The night of the day Tyler fired us I stopped on the way home and got some take-out chicken, brought it in and ate in front of the TV. Days like I just had knock the hell out of me and I was sound asleep when the phone rang. The clock radio next to my bed said it was just after eleven and I hadn't gotten a call that late in years. How often I've heard friends say how frightening it is to get late night calls, that it almost always means someone you love is in trouble. Well, if there's anything at all positive about being basically alone in the world it's that when that phone rang I didn't get scared.
"Sean, its Kathy. How've you been, doll?"
"Hey, how'd you get... now that's a stupid question. I work for your dad. I, ah, I'm good. How you doin'? You're almost done with school now, right?"
"Listen, I've been thinking about you a lot, I'd like to see you again."
"You mean like a real date? How 'bout I buy you dinner."
"That's exactly what I had in mind. Are you free this weekend?"
"How about Friday night, I've got a great.." She interrupted me.
"Friday's good but I've got a place I'd like you to take me to. It's on the Island, I'm coming home to spend the weekend with mommy and daddy and perhaps we better meet at the restaurant, I guess you know daddy doesn't approve of me seeing guys who work for him."
"Yeah, I've been.... I've heard. Where do you want me to meet you?
"It's a restaurant in Oyster Bay. It's called 'Clowns'. Meet me there at eight, I'll take care of the reservations. I've really missed you, you know?"
"I've missed you too. What have you been doing with yourself these last few months, are you seeing anyone?"
Kathy was quiet for a moment. "I'll tell you when I see you. Eight o'clock at Clowns. Bye Sean."
I was excited and scared. I knew I was doing a really dumb thing but it was so damn invigorating and she was so damn good looking. All I could think of for the next two sleepless hours was making love, making real love to Kathy Scully. It wasn't until the next morning that I started to think again about her words during those few moments we had together. When she spoke about how she only really got off on having sex in strange places. I finally decided that depending on how strange the place was I could get off on it too. It just so happened that I didn't need a strange place with Kathy Scully, in fact I would've given a month's salary to be alone with her in my bed, any bed-- on a pool float, for Christ's sake-- for an hour.
We didn't officially announce the loss of Ruggero until the Friday morning meetings. Jim spoke to the headquarters sales people and I spoke to my retail department. I'm not sure what had gotten around on the headquarters side but I wasn't telling my people anything that they already hadn't heard. Nothing gets around any business faster than bad news except perhaps very bad news and this was nearly as bad as it could get. We gave them the standard bullshit about not making any cutbacks but they didn't believe it nor should they have. Within thirty days we'd laid off six retail reps and two headquarters salesmen. In those same thirty days, if Jim's estimate of Jack's worth was correct and the old man was getting seven-percent interest, he made about eighty seven thousand bucks, enough to pay three of my guys for a year.
The last few hours of Friday afternoon crawled but I cleaned up everything important on my desk and was on my way home by five thirty. At seven o'clock I was dressed and ready to head to Clowns, a twenty-minute ride so there I was watching the clock again. I decided to head out instead of annoying myself trying to kill time in my apartment. I took the long way up to Oyster Bay, east on Sunrise Highway, north on route 107 to the famous 106,107 fork. Right there it gets to beautiful country, the north shore of Long Island, formerly and sometimes still called the Gold Coast. Lots of money, lots of old money. A part of the island I'd never be able to afford to live in, hell if I didn't get out of Scully Sales before Jack either sold out or went under I wouldn't be long for my crummy little basement digs. But that worry was for another time, it was ten to eight and I was pulling into the Clowns parking lot.
I had heard of this restaurant though I wasn't sure where, probably a newspaper ad, a sure sign around here that they weren't doing all that well. From the outside it looked like a Friday's or Chili's knockoff, but from the amount of cars in the parking lot it wasn't doing anything like Friday's or Chili's business. I parked and went in, sat down at the half-empty bar and waited for the girl I hadn't seen in person for four months and hadn't failed to think about for any four-hour period. At a few minutes after eight she strolled in, spotted me and began her glide in my direction. Her musk easily beat her to me and I loved it. She walked up, gave me more than a peck on the mouth and sat down.
"Good to see you, you look great." Believe me, I wasn't just being polite. She had on a short black silk skirt, a white low cut blouse and her hair was pulled back. She had on the same big hoop earrings I remembered from the party and when she crossed her legs I noticed sexy black open toed shoes. She was the complete package, the best looking woman I'd ever been on a date with, much less had sex with.
"I missed you Sean, I know why you didn't call me but I don't agree with it. If you really, truly wanted to see me you could have. Look, all it took was me calling you and you blew off the instructions I'm sure Jim gave to you."
She was right about Jim but not the part about not really wanting to see her. I was on the edge of calling her a hundred times; her phone call didn't have but a centimeter to push me.
"I'll get us a table and you can continue my well deserved lecture there." I was smiling and she smiled back. I motioned to the host, a young guy who looked and acted as if it was his last day on the job and he begrudgingly brought us to a table. As he gestured for us to sit down Kathy shook her head.
"We'd like something with a little privacy, one of the booths in the back perhaps?"
