by Hadley Knox
“I know,” he said. “It’s just a little hard to hear after what we shared.”
“I understand. I feel strange going out with him, too. But I really do have to move on.”
“But what if I quit the business?”
Wow, I thought to myself. In the short time, we had known each other, that prospect had never been anything he would have entertained. I didn’t think he was serious, but to hear him say those words was crazy.
“You would never do that,” I said.
“You’re right,” he agreed. “We can’t quit when we just started. I just wanted to know what your hypothetical answer would be.”
“If you quit gigolo-ing? You would definitely have a chance with me.”
“Well, that’s just something I’ll have to keep in mind.”
Even over the phone, I could tell he was smiling that over-confident way in which he smiled. I shook my head and rolled my eyes.
“Enjoy your date with the work friend,” he said. “Let me know if you hear anything on the new super-secret phone.”
“I will,” I said and then hung up the phone.
Luckily, I had made it home before my new cell phone rang. As I answered the line, I ran across the living room and sat in the kitchen chair in front of my laptop.
“Hello,” I said as I accessed the calendar and got my mouse ready to click on a date. I just realized that we didn’t have a name for the business.
“Did I reach Greg?” a voice said on the other line.
“I’m his associate,” I answered. “But you have the right number.”
“Okay,” she said, slightly confused and abundantly uncomfortable.
I realized that I needed to come up with a word track or some other way of answering the phone that didn’t immediately put off the caller.
“So you would like to schedule a time with Greg?” I asked.
“I guess I do.”
“Are you not sure?”
“I’ve never done anything like this before,” she said.
What was I supposed to say to this woman? Was I suddenly her counselor and life coach? My personal answer for her was that she should hang up the phone and try to find sex and companionship in a more traditional way, but I knew that I had a business to run. I needed money like a fat kid needed a treadmill.
“Don’t look at it that way,” I said. “Keep in mind that you are buying temporary companionship and that is all. Many people do this sort of thing and there’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“I guess you’re right,” she said softly. “When can I schedule the visit?”
“He has openings tonight,” I said.
“I am available tonight. Or really any night,” she added in a whisper that I knew wasn’t meant for me. “Yeah, tonight is fine.”
“How does eight o’clock sound?”
“That’s fine.”
“For how long will you be requesting Greg?”
“How long does it take?”
“It depends on what you’re looking for,” I said, cringing to myself. This conversation was harder than any walk of shame up my driveway after a one-night stand. I wanted to claw out my throat with my hands.
“Would one hour be enough?” she asked.
I had a mortgage to pay and children to take care of. For me to make money, Greg would have to work hard.
“I think you would want two hours minimum,” I said finally.
“Okay,” she agreed. “Then I would like to schedule him from eight to ten.”
“Good,” I said. “That will be four hundred dollars total. You can pay him when he arrives. Now, I need the address of where you would like to meet him.”
She gave me the address, which I quickly typed into the notes on the calendar.
“We appreciate the business, and if you like your experience, please feel free to call back or tell your friends.”
That last part I added on my own without planning to. I thought it was nice little touch. Return customers were instrumental in any successful business.
“Okay, thank you,” she said and hung up the phone.
As soon as I set the cell phone down, I felt the remorse well up in me. I had helped some lonely woman find her way into the arms of a man who slept with women for money. Somehow, she felt like she was being dragged down into some dark, seedy underbelly of society, and she couldn’t stop herself. There was no way she was backing out now, but she still couldn’t escape that feeling of dread that she was taking herself down a course that she would not be able to turn back from.
Chapter Eleven
Even though I was eating with the girls, I still made dinner for the kids, and poked a little at my plate while they ate.
Jake, of course, was interested in why I hadn’t come home the night before. How he had figured that out, I didn’t know. Mallory couldn’t have been any more disinterested.
“So did you have fun last night?” Jake asked.
“Of course,” I said.
“What did you do?” he asked.
“We went out for drinks and just talked.”
“That sounds fun,” he said. “So what did you all talk about?”
“Girl talk is for girls alone,” I said. “Why so many questions?”
“Just wondering why Betsy stayed with us,” he noted. “And why you weren’t with her.”
“I was with Pearl, too.”
“What did you and Pearl do?”
“You’re driving me crazy, Jake.”
“Why? Because I want to know what my mom has been up to?”
“I may have met a guy,” I said.
“What?” Mallory asked. It might have been the first time she had talked to me in the past three months. “You had a date?”
“Well,” I began, not quite sure what to say. I made a pact with myself when the kids were young never to lie to them, and I had reaffirmed that pact when Frank had left. My children may have been through hell, but I would never shelter them.
I don’t really know why I decided to come clean. It may have been the fact that my daughter was at least remotely interested in my life for once, or something else altogether.
“I met a guy at the bar and we hung out for a little while,” I revealed. “It was harmless and he’ just a friend.”
