Holiday Escort

by Julia P. Lynde

  "Yes."

  The dance finished and she set me firmly on my feet. "Thank you, Madeline."

  When she stepped away, I let her go. "Thank you, Karen." We stared at each other for a moment. She was stunning. She turned away. She looked upset.

  "Did I do something wrong?" I asked her.

  "No. Jessica was the dancer. This space was my gift to her."

  "Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't know. I won't ask again."

  "No. It's time." She turned back. "She taught me to dance and insisted I learn to lead because she liked to follow. For a while, we danced here for an hour or two every night. Then I started working longer hours, and we were dancing less and less." She paused. "I should have listened when she kept asking me to dance." Karen walked over to the stereo and turned it off before turning back to me.

  "Will you dance with me again tomorrow night?"

  I smiled. "Karen, I'll dance with you as much as you want."

  * * *

  Lying in bed that night, I couldn't stop thinking about the dancing. About how good it felt when Karen held me.

  "Do not be an idiot, Maddy," I actually said out loud. "She is a she. Thus, not your type."

  * * *

  I made sure I got up when Karen did. I heard her shower. I pulled on a bathrobe and waited outside her room until the shower ended. I knocked at her door. "Karen?"

  "Madeline?"

  I opened the door. "I didn't ask what you do about breakfast."

  "I'm in the bathroom. Come on through."

  I stepped in and found her in front of the mirror, primping. "I normally get coffee and a bagel on the way to the office," she said.

  "Espresso or coffee?"

  "Coffee. Cream. But there's no coffee. I haven't used the coffee maker."

  "Ever?"

  "Jessica."

  "Sorry."

  "Stop apologizing."

  "I'm sorry."

  She caught me smirking at her.

  "Plain or blueberry?" I asked her.

  "Blueberry coffee?"

  "Don't be silly. No one would make blueberry coffee. Blueberry bagels, on the other hand, are pretty good."

  "I don't have time to wait for you to hit the bagel shop."

  I gave her The Look. "Karen. Listen very carefully. I am the best personal assistant in the Twin Cities area. Do you really think I would make you wait for a bagel?"

  "Blueberry," she said, laughing.

  By the time Karen came downstairs, I had a travel coffee mug ready for her and a bagel toasted with cream cheese. "Is this right, or in the future do you want it packed to eat at the office?"

  "This is amazing. Thank you," she said. She started to head for the door.

  "Hey!" I said. "Fake girlfriend here. Where's my fake kiss?"

  She laughed then walked up to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

  "That's better," I said.

  * * *

  I showered, had my own bagel, then planned the day.

  The Christmas cards were first. Karen's contacts list was two hundred and forty-one names long. I logged onto the same site where I used to buy cards for Marsha and ordered three hundred for overnight delivery. I made sure she had all the software I would need for addressing the cards so it looked like they were addressed by hand. Doing them all manually would take way too long.

  I looked around for a tape measure. I never found a single tool. I estimated sizes, drawing a floor plan of the house.

  Finding a handyman took five phone calls. The fifth call was the right one.

  "Handyman Fred," he said, answering his phone.

  "Hello, Fred. I need help in Plymouth, either this afternoon or Friday, with Christmas decorations, mostly stringing lights in the trees and hanging garland."

  "I can give you this afternoon," he said. "Friday is booked."

  "You'll need your own ladders. Is that a problem?"

  "Nope. I've done this before. I can go up to two stories. I can string fruit trees, but I won't make it to the top of a really big tree."

  "That's perfect."

  He'd promised to arrive at one. I had four hours to buy everything I needed.

  I started at the hardware store. I bought basic tools, picture hanging hardware, and lots and lots of lights. I could bring back anything extra. I added extension cords. A nearby church had a Christmas tree lot. I stopped in and made sure they had plenty of good trees and garland, but I didn't buy one yet. I then drove to the mall and started buying decorations.

  It's easy to buy Christmas decorations. Buying some that aren't cheap is harder. By the time I got out of the mall, I had forty-five minutes left. I stopped back at the church and picked out a tree and a lot of garland. I arrived back at the house minutes before Fred arrived.

  "I'm Fred," he said.

  "Thanks for coming, Fred. I'm Madeline. I need you to set up the tree for me, but we need to move the furniture around first. Then we'll do the trees and exterior garlands. After that, we'll see how much time you have left."

  Fred was a professional. We rearranged all the furniture in the great room, then he carried the tree in and set it up. We both stepped back and looked.

  "There's a balance problem," he said.

  "That's what I was thinking."

  We rearranged three times before we both declared it perfect.

  I showed him everything I bought. "We can use as much garland outside as we want. Whatever is left over goes inside. For the lights, I want understated outside."

  He used a ladder to arrange the garland around the front entrance. But when stringing lights in the trees, he used a long extensible pole. It went amazingly quickly with both of us working on it together. We plugged it all in, and it looked amazing.

  "Garland and lights around the garage doors, too, I think," I said. Those were the only lights we put on the house.

  We moved back inside. I had an hour left of his time. There were two tall, bare walls in Karen's great room. "Do you have a ladder?"

  "Of course."

