Mary wouldn't leave the backstage dressing room until Daniel made sure Jennifer and Bruce left the building. A soft knock on the door startled her.
"They're gone, Mary. You can come out now."
Her heart was still pounding and her face flushed from the unintentional public sex act, although she felt conflicted about the reasons why. Opening the door, she said, "Thank you for checking."
Daniel smiled, and said, "Well, now we've all seen each other naked. We're even-Steven."
"Seeing me naked, and seeing me have a huge orgasm are two totally different things," she said, trying to sound humiliated, but feeling more than a little titillated by their unplanned exposure. After all, she didn't know they were watching, and Jennifer said they were hot. Mary felt hot. The sex had been unbelievably hot.
"Don't be too hard on them. They didn't expect to see us like that. They came backstage because they were concerned about you." He laughed, and said, "Then they hung around for the show." He took her hand as they walked, "They'll be very discreet. You'll never hear another word about it unless you bring it up."
"Aren't you embarrassed?"
"Why?" He stopped, put his hands on her hips, and pulled her close. "I made passionate love to my beautiful friend. I feel ecstatic and totally smitten. If anything, they should be happy for us, maybe even envious." Daniel gently kissed her.
Mary couldn't help but smile in agreement when he broke away. "It felt so amazing. I lost all inhibitions... wild abandon, like nothing I've ever experienced."
'Wild abandon', she'd never used those words to describe anything she'd done before, and wondered if she'd ever feel that incredible again.
"I almost forgot," said Daniel, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a key. "This is to my apartment. Feel free to stay over if you work late, or if you want to raid my fridge. I'm away on business quiet often. There's plenty of closet space if you want to keep some things here."
The rest of the week flew by. Between painting Crystal and Sally's portrait, and working with the contractor on the gallery renovations, there weren't enough hours in the day. Visits with Daniel were fleeting, but always pleasant. He would stop in unannounced to check on progress and fit in some discreet fondling and smooching.
On Friday, Mary received an email from Bruce with a link to a new gallery website. It looked very professional, with easy navigation and detailed graphics. Her paintings were the only works on display, but that would change soon. She was glad that Bruce didn't come in person to show her. It would've felt awkward. But sooner or later, Mary would have to face them, and come to grips with her embarrassment.
Saturday morning, Mary checked her bank account to make sure the automatic payroll deposit went through as planned.
"Oh my god!" She called Daniel's cellphone, forgetting he had flown to San Diego the day before on business.
Groggy Daniel answered, "Hello... Mary? Is something wrong?"
"Did I wake you? I'm so sorry, Dan. But I just checked my bank account and there's been a mistake. Twice my salary was deposited."
"Wait... tell me exactly how much?"
She told him the amount, and heard his tired sigh.
"No, Mary. That's right. That's what I pay an executive assistant. You have a lot of responsibility, and doing a great job from what I hear. I'm going back to sleep now, hopefully I'll dream about you. Bye." She heard an air kiss before the line went dead.
It took a minute for the shock to wear off. She'd never dreamt of making so much money, enough money to have disposable income. But with great money comes great responsibility. Instead of goofing off on Saturday morning as usual, Mary got dressed and went to the gallery, like any conscientious executive assistant would.
The contractors' trucks were parked in front of the gallery, so Mary entered through the open front door and found herself in the middle of a shouting match.
"What's going on, Fred?"
Fred took a deep breath, and said, "Hi Mary. I was just about to call Daniel." He pointed at the man holding a spotlight fixture, and said, "This is Greg Lunsford. He's the electrician. I told him we want LED lights, but he didn't quote LED fixtures. They're more expensive, and he'll lose money if he switches them."
"Well you can't call Daniel. He's unreachable at the moment," said Mary, as she walked over to the men. "What's the difference between the two types of fixtures?"
Greg explained, "The LED's are expensive –"
"But the bulbs last longer and are far more efficient," interrupted Fred.
"But you didn't put that in your job specs. I can't afford to take a loss like that!" Angry, Greg shook the spotlight at Fred.
"Whoa, calm down both of you." She moved between them, saying, "Daniel put me in charge of this renovation, so here's my decision. Put in the LED fixtures and we will pay the difference. No one will lose money. We'll make up the difference in the long run by saving on the electric bill."
"If I return these fixtures I'll get hit with a restocking fee," complained Greg.
"We'll pay that too. How soon before you can replace them?"
A pacified Greg, answered, "I can come back on Monday."
"You okay with that Fred?"
Fred nodded. "I can use a Saturday off."
"It's settled. See you guys on Monday."
Both men picked up their tools and walked out the front door smiling. Mary was about to lock the door behind them when she saw Jennifer get out of a car and head her way. Mary's stomach did a somersault. It felt too soon to face her after what she witnessed in the dressing room. Mary wanted to lock the door and run before Jennifer saw her, but even from this distance Mary could see the tears running down her cheeks.
So Mary acted like she was inspecting the renovation's progress when Jennifer stormed in, and shouted, "Where's Dan?"
"Uh... he's in San Diego on business. What's wrong, Jen?"
"Fuck! Fuck it all!"
She turned to leave, but Mary grabbed her sleeve. "Wait! Don't go. You're too upset to be driving. What's going on?"
Turning back, she hugged Mary like a needy child and sobbed on her shoulder, "I'm leaving Bruce."
"What? Why, what happened?" Mary put one arm around Jennifer's back and stroked her hair with the other, trying to console the distraught woman.