“Really?” Mallory grinned. “The same way Dad was just a friend?”
“No,” I said quickly. “But I do have a date tomorrow night with a guy I met at work.”
“Ben?” she asked.
“No,” I smiled. “He’s just a friend, too.”
“Oh,” she said, rather disappointed. It had come to my attention a few months back that my daughter had a crush on Ben. He was much older than she was, but apparently, my daughter liked the geeky-cute guys, which shocked me. I saw her as the jock-connoisseur.
“No, I met the author Jeremy Towers, and he wants to take me on a date tomorrow night.”
“And you said yes?” Jake asked.
“I did. Are you both okay with that?”
“Mom,” Mallory looked at me incredulously, as if she were about to launch into a lecture. “Dad left you, and we know that you can’t stay single. Quit treating us like little kids and trying to keep information from us.”
“That’s sweet of you to say, sweetie,” I said.
“Don’t call me that again,” she said with a straight face that only lasted a moment before she broke into a smile. “But seriously, we know you might want to date again, and we’re okay with that. You deserve to be happy.”
“Especially after what Dad did,” Jake added.
“I appreciate you both saying that,” I said. “I’m blessed to have such amazing kids.”
“And we’re equally blessed to have a mom who can take care of us,” Jake replied.
“But seriously,” I said. “Last night was nothing serious, and it really is just a friend that I hung out with. We’ll see about tomorrow night’s date.”
“Is he cute?” Mallory asked.
; “Oh yes.”
“Well, then I approve of him.”
“Mallory,” Jake said exasperatedly. “Looks are not everything.”
“He’s right,” I said. “But he is both good looking and nice.”
“Is he rich?” Mallory asked.
“Money doesn’t figure into this,” I said. Then added, “but he is rich.”
“Good,” Mallory smiled.
“I probably need to go get ready,” I said. “I’m going to meet Pearl and Betsy again for dinner in a bit, but tonight won’t be late like last night.”
“Meeting the girls two nights in a row?” Jake asked. “Is something wrong?”
“What do you mean?”
“I just remember that right after Dad left, you had a lot of last minute ‘meetings’. I assume that either you or one of the other two is having some drama.”
I couldn’t lie to them. I had to tell them the truth about the business, but considering the exact nature of it, I would leave out what the particulars. “Well, to tell you the truth, my new friend and I are thinking about starting a new business. I want to run it by the girls to get their opinion.”
“What kind of business?” Jake asked.
“We’re still working out the details,” I said. “When I know more, I’ll tell both of you about it.”
“That’s awesome,” Jake said. “Let us know if we can help. That would be fun.”
“I got this under control, but I appreciate the offer.”
The thought of my kids trying to help me with this business made my skin crawl. No, it was bad enough even telling them that I was starting a business, but I felt it was the only way to explain me working at my computer or taking phone calls, which they were bound to find out about anyway.
I realized another hole in my little plan to tell them. “You have to promise me something, though. Whatever you do, do not tell your grandparents. Not for any reason.”
“Why not?” Jake asked. “Grandpa is good at business.”
Which was the exact reason I couldn’t tell him. Even if I tried to make up a lie about what the business entailed, my father was savvy enough to know or figure out that it was one big fabrication. I still talked to both of my parents on a regular basis, even though that relationship had become strained of late.
In the past few months, they had tried several times to give me money, but I wouldn’t take one dollar from them. Sure, they had enough to go around, but I had seen what it had done to my brother Ryan. Even though my parents had not intended this to be a consequence, the act of them giving him money had given them a healthy dose of control over his life.
I refused to put myself in that position. My sister Pam and her husband had borrowed money from our parents before, and while my sister did not know that I knew, the lending of money had created a strain in her marriage and the relationship that she had with my parents.
No, I was the independent child and I would not accept money from them for any reason. I wanted to keep complete control over my life, and never would I place a burden on them, especially in their retired years.
“I want to do this on my own,” I told Jake. “Grandpa would just try to get in my business and tell me what to do. I’d rather learn as I go, so promise me that you won’t say anything.”
“I won’t,” Jake replied as Mallory mumbled inaudibly.
The doorbell rang. I set my fork down, wiped my hands on the napkin and walked to the front door. When I opened the door, I saw a tall, good-looking black man in a brown uniform standing in front of me.
He smiled, flashing his perfectly straight white teeth at me.
“Hello, Mike,” I said.
“Hey, Lana,” he replied as he handed me the large brown box.
“It’s kind of late for a delivery,” I said, noticing the time. “Shouldn’t you be at home by now?”
“They got us working late,” Mike said. “They’ve laid off a bunch of the route guys and now we work until about eight every night. It sucks.”
“That does suck.”
“Hey, it’s a job,” he said. “There isn’t much out there right now, so I don’t exactly have many choices. It pays decent too.”
