Paul and Janet and T.J. and Ashlea
When they exit the elevator at the second floor ballroom of the
Hilton
, Paul stays behind a bit while Janet walks ahead so he can observe her from behind. How could he know at that moment that he would never be able to look at his wife in the same light ever again?
She wears a tan satin blouse and a matching tan satin skirt. The blouse buttons up the front and she has it buttoned all the way to the top. The skirt only reaches to mid-thigh and is split up the left side to about four inches down from the waist. The black high heels with the gold straps cause her calves to bulge a little when she walks.
She has never dressed this way before
, Paul thinks.
I wonder why now, all of a sudden
.
She has always been a conventional long-time married woman in her dress, but last year at this event there were some few women who seemed to want to show off their sexuality; and she had noticed how Paul had reacted when he looked at them. This year she would make sure his eyes were only on her.
Janet is 5'8" tall, the same height as Paul. The high heels make her appear much taller than Paul, but he doesn't mind; he is so proud to be seen with her, or rather, proud that other men can see that she is with him.
He rushes to catch up to her and hands the greeter at the desk their invitation.
"Good evening Mr. and Mrs. Malveaux. Thank you for your contribution. Hang on to this invitation; in case you leave you'll need to show it to get back in.
This is an invitation only, charitable event that charges $250 per person. They justify the expense because it benefits the private school their daughter graduated from last year. This year they're building a new gym. And they get to commiserate with old acquaintances and meet new ones. Besides, they get to play some serious blackjack and usually win enough to pay for their participation.
"Let me explain how the evening is to go. As you can see this room has a bar and a dance floor and tables set up around the room for free time until the dinner, which starts promptly at 6:00 in the other ballroom up the ramp to the left. Along the right wall in the other room the items for the silent auction are set up. You can bid on any item at any time. There are also bars set up in the other ballroom so you can continue to order drinks. At seven, the tables will be cleared and will be set up for either poker or blackjack, whichever you prefer to play. The dealers at the tables are hired by the school and will take ten dollars from each pot. While they're setting that up we will announce the results of the silent auction."
"We are familiar with the itinerary," Paul interrupts. This is our fifth year attending these things."
"This year, though," the hostess continues, "we have added something. Right after the silent auction results, we are going to have an additional raffle. We are asking all the men to buy a raffle ticket for $10.00. Would you like to buy a ticket now Mr. Malveaux?"
"What are you raffling?"
"We will have ten women, all of whom will have volunteered, come up on the stage, and you will be buying a chance to spend the evening with one of them of your choosing; all in fun of course."
"Oh no! Janet interjects. "You're not going to spend this evening with someone else, while I do — what?"
"First of all," Paul responds, "there are 250 men here. My chances of winning are infinitesimal. But even if I were to win, I could have her play blackjack with us."
"You know, Mrs. Malveaux," the hostess responds, "we have nine ladies who have volunteered so far. We are one short. If you would like to volunteer, and if Mr. Malveaux should happen to win, he could choose you, and that would solve everything."
"No! No! No way!" Paul says. "I'm not having some guy fawning over you all evening."
"If you buy a ticket, I'm going to volunteer," Janet says. "I'm just an old married lady, who besides you would want to spend a boring evening with me?"
"Can we think about it and get back to you?" Paul asks.
"Sure," the hostess answers, "but if someone else volunteers in the meantime we will have our ten and it will be too late for Mrs. Malveaux to volunteer;"
"Then you buy a ticket," Janet says to Paul, "and I'll volunteer. But if you win you better pick me. C'mon. It's for the school, and it might be fun."
"Okay, I guess," Paul finally concedes. He is given ticket number 87.
* * *
They go to the bar and order drinks. It is quite bright in the room as two walls are of floor-to-ceiling windows. They spend the next forty-five minutes or so mingling with some people they know from previous years and dancing a little. When at one point, Paul goes to the bar for another drink, he notices a couple of men at the bar turned around staring at something. He turns to see what they are staring at. It is Janet. She has her legs crossed and the slit in her skirt lays wide open showing her full thigh. The concerting thought strikes him:
Of course someone would choose her at the raffle. Who wouldn't?
When he goes back to the table he says, "What do you say we call the evening off? I feel like a quiet evening at home, maybe watch TV or something, just the two of us."
"Don't be silly. Why would you want to do that, especially after spending all this money? We only go out like this once a year. It'll be fun. After dinner we'll play some cards and you'll feel better."
