A Few More Nights (Slice of Life) (3 page)

Nadine left her extra key to the condo along with a note on the nightstand for Marc. She was as quiet as she could be as she completed her morning yoga routine, ate her toast with a 100 calorie Greek yogurt, showered and dressed for work.  She checked in on her….what the hell was he to her….right now, he was her very large, sleeping, teddy bear. Last night was amazing, but today she had work to do, money to make, and consumers to convince to buy items they truly didn’t need.  The one thing she was not convinced of was if she needed the complication of Marc Deasley in her life.  At the end of the day, he was and would always remain the little brother of her boss. If the situation evolved into something more, and there needed to be a decision of her job or this man, she would probably take the job.  Her job she was really great at—relationships, not so much. In her mind, a few more nights with him was not going to alter her life.

Nadine arrived at her office at the same time as usual but this morning something was off.  Normally she was the first one in and sometimes the last one out, but today, everyone was in the office when she sat at her desk at 7:30.  Curious eyes kept glancing her way and she pretended not to notice the stares. At 9:30, she began the morning briefing, gave instructions for the day to the staff and went back to her desk.  Minutes later, Rolland was in her office with the opening word of the day, “Well….”

Uncertain of where he was going with the opener, she began to fill him in on the Wilson account, discussed the preliminary projections on Duncan Signs and finally she reviewed the initial story boards on Crawford Motors. He did not seem pleased.  She asked if she had missed something. Fingers rubbed his chin as if pondering how to take over the world, which led to him blurting out, “I am talking about Marc!”

There was nothing to tell him and besides, it was none of his business. Instead she took a different route, “We did talk at length about his idea and his campaign.  I have advised him that it would probably work best for all involved if he did not use your surname in the business title, but use a name that was more closely related to the services he planned to provide.”  Rolland sprang from the chair giving her a look of utter frustration. Nadine was not going to open this door, but proceeded to securely fasten it so that it would not allow, appear, or emanate any future entry. “That’s all I have on it right now, but I will keep you posted on the progress over the next six months.  Since I do have a bit of time to really think through this, I am going to take it to ensure that it will be a workable approach and a good fit.”  Her eyes glanced at the door.  During eight years of working beside Nadine, Rolland had learned when she was done with a conversation. This was his cue that this conversation was over.

“Keep me posted,” was all that he added on the way out.

At lunch time, Nadine gathered her things, told the office assistant that she was leaving the building for an appointment, and made her way towards the door.  She turned
and bumped into something solid, which smelled like—“Oh, hello Mr. Deasley.” Nadine was praying that she showed no reaction to being so close to Marc, and side-stepped him. “Good seeing you again,” she said as she made her way to the door. She could feel all the eyes on her back as she made her way from the building. Rolland was standing in his doorway watching the whole scene and for some reason, he was uncertain which one he wanted to protect, his brother or his business partner.

“Ready for lunch?” Marc asked his brother.  He had chosen to have lunch with him again since he planned to spend his last night in L.A. with Nadine.

Lunch was ridiculously quiet. Marc knew what this meant, so he started the initial conversation. “What’s eating you Rolland?”

His brother exhaled and began a list that he had evidently been working on since yesterday of all the reasons why this relationship should not go forward. “I know what kind of employee she is, but I really don’t know what kind of woman she is….if that makes any sense.”

Marc understood what his brother was trying to say. “Rolland, in the past eight years, has her private life ever bled into her work life?” He answered no.

“Have you ever known her to be a loose or wanton woman?”

Rolland knew where Marc was going, and headed him off at the pass, “Yeah, but if you hadn’t walked into the office, I would have never known about you either!”

They were at a standoff, so Marc took the direct approach, “What is your real concern here, Roll?”

“My concern is that she is efficient, but sometimes cold. I tried talking to her this morning and she gave me nothing.”

“Maybe she gave you nothing because it is none of your damned business,” he told his brother as he popped a piece of sliced chicken into his mouth.

