by Jamie Craig
Date: May 8, 2007
To: bj_scalia
From: ana_moon
Subject: Re: Celebrations
Ben,
I had a lot of fun the other night. I can’t lie to you about that. But, well, I think you know what I’m going to say. I never saw myself as the Mrs. Robinson type, you know what I mean? (Oh God, have you even seen that movie?)
Ana
* * * *
Date: May 8, 2007
To: ana_moon
From: bj_scalia
Subject: Re: Celebrations
1. Of course, I’ve seen that movie. It’s a classic. It’s an overrated classic, but still.
2. You’re not Mrs. Robinson. You don’t have a daughter I’m secretly in love with.
3.…You don’t have a daughter, right?
4. We’re not doing anything wrong by seeing each other. It’s not like I’m asking you to buy beer for me.
5. That was a joke.
6. I like you. A lot. Saturday night was amazing, and you know it. Sunday morning would have been amazing, too, but I understand you weren’t totally comfortable with it yet. That’s why I’m only asking for dinner. It’ll be like chatting with food, if that’s what you want.
7. I’m sure there’s more, but right now, I just want to hit send so you can say yes to dinner.
Ben
* * * *
Date: May 8, 2007
To: bj_scalia
From: ana_moon
Subject: Re: Celebrations
No, I don’t have a daughter.
I don’t believe for a second it’ll just be like chatting with food. Unless by that you mean you plan to bring food to bed with us. Because if we’re together we *will* go to bed. And I’m just not sure that’s a good idea. We’re in different places in our lives. For example, you’re in a place that’s closer to 18, and I’m in a place closer to 40.
Ana
* * * *
Date: May 8, 2007
To: ana_moon
From: bj_scalia
Subject: Re: Celebrations
You got that wrong. We’re at very similar places. We’re both:
—Consenting adults
—Single
—Attracted to the other person
—Working professionals (I do get paid for teaching, you know, and I start getting my doctorate in only a year)
—Consenting adults
I think that last bears repeating.
Can I call you? I think this asking for a date thing would go much easier if we were talking.
Ben
* * * *
Date: May 8, 2007
To: bj_scalia
From: ana_moon
Subject: Re: Celebrations
I can’t really argue with your list. I’ve written and deleted like fifteen responses.
You can call me.
Ana
* * * *
It didn’t matter how many times he called her. Every time Ben found her number in his address book, his stomach decided to do a little dance. He thought it was a jig. A jig was a happy dance, right? Because that’s what talking to Ana did to him. It wasn’t even so much about the phone sex their conversations had a tendency to evolve into. It was hearing the soft alto of her voice. It had gotten to him from the very first time he’d heard it.
He listened to it ring once, and then ring again. Was she not going to answer? She’d said to call. Maybe that had been her way of getting him to stop bugging her in e-mail.
When she picked up on the third ring, he almost sighed in relief.
“So how is the vacation going so far?” he asked, keeping his tone light.
“Good. I finished my gardening today, so I’m all dirty. I was going to clean up, but I checked my e-mail first.”
Images of her long body arching beneath the spray of the shower, beads of water dripping down her mocha-colored skin, made his cock jump. “Lucky for me. And hey, you didn’t congratulate me for being free for the summer yet.”
“Congratulations. You got through your first year of grad school in one piece. Have you worked out what you’re doing over the summer yet?”
She was going to hold onto this age thing with both hands. “Except for a three-week tutoring job in August, the summer is all mine to do with as I see fit. As long as I don’t eat out every night.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re going to be living off of ramen noodles, does it?” Ana asked, and she sounded genuinely concerned.
“That depends.” Ben took a deep breath without trying to make it look like he was gathering his nerve. “Have dinner with me tonight and we can count that as one meal that’s definitely not ramen.”
“What have you got in mind for dinner?” she asked, after a short pause.
His stomach lurched in excitement. One step closer. “I thought I’d let you pick,” he said. He didn’t know how he kept his voice so even around her. “There’s a Thai place I know of that does the best curried shrimp I’ve ever had. Great atmosphere, too. Or we can go with the tried and true Mexican, and we can get something other than taquitos this time.”
“I like Thai. I haven’t had it in a while.” She paused again, and he didn’t know if she was just making small talk, or if he had reason to hope. Until she added, “What time do you want to meet? I’ve got to shower.”
Ben glanced at his watch. Was this a test? It was just after two. Maybe Ana wanted to see if she could bait him into proving her right. He grinned. Atta girl.
“Well, you should have plenty of time to get all the dirt out from under your nails,” he said. “How about we meet at six?”
“Six works for me. Will you e-mail me with the address for the restaurant?”
“I’ll even Google directions for you. And…Ana?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t think of me in the shower.”
He disconnected before he gave in to the urge to listen for her response. Hopefully, the seed had been planted. Whistling under his breath, he set off to change. He had to go shopping before he got to the restaurant.
Chapter 6
Ana didn’t get to the Thai restaurant until half past six, but her tardiness wasn’t intentional. Not directly. It took her longer than necessary to get dressed. First, because she didn’t know what she should wear. Then she didn’t know if she should go at all. Then she didn’t like her first choice. Then she got trapped in traffic, which she forgot to plan for, because she was too distracted by thoughts of Ben.