"Dinner is served" is announced on the PA. Paul reluctantly walks with Janet into the other ballroom.
* * *
At 7:00 the tables are cleared and the lady on stage announces the winners of the silent auction. Paul and Janet haven't bid on anything. They have no interest in $1,700.00 fishing rods or jerseys from local professional basketball stars.
The lady then asks for the volunteer ladies to please come up on stage.
"Well, I guess that's me," Janet says to Paul, as she kisses him on the cheek. "I'll see you in a few minutes."
By the time she gets to the stage all the other ladies are already there, lined up in a row across the stage. They are a mixed collection: some older, some younger, a couple of them very pretty and sexy.
Good
, Janet muses,
one of them will get picked
.
Janet takes her place at the end of the line.
A large fish-bowl full of ticket stubs is rolled out on a table. The lady reaches in and stirs them, then picks one out. "The Winner is number 88.
Damn, he missed it by one,
Janet thinks.
"I have 88," a man shouts from the crowd.
"Come on up here and pick your date for the evening," the lady answers.
The man coming on the stage is a black man, looks to be about forty years old, tall: maybe 6 feet or more, broad shouldered, in good physical condition (no pot-belly): in an expensive suit.
He is good-looking
, Janet admits to herself.
"And what is your name?" the lady asks.
"They call me T.J.," he answers.
"Well, T.J., choose your date for the evening. Ladies, introduce yourselves to T.J."
T.J. steps up to Janet, looks her up and down, then looks her straight in the eye and asks her name.
"I'm Janet," she responds softly, embarrassed.
"That's a pretty name," he says to her and moves over to the next woman.
"I'm Cerise," Janet hears her say. She looks to be about thirty and is dressed in what looks like a very expensive dress and has expensive looking rings, bracelets, earrings and necklace.
T.J. spends more time with Cerise and they have some sort of conversation.
Good
, thinks Janet.
She seems more his type. I can get back to Paul soon.
The third woman in the line is about fifty-five and looks a bit frumpy. T.J. asks her name and moves right on to the fourth woman, having paid hardly attention at all.
T.J. continues to move down the line with the same ritual. After the last woman in the line, he turns and walks back to Janet. "I've always had a soft spot for redheads. I would like Janet to accompany me for the evening."
(Didn't I tell you Janet is a redhead? Sorry about that. Not one of those fire-red redheads, the ones with white skin and freckles. Janet's hair is golden red and curly and hangs to shoulder length. And her skin is fair and clear; no freckles or marks or blemishes, except for little crinkles at the edge of her hazel eyes when she laughs.)
But now her face is flushed. She is in a minor state of panic.
What do I do now? How do I get out of this
? she is thinking.
T.J. takes Janet's hand. "Come," he says softly to her, "let's go get a drink and get to know each other a little bit."
What can she do? She lets him lead her by the hand off the stage into the other ballroom and to the bar.
"What do you drink?" he asks.
He pays for the drinks and again takes her hand and leads her to a table along the windows. It is now dark outside and they sit quietly for a minute and watch the traffic on the street below. The lighting is dimmed to its lowest level, giving the room an elegant and sexy glow.
"So, tell me about yourself," T.J. finally says.
"What do you want to know?"
"Everything. I see you're wearing a ring, so you're married. Where's your husband?"
"In the other room playing blackjack. I probably should be doing the same thing. I see you are also married. Is your wife here?"
My wife's not here tonight. We own our own business, and I run the nuts and bolts end of it, my wife handles the other stuff — promotion and stuff. Tonight she is with an important client, trying to get us more business. She may join us later."
"Do you have kids?" T.J. asks.
"We have a daughter. She'll turn 18 shortly. She's away at college right now, but will be home for the holidays and we're going to throw a party for her."
"What a coincidence. We have a son who is also away at college on a football scholarship. He's about to turn twenty and we were planning a party for him also. Maybe we can throw a joint party."
"That's a little premature, don't you think?"
"Well, it's something to think about. Later maybe. What do you guys do for fun?"
"Nothing much. Paul works a lot, so we don't have a lot of time to go out or party or socialize."
"What's he do?"
"Paul's the general manager for Hub Ford, which means a lot of twelve-hour days and weekends."
"And what do you do while he's working all those hours?"
"I work part-time as a temp. They send me an email when there's a job and I can either choose to take it or not. I love it. It leaves me time to exercise and read when I want, or work when I want."
