4 #2
As I give Ian directions to my place, I let my eyes linger on him as he drives.
Once again, I’m struck by how attractive he is – kind eyes and a strong jaw, flecks of gray in his beard and hair making it clear that he’s comfortable with looking his age.
He’s fit but not aggressively so. I hate men who go overboard with the weights to convince themselves they’re still the young guns they used to be.
Ian seems to be more than comfortable in his own skin.
As well he should if he’s sleeping with Lorna.
I can’t really blame either one of them for seeing something in the other that is too good to ignore.
I know I do. I’ve been attracted to Lorna from a distance almost from the day we met even though I never got any sense that the feeling was mutual.
She struck me as a committed heterosexual woman back then and nothing over the years changed my initial assessment. Much to my chagrin.
Ian is cut from the same cloth and even more square than Lorna, if that’s possible.
I can’t see him even considering a threesome or an open relationship and risking whatever it is that he and Lorna are doing.
Which is a downright shame because I’m getting all kinds of twinges as I think about walking in on them in flagrante delecto.
“I’ll just be a minute if you want to wait in the car,” I tell him after he pulls up my building’s front door.
“Nonsense,” he says with a grand gesture. “I’ll help you carry your things down.”
“There’s honestly not much to carry.” I’m lying and thankfully, he doesn’t believe me.
I could use the help and he trails along behind me as I enter my building, hopefully for the last time.
We jog up the stairs and I open the door to my apartment while gritting my teeth.
I’m sure my roommate Beth is home – she’s always home – and I’m not looking forward to the argument she’s sure to give me about bailing on her and my share of the rent.
“What the fuck, Teri?” Beth shouts as we walk in the door.
She’s sitting in her usual spot on the ratty sofa we salvaged last year from someone’s curbside trash pickup and never got around to replacing.
She’s wearing her usual torn jeans and decade-old hoodie, her hair a mess and her expression snarly. “Why aren’t you at work?”
“Why don’t you have a job, Beth?” I ask just to annoy her. She’s always talking a big game but never seems to come through when the rent is due. How she’s managed to wheedle the extra cash out of our two other roommates, I’ll never understand.
“Who’s the geezer and why are you bringing him here in the middle of the day? Are you starting up a new side hustle or something?” she says as she eyes Ian up and down. “How much is she charging you, Grandpa?”
I’m about to launch myself at the bitch when Ian calmly holds up a hand with a glance my way.
He’s got a look in his eyes that stops me dead in my tracks so I rein in my anger, and my balled fists, and just stand in the middle of the living room, seething, waiting to see what he has in mind for my slattern roommate.
“You must be Beth,” he says as polite as you please, thank you very much. “It’s so nice to meet you.” He holds out his hand and Beth has no choice but to shake it.
“What’s your game, Gramps? You looking for a threesome or what? Although from the looks of you, I don’t think you’re really up to it.” She smirks and then laughs, forcing it which only makes it worse. She doesn’t move from the couch, though.
“I’m sorry to be stealing your roommate away from you, Beth,” he says as he reaches for his wallet in his back pocket. “I imagine that will make things a little tight for you next month.”
“Wait, what?” Beth shouts, shoots to her feet, and glares at me, her nostrils flaring and her eyes burning holes in me. “You’re bailin’ on me?”
“She’s coming to live at my place, Beth,” Ian says calmly but I have no idea how he’s doing it. My head is about to explode. He pulls a stack of hundreds out of his wallet and begins to thumb through them. “How much is her share of the rent, Beth?”
Every time he says her name she looks at him and I almost have to smile at the effect he’s having on her. Until I realize what he’s doing.
“Hey, wait a minute,” I tell him quietly. “You don’t have to do that, Ian?”
“The fuck he doesn’t!” Beth screams at me. “I think two or three months is in order seeing as she gave us no notice whatsoever.” She shouts the last word right in my face and I’m back on the launching pad until Ian steps in once again.
“Just give me a number, Beth,” he says in that too-calm voice of his before he turns to me. “No charity here, Teri, if that’s of concern. We can call it an advance on your salary.”
“Wait, what?” I sputter and Beth whirls on him.
“So you are paying her?” she shouts triumphantly. “I knew it.”
“How much, Beth?” he asks again in a slightly firmer tone. “Or are we good here?”
“No, no,” she says quickly. “I’ll take your money, old man.” She looks at me. “And a little extra for my inconvenience of having to find a new roommate, I think.”
“Can you just give me a number, Beth?” Ian asks sternly.
“Two grand,” she says after a half-second pause. “No, three.”
Ian shoots me a look and smiles. I’m about to object when he puts his wallet away and Beth almost loses her shit. “What the fuck, Boomer?”
He shakes his head at her. “I can’t believe you pay that much for this place, Beth, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, just to smooth your transition.
” He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a stack of money with the bank wrapper still on it, like something out of a mob movie.
“Here’s five grand and we’ll call it a day.
” He flips her the cash and this time I find my voice.
“Wait a minute,” I begin but he cuts me off.
“It’s on me, Teri. I’ll cover it as a moving expense.” He turns back to Beth. “We square, Beth?”
She stares at the stack for a beat before she looks at Ian. “Yeah, we’re good, Gramps.”
“Go grab what you need, Teri,” he tells me before he turns back one last time to my now-former roommate. “Oh, and I’m Gen X all the way, Beth. Just to be clear.”
“Whatevs, old man,” she says with a wave as she thumbs the money like a deck of cards.
Ian follows me into the bedroom and I almost lose it. “Why did you…?”
He cuts me off with a casual wave. “Cost of doing business, Teri. Everyone expects to pay one way or another when acquiring talent.”
“Talent?” I ask, dumbfounded. “What talent?”
He smiles and looks around for something to carry. “That pie was world-class, Teri. Don’t kid yourself.”
“Seriously?” I ask, feeling all kinds of weird and proud at the same time. “One pie?”
“Oh, I’m sure they’ll be others,” he says as he picks up a basket full of my clothes and moves toward the door before he glances at me. “Right?”
I smile broadly. “You know it, boss.”