by R. R. Banks
Chapter Eleven
Snow
The day after my date with Lee, Fawn let me know that I would be returning home in between dates rather than staying at the retreat. Because I had chosen a longer experience, this would help me to keep up with the rest of my life and also create a distinct separation between each of my dates so that I could immerse myself completely in each one. I went home the next day with the instruction that I would receive another box just before the next date. I would usually spend Friday through Monday at the retreat for each date, so that I could totally remove myself from the real world for each experience.
There was a slight sense of disappointment as I returned home that day. Though I loved my house, I had enjoyed the retreat so much and expected that I would have been able to spend more time there rather than having to return so quickly. The evening after I returned, I walked into my living room and set a bottle of beer on the top of the entertainment center. It was the same brew that Lee had chosen for us, a subtle reminder of that night, my first leap into my journey of discovery.
“Snow?”
A familiar voice came from behind me and I turned around to see Robin letting himself into the house. He’d had a key to every home that I had lived in, from the most meager of apartments when I was in college until this house. My ex had hated it, but that was something, possibly the only thing, that I had refused to change for him. It was reassuring to me for Robin to have a key and to know that even if he wasn’t there yet, I could feel like I wasn’t really alone in my home. The only compromise that I had made was to text Robin any time that my ex was at my apartment so that he would know not to let himself in until I told him that I was by myself again. Those restrictions were gone now and several times a week Robin would appear in my house, ready to share a bawdy story or hoping that I had ordered something for dinner so we could sit on the couch and veg out with terrible TV.
I realized in that moment how much I had missed him. It had only been a few days since I saw him, yet it felt like a tremendous relief to see him again. I rushed across the room and gathered him into a tight hug.
“It’s so good to see you,” I said.
Robin embraced me back.
“You, too,” he said. “So…. how is The Enchanted Woods?”
There was a devilish lilt to his voice that told me he knew more about the retreat than he had initially let on and I smiled.
“You knew, didn’t you?” I asked. “You knew all along what you were sending me into.”
“I might have had the tiniest little inkling,” he said. “I thought that it would be perfect for you. Exactly what you needed. So, tell me, tell me, tell me. Is it amazing?”
My face fell and I shook my head.
“I hated it,” I said.
I saw the joy melt out of the expression on his face and his hands dropped down to his sides.
“You what?” he said, sounding dejected.
“I hated it,” I said again. “Why do you think I’m back here so soon? It was awful. What were you thinking, sending me to a place like that? That brochure was total bullshit. I rode up to a gravel lot and a double wide with broken windows, and some disgusting woman who looked like she hadn’t bathed in a month offered me her stepson for a romp in the hay.”
“I’m so sorry,” Robin started, then he paused, his head tilting as a confused expression crossed his eyes. “Wait. You’ve been gone for days.”
I started laughing and pulled him in for another hug.
“I’m kidding,” I said. “It’s wonderful there. It looks exactly like the brochure.”
“I want to know everything,” he said. “Everything.”
Just then the doorbell rang and I walked over to it. I paid the delivery man on the other side and turned around to present the pizzas that I held to Robin. His eyes lit up and we rushed into the living room, taking our customary positions on the couch. I glanced up at the beer as I put the pizzas on the coffee table. Maybe I would tell him everything.
Maybe.
The time in between my dates went by even more tortuously than the first days that I waited at the retreat. Without a job to go to each day it felt as though I was just kind of drifting through them. I cleaned the house and rearranged the furniture, then rearranged it again, and then again. It ended up back in the same positions that it had originally been in, but I had the satisfaction of knowing that the space under it was clean. I remembered the stretches that Lee had guided me through and started going through them each morning. By the time that two weeks had passed, I was noticeably more limber and feeling a new appreciation for the way that my body could move.
I was gripping my ankle, working toward pulling my leg down toward my face, when my doorbell rang. I peeked out of the peephole and didn’t see anybody, but there was another white box sitting on the ground in front of my door just as it had been in the retreat. I opened the door and looked around to make sure that none of my neighbors were watching before snatching up the box and dipping back inside. This box was larger and heavier than the one for my first date and I was immediately intrigued. Sitting on the living room couch, I pulled the envelope out from beneath the satin ribbon, green this time, and opened it.
“Practice and repeat.”
“Perfect. Even more vague.”
I tossed the note and envelope onto the coffee table and opened the box. When I opened it, I found that there were two outfits nestled inside. Small cards on top said “first” and “second”. I hadn’t expected the box to arrive at my house, thinking that it was more likely that it would arrive once I had gone back to the retreat, then it occurred to me that I wouldn’t have known which Friday to arrive if I hadn’t gotten the box. It was still the middle of the week, but that meant I only had a couple more days until I was back at the retreat and preparing for another date. I went back to my stretching, feeling more optimistic and excited than I had felt in several days.
