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* Education of a Jezebel
* Part 7 - Entering University
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This is part of a novel. Previous parts should be read first.
Chapter 20
At Kelley's gym Monday before work - she'd surprisingly only gained two pounds over the weekend - one of the married men that she sometimes innocently flirted with complimented her. "You've got a nice rosy glow about you today, have a good weekend?"
"Oh, it was wonderful."
"Date with a guy then?"
"Something like that," she mysteriously commented. In the locker room she gazed at herself in the mirror. Yes, the breasts still pointed away from each other, but neither of the men who'd admired her for the first time in the river house had seemed perturbed by that, her belly was just slightly convex - well, after all, she was in her thirties - her ass bulged pleasantly but not too much. Yeah, she thought, she was sexy.
In the office Samantha, as always, tried to get the details out of her. Kelley admitted she'd slept with Don as Ashley made love with her boyfriend - Sam expected something! But, for some undefined reason, she hesitated about confessing to her dalliance with either Nick or the woman. She couldn't tell you why, just then, it wasn't like she was ashamed of it or anything, but still...
She flipped through the voicemails that had been left since Thursday morning, it took her half an hour. Nothing urgent, Sam had handled anything that was time sensitive, and all the messages were business related except for one.
'Hello, Kelley, this is Thomas Ainsley. We talked at the OpenedDoors ball on the twenty-ninth. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to phone you, I was called away on business. If you remember, you suggested you might be receptive to having lunch with me. I may have a better idea. I confess I have a fondness for classic rock, and there's going to be a tribute to the Moody Blues at the Symphony on Saturday the twenty-sixth. I was wondering if you'd care to go with me. I can be reached at 421/782-6325. I hope to hear from you.'
The recording had a formal tone to it, one he hadn't had the night she chatted with him. But perhaps it was because of his British training. It didn't matter, she was glad he called. And it sounded like a nice evening, she and Luciano had season subscriptions to the symphony back in the day. She knew she didn't have anything going on the weekend. Yeah!
When she had a minute to spare, she returned the call, of course it went to voicemail, he was certainly too busy to take personal calls in the middle of the day. She went for glibness, not formality. 'Hey, Tom, this is Kelley. Got your message, sure, Saturday night sounds like a fun time. And, I'm not sure this is right, you were supposed to wheedle it out of me, but here's my cell phone number. Talk to you soon.'
She caught his return on the ride home on the freeway. "This is Kelley."
"Hi, Kelley, it's Tom." The voice was more informal, he sounded happy.
"Hey, Tom, how are you?"
They talked for perhaps five minutes, she explained her weekend with friends (minus the eroticism, of course.) He told her he had to go to San Francisco to a convention, the guy who was supposed to go got sick, she sympathized with his misfortune, he laughed.
"So," he said, "You're interested in Saturday night?"
"I'd love it."
"And you know about the Moody Blues?"
"Of course I do, I've got a father!"
"Wonderful. So, would you like me to pick you up?"
She was about to accept, then she remembered Samantha's warning to never, never, ever let a guy pick you up on first date, not even to let him know where you live. "Why don't I meet you downtown?"
The date was set.
Ashley called her a bit later. "It was a great weekend, thanks for inviting me," Kelley said.
"You're okay, then?"
"I think so, why?"
"Well, I've known you for a long time, and you're going through a few changes. I just expected a little whiplash, that's all."
"No, I'm fine. Really!"
"Okay then. Would you like to come over sometime for dinner with me and Don?"
"Of course. Would it be just dinner or..."
"Don has a little crush on you now. And, yeah, maybe I do too. If you wanted to have fun, we wouldn't object. But if you decide you want it to be a one time thing, that's okay, we'd understand."
Kelley was warmed by the invitation. "Okay, name a night." Ashley proposed two weeks out. "I've got a date that Saturday. How about the weekend after?"
"That would work. See you then."
Kelley thought her social calendar was filling up nicely.
Then, suddenly, over her can of soup, something hit her. She got a pad of paper and began listing the people she'd made love with.
Luciano
Andrew
Kurt
Clark
Darren
Don
Nick
Should she include Ashley? Of course she should, the sex with her had been as intense as with any man. Eight lovers! A year ago, she never thought she'd have more than two, perhaps three, in her entire life. And, even more appalling, six of those had happened in only about six weeks. What was happening. Was this right?