2
~ Ian ~
In the end, it takes a good couple of hours before Teri can catch her breath long enough for a break.
It’s probably our fault for coming during the busiest time of the day, but that’s all on me.
After Lorna finished college, I had been thinking about her risque photo for several long hours and needed to show my appreciation before we did anything else.
After that, I was starving and Lorna suggested we head out to grab some food - unless there was a third round left in me.
We sit in our booth in the fifties-style diner, watching the world go by.
This place seems to host an eclectic mix of clientele.
There are families who seem to know the staff by name.
Working men and women grabbing a quick bite on the way home, in both office suits and grubby, dust-covered protective clothing.
A few older-looking guys stare into space while their latest pot of coffee cools.
Young lovers out for a nervous first date. And us.
After a moment, I realize that this is technically our second date.
Assuming that Lorna counts the first time we had dinner together - just a meal between old friends reconnecting after a long period of absence - as a “date”.
Unless she doesn’t think of it like that, which would make this meal our first date.
We’ve already been making love every day for several weeks and now we’re going out on our first date.
I grin at the thought. Ian, you sly dog.
“What’s so funny?” Lorna looks at me over her glass of iced tea. She still has that wonderful post-coital glow about her.
“Nothing much. Just thinking that our date-to-sex ratio is wildly skewed.”
We exchange a wicked smile. Teri appears at our table. She looks harried, but lets out a sigh of relief and says, “Okay, I’m on break now. I’ve got twenty minutes.”
Lorna slides across the bench and pats the empty space. “Come and join us. Unless Ted has a problem with you sitting next to customers?”
Teri glances over her shoulder at an older man loitering near the cash register, pretending that he isn’t keeping a close eye on everyone in the diner.
She rolls her and slides into the booth.
“Screw Ted. if he has a problem with it, he should hire more waitresses, instead of trying to make the books look good.”
Lorna places a supportive hand on Teri’s arm. The two women share a knowing look. Teri shakes her head as if brushing all this off.
“Anyway, enough about me. How are you, girl? You up and quit and now you look better than ever. What’s going on?”
Lorna beams in delight. “That’s so sweet. Thanks. Well, it’s kind of a crazy story. I ran into Ian one day. He’s my old professor at college.”
Teri’s eyes slide toward me. I give her my warmest, friendliest smile, hoping that I seem approachable, and don’t come across like some kind of old pervert. Honestly, sitting across from these two beautiful women, I kind of feel like one. Teri watches me but speaks to Lorna.
“I thought you said he was a friend?”
A ripple runs through me. A look seems to cross Teri’s pretty face - one of disapproval and judgment. I suddenly understand what she’s thinking.
“I’m not a sugar daddy.” I hold both my hands up, palms forward, in pleading. “That’s not what this is, I swear.”
Lorna giggles. Teri frowns and looks between us.
Me, flustered and worried. Lorna, amused by it all.
My mouth flaps open and closed. The words don’t come.
How do I explain that I’m not a sugar daddy without making myself sound exactly like a sugar daddy?
I’m just some obscenely wealthy former professor of Lorna’s who invited her to live with me and now we’re having passionate sex all the time. That sounds way, way worse.
“No, it’s not like that, not at all.” Lorna manages to recover enough to speak. “Ian’s not a sugar daddy. He’s a friend. A really good, really close friend. And my former professor, which is how we reconnected.”
“Right.” It seems that Teri only slightly believes what we’re saying. She studies Lorna for a moment with a careful eye. “But you’ve totally… you know…”
Heat explodes through my cheeks. I don’t know how she’s deduced that fact or how I’m supposed to react to all this. But Lorna picks up the thread without a hint of embarrassment.
“Of course we have. I’m not a nun. Besides, can you blame me?” She places her hand on top of mine and winks. “He’s more of a man than all my ex-boyfriends combined.”
“Lucky you.” Teri purses her lips. I can’t tell if she’s jealous of Lorna or me.
“But that’s enough about us. What about you, girl? How are you getting on? I see you’re still dealing with that jackoff Ted.”
“Oh, brother.” Teri gives a sigh that’s only exaggerated slightly.
“Where do I begin? He hasn’t even bothered advertising to fill your role.
Almost all of us are pulling doubles at least once a week.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to have extra money - God knows, the tips are helping cover my rent - but damn, it’s exhausting. ”
Lorna glances at me and I take over the conversation. “So, Lorna tells me that this is only your part-time job, is that right?”
“That’s the idea.” Teri suddenly looks tired, as though the weight of the world is crushing those slender shoulders. “I’ve been trying to get my cleaning business up and running for about five years now, but…”
“But what?”
Something in her expression and tone and poise reminds me of the moment I met Lorna again, all those weeks ago, when she looked at me across that dirt road, lugging her worldly possessions in a suitcase.
Like Lorna, it seems that this young woman has been beaten down by life but hasn’t quite thrown in the towel just yet.
Teri takes a breath and I see a moment of doubt in her eyes, as though she’s deciding how honest to be with the two of us.
“It’s never really taken off. Honestly, my dream is to have a business and be my own boss, but it’s so tough to get started.”