  I'd bought tapestries for the walls. He hung them for me. Then we draped garland practically everywhere. We strung lights on the tree and swapped out all of the artwork in the house for more cheerful winter scenes. We looked around the house together then I turned to him. "You're amazing, Fred." I hugged him. "Thank you. I'll need an invoice."

  * * *

  I texted Karen. "Text me when you are in your car and leaving. Dinner will be ready for you when you pull up."

  "Expect six thirty," was the response.

  Dinner would be stir fry. I chopped everything up and had it ready to go. Then I ran around the house, getting as much as I could get done by six. After that, a quick shower, primp, and I dressed in a little black dress.

  Karen called at six forty. "Madeline, I am leaving the parking garage."

  * * *

  Dinner was nearly ready when she pulled up. The rice was done, the food was done, and I had raided her wine cellar for a bottle. She entered via the laundry room and I met her with a glass of wine.

  "You put up lights outside."

  I smiled. "Before I let you further into the house, I need to tell you. I'm not done. I need at least another day, then I'll be tweaking for a week or so."

  She offered a funny look. That's when I walked backwards, letting her into her house.

  The kitchen was only lightly decorated, so she didn't see the big changes right away. Then she turned to the right. Her jaw dropped.

  She walked around the house, looking at everything I had done. She didn't say a word.

  "Is this what you envisioned?"

  She turned to me. "No."

  My face fell.

  "It's significantly better than anything I could have envisioned. It's brilliant."

  I began to beam, happy that I had pleased her.

  She turned and looked at me. "You dressed for me again." I nodded. "Are you going to do this every night?" I nodded. "Do I have time to change before dinner?"

  "No more than ten min
utes," I said. "Faster would be better." She nodded, handed me her wine glass, and headed upstairs.

  By the time she came back down, I had everything on the dining room table and the candles lit. Her glass was at her place, and I stood waiting for her. She came down wearing a bright red dress. I realized it was a tango dress. I grinned.

  She spent the meal praising the house, the meal, and my dress. I couldn't stop smiling from all the praise. Eventually I realized she was babbling and I was acting like a golden retriever, ecstatic to be praised.

  "Karen," I told her. "So far I stayed downstairs. There is a lot to do here yet, and I barely touched the basement. I haven't done anything upstairs. Do I have permission to decorate your bedroom, or do you want me to leave it alone."

  "You don't have to decorate my bedroom," she said.

  "That's not what I asked."

  She smiled at me. "I'd love if you did."

  We finished dinner and she told me, "I need to work for another hour or so. I want you to find me precisely at nine and make me dance with you." She paused. "You are not to accept 'no' for an answer. Or I'll work until midnight."

  I laughed.

  She worked in her office with the door closed. I began hanging decorations from the tree. Precisely at nine, I knocked on her door and entered without waiting. "It's nine, girlfriend," I told her.

  "Ten more minutes," she said without looking up.

  I retreated and closed the door and smiled. I walked downstairs and put on a pair of dance shoes. I then found a pair of hers that would match her dress and carried them back upstairs. I knocked and entered.

  "That wasn't ten minutes," she said. I didn't respond but instead walked over to her and pulled her chair away from the desk. "Hey!" she complained. I rotated her chair towards the door, then knelt down in front of her and began putting her shoes on. She stared at me. Then I stood up, grabbed her hands, and pulled her to her feet.

  "What the hell are you doing?"

  "Following orders." I looked directly into her eyes. She looked pissed. I didn't back down or look away.

  "I'm sorry, I'm countermanding those orders," she said. "I need to finish this."

  "No. You're done for the night. You are coming downstairs and dancing with me for an hour, then you are going to bed."

  "I think you're forgetting who is paying whom." She put a lot of steel into it.

  I smiled and pulled Karen towards the door. I thought she was going to fight me further, but she followed me docilely into the basement. She stopped and stared as soon as we entered the dance hall.

  "I thought you said you hadn't been down here."

  "It's just a garland and some lights," I said. "Barely a start."

  She put the music on, and I immediately melted into her arms. We danced two songs without comment.

  She was stiff, so I said, "Stop thinking and dance. You have a lovely woman in your arms. You should be enjoying it." She paused at that and I immediately used the opportunity for a leg wrap.

  "Vixen," she said. But I could hear the smile.

  It took several songs for her to unwind. I could feel it in her dance. But eventually she began to enjoy herself.

  Guys tend to freak out at the thought of dancing together, but I've always enjoyed dancing with other women, oftentimes more than the men. We danced for an hour. It was the best hour I'd had for six months.

  When we were finally done, I told her that. She smiled. "Perhaps mine, too."

  * * *

  Thursday I met the movers at the apartment. They did all the heavy lifting, and I was back at the house by noon, stopping by the post office on the way. I bought three hundred holiday theme stamps.

  The box with the Christmas cards had arrived while I was gone. Excellent. I did some practice envelopes with the printer. Once I was sure I had everything working properly, I began feeding envelopes through the system. While they were printing, I practiced Karen's signature. It took me a while until I was satisfied.

