by Hadley Knox
“Yes. Where does Lana Ford see herself in five years?”
“I haven’t really thought much about it. I guess in five years, Mallory will have gone off to college, and I will finally have the house to myself. Actually, I will probably sell that house after she leaves and find myself something smaller in a quieter neighborhood.”
“What about your career?”
“I guess I will still be working at the publishing company.”
“Is that your dream?”
“Maybe not, but it’s something that I enjoy.”
“Is the money good?”
“Not really.”
“Then why would you stay there? From my experience, people should do either something that leaves them feeling elated, or something that is lucrative. You are not making that much money where you are and it certainly doesn’t seem to thrill you. So why exactly would you not have some other dream that you aspire to?”
“I’m just fine where I am.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’re just fine, but why would you be content with that? Surely you have a passion, something that keeps you going.”
“My children are my main priority.”
“I’m not talking about priorities. We are talking about dreams.” He paused and looked at me for a moment, as if thinking of another way to get his point across. “Let’s pretend that you’re in another life. You never had children and you never married, and money is not an object. What would you like to do?”
“I understand what you’re trying to get at,” I said. “The problem is that I’ve never really put much thought into it. To be honest, I spend all my energy just trying to get by long enough to raise my children.”
“And I’m asking you to think about what you would do if your children were no longer a factor.”
“One thing I’ve always wanted to do is actually take up writing. I’ve written from time to time, but I’ve never had the time to commit to writing anything lengthy.”
“So you might write a book?” Jeremy asked.
“Sure,” I said. “I’ve written a few short stories here and there, but nothing serious. The occasions where I am able to write are amazing.”
“Then maybe that’s your dream.”
“In this imaginary world that you’re trying to get me to create that would be my dream. I just don’t know how that would ever become a reality for me.”
“Maybe you should make time for yourself and work on that. It’s time that you started making some time for yourself.”
“That’s easier said than done.”
“As long as you tell yourself that you deserve it.”
Finally, I had reached my limit. “Are we on the Dr. Phil show or something? Why are you psycho analyzing everything about me?”
“I didn’t mean any offense,” he said. “For one, I’m only making conversation and trying to get to know you at the same time. Also, I see that you have great potential to do something wonderful, but your lack of confidence stands in your way.”
“But are these things we should really be talking about on a first date?”
“What kind of first date are you looking for?” he asked. “I can definitely take the traditional approach, and we can discuss some flippant things such as where you went to high school and what your latest manuscript was about. I could tell you the four reasons why I recently changed my toothpaste.” He paused, letting his point sink in. “I don’t want to discuss any of that. My point in taking you on this date is to forge a connection with you.”
“I see your point,” I said. “So I’ll admit that I can spend a little more time on myself.”
His words did actually sink in. Initially my stubbornness prevented me from actually thinking about my goals and what I would like to do if I could. All I could see was a man sitting in front of me, prodding as if I was some sort of cattle.
I did have dreams. Writing a novel would be one of the greatest feats I could ever accomplish, and one day I knew that I would.
Suddenly other images flashed into my mind. Places that I wanted to visit popped up in a quick montage along with all of those ideas I had for different stories and characters.
Jeremy may have been going about it like an asshole, but I couldn’t deny the fact that, for the first time in years, I thought about what I might want to do. However, I knew that the reality was that I still had children to take care of, a home to maintain, and all of those desires would have to be put on hold.
For the rest of dinner, we drifted into talking about his latest project. Sure, it fell along the lines of the type of conversation he wasn’t interested in having, but I still wanted to learn more about him as a person. I didn’t take the approach he had adopted, and instead let him talk about what he wanted to instead of hounding him with deeply personal questions. We spent a good part of the meal laughing.
The food was spectacular, and I enjoyed my chicken, although by the time it arrived, I had had too much wine actually to remember the ingredients in it. In fact, I didn’t even really look at it, because I couldn’t take my eyes off of Jeremy. As he talked, I let his baritone voice sooth me into some sort of trance.
After he set his fork down and pushed his plate back, he brought up an interesting proposition. “So what do you think about Paris?”
“As in Paris, France?”
“I’m certainly not referring to Paris, Texas.”
“I love Paris. Actually, I’ve never been, but the idea of going is nice.”
“Would you like to go with me?”
I searched for something to say. Did he really just invite me to run away to Europe with him?
“I see that I’ve stunned you,” he noted. “I’m planning to go to Europe to meet with my international publisher to go over the details of the French translation. It will be a brief visit, but if you went with me, we could stay for a few days and take in the sites.”
“That’s a little fast considering we’re only on the first date.”
“Do you plan on accepting my invitation for a second date?” he asked.
“I hadn’t thought about that, but now that you ask, I think that I would accept an invitation.”
“Then if a second date is inevitable, and I don’t see any reason I wouldn’t be dating you in two months, how presumptuous would that be to plan a trip?”
