Breaking Into the Business (13 page)

“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.