”

  “But how does she know where you live?” Daniel asked. He and Danielle were feeling better about the situation, but there were a few more questions that needed answering.

  “I told her I live at the W,” he said. “But I didn’t tell her my unit number. I have no idea how she found out, but I’m going to get with the people downstairs and figure it out. We can’t have people roaming the building. I pay too much for that when the place is supposed to be secure.”

  “Daddy, this is so crazy,” Danielle said. “We wanted to talk about this, but I told Daniel to let it go for now.”

  “I wondered why it hadn’t come up,” Elliott said. “I was going to bring it up, but then you all said you had to go, so I was going to wait. But clearly something’s going on with her. To ring my doorbell…that’s crazy. I have to admit, though, that she asked me once if I dated younger women. I’m not arrogant enough to believe she was flirting with me. But she has called me more than once.”

  “What?” Danielle asked. “She asked if you dated younger women? You’re old enough to be her father. Why would she think you’d be interested in her?”

  “I can’t account for that and I don’t want you, either of you, to get into it with her,” Elliott said. “I will handle it.”

  “How you gonna handle it, Dad?” Daniel said. “What you gonna do?”

  “I’m gonna call her tomorrow and tell her she needs to back off, that I’m not interested in her and it was totally out of line to come to my home.” He was trying his hardest to be convincing, but not go over the top.

  “She’s got some balls to show up at a man’s house at almost eleven o’clock at night,” Daniel said. “Why would she think that’s cool?”

  “She’s crazy,” Danielle said. “They said she used to date or sleep with Dr. Bainbridge. Something’s not right about that.”

  “She dated a professor at Michigan State?” Elliott asked.

  “Yeah, I did hear that,” Daniel said. “Matter of fact, she also messed around with Grant, the assistant baseball coach. At least that was the rumor.”

  “Well, she’s gonna stay away from me after I finish with her,” Elliott said.

  Quiet took over the room. Daniel and Danielle were confused. They wanted to believe their father, but it did not make sense that Tamara would show up at his door. It also did not make sense that a twenty-five-year-old would be interested in their sixty-one-year-old dad—or that he would be interested in a girl so young.

  “I’m sorry this happened,” he said. “But I’m glad you were here. I think seeing you embarrassed her and made her leave without acting up.”

  “I feel like I lost a friend,” Danielle said.

  “Well, you don’t need a certain number of friends you have,” Elliott said, “just friends you can be certain of.”

  “Well, that sounds good,” Daniel said. “But I’m almost certain there is more to this situation.”

  “If there’s more to it, then it’s whatever is in her mind,” Elliott said. He had to throw Tamara completely under the MARTA bus to ease his kids’ minds. “From what you’re telling me, she likes older men. But I was trying to sell a car to her. I had no idea she was this way.”

  Daniel studied his father’s words. He sought an opening, a place where Elliott showed some ambivalence or empathy for Tamara. There was none.

  “I really hate you all are in the middle of this,” he said. “But it will go no further than this. I promise you that. Last thing I need is a stalker.”

  “So who are you dating these days, Dad?” Daniel said.

  “No one in particular,” he said. “I get my share of dates in, though. Nobody who would be your stepmother.”

  “Very funny,” Danielle said. “You look great, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there are women after you. I just don’t want it to be someone we know.”

  “Neither do I,” he said.

  “Well, let’s go, Danny,” Daniel said to his sister. “I can’t promise I won’t say something to Tamara if I see her.”

  “I understand,” Elliott said. “I just don’t want it to get ugly. Be respectful, son. She is a woman.”

  Daniel nodded his head. The three of them exchanged hugs and his offspring left. Elliott went straight to the Pinot, only to find that he and Daniel had killed it. So he went to the Sauvignon Blanc, got a new glass and poured.

  What the hell was she thinking? he said to himself. He was upset with Tamara that she would come to his house uninvited and especially perturbed that his kids were there to witness it. He felt like she forced him into lying about their relationship. Elliott could not bring himself to tell them the truth, that he pursued Tamara and had sex with her. Telling them that would blew up their relationship.

  That thought made him feel pressure to speak to Tamara about how she would handle seeing Danielle and Daniel. She had to be embarrassed and hurt that he shut the door in her face and that her friends saw it. Elliott recalled that she said she had texted him earlier. So, he found his phone on top of the refrigerator and checked his messages.

  There were four: one from Henry, asking about meeting for drinks; one from Nikki, letting him know that she found out that he was seeing Tamara and two from Tamara—one saying she was at the Drink Shop downstairs and wanted to see him, the other apologizing for coming to his house and asking him to come see her downstairs at the party.

