Page 56 of Afternoon Delight
“Yeah,” I said reluctantly. “Roddie expects us to. Joel does. Even if I stayed here, there’s no guarantee Zak would stay here, too. Or that he wants a relationship. He’s only here for his Dad and that situation is pretty heavy and unpredictable. Even if none of that was a factor, he’s too young for me.”
“Not that you’ve given it any thought.”
“None,” I said facetiously.
“I thought Zara was our age. How is he too young?”
“Thirty-two or three at most. It’s more about the fact he doesn’t have kids yet. He’ll want some. And this factory...” I pointed to my abdomen. “Is no longer in the business of making those.”
“Did he say he wants kids?”
“It’s implied. He was engaged last year to someone who lived with him. If he wants anything from me, it’s rebound sex and I’m here for it. But tell me about Bruno.” I leaned forward.
“Ah, Bruno.” She looked to the ceiling. “We hooked up a few times, but it was complicated with his work hours and he had some family stuff. Then I opened the business and had my own stuff. We couldn’t get on the same—” She see-sawed her hand.
“Time zone? He told us he works nights.”
“I was going to say wavelength, but that, too. Then we had this Romeo and Juliet moment one day when he threw open his window as I was leaving the store. He yells, ‘Are you looking for me?’ and I said, ‘Nah, dawg, I work here.’ It was pretty funny when we realized that he lived upstairs from my new shop, but I was already having problems with my back and...” She shrugged.
“I think he really likes you.”
“He texts me sometimes. I answer sometimes.”
I left it at that, and we went on to talk about how Afternoon Delight might offer workshops and which topics to cover first.
Chapter 32
Meg
On Monday, Mom came by the shop to give it a spring makeover. She’d picked up a clear umbrella printed with rainbows, some silk tulips from the thrift store, and a pair of bright yellow women’s rubber boots.
She arranged a few shower toys with a book on natural aphrodisiacs and some colorful tubes of lube. Her sign read:
Have fun! Get wet!
“You could start a business doing this, you know.”
“I doubt it.” She reached into the display to adjust the angle of a boot. “People don’t even go into stores anymore.”
“Because their window displays suck.”
“I’m retired. People would think I’m broke and taking the only work I can get.”
“Screw what people think. If you like doing it, do it. It’s flexible. You could take only the clients you like and only as many as you want.”
She waved her hand in dismissal. “I already work at the thrift store.”
“For free. Doing this for free.”
“Because I have friends there.” I could see the little hamster in her head running in its wheel, though.
“It would get you out of the house and help you meet people once you move back east with us.”
She sighed the way she always did when I brought up moving, big and heavy. “This is where I live, Meg.”
“I know.” It’s where I had grown up, and I couldn’t remember why I had hated it so much. My life had seemed very small back then. Restricted. But I’d been a kid.
“Roddie seems to like it here,” Mom pointed out.
