Chapter 10 Home at Last
While we were still at the furniture store the maintenance crews rapidly painted my apartment walls. By the time the colonel and I had returned to Malibu large fans were blowing the last of the paint smell out the French doors and the rug installers were waiting in the hallway with their heavy thick rolls.
I looked at the colonel and he had nodded for me to join Sue Anne who was supervising the work. He told me later he thought my young and innocent attitude toward my new life was refreshing to his soul but he wondered if I would be able to keep it following the work we had to do.
I was already was missing him by my side and wanted to spend every second with him.
I remember thinking that I wasn't going to get any work done if I couldn't get my feelings under control. Maybe it was because everything was so new and where I was at in my head.
Jesus Christ, he had fucked me so much in the last two nights!
Jimmy had left the apartment and went down to the office level to speak to the woman who would become my secretary, Mary Tybal. He needed to revise some papers on what became known as the Ventura Property.
I had wondered what she must have thought about the whole situation. Was she going to be angry and jealous that he didn't offer the position to her? I had considered the possibility and thought about it a lot.
I also wondered what the other women in the office were thinking about Jimmy and me. The way they had looked at me seemed to indicate that they only saw one thing: his mistress at the very best, his whore at the very worst. It felt like I was back in San Francisco.
I refused to back down no matter what they were thinking. Not this time.
The idea of Jimmy as my lover still makes me smile. I think the aspect of lovers is always more exciting than that of a married couple even though husband and wife have a greater emotional connection... at least, that's the way I had thought at the time.
The deliverymen from the store had already unloaded the furniture into the great lobby downstairs and returned to the city. Upstairs, the low pitched but urgent roaring of the vacuums echoed through my new apartment as final cleanup took place before the furniture could come in.
Sue Anne inspected each room and I saw her run her white glove over every surface. While the colonel had told everyone that I was his new executive assistant there already was considerable discussion as to exactly what that really meant.
"Miss... ummm, Miss Alessa, is everything to your satisfaction?"
"Yes, Sue Anne... what can I do for you?"
"I'm calling downstairs to have the furniture brought up one room at a time. If you want you can help me tell them where to put it... we could work much faster that way."
I reached out and Sue Anne handed me a set of papers that we had used in the store and then phoned the crews to start bringing up everything one room at a time.
The bedroom furniture had gone in first and piece by piece my new home was coming together.
I had decided on a soft white set of furniture for the room. Sue Anne described it as 'tropical style' reminiscent of the islands and on one wall a collection of exotic seashells were placed on glass shelves while another had a large photograph of Jimmy's Hawaiian property.
The draperies in the room showing a light pastel that matched the paint also had a black-out fabric facing outward and when fully closed the room was as dark as a cave.
I laughed thinking that there were going to plenty of times I would want it to be pitch-black... I had thought that would make it more exciting.
All my new clothes had been placed in the walk-in closet sorted by type and color and the rest put into the dressers.
The den had been kept simple but continued the island look with a sofa, a few lamps, an end table and a coffee table all facing the huge flat screen on the opposite wall.
In one of the walls a small closet held all the electronics for the flat screen and shelves for DVDs and CDs with the remote on the coffee table.
The small kitchenette had a white table covered in tiles and two chairs matching the rest of the apartment.
New soaps, towels and several bathrobes had been placed inside the bathroom linen closet. It seemed I was moved in.
"Now, here's your new BlackBerry. The colonel is speed dial number one. That's true for just about everyone here. I understand that you are his new number one on his. Security is number two. Your secretary, Mary Tybal, is number three. His military liaison, Major Maria Paras, is number four. She trades places with Major Filomina Cottone but she's not here right now. Housekeeping is number five; you can reach me that way and the cafeteria for this wing is number six.