  I had broken the contact list into groups. Anyone who seemed like an acquaintance would get a card with "Happy Holidays" and Karen's signature. The very closest people, such as her mother, were going to get notes Karen wrote herself. The people in between got a slightly longer message, hand-written by me.

  I worked on cards for two hours before my hand decided it was enough for the day. After that, I puttered around the house for two hours, working on the decorating, then sat for a while and worked on plans for the upcoming parties I'd be helping to host.

  The dinner preparation didn't take long. I had everything ready to go onto the stove and only needed Karen's call to start cooking. I dressed for dinner and picked up a book.

  Karen called at six fifteen. "I'm walking out of the office now." I fired up the stove and had everything ready by seven and set it all to simmer.

  By seven fifteen I started wondering how bad traffic had been.

  At seven thirty I turned the stove off. At seven forty-five, I ate alone.

  Karen arrived at eight thirty. I was pissed, but I took one look at her and my heart went out to her. She caught my original expression.

  "Don't apologize. Are you okay?"

  "No."

  "Are you physically hurt? Were you in an accident?"

  "No. I'm sorry I was late."

  I took her things from her and pulled her into a hug. She laid her head on my shoulder and let me hold her.

  Even though she was hurting, it felt good to hold her.

  I led her to a chair and reheated dinner for her. She sat there and ate numbly.

  "Do you want to talk about it?" I asked.

  She looked up at me. "One of my employees had a personal issue. He stepped into my office immediately after I called you. He was in my office for about fifteen seconds before he started crying. He just found out his sister had died."

  "Oh," I said slowly.

  "He thought he was coming in to ask for a few days off, but as soon as he explained why, he lost it. I called his wife. He hadn't even told her yet. Then I drove him home."

  "I take it he had been very close to his sister?"

  "Yes." She paused. "I'm sorry I was so late."

  I reached out and held her hand.

  She stared at her plate for a while before she looked up at me. "I am pathetic," she said.

  "You are not."

  "I had to hire a girlfriend," she said. "No woman in her right mind would put up with me if I weren't paying her."

  "You hired a personal assistant," I said. "Is it always like this, or is this week particularly bad?"

  "I told you, the holiday season is rough on me. All the crazy in the world happens between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day."

  She ate a little more before she pushed her plate away. I cleaned everything up then pulled her to her feet and brought her downstairs. We switched into dance shows and I found myself in her arms.

  I could tell what she really needed was an excuse to hold me. Her heart wasn't in the dancing, but she clutched at me. I didn't mind. She apologized a few times.

  "I have a stunning woman holding me," I said. "I'm not complaining."

  We danced for about twenty minutes before she pulled away. I walked over and turned off the music then took her hand and led her to her bedroom.

  When I started pulling her clothes off her, she woke up from her stupor. "This isn't a good idea, Madeline."

  "I'm tucking you into bed, Karen, and will be giving you a backrub before locking the house up and retiring to my own bed."

  She let me pluck her clothes off her then used the bathroom. She came out and climbed into bed, making room for me to sit on the edge of her bed. I turned the lights off in her room but let the hallway light spill in so I could see. I gave her a long, slow, gentle backrub, easing the tension from her muscles as best I could.

  "Thank you," she murmured when I was done.

  "You're welcome," I told her. I kissed the back of her neck and closed the door on my way out.

  * * *


  Friday morning I found a slow cooker cookbook and ran to the store. I put everything in the slow cooker. It would be available whenever Karen came home. After that I alternated between Christmas cards and decorating.

  Karen got home at six. I was still changing clothes when I heard her come in.

  We flirted over dinner and I lured her downstairs for a few minutes of dancing. Afterwards she thanked me.

  * * *

  Karen actually slept in Saturday, if eight thirty is sleeping in. She wandered downstairs.

  "Madeline?" She smiled. "I was wondering if you would let me peek through your wardrobe. We need to decide whether I'm taking you clothes shopping."

  When I nodded, she led the way upstairs and to my room. She stepped to the closet and started digging through my clothes.

  She ignored the casual and business clothing and focused on the dresses, which admittedly consumed the smallest section of the closet. She turned to me and smiled. "Care to go shopping later?"

  * * *

  "What is the event tonight?" I asked on the way back from the stores. We'd had fun. My evening wear had taken a significant upturn with four new dresses, matching shoes, and the associated accouterments.

  "One of the company vice presidents hosts an event every year. Some of our top clients will be there, some moves and shakers at companies we're trying to woo, and a lot of people from the office."

  "And you really want me to pose as your girlfriend."

  She glanced over at me for a moment. "Yes."

  "I don't understand why."

  "It's complicated," she said.

  I paused before responding. "I presume you're gathering your thoughts, not refusing to tell me because you don't think I'm smart enough to understand it."

  She sighed. "I've worked very hard to get where I am."

  "I imagine."

  "I'm tired of everyone else at the company lording their families and their happy home lives over me. I'd like a break from it for just a little while."

  She looked over at me and there was pleading in her eyes. I smiled in understanding. "What's our story then?"

  "The truth, mostly. Except the entire you're straight and I'm paying you part."

  I laughed. "So we met, there was an instant spark, and I begged you to take me home with you?"