Rolland was not going to let it go, “When she spoke of you, she did not even say your name. There was no dreamy in her eyes when she talked of your campaign, and even when she bumped into you, her fingers did not linger.  She treated you like a stranger!”

Marc thought about her fingers last night and a goofy look came over his face. “That’s the look I expected to see on her face, not on yours,” Rolland said and called the waitress over to order a coffee.

Marc was still unfazed by Rolland’s concerns, there were some things his big brother was not understanding. He ran down the list by first explaining that he was Nadine’s boss and she had worked hard to earn his respect, she was not going to lose it by going gaga on the job.  She had never shown her co-workers any part of her personal life and they did not need to be a part of it now. “Nadine is trying to maintain a level of professionalism in the office.”

Rolland was now bordering on anger, “Professionalism my ass! She is dealing with my little brother!”

“Which is exactly the reason she is probably not letting you in.” Marc saw his brother back down some. “Besides, how comfortable would you be to have a conversation with your right hand about my favorite sexual position?”

Rolland nearly choked, “I don’t ever need to know any of that!”

“You don’t really need to know any of it. This is new to us both and we are dealing with a great deal of emotions, feelings, and just trying to sense our way through. Let us do it on our own,” It was more of a plea than a statement.

Rolland conceded, “So you are still moving forward with this?” He eyed his little brother with a bit of concern for his tender heart.  The death of his fiancée nearly destroyed him and Nadine was a force unlike any he had ever met.  If something went wrong and it didn’t work out, he was genuinely concerned for his brother’s mental health.  He could not say these things to him, but while it had been six years and Marc appeared stronger, but one could never really tell.

Marc told his brother, “The stars seem to be aligning in our favor, let’s just wait and see what happens.”

Her appointment had run a few minutes over, which pushed her a bit later getting back to the office.  Now she was a few minutes late leaving and did not arrive home until a quarter of seven. There was music coming from her place along with several smells that were not there when she left.  With stealth, she opened the front door, and slipped inside.  Her mouth dropped open.

Soft jazz was playing in the background, candles were lit, the table was set, and the most amazing bouquet of flowers sat on the dining room table. None of this was as surprising as finding Marc in the kitchen cooking dinner, wearing an apron and a pair of shower shoes.  Initially she thought she was seeing things until he bent over in the stove to remove two baked potatoes, giving her a bird’s eye view of several of his better features.  He was holding something hot, so she waited until he sat the pan down before announcing her presence.

He jumped and turned to greet her with a huge smile. Nadine went all soft inside, “So, Marc, I see you have been busy today.” She wanted to kiss the hell out of him, pull up that apron and show him how much she appreciated all—whatever this was—but she erred on the side of caution, deciding to wait and see what he had in mind first.

“Oh, I have a surprise for you!” He was grinning from ear to ear, obviously very proud of whatever he had done, she found herself grinning back.

“A bigger surprise than walking in and seeing you in just an apron?” She touched at the fabric.  He laughed while explaining that he was doing his laundry before packing for his flight, and he didn’t want to take the chance of burning anything while he was cooking; his gazed wandered down to his junk.   He took her purse, laptop case, and seated her at the table.  He had used a hand towel to cover his chair before sitting his naked bum down.  Nadine thought that was considerate.

Marc had made a dinner of braised pork chops, baked sweet potatoes, crunchy green beans, and soft yeast rolls. To her surprise, he had chosen a David Bruce Grenache Noir to pair with the dinner. It was perfect. She was afraid to say anything for fear of ruining the moment, but it was all too impeccable. “Marc, I don’t know what I did to deserve all of this, but thank you for a wonderful meal.  The flowers are beautiful, the music is flawless and the scenery is magnificent.”  She leaned forward, running her hand down the side of his face, then pulling him in for a kiss.

Sitting his fork and knife to the side, “I wanted you to see a different side of me.” She thought back to his untanned ass bending over inside of her stove, she only smiled and nodded that a different side of him was shown. He knew what she meant but forged ahead, “You know what I am like as a lover. I want you to see what I can be like as something more in your life.” Before she could say anything else, he placed a finger over her lips, because he needed her to hear him out before he lost his courage.

