Author's Note: I was hoping to release these weekly but didn't realize there could be long delays on publishing.
All characters are over 18 years old.
***
Garret got another text from Sarah late on Thursday evening. All it said was, "I don't have to work this Saturday"
He knew that the guys would tell him to ignore her. It was definitely still a low-effort text, and he was still annoyed with her, but after four days had passed he was mostly over it. He debated what to do for several minutes, but ultimately decided to give it another shot. They had liked each other well enough, and he didn't want her to be a one-night stand. If the modern hook-up culture was bad, and the younger guys insisted that it was, then he would 'be the change he wanted to see in the world'. Right?
So he texted back, bantering with her for a bit before setting up a real date. She wasn't as enthusiastic about it as he had hoped for, mostly keeping her practiced attitude of cool indifference, but was still somewhat positive. He was going to pick her up at her place, take them to dinner somewhere nice, then they'd get drinks, and he assumed that after that they'd be coming back to his place. He told her to wear a dress, preferably black, under her coat for the evening, and she said she had something she thought he would like. It was going to be a nice, classic date for a gentleman and the lady he was interested in, Garret thought.
***
He arrived at her apartment the next evening, just a few minutes late. Sarah had said that she had two female roommates, and the area they lived in was fairly decent. On the night he met her he had learned that she was an office worker at some sort of logistics company. She obviously wasn't that interested in her work so he had stopped asking her about it quickly and moved on.
One of Sarah's roommates let him in when he knocked and let him know that Sarah was still getting ready. The girl was reasonably pretty but Garret consciously decided not to try to hit on her and just sat down and reviewed some documents on his phone instead while he waited. He knew that the guys would tell him this was a mistake. After all, if he made some mild moves on Sarah's roommate, that would communicate that she wasn't that special or valuable to him, which would give him more power in the relationship. But wouldn't it also make her more likely to not care about him? Wasn't this whole power struggle concept just a recipe for permanent mutual dissatisfaction?
Sarah didn't come out of her room for more than a half-hour, and Garret groaned inwardly as he imagined what the guys would say was really going on. But he had a choice: He could interpret this as a subtle power-play, showing him that he was barely worthy of her time and he would only get to see her on the schedule she chose. Or, he could view it as a woman who was nearly two decades younger than him who wasn't great with time-management. He determinedly decided that he would choose the second option.
Sarah finally came out and greeted him with a quick kiss before they left to try to make it to their reservation on time. She had followed his instructions at least, wearing a tight black dress that was both low-cut and short enough to get some attention. She also wore tall black heels, black thigh-highs, and had done up her hair and makeup nicely. She had a knee-length, wool, red trench-coat that she wrapped around herself before they went out into the cold.
Her light brown eyes were highlighted again with dark eyeliner and extensions on her lashes, and her full red lips reminded him of how she had looked, bound and naked on his floor, as she obediently sucked on his cock. He felt a pulse of arousal through his body at the memory and told himself that he had made a good decision to see her again.
***
Garret played the gentleman role as he took her out to dinner at a nice restaurant he had gone to with clients but never with Ashley. It would have felt too strange to go somewhere he had been with his ex-wife while the wound of the divorce was still so fresh. They made it just in time before his reservation expired and sat down across from each other at the small table.
They had made a little small-talk on the ride over, chatting a little about their favorite places to eat in town, although Sarah had also been on her phone and texting the entire time and wasn't as responsive as he had hoped. Garret ignored it, assuming she was just letting her friends know where they were going.
"So what's your next big travel destination," he asked once they were seated. Sarah had talked extensively about her travels on the night they had met and he thought this might be a way to get her involved again.
"Oh, yeah, some friends are going to Spain next summer and we're going to have an amazing time on Ibiza," she replied, looking up from her phone with a smile. She looked back down and swiped on it for a few seconds before holding it up to him.
"These are some of my best friends," she said, showing him a picture. "This is our trip to the Bahamas last year, which was soooo amazing."
The image showed a mix of young men and women smiling on a boat. He recognized Sarah lounging against the railing, her head leaning on the chest of an attractive young man who had his arm around her in a way that was clearly more than friendly. The bikini she wore was about as revealing as it could possibly be, and the man's hand was clearly cupping her bare ass cheek.
Garret raised his eyebrows slightly and said, "Looks like a fun time," in as non-committal of a tone as he could muster. He struggled to avoid viewing this as a power-play by her, showing off that she had plenty of other male suitors to make him jealous and more prone to chasing after her. He told himself that she was just showing what she thought was a nice picture from her last trip.
"So just Ibiza, or just Spain, or more of the Mediterranean?"
"Ibiza and Madrid," she replied, taking her phone back and swiping on it some more as she looked down at it. He expected more of a reply, or for her to show another picture or something, but nothing came. After a few more seconds she giggled and clearly started typing something.
***