"Hi, Baby," I say to you over the phone, "Can you still make it out tonight?" I anxiously await your response.
"Yes," you whisper into the receiver, "I'll be there at 8."
"I don't think you can see me smiling, but you must know that I am, right? I'll see you there. Oh, and Ashleigh," I ask, waiting for your response.
"Yeah, I'm still here,Sugar," you say.
"I have a present for you. I know you are really going to like it."
With that I hang up the phone, not wanting to know the response this would elicit from you.
Tonight we are meeting at an upscale club in Hartford, Connecticut called the Copa Cabanna. It is a rare twist of fate that has allowed us to both end up in the same place so far from our respective houses, spouses and families. But fortune has smiled on us and we both know that this opportunity is as rare as fine wine and that we have to capitalize on the precious time we can garner for ourselves.
I arrive early, making sure that the Matre'D' has the booth I've requested ready and waiting. He seats me and I can see that this place is all I have heard about. The seating arrangement is in the shape of a horseshoe around the dance floor and that the bar and kitchen are at the open end of the 'shoe. The booths are staged like stadium seating, the row against the wall is a full six or seven feet above the dance floor. After every third or fourth booth is a little set of four stairs leading up to the next level. Our booth is at the top level, just left of center, and affords an awesome view of the whole dance floor. The seats are done in dark red crushed velour and are semi-circular and high backed to afford a good deal of privacy to the occupants. The only light in the seating area comes from the candles burning on the tables in deep red glass sconces.
Looking out from the booth over the dance floor is a dazzling spectacle of colored spotlights mounted in the overhead, all facing out onto the dance floor, spinners and mirrored balls over a parquet wooden floor of ebony and birch with a center circle having the club logo inlaid in little mosaic tiles.
Having been seated so early, I took the time to look around and I place a smallish box on the table, wrapped in soft pink paper, a dark red ribbon encircling it in juxtaposing angles, a small bow cover the intersection of the ribbon. In the far corner of the dance floor away from the booth, a jazz quintet was setting up. Dressed in white tuxedoes, each band member had a different color cummerbund and matching tie. It looked awesome with the fine white pinpoint spotlights as each guy had a different metallic color. The bass player was plucking his huge string bass and I knew right there that this would be an awesome musical display. The sound of the deep bass notes just coursing through me and reverberating about the room. Budumb, bumb,bumb, dubumb, dum. God, I love the sound of a big string bass! The tenor sax fired off a few notes to be sure he was ready and and the trumpet player tried out the feel of the room with and without his muffle. An acoustic electric guitar, on the platform behind them drums and an oboe, and a woman in a glittery, white, full length dress with a flute.
At a quarter to eight, the place started to fill up. Couples in evening attire; men in tuxedoes with jackets of white and black, every imaginable color of bow tie and vest and accruement. The women ranged from miniskirts to full evening gowns, all dressed to kill and thrill at the hottest, swankiest club in a town overrun by Cuban dance clubs.
Then I saw you coming across the edge of the dance floor on the arm of the Matrie'd . A black dress, above the knee, silky flowing elegance with a pleated skirt above the knee and black stockings and killer high heeled shoes with the toes done in a hand tooled antique silver. The points of the heels were also covered in antique silver. Your ensemble completed by a shawl wrapped over your shoulders of swirling blood red designs on a shimmering black background shot through with silver, with fringe hanging down the trailing edge. Your hair is longer than I remember it being, but you have it up in the back, held with a clasp in antique silver and black onyx in the shape of a dragonfly.
I stand and make way for your entry, I reach and help you remove your shawl. Your shoulders are bare below the shawl, your dress a halter that comes around your neck tying off in a bow, it's strings elegantly dangling a bit down your back. I can't help but notice the slight bump of your nipples sticking through the thin material, you are a vision of elegance and diaphanous splendor, your neckline plunging to show an ample cleavage, your womanly charms stretched taught into the material. I love the way you look, so much a woman, full, ripe and dazzling.