The kid said "No problem", and led us to an area lined with several booths with partial glass partitions separating them. The partition around our table rose about four feet on both sides and the booth was a semi-circle of slippery red imitation leather. Kathy slid in and I sat down next to her, very next to her. She quickly put her hand on the back of my neck.
"I've thought about this a lot you know, us getting together like this."
I wasn't sure what she meant but I had an idea that like this meant exactly like this. That she wanted us to do a little something in the restaurant.... and I was game.
"Let's order something to drink. What do you like?"
"Just get me a Coke, Sean, I don't often drink alcohol." Under different circumstances that might suggest a too quiet evening, but with Kathy I didn't give it a second thought. I got the waitresses attention and ordered a Coke and a Bud. We made small talk for the few minutes it took for the drinks to arrive but we didn't look at the menus.
"Call the waitress back and tell her we'll be a few minutes before we order and that you'll call her when we're ready." I was already excited in every sense of the word as I gave the waitress her instructions. She left and I attempted to slide my hand down inside that silk skirt.
"No, that's not what I've been thinking about. I've got nothing on under the skirt and I want you to slide under the table when the coast is clear. I'll pick up my skirt and you'll get me off with that beautiful mouth of yours. Just a few seconds, I'll be watching, it'll be fine."
"I'm not gonna ask you if you're kidding, I know you're not. I'll just say you're crazy and I'm not gonna do it. Period, no way."
"I'll tell you what my darling Sean, you will do it because if you do I give you my word we'll be out of here two minutes later and on the way to your place or a motel or wherever the hell you want to take me. that's why you'll do it. And by the way, I guarantee you you're already starting to think you'll love it and you're rationalizing it will only be a few seconds and if we get thrown out so what. Tell me I'm wrong."
I smiled and shook my head. We were both looking around, there wasn't a hell of a lot of activity where we were and at the moment she said now I was already on my way under the table. I don't know how long I was down there; I lost track after about two seconds. I remember two things about it; the smell of her musk was stronger than ever and she had to pull me, drag me up.
When I straightened up in the booth I looked at Kathy and she had a very tiny smile. Her eyes seemed to be beyond glassy; they almost looked as if she was crying. But she was calm and spoke quietly.
"That was wonderful, you don't seem to disappoint. Do you ever disappoint people Sean?"
"Mostly myself, let's get out of here. You may be satisfied but I'm half out of my mind."
"Well, now I guess I owe you. Where do you want to go?" I left some money on the table, took her arm and headed to the parking lot. As we walked I suggested she follow me to my place, she was still very calm and softly asked me to go slow, not to lose her.
This time I wanted no part of the scenic route, I carefully led her to the infamous Long Island Expressway where we went a few miles to a parkway south and were in front of my Jackson Ave place in about fifteen minutes. I showed her the way in to my separate entrance on the side and was all over her as soon as I hit the light switch. I basically carried her into my bedroom and had her partially naked in a moment or two. As crazed with lust as I was I do remember that her body seemed to be more willing than her mind. By that I mean she certainly was physically receptive and moved with me but there clearly was something missing. Not just the fact that she never made a sound, it was more than that. I hesitate to say she faked any part of it but that may be my male pride speaking. Whatever it was, it was over quickly and we lay motionless and speechless for several minutes.
"Well, now I guess we're both in the same place," I said. "You doin' okay?"
"I've been doing just great since the restaurant, did I tell you how great you were there?"
She had and that begged the question of the last five minutes, and as far as I was concerned, the more important five minutes. But I understood for the most part what I was dealing with and at this point I wasn't complaining.
We both straightened ourselves up a bit and took my car to a local diner. Over a couple of club sandwiches we wound up talking about her father and Scully Sales.
"You know he took the loss of Ruggero very hard Sean, my mother said he's hardly said a word since it happened. When was it, Wednesday?"
"Yeah, Wednesday afternoon. I know we've really screwed that account up but do you know what the last straw was?"
"No, but I can guess it's something daddy did wrong."
I told her the story of the big mouth dentist. She didn't seem shocked; she didn't even seem fazed.
"One thing about my father, he puts on his mean face when he's around you guys but when he decides somebody is his equal, by equal I mean in money and position, he tends to go overboard. It sounds like he thought Dr. Bauer was a friend to be trusted and he got burned. Do you think it's possible Bauer didn't know the salesman was Tyler's wife's brother?"
"Jim said Tyler felt your father's dentist knew damn well who the guy was."
"Are we going to see each other again?" Kathy's abrupt change in the direction of the conversation caught me off guard. Nothing had changed; I was still playing with fire. If Jim found out he'd be disgusted with me, if her old man found out I'd be out of a job at least. I still wasn't sure how much of Jim's warning about Scully somehow punishing me beyond firing my ass was hyperbole. But she was so good to look at, so good to touch. Not to mention the fact I felt I was falling in love with her. And I found her, sitting there in the Wantagh Diner, easy to talk to. But I really didn't know how to respond to her question. I fell back on a clique.
"Let's play it by ear. You'll be in school another few weeks right? Give me your number and I'll call you when I get up the nerve."
"I appreciate your honesty Sean, but you'd better call, if you
don't I'll call you."
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Material Copyright © 1998-2003 by Jim Bearden