  The last text came in ten minutes earlier. Elliott sipped his wine and then ingested a big gulp of it. He believed he needed to do damage control. Daniel was subject to call Tamara to get some answers. He needed to get her to lie for him.

  So he changed shirts, squirted on some John Varvatos Vintage cologne and headed down to the Drink Shop. He did not text her to let her know he was coming. He had a moment where he worried that Daniel and Danielle might be there, but figured he would smooth it over by telling them he went there to set Tamara straight.

  To get to Drink Shop, Elliott had to catch the elevator down to the lobby level and then take the spiraling staircase near the hotel’s front desk one flight up. At the top of the steps Elliott found the small space jammed with youngsters enjoying loud music and each other. Near the end of t
he bar sat Tamara, who perked up when she saw Elliott standing at the top of the staircase.

  She excused herself from the young man who was in her face and made her way to Elliott. The young man followed.

  “Hold up,” he said to Tamara. “I bought you a drink. You gonna bounce on me like that?”

  “I have to go,” she said.

  “Oh, shit. Is this your father here making you go home?” the guy said.

  Elliott reached into his pocket and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. “Here you go; I’m paying for her drink,” he said to the guy. “Now you can leave her alone.”

  “Hey, listen, old school, don’t disrespect me,” he said.

  “Not trying to disrespect you, dog,” Elliott said, with what he called “prison anger” rising in him. “You got the money, now move on before you can’t move on.”

  He gave the younger man a stare that was intense and threatening. “Yeah, okay, man. Whatever,” the guy said before turning and walking away.

  “See, I was mad at you and now you go do that and I’m completely turned on,” Tamara said.

  Elliott was not amused or flattered. “Let’s go downstairs to the other bar.” He turned and headed down the steps. Tamara hesitated for a moment, but followed him.

  He did not look back, turning right at the bottom of the steps, past the front entrance of the hotel and into the bar, which was far quieter, with only a few pockets of people spread about. Elliot was sending a message to Tamara through his demeanor. Usually, he would make sure she made it down the steps, offering a hand. And he’d walk side-by-side. Walking ahead of her and not aiding her told Tamara that he was not happy—a psychological move that put her on the defensive.

  Elliott flagged a server, ignoring Tamara as she approached and took a seat next to him. Angry as he was, he could not dispute that the woman had presence and oozed sexiness. But he would not give in to that part of his brain.

  “Excuse my language, but what the fuck are you doing coming to my house?” he said calmly but sharply.

  “Don’t cuss at me,” Tamara said.

  “Oh, you want me to respect you and not cuss at you, but you want to disrespect me by showing up at my front door?” Elliott responded. “You get what you give.”

  Tamara said, “Elliott—”

  He cut her off. “If the next words you say to me aren’t ‘I’m sorry,’ I’m leaving.”

  “I’m sorry, Elliott. I am.”

  “You should be.”

  “Why are you so angry?”

  “What? Are you serious?” Elliott answered. “First of all, you don’t go to anyone’s house uninvited. Period. That’s just wrong. Secondly, I was there with my kids. You almost ruined a great night for us.”

  “How? By coming to your house?”

  “Are you drunk?” Elliott asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Well, that explains all the dumb questions,” he said. “Let me make it easy for you to understand. I told you that my kids and I—your friends—have not really seen each other in a few years. I told you that bothered me. So, I was able to get them to come over for dinner and we made great progress into being what we used to be to each other. And then you show up. That was not good.”

  “I didn’t know they were there; I didn’t know you were there,” she said. “I took a chance.”

  “That’s not a chance you take, coming to my house,” he snapped. “Even if I were alone, it’s not the thing to do. You’ve got to know that. But, see, you thought I had a woman up there and you thought you’d be messing up something.”

  “I have the right to—”

  “Stop it, Tamara,” he said. “You’re about to piss me off. You don’t have the right to come to my house, unless invited. You don’t have the right to see what I’m doing. You don’t. And if you don’t understand that, I misjudged you and how mature you are.”

  “You don’t have to insult me, Elliott. I made a mistake.”

  “So own up to it and say you won’t do it again,” he said. “Anything else is bullshit. You could have destroyed everything that was gained tonight by doing that.”

  The server came over. “Can we have some water for her and I’ll have a Macallan 15 Year. Neat,” he said.

  “Oh, I can’t have a drink?” she asked.

  “You said you’re drunk. Why would you have another drink? You need to come down so you can drive home. Anyway, here’s the thing, Tamara: Danielle and Daniel can’t know about us.”

  “Why not? You’re ashamed of me?” she asked.

  “Not ashamed, but they wouldn’t understand,” he said. “Think about it. If your mother dated a guy your age, how would you feel?”

  “I would feel that if it’s okay with her, it’s okay with me,” Tamara said.