Leaving him in the middle of the night had been difficult. In one of their phone conversations, Ben had mentioned how much he loved sleepy, Sunday morning sex. On their sides, face-to-face, slowly coming awake to his touch. She had wanted that. But she hadn’t wanted to wake up in his bed, in his apartment. She didn’t want to admit it to herself, but she didn’t want him to see her in unforgiving morning light without make-up.
Maybe if they fucked a few more times, the novelty would wear off, and she’d get him out of her system. Attractions cooled and died all the time. Maybe he would do something to turn her off. Maybe he’d make some sort of kinky request that killed her mood. The point was, the chances were very good this thing would fizzle out before there was any lasting damage.
When she stepped into the busy restaurant, she immediately searched for Ben’s familiar face. She found him near the front of the dining room, and he didn’t look happy. Ana hurried to the table, trying to smile reassuringly.
“I’m so sorry,” she greeted. “I took surface streets and hit every single red light.”
He was on his feet in a shot, taking her hands and leaning in to brush a kiss across her cheek. “I didn’t think you were going to come,” he murmured. It took him a moment to pull away, his skin lingering against hers. “Too bad your timing alone isn’t nearly as good as ours together.”
Ana smiled and sat in the chair he held out for her. “I told you I’d be here. I wouldn’t just blow you…off.”
His eyes twinkled. The difference in his mood was like
someone had flipped a light switch. “Well, that’s good to know,” he said. He picked up a small bag that had been sitting next to his chair and placed it in front of her before sitting down. “For you.”
“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Ana protested, but she opened the bag anyway. She unwrapped the gift to reveal a VHS tape. Her eyes widened as she read the label. The Red Spur. 1/8/2001. It didn’t say anything else, but it didn’t need to. Every fan of Decrepit Moon knew the significance of that date. It was the first time the boys played together as a band—it had been a pick-up jam session, totally unexpected and unplanned. And it lasted for nearly five hours. “Where did you find this?”
Ben smiled. “I’ve got this cabinet for videos under my TV. It’s great, because it doesn’t look like a drawer at all. I can hide whatever I want in there and nobody’s any the wiser.”
“This is your copy?” She pushed it across the table. “Ben, I really appreciate the thought. But this is…I can’t even find a copy of this to buy, and I’m willing to shell out the money. I can’t accept this.”
“Yes, you can,” he said, pushing it back. “If there’s anybody I know who will appreciate this, it’s you. And I know you weren’t relaxed enough to really enjoy the concert the other night. If I wasn’t convinced you’d already downloaded the bootlegs from that show, I would’ve given you that instead. So this will have to do in its place.”
“Are you sure?” Ana searched his face. He was sure, she could tell. She didn’t have the self-control to deny the gift a second time. “I…thank you. This is the sweetest thing anybody has ever given me.”
“Seeing that light in your eyes is all the thanks I need.” He looked beyond her shoulder and gestured for the waitress. “I’ve been putting off ordering. I think they were about to kick me out before you got here.”
“I’ll have whatever you are,” Ana murmured distractedly, her fingers tracing over the blue ink on the label. She was really touched by his gesture, but also a little worried. This wasn’t the sort of gift you gave a person who you considered a good lay but not much more. “Maybe you can came over and watch it with me some time.”
“Maybe,” he replied.
She didn’t really hear as he ordered, merely nodding when the waitress glanced to her for confirmation. It was different seeing him by the light of day. Or dusk, or whatever it was. He hadn’t gone too overboard in what he wore, with faded jeans and an untucked white button-down that somehow made him look older, and his hair was in the same unkempt waves that had made her itch to run her fingers through it on Saturday night. If anything, he was even better-looking, but he seemed more…accessible now than he had at The Ledge. Which only made her wonder more why he was being so persistent.
“So what big plans do you have for this week?” Ben asked once the waitress had left them alone again.
Ana sipped from her water before answering. “Packing. Lining up somebody to water my plants. Dealing with the headache of a long business trip. So, you know, just what everybody wants to do on their vacation.”
For the first time since her arrival, he looked alarmed. “You’re leaving? When?”
“Monday. Remember the client I told you about earlier? Well, she decided she absolutely could not do the tour without somebody holding her hand. That somebody is me.”
“How long are you going to be gone?”
“It’s a three week tour. Las Vegas, Salt Lake, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Dallas.” Ana waved her hand. “Not that I’ll get to see any of these places or do anything interesting. Mainly, I’ll be there to make sure she never has to talk to a book store manager or radio producer.”
Some of the tension in Ben’s face relaxed. “I guess it’s a good thing I got you hooked up on chat, then,” he said. Reaching across the table, he rested his hand next to hers, his fingertips grazing across the side. “Because I don’t have students or classes to distract me from thinking about you any more.”