I eyed him up and down. At a few inches over six feet and with a handsome face like his, he could have nearly any woman he wanted. My mind had been obsessed with my business venture all day since Greg had come over, so it wasn’t a stretch to concoct a new job idea for Mike.
“Have you thought about leaving?” I asked.
“If it was a good job, I would. Do you know anywhere that’s hiring?”
I glanced back into the house and saw the kids were still within earshot. “I just might have an idea for you.”
“Really? What is it?”
“I can’t tell you here,” I said. “How about meeting me for lunch tomorrow? I’ll meet you somewhere on your route.”
“Sure,” Mike nodded. He suggested a place across town that was close to one of his stops. I agreed to meet him there, shook his hand, and then let him get on with his task so that he could get home eventually.
I walked back inside and waited until the kids had finished eating before I started getting ready for dinner with Pearl and Betsy.
The entire time, all I could think about was their potential responses to me being a madam for a bunch of gigolos. I could already hear their reactions. Betsy would certainly look at the business aspects, while Pearl would interrogate me about the men that I would hire.
Either way, they would certainly express concern. Honestly, all of the possible things they could say about the direction I was headed wouldn’t be anything that I myself had not thought about.
Chapter Twelve
I arrived a few minutes late to our dinner date, so they were already seated at a table when I arrived. Taking into consideration what I was about to tell them, I decided to dress a little more coservative. For some reason, I thought that showing any amount of flesh might give them the impression that I was the one who was going to whore myself out.
“Nice of you to show up,” Betsy said as I sat down.
The restaurant was one of my favorites, but I really had only tried a few things off the menu. Anytime I went somewhere to eat, I would peruse the menu to find something different to try, but always ended up being safe and going with the same few dishes over and over.
This particular one was Mexican food and I loved enchiladas. The restaurant was noisy, which was the exact reason I chose this place. I needed a good cover so that I could tell the girls what I had to tell them.
“Sorry, girls,” I said. “I’ve been really busy today.”
“I thought you didn’t have any manuscripts right now,” Betsy said. “What have you been busy doing?”
“I have a feeling that’s why we’re here,” Pearl said.
“Yes,” I smiled. “That’s why we’re here.”
“You’re about to drop a bomb on us, aren’t you?” Pearl asked.
“Of course. Why else would I call an impromptu dinner date?”
“Um, I don’t know,” Betsy said. “You wanted to thank your friend for babysitting.” She laughed and took a swig of her wine.
She turned to a passing waiter and flagged him down. Instead of another glass, she ordered a bottle.
I turned to Pearl. “So how much do you know about that guy I met last night?”
“Betsy hasn’t told me anything.”
“Really? I don’t believe that.”
“She might have told me that you had sex a bunch.”
I continued to stare at her, pursing my lips, waiting on her to continue.
Pearl smiled and looked at Betsy and then back at me. “Okay, so she told me that he is a gigolo.”
“An escort,” I corrected her.
“Oh, so you’re now volunteering for Equality for Gigolos?” Pearl asked.
“Okay, so let me start at the beginning,” I said. “Just in case Betsy messed up or embellished some of the details.”
�
��I would never,” she said.
“So the guy I was dancing with is named Greg,” I began. “Basically, we met and then went back to his place and hooked up. The next morning, he asked for his normal fee.”
“Wait, I have a question,” Pearl said as she swallowed some wine. “How was the sex?”
“Amazing,” I said.
“What all did you do?”
“What? I won’t talk about that. Why would you even ask that?”
“It’s a fair question,” Pearl said. “In the entire time that I have known you as an adult, I have never been able to ask you that question. Betsy and I can talk about sex, but all of your stories with Frank were boring.”
“Frank and I had sex.”
“But you had married people sex.”
“Married people can have great sex.”
“Yeah, married people can have great sex, but most don’t.”
“Well, let’s just say that Greg and I did a lot of different things, and I don’t have any complaints in that department,” I said. “So anyway, I found out that he is an escort, and he thought I knew that he was. Then he lets me off without paying. I went home, thought about it, and realized that I wanted to pay him. I felt like it would be some cathartic part of my journey out of the cave of prudishness.”
“You could have saved the money,” Pearl said. “I don’t understand giving money to someone for peace of mind. Having that money in my purse would have been peace of mind for me.”
“I needed to do it,” I said. “I don’t understand it, but I did. So I called Greg and met him for lunch.”
“How did you get his number?” Betsy asked.
“I took his card off his kitchen counter on my way out.”
“Stalker much?” Pearl muttered.
“Whatever,” I told her. “You didn’t experience the sex. I would have taken anyone’s card that did what he did.”
“Okay, then I guess I would have, too,” Pearl smiled.
“So we met for lunch, and I was innocently asking him questions about his business, and he was telling me about how unorganized he was, and I made an offhanded comment about him needing a pimp. He asked me if I wanted the job and of course I said no.”
Betsy sat her glass down and burst out laughing. Soon after Pearl joined her.