“You all right?”
She nodded and slipped on her shoes. “Fine. Just… nervous.”
Her answer made sense. Who wouldn’t be nervous? I’d question her intelligence if she wasn’t. We had barely spoken since having sex in front of a bunch of men in robes, and the word “awkward” would be an understatement.
We made our way to the dining room and sat across from each other in complete silence. I was happy when Mrs. H walked into the room and broke the painful lack of noise that nearly suffocated us.
“Good morning, dears. I hope you have a big appetite. I had the cook make up a breakfast for kings.”
“Thank you, Mrs. H,” I said. “I’m not a big breakfast person, but out of respect to you, I’ll eat anything.”
“Yes, thank you,” Abilene added.
Mrs. H exited and the silence returned. I suppose I could have left it that way, but at the same time, this would be a brutal 109 days if we didn’t at least know how to speak with each other. But I also got the feeling that this would require me to make the first move.
“I was thinking that you and I could discuss some rules.” I began the conversation as I would start any meeting with colleagues sitting around a conference table. “Maybe create a contract that we agree to so we can both be on the same page. That way neither one of us will risk upsetting the other, and we can have a business relationship that will succeed.”
“Contract?” she huffed, one eyebrow tilting up. “Funny that we didn’t need a contract the first time we met.”
And back to that…
I was hoping we could just gloss over the fact that I once knew this woman, and even had my dick buried inside of her. I couldn’t remember exactly from where I knew her, and I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. I sure as hell didn’t want to come across as the asshole I felt like.
“You don’t remember me, do you?”
Great. She could read my mind.
“Let me help you out,” she continued. “Moody’s Bar a couple months ago. You and I hooked up. One night stand, but we definitely lived the hell out of that night.”
And there it was. Yes… I remembered her now.
Or as much as I could in that near blackout night that I most certainly regretted. To have fucked a girl I could barely remember… I didn’t do this type of stuff normally, and now my one-night drunken mistake was coming back to haunt me.
“I’m sorry. I had a lot to drink that night,” I said quietly, ashamed that those words even had to leave my mouth. I wasn’t an alcoholic or some frat boy who took hits from beer bongs. I prided myself on being more mature than my years, and yet, I’d clearly pulled a juvenile act I considered beneath me.
She shrugged. “We both did. It is what it is.”
“You know each other?” Mrs. H asked as she came in carrying our tray of breakfast, clearly overhearing the tail end of our conversation.
My face heated, hating that Mrs. H heard what we were discussing, and I could do nothing more than stiffen my spine and try to act like it was no big deal. “Not really.”
Mrs. H glared at Abilene with skepticism in her eyes. Abilene shifted in her seat and reached for her napkin.
“We met in a bar once. I thought I recognized her when I saw her in the ballroom last night,” I added.
“You clearly have a type,” Abilene said, appearing pale again as Mrs. H studied her.
“Hmm,” Mrs. H said and then turned her attention back to me. “Enjoy your breakfast.” She then turned on her heels without saying another word.
“I don’t think she likes me,” Abilene muttered as she took a bite of eggs.
“It takes Mrs. H a while to warm up to people. But once she does, she'll love you forever. She’s a good person to have watching your back.”
“I can watch my own back, thank you.”
Grateful that Mrs. H changed the conversation about how we’d had sex before and I could barely remember it, I decided to control the morning the best I could so we wouldn’t have to go down that path again.
“So, about that contract,” I said as I got up and opened several drawers on the nearby hutches and side tables until I found a pen and pad of paper. I then sat back down and got ready to write as I sipped my coffee. “What rules would you like to see?”
“Rules?” she asked with a mouthful of food.
“Yes, rules. For instance, our sleeping arrangement. We both slept in the bed last night but are you cool with that to continue?”
“Do we have a choice in the matter? It’s not like we can be in separate rooms or something.”