“What did you say to her?” Marcus asked as soon as Panthea sat down.
“Slow down, Marcus. Don’t act so excited,” Panthea said. “Her name is Nicole, she’s from Chicago and came here, as you can see, to get some sun. Her boyfriend was supposed to join her here today, but got tied up and can’t get here until late tonight.”
“And?” Marcus asked and glanced in the woman's direction. He watched as she stood up and wrapped a towel around herself.
“I started to tell her our names were Scott and Abril, but then I remembered—she’s dead,” Panthea laughed. “So your name is Mark and I’m Pam, and we’re from Baltimore.”
“Good, baby, that was good thinking,” Marcus mused and watch as Nicole gathered her things to leave the beach.
“Thank you. I like it when you’re proud of me. Anyway, I asked her if she wanted to have sex with you,” Panthea said calmly.
Marcus laughed because he didn’t believe she had actually said that. But he was there to have fun, so he played along. “What did she say?”
“She said no.”
“Oh, that’s too bad,” Marcus said and tried his best to look disappointed. “I was really looking forward to getting with her.”
“But when I told her she could have both of us, she changed her mind. So I told her what suite we were in and said she should be there in about an hour. You understand. She wanted to freshen up a bit first. I think we should do the same.”
“Right,” Marcus said and laughed as Panthea stood up. “Where are you going?”
Panthea looked at Marcus strangely. “Ah, to the room to freshen up,” she said and let out a little laugh.
“You're serious, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“So let me get this straight. That woman—”
“Nicole.”
“Right, Nicole is going to meet us in our suite in an hour to have sex with both of us?”
“That’s right.” Panthea sat down and took Marcus’s hand. “Is that all right with you? I mean me—us having sex with her? I mean, that wasn’t what we discussed before I went and spoke to her.”
“You’d do that? I mean—with woman?”
“I have before, but it’s been years since I’ve done anything like that.”
Marcus leaned back in his chair and looked at Panthea. “You want her, don’t you?”
Panthea offered a shy smile. “Yes, I do,” she said softly.
A little over an hour later, Marcus and Panthea had made love in the shower, and then freshened up and sat waiting on their deck for Nicole to arrive. They had room service deliver a couple of bottles of champagne, which was chilling in the living room of the suite. Panthea was getting a little nervous.
Maybe I should have told her we’d come to her room, Panthea thought. She hadn’t done anything like this in a very long time. It was a part of herself that she never shared with Scott, never really wanted to. But for reasons that she couldn’t explain to herself, she wanted to share this with Marcus.
As she gazed at the Gulf of Mexico, Panthea’s mind drifted back to thoughts of those days, thoughts of Aisha. She and Aisha Kaufman had been best friends since first grade. By the time they reached high school, th
ey were both very pretty and pretty wild. They even looked a little alike.
I miss you, Aisha.
But Panthea was a different person in those days. In those days, it was all about men and all about the money. Panthea and Aisha had a lot of good times and some bad times too.
Marcus noticed the distant look on Panthea’s face. “Hey,” he said and touched her hand. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” Panthea said and was startled by a knock at the door. Panthea’s expression changed. “You didn’t think she was coming, did you?” She asked and left Marcus sitting on the deck and went to answer the door.