“Fairly damn presumptuous, but Paris does sound like fun.”
“So you’ll go?” he asked.
“I’ll have to work out something for the kids, but I don’t see why not,” I said.
I couldn’t believe my own mouth. I had just agreed to go with a man to Paris, and only after just a single date. What the hell was wrong with me?
Finally, after I don’t know how long, we were ready to leave. Well, I wasn’t actually ready, but the night was growing late.
He stood up first and then held his hand out for me to rise. I stood and wrapped one of my arms through his and he led us towards the door. His goon was behind us a short distance, but I wasn’t really that concerned now.
The maître d’ got the door for us, and as we walked down the steps to the curb, one of the valet attendants ran off to get his car. Without thinking about it, I found myself leaning into him as I gripped his arm.
As we waited on the car, he turned and looked at me. “So you had a nice time.”
“I sure did,” I said.
And indeed I had. The first part of the dinner had been a little tense, but his prodding had gotten me to think about aspects of my life that I had long ago lost. The remainder of the dinner had been the two of us just having fun, telling jokes and laughing. Even his anecdotes from his latest work were a little on the humorous side.
His car stopped in front of us and the valet rushed out. As Jeremy and I slid into the back seat, the goon took his place up front, and soon we were on our way back to my house.
When I situated myself next to Jeremy, I nuzzled in close. Between the self-realization and the thought of dinner next to the Eiffel Tower, I felt drawn to h
im.
This was different from what I felt with Greg. He and I had a more feral connection, as if merely being next to him could produce enough electricity to run a city. We had passion, but I suspected that was all that was there.
With Jeremy, I still felt attraction, but I also felt this emotional connection and synchronization of spirits, as if all of our goals and aspirations entwined. For the first time, I could see my future stretching out before me, as well as Jeremy’s, and these two separate futures circled one another like entangled strands.
He didn’t get out of the car when we pulled up to my house, but that didn’t really matter. I was too busy trying to keep breathing as he kissed me. My body fell back against the seat, as his left hand held me, while his right hand explored my side. He never touched my breasts or moved his hand lower, and I assumed that he was trying to maintain some level of respect and decorum, but the passion emanating from his mouth was enough to leave me hungering for more.
After nearly a half hour, he helped me back up, and then I stepped out of the car. He blew me an air kiss, and then drove away.
Chapter Fourteen
Even though I didn’t get in until late, I knew that I couldn’t sleep in too much. There was too much to do, and I knew that the day would be even busier than the one before.
As I rolled out of bed, I could still recall every detail of the night before. The heavy consumption of wine had not dulled my brain to the point where I couldn’t recall. In the shower, I was a split second away from breaking out into song.
As I started getting dressed, I actually started making a mental list of all the places in Paris that I wanted to visit. The obvious first location we would see would have to be the Eiffel Tower, but one of my most desired attractions was the Louvre. History and art was something that had always interested me, and I would spend hours in the halls of that Museum.
After dropping the kids off at school, I decided to go straight into work. Not only did I need to meet with Mr. Leighton, I also needed to talk to Ben. My recent enterprising had left me with an idea to help my struggling co-worker.
I got in early enough to the office that it was still fairly calm. Everyone else either hadn’t arrived or was still too tired to roam the halls. I passed through to my desk to drop off my purse, grabbed my tablet computer, and then went to Mr. Leighton’s office.
His secretary wasn’t there, so I assumed that she had been sent to fetch his morning coffee, so I let myself in since I was two minutes past my appointment time. The meeting was brief which I was glad for.
We went over different ideas for Jeremy Towers’ latest book, and since the draft was still in progress, our conversation was more conceptual. I actually found it to be rather unnecessary, but Leighton always erred on the side of over meeting.
I was relieved to be out of his office finally and on my way back to my work area. When I arrived at my desk, I could hear Ben typing away next to me. He had always been a morning person, a trait that I had never been able to achieve even as I grew older.
“Hey there,” he said as I sat down.
“Hey,” I said.
“What brings you in this morning?”
“A meeting with Leighton.”
“About Towers?”
“Yes,” I said. “He wanted to talk about his upcoming manuscript.”
I heard Ben’s chair squeak as he stood up. He walked around and a second later, he was standing in the entrance to my cube.
“Let me get this straight,” he said. “Towers is still writing the damn book, and Leighton already wants to hold planning meetings? No offense, but why would he want to meet with the editor? Wouldn’t he want to meet with marketing or cover design? Or even research? What in the world would he want to meet with editing for?”
I chuckled. “You know how he does. I think he holds those meetings so that he can listen to himself talk.”
“So what are you going to do until the manuscript is ready?”
“Jeremy is going to e-mail me the first ten chapters so that I can get started,” I said. “I should have that by next week, so I can get started.”
