The next day I found myself in one of the most fashionable dress shops in town.
We had hardly stepped in the door, when an older lady, wearing a very stylishly understated black suit, but too much makeup on her wrinkled face and hair too blonde, came forward and introduced herself.
"Mr. Libby, how do you do today? My name is Anne Welsh. What can we do for you?"
Tyler said, "I'm fine, Anne. And what you can do is assist this lady in picking out two or three evening dresses."
The lady didn't even blink or swallow. She did nod once, crisply. "Very good, sir. That will be doable."
"Well, one of them has to be ready before Saturday. The other two can wait."
"Of course, Mr. Libby." Anne turned and said, "Renee?"
A young lady came forward promptly, who had just graduated from high school yesterday, by the looks of her. "Yes, Miss Welsh?"
"Please assist Mr. Libby's young lady friend. She needs a suitable evening dress for a party. Think you can do that?"
The girl was less talented at hiding her emotions than her boss. But she said, "Yes, ma'am." Then she turned to me. "If you'll just follow me, Miss?"
I turned to Tyler, flashed my eyes at him, and then followed the young lady further into the store.
Forty minutes later, I stood in front of a mirror admiring my reflection, wearing the most exquisite dress I had ever seen in my life, about knee length, made of the most buttery soft and supple black lambskin leather I have ever had the privilege to run my hands over. It was made in a sleeveless, backless halter style that let me go bra-less. It fit like a proverbial glove around my waist, hips and booty. I was thinking it would fit even better when I wore a shaper under it.
Tyler stood a respectful distance away, but I could tell that he liked the dress as much as I did.
The girl who was helping me said, "If you don't mind me saying so, I don't think we'll need to do any alterations, Miss."
Tyler suddenly came over and said, "No, it doesn't look like it." He said to me, "This dress looks beautiful on you, Eden."
Blushing, I said, "Thank you, Tyler."
"Do you like it?"
"Are you kidding? I love it!"
"Good. We'll take it."
"Are you kidding? This dress must cost a fortune."
Tyler said, "Well, actually, it costs over two thousand dollars."
"Please, don't tell me that."
"Let me put it like this: I can easily buy this dress for you."
I sighed as I looked in the mirror. "You really want to buy this dress for me?"
"Pleasing the woman I want to take to a party...priceless."
I laughed. "Thank you, Tyler."
About an hour later, we left the dress store, carrying three beautiful evening dresses: the black leather one, a strapless, skin-tight, sky-blue number, and an equally sexy red sequined slip dress that I saw an actress wear to a party recently, all of which were safely encased in plastic.
We got in Tyler's car, and I said, "Well, I don't think I'm ever going to see such a shameless display of brown-nosing again."
Tyler laughed. "Yes, it was impressive, especially considering I'd never been to that dress shop before."
"Really? They seemed pretty familiar with you."
"My Uncle Jack shops there all time. Or used to, anyway."
"Ah."
"Yeah."
I said, "Well, I guess the only decision left to make, is which dress to wear."
"That's easy. The black one."
I smiled at him. "Okay. The black one."
Saturday night, I found myself once again in Tyler's car, as he was driving me home from the party.
He was a perfect gentleman, from the time he picked me up, to the time we left the party. He introduced me to some of the players, and I found out for myself why he'd invited me along. All of the players were talking shop. Even the new players, who should have been rightfully celebrating their entrance into the promised land of the NFL, couldn't stop talking shop for one minute.
This wasn't a party. It was a meeting.
Some of the players had brought their wives or girlfriends. I recognized the glazed looks in their eyes and sympathized with them. I socialized with some of them, but not for long. I could tell they had paid a high price for their high social status.
Most of the time I was with Tyler. I kept him from talking shop too long, and he catered to my every want. I had to admit, a girl could get used to this.
And now he was driving me home.
Tyler pulled up to the curb, and I unlatched my seatbelt.
"Well, Tyler, thank you for the wonderful evening," I said.
"You're welcome. Although I should be thanking you instead."
I reached for the door handle, then stopped and looked at him. "I want to ask you something, Tyler Libby."
"What is it?"
"Why me? And be honest."