Chapter Twelve
Snow
Saturday afternoon I stepped out of the cottage and saw the limo already waiting for me. I was wearing the outfit that had been indicated as being first, a pair of tight jeans and a tank top with the name of a band that I had heard of in passing emblazoned across the front along with a pair of black boots. I had worn my hair down straight, not knowing what I was going to be doing so not having another idea of what to do with it. I had nearly brought the second outfit with me, but Fawn caught me in the front room of the cottage and told me to leave it in my room, that I would be returning to the retreat to change if I chose.
Even though I had only done it twice, the chauffeur helping me into the limo felt normal now and I settled back against the seat comfortably, reaching for one of the bottles of chilled sparkling water that were waiting for me. We drove in nearly the same direction this time that we had when he was bringing me to the stadium, but we took a turn that led us further into the city rather than skirting around the edge. We zig-zagged our way through some of the small streets until we reached a low building. There was a crowd gathered outside and the people in it seemed to perk up when the limo approached. I could hear women screaming even through the doors and my curiosity increased.
The chauffeur opened the door and leaned down to look in at me.
“Are you ready for this?” he asked.
I wondered if he was going to ask the same question at the beginning of all of my dates, but right then, it felt highly applicable. The screaming was only getting louder and I still had no idea why. I finally drew in a breath and reached for the hand that the chauffeur offered. He helped me out of the car and I straightened the hem of my shirt, looking over the crowd as they continued to scream. I could see a door on the building through the crowd and looked at the chauffer.
“I think that’s where you’re going,” he said.
“Any tips?” I asked.
“Act like you’re supposed to be here and walk.”
I turned back to the door and straightened my shoulders, lifting my chin
to try to exude as much confidence as I could. The crowd was louder now, but the screams no longer seemed excited. Instead, they were shouting questions, demanding the presence of the band on my shirt. I felt nervous, suddenly unsure of myself, but I refused to step back. I took a step forward. I almost immediately ran into a person’s back, but I didn’t give up my space.
“Excuse me,” I said, raising my voice up loud enough that she would be able to hear me above the chaos.
She looked over her shoulder and saw me. To my surprise, she stepped out of the way. I continued this way, forcing my way through with declarations that I was expected, and by the time that I reached the building the crowd had parted ways and allowed me through easily. I knocked on the door and it opened a few inches.
“Snow?” a man I couldn’t see said.
“Yes.”
The door opened just enough for me to step inside and then the man slammed the door, nearly catching the arm of someone leaning from outside.
“What in the living hell is that all about?” I demanded.
The man who had let me in, a massive man that reminded me of a stone wall, expressed absolutely no emotion.
“They’re here to see the band.”
“The band?” I looked down at my chest and saw the name on my shirt again. “Oh. The band. I’m not really familiar with them.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.”
I wasn’t sure what the man who I could only assume was a bodyguard meant, but I knew that I didn’t like the way that he had said it. There was a long silence and I didn’t know if I should say anything about the date. The secrecy that seemed to hang over The Enchanted Woods made it seem that I should probably not mention it, but at the same time I didn’t want to think that this man might be my date and all that he had planned for us was listening to the muffled screams of apparently frantic fans while watching over a band that played a type of music I would never voluntarily listen to. I had prepared myself to come up with a creative way of asking when another door opened from across the room.
“Did she get here yet?”
The bodyguard gestured toward me without saying anything. I looked at the man who had spoken and smiled.
“I’m Snow,” I said.
“Sam,” he said. “I’m glad you got through the crowd alright. I would have met you at the car, but I would probably still be out there signing autographs.”
He had started walking toward the door that he had come out of and I fell into step behind him.
“What exactly is it that’s going on out there?” I asked.
“Somehow the location of our practice space got leaked online,” he said. “Those are some of our more rabid fans. They’ve been camped out there all day waiting to see us.”
“How did you get in without getting mobbed by them?” I asked as I stepped through the door and into a listening booth.
“There’s a secret entrance,” he told me. “It’s all very secret agent.”
He leaned toward me conspiratorially and I felt an immediate attraction to him. He wore a pair of form-fitting dark jeans and a white button-up shirt untucked over them, the first three buttons unbuttoned. Several woven thread bracelets encircled his wrist. It was something that I never would have said that I thought was attractive, but I was oddly drawn to him, as if the fact that he was something so different was what made him interesting.
“I promise I won’t tell,” I said, mirroring his lean.
We laughed for a second and then he straightened, gesturing at the large glass panel in between the listening booth and the rehearsal space beyond.
