AndrewMe and five of my companions hit the golf course at eight the next morning. It was looking to be a beautiful day, so we passed on the golf carts and walked our clubs to each new tee. Bob was there, dressed in argyle socks, khaki shorts, and a green polo. His golf hat was perched atop his head, and he looked the part of a golfer who had retired to Florida, rather than a man who was playing a friendly game of golf amongst his peers, each of which was probably worth around a billion dollars.I was sick over Lanie leaving, but I didn’t have time to figure out what the fuck the problem was. She was young. Too young for me. Maybe I’d made a torrential mistake giving her a ring. It hurt me to even think it.Damon and Matthew Bryant were there, Damon being the one Bob had pulled in on the deal. Matt was Erica’s boyfriend, Lanie’s best friend. I liked Matthew right off the bat the first time I met him. He insisted on being called Matt, and his sense of humor cut the awkward tension imme
AndrewBob was a straight shooter. That was why we were such good friends. “Just a lot on my mind is all.” I hoped he’d leave it. If Lanie were anyone else besides his daughter, I would have been totally open to talking to him about it. But she wasn’t. She was his baby girl, and opening up to him about our relationship felt strange. Weird.“Are you okay?”He was going to push until I said something. So why not go with the truth? If he was willing to ask, I had to assume he could handle my answer, whatever it was. “Honestly?” I asked. “No. I’m starting to get a little worried about my relationship with Lanie.”“Did something happen?”I shrugged. I wasn’t going to tell him his daughter tried to fuck me in the bath last night without a condom, and I’d been the idiot who stopped her. I’d gone to bed with a horrible case of blue balls. I’d have sorted it out if I didn’t think I deserved the pain. “No, not really. But the difference between our ages keeps popping up when I least expect it.
LanieMy eyes were puffy from crying all night long. My sinuses were completely plugged, and I looked like I needed to down an entire bottle of Benadryl. But that wouldn’t cure the sadness that had taken over my body.I’d settle for a bottle of tequila to fix that.As I was rolling out of bed to fetch my second toilet paper roll to use as a Kleenex, my doorbell rang. I sighed, already exasperated, and padded barefoot down the hall to the front door. I was wearing my pink fleece robe and nothing else, and I didn’t much care who was about to lay eyes upon me and my disastrous state.When I opened the door, Erica blew in past me. If she noticed how horrible I looked, she didn’t say anything. Instead, she marched straight to my bedroom where I found her pulling my suitcase out of my closet and stuffing it with panties, bras, and other items.“What are you doing?” I asked as I sank down on the edge of my bed.She didn’t even look at me. “Girls’ weekend. We need to get your mind off of what
LanieErica nodded and fixed her gaze dead ahead on the road. We passed a sign that said Harrison was only fifteen more miles. I waited as Erica took a deep breath and then finally started talking. “You and Andrew are making this whole thing so much harder than it needs to be.”I nodded, and she took that as a sign to keep going.“All a relationship really takes is love, respect, and a willingness and eagerness to make it work. If that’s not there, then there is no point in fucking around and wasting time pursuing something that a few years down the road still won’t be what you want. Do you see where I’m going with this?”Unfortunately, I did.“Andrew is a good guy. You’re a great woman. And I know you both care deeply for each other. That much is super obvious. But neither of you are able to just sit down and come clean with all the things you want to figure out. It sucks, and it’s hard, and it will probably be a rough conversation, but at the end of the day, it will give you all the
AndrewMy Monday was busy. All of my time was occupied with making final arrangements regarding the deal with Alex Reid via Lanie’s father. Bob was ecstatic that everything was falling into place, and as I signed my final piece of paperwork and handed it to Robin, I was glad to be done with this stage of the process. It had been time and energy consuming, and I was ready to move on to bigger and better things.But unfortunately, the next thing on my to-do list was not better.Robin had arranged for me to meet Liza for lunch that afternoon for a final review of our numbers and data before closing out the deal. I wasn’t looking forward to it. Chances were high that Liza would attempt to put the moves on me, and I would be forced to make it clear once more that things between us were strictly business.Things got worse for me when I grabbed my jacket from where it hung on the back of my office door before heading out to meet Liza, and I realized my wallet was at home in the back pocket o
AndrewLiza was waiting for me at a table by the window. She was sipping on a chilled glass of white wine. The glass was sweating, and little beads of water rolled down the side and the stem as it sat on the white tablecloth. She stood up to greet me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. The near dozen sparkly gold bracelets she wore jingled gently, and when we parted, she gave me a red smile and sank back into her seat like a cat on the prowl. She crossed one leg over the other and rested her hand on the base of her wine glass.“Rough afternoon?” she asked.I nodded as I took my seat across from her. “You have no idea.”“Something I can help with, perhaps?”“No.” I shook my head. “Just the joys of having a teenage daughter at home. There’s always a surprise waiting around the corner.”She chuckled, and the waiter appeared to take our orders. I opted for water, which Liza pouted about, and we both ordered our meals, although I was sure I’d only manage to take a few bites. Then we
LanieErica and I got back to Seattle at noon on Monday. After dropping my stuff off at the house, we went downtown to our favorite salad bar and ordered food. Breakfast in Harrison had been a long time ago, and I was starving. I felt relaxed and rejuvenated from our time up in the mountains.Erica had spoiled me.The facials had been lovely. My skin was glowing and bright and so smooth. My body was light as a feather from the hour and a half long full body massage with hot stone treatments. My fingers and toes had been decorated with bright pink nail polish. Erica had black polish, which was much more her speed and went well with her red and black outfit. My nails went with my yellow sundress and silver sandals.The time in the hot springs had been wonderful. It was like I’d been able to hit a restart button. I had perspective that I’d been aching to find for such a long time. I knew what I wanted: Andrew. And I knew that I had to talk seriously with him about my other needs before m
Lanie“Lunch on the corner. I saw you guys walk by and had to come after you.” He ran his hand up my hip to rest it on my waist. “Lanie, I have to apologize. I’m sorry for all this shit the last few weeks. I’ve been an ass. I want to make this work. Really. I want to be with you.”I thought I might start crying. Again. But I held on to my emotions and smiled instead. “I want that too. So badly.”He kissed me again. My heart raced and tried to fly out of my chest.He broke away and threw his arm out to flag down a passing cab. We both piled into the back seat, and he told the driver his address. Then he pulled me into his lap, pushed my skirt up so he could rest his hands on my bare thighs, and crushed his mouth against mine.“What about your car?” I asked him and pressed against him tightly.“Fuck it. I’ll get it later.” He slipped his hands into my hair and pulled me down for another long round of kisses.I clung to him and didn’t care that there was someone in the car with us. He wa