“But the timing of the trip isn’t great, is it?” Ana said, unable to look away from Ben’s long fingers. She loved what he could do with those very clever fingers. He wasn’t even really touching her, and her throat was already feeling tight. “But at least my boss didn’t want me to cut my vacation short.”
“Maybe that means we need to take advantage of the time you’re here then.”
“Are you proposing we extend this date beyond tonight?”
His small smile extended to his eyes. One of the other advantages to seeing him by the light of day was realizing just how long his lashes were.
“The way I’d hoped it was going to go was, we’d go out tonight, I call you tomorrow and suggest another date, you say yes, and so on, and so on. If you want to cut out the middle ground and just make this week one long date, I’m more than agreeable to that.”
Ana bit her bottom lip, considering her options. Why make him call her and ask her out every single day when they both knew she’d agree to see him? Ana knew from experience that spending too much time with a person too soon could sour a relationship, but maybe that’s what they needed. Ana sighed to herself. She could probably justify any time spent with him at that point.
“I don’t see any point in wasting our time with the same song and dance over and over.”
Ben extended his fingers to start stroking the fine bones of her wrist. “I’m going to be an optimist and assume you mean the asking you out song-and-dance,” he said. “Not the you’re-too-young-for-me polka you keep trying.”
“You are too young for me,” Ana murmured, but she didn’t pull away from his touch. “But I have a hard time remembering when you do that.”
“Now that sounds like an excellent reason to never stop touching you.” He leaned forward, lowering his voice, never ceasing the soft caresses. “I really did intend for this to be just chatting with food. But you have a way of making me want to throw all my good intentions out the window.”
Ana snorted. “You think you have a problem with good intentions going out the window? I promised myself I was going to make a clean break.” She smiled apologetically. “I know that’s not a nice thing to say, but I thought it would be for the best. And then you e-mailed me, and I couldn’t resist…”
“Those are intentions I think we’re better off without,” Ben teased. His gaze dropped to her mouth. “Does it make things better or worse if I admit I’ve been thinking about kissing you ever since you left Saturday night?”
Ana licked her bottom lip, watching as his gaze followed the simple movement. “Both, I think. Have you restrained yourself to just kissing?”
“No.” His nostrils flared. “When you told me you were going to take a shower, all I wanted was to be there. That’s a wall we haven’t done yet.”
Ana took a deep breath. “I have a confession to make. I thought about you in the shower.”
“And?” It was unnerving. She could actually see his eyes getting darker. “Did you get yourself off, Ana? Were you wishing I was there, too?”
She nodded. “Yes. I started to wonder what you would look like after a day of working out in the sun. Sweaty, and dirty…” She sipped from her water again. “And then I started thinking about all the ways to get you clean again.”
The muscles in his throat worked as he swallowed. “I am really not in the mood for eating Thai anymore.” His gaze flickered, and he audibly groaned as he sat back. “Except here come the appetizers.”
Ana picked at the appetizers, but she wasn’t in the mood for the food either. She was almost tempted to suggest they just go home, maybe ask for their food to be boxed up, but she wasn’t even terribly worried about eating at all.
“Will you indulge me?” she asked, once the waitress left. “With a bit of gardening?”
“Of course,” Ben said automatically. He paused as the implication of what he’d said sank in. “Are we really considering this a week-long date?” He asked the question like he honestly didn’t know. “Because if we do that, I’m going to need some things.”
“I’m game if you are,” Ana said, meeting his gaze. “Though I’ve apparently taken leave of my senses.”
He attacked his food with a fresh vigor, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “If it makes you feel better, consider it an act of mercy. You’re saving me from seven days of ramen.”
“I wouldn’t count it as an act of mercy yet. I’m going to make you earn your keep.”
“Slave labor, huh? I wondered how long it would take you to break out the chains.”
“You still have a chance to back out,” Ana said, toying with her appetizer. “If you don’t want to be my personal slave.”
“Never.”
Ana watched Ben eat, wondering why her brain seemed to take a vacation every time he touched her. But surely the proposition of a week-long date wasn’t as crazy as it sounded. Nobody was perfect. If anything, this would give her a chance to see his flaws. She was idealizing him, but infatuation never could withstand reality.
The thought comforted Ana. For the moment. Until he noticed her watching him and smiled at her. Then her justifications disappeared, and she just wanted to get him home.
* * * *
He had been kidding. Mostly. But she’d asked the question, and the suggestion popped into his head, and sometimes Ben just said whatever was on the tip of his tongue. It was a character flaw that had gotten him into trouble numerous times. It amused Ana more often than not. He preferred the way she reacted.
But the notion of spending the next week with Ana alternated from thrilling him, to terrifying him, then back to thrilling again. A week. Seven days. With her in touching distance. His palms itched at the sudden boon. It was the only thing that got him through the rest of their meal, taking up most of the conversation as Ana still seemed a little dazed that she’d agreed upon it in the first place.
A week.
This was the best end of school year present ever.
They agreed over dessert that they would each go home in their separate cars. Ben would pack a bag, then take it over to Ana’s. It prolonged the week beginning, but it was a necessary step. Once it was done, that was it. He got Ana for seven whole days before she disappeared on her business trip.