“So you’re just taking a couple of ‘you’ days?”
“Actually I’m starting up a side business.”
“Oh wow, good for you.”
I looked around, and listened to the cubes around me. I could hear a few people on the phone and more than a few typing at their keyboards. We didn’t have the privacy that I needed to have this discussion with Ben.
“Can we go somewhere private?” I asked.
“Yeah, what’s going on?”
I grabbed his hand and led him down the hallway towards the west side of the office. The break room on that side was rarely used as it was smaller and the refrigerator had never been repaired.
When we arrived, I turned and faced him. Before speaking, I scanned the hallway that ran along the front to make sure that nobody would eavesdrop.
“Okay, I’ve got to ask you a personal question.”
“Shoot.”
“How do you feel about sex?” I said.
“What? Why would you ask me that?”
“I have a specific reason, but I just need to know how you feel about sex in general before I ask you the next question.”
“That’s a little vague,” he said. “I guess I’m okay with it. I lost my virginity at eighteen during my first week in college. During the second half of that year, I dated this really freaky girl who appeared reserved and nerdy on the outside, but she was a freak at night when it was just the two of us.”
“Really? That’s surprising. I pictured you a little more reserved.”
“I am normally,” he said. “But I can get a little freaky if that’s what the person I’m with is in to.”
“Do you do one night stands?”
“I’ve only had two of them. Why? Are you propositioning me?”
“No,” I said with a laugh. “Okay, so now my next question. But you have to promise that even if you say no, you cannot tell a soul about this.”
“I promise.”
I checked the hall one more time. “Okay, my start up business is an escort business. I only have one guy working for me right now, but I’m gathering a few more, and since I knew you needed the extra money, I thought maybe you’d like to be a part of it.”
“Wait a minute? You want me to be a hooker. No way.”
“Okay, for starters, hooker is not the best word to describe the job. The proper term is escort, or I guess you could call them gigolos. Secondly, it’s not as seedy as it sounds.”
“How would you know?”
I decided to come clean and tell him the story about how I met Greg. The whole time, he had a grin as wide as his face.
“Damn,” was all he said when I finished.
“So you see? You could get regular clients like me.”
“Or I could get some ninety year old woman.”
“Either way, the money is amazing. You’re single and your schedule is flexible because of school. I don’t want to pressure you because I feel strongly that this should be a decision that you make on your own. Greg makes two hundred dollars per hour and once we get up and running I can probably get you up to twenty or more hours per week.”
“Wow,” he said, taken aback at the number. I could see it in his eyes that he was calculating the potential income.
“It’s a lot of money.”
“That’s four thousand per week.”
“Tax free.”
“But that’s illegal,” he said. Then he stopped and considered what the main topic was and smiled. “That’s ten times what I make here.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I wouldn’t have even asked you, but I know you need the money. If you did this for even a short time, you could make enough money to finish school with no problems.”
“You’re right,” he said. “So I get paid to have a lot of sex, and then I don’t have to stress over being broke. I could even do this for a year, and I wouldn�
��t have any student loan debt when I finished.”
“If your debt is that high, then yes.”
“Oh my debt is indeed that high.”
“Then at least think about it.”
“I will,” he said. “Give me some time to mull it over. My only issue is the sex of course. I’m real emotional with sex and get easily attached. I’ll have to figure out how to turn all that off and just do it for the physical aspects.”
“Well, don’t turn that all off. A lot of the job is making the woman feel good emotionally. You have to make her feel like she matters, if even for a few hours.”
“Give me some time to think about this,” he said. “I promise to call you as soon as I’ve made my decision. And at the very least, your secret is safe with me.”
“Thank you.”
“But I’ve got to ask you one question.”
“Shoot.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“My children,” I said. “Don’t tell anyone, but I don’t have the money to afford my house, and I have to stay in this house or else they won’t be able to stay in the awesome high school they’re attending.”
“That’s very noble,” he said. “I applaud you for doing it. I know this can’t be easy for you.”
“You know, a week ago this wouldn’t have been a possibility, but I’ve had some changes of heart lately, and I think I’m going to be okay.”
“I’m glad,” Ben said. “You really deserve some good things to happen to you. I guess this new business and your new assignment with Towers will turn everything around.”
“I can only hope,” I said.
Was he right? Could these two things really turn my whole life around? In a way, it felt like too many good things were starting to happen. In the last few days, I had broken my sex cold spell, received a phenomenal work assignment, and scored a date with a wonderful man.
Somehow, it all just seemed too good to be true.
However, I did still have the threatening voice on the phone and only two days left until I had to have the money. If I could figure out a way to start getting some cash flow coming in, I could dump the cash in my savings, and the voice would go away.
However, there were still two days left to the deadline, and that bought me a little more time to figure out what the money was about, and a possible way to stop it.