“These are the guys,” he said by way of introduction. “We’re rehearsing for a show tonight. Want to sit down and have a listen?”
“Sure,” I said, even though I was less than excited about listening to his music.
Sam guided me to one of the stools near the listening booth counter and handed me a pair of headphones. I was genuinely surprised to find that the music was more enjoyable than I thought it would be and even found myself dancing slightly throughout the last song. When it ended, Sam came back through the door into the listening booth and looked at me expectantly.
“So?” he asked.
“I liked it,” I said.
“Good,” he said. “I hoped you would. Does that mean that you would be interested in accompanying me to my show tonight?”
I considered it for a second and then nodded.
“Absolutely.”
Sam wrapped his arm around my waist and yanked me up against him, crushing his mouth against mine in an almost startling kiss.
“I’m sorry,” he said as he pulled back from the kiss. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“It’s alright,” I told him, my mind spinning a little from the kiss.
He had said it as if he thought that he was going to break me, that I was delicate in some intangible way. I appreciated the apparent respect, but his hesitation was too close a reminder to who I was before I agreed to all this and I wasn’t interested in letting that continue if I had anything to say about it.
“Should I go back to the retreat and change clothes?” I asked, trying to exude the same confidence that I had to get through the crowd.
“Yes,” Sam said, taking both of my hands in his. “The driver will bring you to the venue and make sure that you get in safely. I’ll meet you inside.”
I nodded and turned to the door of the listening booth, walking out and back toward the door where the bodyguard was stationed. I couldn’t hear the screaming on the other side anymore and I looked at him questioningly.
“Police,” he said.
I nodded.
“Thank you for the elaboration.”
I felt a hint of disappointment when I stepped out of the building and the crowd was gone. There was a thrill to being linked to someone who created such a fervor in so many people and I found myself looking forward to being seen with Sam at the show. It was a drastically different experience than the complete solitude of my date with Lee, and I was curious about what discoveries there were to be made with him there to show me his corner of the world.
As soon as I got back to the cottage, I rushed into my room and opened the box again. I pulled out the second outfit and felt a touch of nerves return to my belly. This was something that I would never wear, even when I first starting dating my ex. It was completely out of my comfort zone and I questioned whether me wearing it would have the intended effect. The door to my room opened and Noah stepped inside carrying a glass of wine. His eyes settled onto the dress I was holding.
“Is that for your date?” he asked.
I nodded.
“Yes,” I said. “I’m going to a concert. The man is a musician.”
Noah nodded as I took the glass from him.
“You’ll look incredible in that,” he said while walking toward the door. “He’s a lucky man.”
Chapter Thirteen
Snow
An hour later I walked down the stairs of an elaborate concert venue that had been crafted out of an abandoned vintage theater dressed in a short black dress, spike heels that buckled around my ankles, and a heavy application of makeup. My hair was curled and teased, creating a look that was a far more over-the-top than I was accustomed to, but after Noah’s comment I had made the decision that I wanted each of my date experiences with these men to be completely different than the others, and I was committed.
I spotted Sam across the room talking to a group of guys that looked like the quintessential image of roadies. As if he could feel me looking at him, he glanced up and caught sight of me. His eyes stopped, his expression changing, and his attention completely taken from the conversation. I appreciated the slightly startled look in his eyes, but then the confident, smoldering look returned and I felt nervousness roll through me. Sam was more intense than Lee, his personality almost volatile in its energy, and I couldn’t fathom what he might be thinking. I kept looking at him as I started down the stairs again.<
br />
By the time I reached the bottom step, Sam had left the men he was talking to and was waiting for me. He reached out to wrap one hand around my wrist and pulled me close so that I pressed against his chest and he could place his mouth close to my ear.
"Either dance with me or let me bring you to my VIP lounge right now. Your choice."
My breath caught in my throat and I could feel him smile. I reminded myself of the purpose of this retreat and some of my confidence returned. I didn’t want to give Sam the satisfaction of feeling like he was totally in control and I pulled back slightly so that I could look into his face.
"I guess that means that we’re going to dance."
He released my wrist and turned his hand to take mine so he could lead me toward the dancefloor where people had filtered from the tables surrounding it and started dancing to the music of the warmup band. Sam stopped in the middle but continued to lead me so that I walked around him as if he was showing me off to the people who had gathered around us. Suddenly he pulled me into his arms, crushing my body against his, and caught my eyes. There was a look of unfettered desire and unashamed intention there. It was less playful than Lee, but no less entrancing. I felt like I was at the beginning of a game of chess, jockeying for position and power while also aware of simmering desire that was building in my belly and making me eager to find out what was his next move.