  “That’s a damned lie,” Elliott shot back. “You’re being silly now. You’re telling me you wouldn’t have any problem whatsoever? A twenty-five-year-old guy you know sleeping with your mother?”

  “See, you didn’t say I knew the guy. That makes a big difference,” she said.

  “Well, you know the point I was making,” Elliott said.

  “I was going by what you said. Anyway, yes, I see how that could be a problem,” Tamara allowed. “So what did you tell them?”

  “I told them I met you at the movies, that you wanted to buy a car from one of my lots and that I was taking you to see a car you were interested in when we were leaving Vanquish.”

  “What?” Tamara said, leaning back. “How the hell did you come up with that story?”

  “I have no idea. I was panicked and it started coming out. I had to make it seem like it was strictly business.”

  “Well, how did I know where you live?” she inquired.

  “I told them I mentioned that I lived in this building but I wasn’t sure how you found out my unit number or how you got up there.”

  “Ran out of lies, huh?” She smiled.

  “Ran out of good ones.”

  The drinks came.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to be with Daniel and Danielle?” Tamara wanted to know.

  “Because I don’t have to tell you what I’m doing. I’m glad we met and I have enjoyed the time we’ve spent together. But I don’t want either of us to get into thinking we have to be accountable to the other. That creates problems.”

  “But I’m not used to dealing with men like this,” she said. “If you had just said, ‘My children are coming over,’ I wouldn’t have knocked on your door. I wouldn’t have felt like you were out with someone else. So, you created this problem.”

  “Yeah, that’s one way to look at it.” Elliott sipped his Scotch. “The other way is that you don’t come over someone’s house unannounced. Period.”

  Tamara laughed. “Okay, okay,” she said. “You’re being a chauvinist about this. You can come to my house anytime you want. You don’t have to ask me. But you want to be in control because you have a dick.”

  Elliott smiled. “Not because I have a dick. Because I have a big dick.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Telephone Love

  The morning came and Elliott asked Tamara, “Are you going to go with the program and lie to my kids for me?”

  “You think you’re slick, don’t you?” she asked.

  “What?”

  “You ask me to do something for you after you’ve sexed me up. You know right now I’ll do any damn thing you ask me.”

  Elliott smiled and pulled the covers over their naked bodies. They got beyond the talk of Daniel and Danielle. And when it was time for Tamara to go home, she said, “You can’t send me out on the streets like this.”

  “Like what?”

  “Tipsy and horny.”

  Elliott smiled. “That would be irresponsible of me, wouldn’t it?”

  And so he took her upstairs with him. “You socked it to me again,” she said about their encounter. “Isn’t that how people your age speak? ‘Sock it to me’?”

  “You’d be su
rprised. We also use terms like, ‘Stomp it out’ and ‘Beat it up.’ Aren’t those phrases you twenty-somethings use?”

  “Did you bring Nikki back here Friday night?”

  “No, I didn’t,” Elliott said. “And how do you know her?”

  “We’re in the same sorority,” Tamara said. “I don’t know her that well, but we met in a chapter meeting and became friends on Facebook. Glad we did. I wouldn’t know you were dating her, too.”

  “There you go. Not dating her. We met out for a drink. That’s it. And that’s all I’m saying about it.”

  Tamara did not like it, but she accepted Elliott’s position. He had her body feeling too good to argue with him. They lounged around until after 9 a.m. She wanted morning sex.

  “I hate to disappoint you, but I don’t like morning sex most of the time,” he said. “I usually wake up not feeling sexy. My stomach is a little unsettled. My energy level isn’t that high. Not all mornings, but most. That’s why I try really hard to please you at night so in the morning you’re still feeling it.”

  “I do still feel it, and I guess that’s the issue,” Tamara said. “I feel so good that I want some more.”

  Elliott shook his head as his cell phone rang. It was Lucy.

  “My ex-wife,” he said to Tamara. “I’ve got to take this.”

  He answered and put Lucy on hold. “I’m going to go,” Tamara said. “Take your call. But you owe me some more. I’ll call you later.”

  Tamara got dressed and Elliott walked her to the elevator before rejoining the phone call with his ex-wife.

  “Hey, Lucy, what’s going on? You don’t call me, so something must be up.”

  “I wanted to talk to someone who knows me and can give me some honest insight. You’re that one person.”

  “I am?” Elliott said. “Okay. Go.”

  “Well, I heard that you had a visitor last night who is our kids’ age,” Lucy said.

  “Oh, boy. They told you about that?” Elliott said. “Why?”

  “I’m their mother, that’s why,” she answered. “But that’s not the point. They told me that she has an interest in you and seems to be attracted to older men. I get that, to some degree. I mean, you’re twelve years older than me. But that’s not why I called.