“The flowers mean I will never forget to celebrate the milestones in our lives. The music means that I will strive to always be in tune with you. Dinner symbolizes that I understand it will take both of us sharing responsibility to make this work.” He took a breath when he saw her eyes starting to tear up, but he had more to say, as he pulled a black elongated velvet box from under the table and handed it to her.  She flicked away the tears from her cheeks as she opened the box to find a beautiful tennis bracelet.

“That bracelet means that I will never forget a birthday, an anniversary, or your feelings.”  He rose from the chair to help her put the bracelet on and then took his wallet from the counter. There was something he was mumbling about the stars aligning in their favor before he fastened the lobster clasp on her wrist; she didn’t hear anything he was saying since her focus was on the tingling of her cupcake. He told her he had one more thing for her. He removed a green, business sized card from his wallet, and handed it to her. “I saw my doctor today and he gave me a clean bill of health.  I am disease and cootie free.”

Nadine’s mind was still on this perfect evening, and she was slow on the uptake, but Marc had already changed the music on the iPod to “My Pony”, by Genuwine. The music was slowly getting louder and she turned to find him standing there in a body builder pose. “That green card means that tonight, my Beauty,” he slowly raised the bottom of the apron, “all of this right here, is yours to play with,
sans
wrapper.” He began to do the stripper jiggle and thrust at her staying on the beat with the song. Nadine cracked up laughing, and was very impressed with the amount of rhythm and control he was exerting.

Great minds must have thought alike, she went to her purse and removed a similar pink card and handed it to him.  The pretty pink silk dress she was wearing had been removed to reveal the birth control patch on her back.  If this was going to be the last night together for six months, it was going to be a doozy.

“Marc, I don’t know what this is and I don’t care.  All I know is that I want to be with you.” She threw herself into his arms and pulled at the apron strings. She planted small kisses over his chest, his abdomen, and even there, “Six months really isn’t that long.”  There were few words to be said after that moment. 

              Rolland arrived at seven a.m. to take his brother to the airport. He was taking far too long and would miss his flight.  There was someone coming out of the door of Nadine’s building when Rolland slipped inside and marched up to Nadine’s apartment.  He had only been here a few times for small gatherings, but he rang the bell to collect his brother. Marc answered the door looking extremely sated, tired, and like a man in love. He could see his reluctance to leave. Nadine was not making it easy for him, because she was now wrapped around him like a Koala cub.  Her face was tear-soaked as she told him she would Skype him every night, send care packages of fruit along with anything else he needed.  Rolland was shocked to see such a vulnerable side of his partner. “Just once more, before you leave Marc….”

             
He sat her on the table, kissed her eyelids, her cheeks and her lips, “Beauty, you have stolen my heart. All that I have is yours to keep.” He kissed her lips, placed her left hand over his heart before he hugged her tightly and told her with a softness that radiated how much he cared for this woman, “I will be back in six months.”

             
“Six months isn’t that long, right?”

             
“The time will fly by and then you and I will be together again; it has been ordained in the stars.” Marc kissed her just once more before grabbing his bag and heading to the airport.

             
Nadine knew she needed to get ready for work.  First she needed to put fresh linens on the bed.  She pulled back the covers and her breath caught in her throat.  The birth control patch she had gotten yesterday was stuck to the sheets. Panic set in because she had no idea of when or at what point it had detached itself. Her eyes rolled up into her head as she recounted the four times she and Marc had coupled throughout the night.

             
The bed was left unmade as she quickly showered, dressed and headed out to the nearest drug store to get a morning after pill. At seven thirty it was still a tad bit dark for this time of the year and Nadine noticed the stars in the sky. Marc had mentioned the stars several times last night as well as today. What drew her attention was the brightness as well as the alignment of the stars.  Those stars and a few others were the last thing she saw after the pick-up truck t-boned her car and slung her Buick up on the curb.