“What’s stopping you?” I can’t help but try to probe further. Lorna’s eyes gleam, knowing that I’m intrigued.
“Oh, jeez, where to start? Licenses, taxes, permits - everything.”
“But you have all the equipment? Everything you need?”
“Sure, yeah.” Teri gestures with her hands, as if pointing toward her cleaning supplies off to one side.
“I have everything I need and I manage to book a few clients here and there. The hard part is getting a foothold. Every time I start to gain some momentum, I hit a roadblock and have to start over. It’s beyond hard. ”
Now Teri frowns. She narrows her eyes and looks at Lorna with suspicion. Lorna can’t hide a gleeful grin.
“What?” Teri glances at me. “Why do you ask?”
I lay my hands on the table. I wrote up a whole list earlier today, but it doesn’t feel like the right time to break that out just yet. I say, “I have a business proposal for you - if you’re willing to hear me out?”
~ Teri ~
“What kind of business proposal?” I ask without a clue as to what he’s going to say.
Is he going to invest money in my little one-woman cleaning business?
I’ve watched enough Shark Tank to know that’s a losing proposition.
I can’t seem to make a go of it just trying to support myself.
How would I be able to support an investor?
And a pretty well-off investor from the looks of him.
“Well, I want to hire you, Teri,” he says with a warm smile. “I need a housekeeper and a cook, full-time. Lorna says you can handle both jobs. If you’re interested, of course.”
I stare at him for a few seconds, trying to process what he’s saying. “So, I would just work for you, no other clients?”
“Do you have any other clients?” Lorna asks gently but the implication still pisses me off. Even though it’s true.
“Well, no. Not really.”
Ian nods. “I’m sure we can make arrangements so that if you get other clients, you can take care of them, Teri.”
“So, what’s the catch?” I ask, trying to keep my skepticism out of my tone. “How can you have enough work for me to be there every working day?”
“It’s a big house, Ter,” Lorna says. “Huge. You should see it.”
“And I would give you your own room, no charge, and you would eat with us,” Ian adds.
I turn and look at him. “So, I’d be a live-in maid?”
“I wouldn’t call it that, no,” he says haltingly. “More of a live-in chef and housekeeper.”
“Does the label matter, Teri?” Lorna asks. “He’s offering you free room and board so you can save up and really get your business off the ground the right way.”
“When would I do that, Lorna? If I’m working for you full time?” I look back and forth between them. “I assume you two are living together, right?”
Lorna almost blushes. Ian actually does.
“Yeah, we are living together,” Lorna admits with a mix of pride and embarrassment to my ear. “Is that a problem?”
“We’re getting a little away from the subject at hand, here,” Ian says in his most fatherly tone which puts me off, big time.
“More than anything, I need help with maintaining some sort of order in the house. Secondarily, Lorna says you’re a good cook, Teri, and we definitely need help in that regard as well.
I don’t mind going out or getting food delivered once in a while but I much prefer home cooking.
If you’re half as good as Lorna says you are, that would be the icing on the cake, no pun intended.
” He smiles apologetically and it’s both cute and offputting at the same time, how, I’ll never know.
“So, would I be on call twenty-four, seven?” I'm not anywhere close to saying yes to this preposterous scheme but asking questions buys me some time to think.
“No, not at all,” Ian says quickly. “I’ve never had live-in help before, but whatever is customary will suffice.” He looks at Lorna. “Do you know how that kind of thing works?”
She laughs. “How would I know? Do I look like the type of person who grew up with a household staff?” She turns to me.
“Not that we’d think of you as staff, Teri.
You’d just be doing your thing, so to speak.
I’ll be at class and buried in my studies most of the time.
” She looks at Ian and he seems to understand it’s his turn to reassure me that they won’t work me to death.
“Yeah, and I’m trying to get my arms around my new book collection,” he says cryptically. “There’s enough work there to keep me busy for years and I want to focus on that instead of, well, all the other stuff.”
“So, I’d be handling all the other stuff,” I asked, not trying to sound dismissive but not quite pulling it off.
“I’d pay you well, Teri,” Ian says with a lopsided smile.
I look at Lorna and she’s still smiling so I suppose I haven’t put them off yet.
“How well?” I ask. In for a penny, in for a pound…
Ian looks at Lorna, surprisingly. I expected him to be the one who decided minor details like how much he’d be paying me but he seems to be throwing the ball to Lorna.
“What would you say is fair, Teri?” she asks, punting the ball to me. God, I hate that! Make a fucking decision, I want to scream at her.
I look at her for a long moment before I turn to Ian.
He’s got a really nice shirt on and he probably paid a fortune for his haircut.
I only wish I’d seen what car they drove here.
I raise an eyebrow to make a point and buy me some time.
I do a quick calculation and decide to double it. Just to see how it lands.
“Five thousand a month,” I say with a catch in my voice that totally blows my tough-girl act. But Ian doesn’t bat an eye. I’m impressed.
Then Ian smiles while Lorna sucks in a breath. I just hold mine.
“Let’s make it ten, Teri.”