Marty and Julie had been married for 5 years, and Marty was struggling to come up with a great gift for his wife. He had looked at jewelry, sexy lingerie, and dozens of other ideas. Nothing seemed to be exactly what he was looking for, until one day the perfect suggestion crossed his path.
"You think she'll like that?" asked Marty.
"Honey," replied Susie. "ANY woman would love that gift. I promise!"
Susie had been cutting Marty's hair for three years and was always full of some useful or useless piece of information. This time, Marty was sure he had lucked into a pretty useful idea. Susie had suggested that Julie get a visit from Mark LaRose, a leading designer of women's clothing in the city. The big difference was that Mr. LaRose would make house calls. Marty knew that Julie was usually pretty timid and may not even go for the idea.
"I don't know, Julie is usually pretty shy."
"Honey, this guy is good. He could talk a cat out of a tree I bet. Plus, he has a way of connecting with his clients. Somehow the guy always gives his clients exactly what they want."
"You ever had him design anything for you?" Marty asked.
"Oh, honey, no. I don't have money to throw at that sort of thing! Besides he would probably faint if he saw the amount of polyester in my wardrobe."
"Well, I suppose I could check it out."
"Oh, just go for it, she'll love it!"
"Fine, fine, I'll trust you this time. How do I get ahold of this Mark LaRose?"
Susie gave Marty the name of a friend who was friends with LaRose. After a few phone calls he finally got in touch with the designer himself.
"Uh, hello, is this Mark LaRose?"
"Yes, this Mark LaRose. I am very busy, what is your need?" demanded a man with a thick accent, maybe French.
"Well, a friend of mine, told me you design women's clothing..."
"Yes, yes, go on." "I want to know what you charge for a visit to my wife for our anniversary."
"Fine, yes, that would be $500 for a half day visit. This includes five designs."
"Five hundred?!" questioned Marty.
"I have plenty of people who value my time, you are wasting it... good bye."
"Wait, wait, wait," said Marty.
"I'm waiting"
"Look, if that's your price, that's fine. I was just shocked at first, I've never hired a designer."
"Apology accepted. I can be at your house at 1 pm on Thursday."
"Oh, ok, well..."
"I am a very busy man, Mr..."
"Just Marty is fine."
"Good, Marty, now, I need information on your wife."
"Like what?"
"Hair color?"
"Brunette."
"Natural?"
"Does that matter?"
"Mr. Marty, this will go much easier if you just answer the questions."
"Alright, yes," answered Marty.
"Build?"
"Uh, I know she normally buys from the petite section."
"Good, and cup size?"
"You need to know that?"
"We have been over this already, have we not?"
"B," answered Marty.
"Excellent. Now I can bring the proper materials and color pallets."
"Thank you, Mr LaRose. I will tell Julie to look for you at 1 on Thursday."
"Very good, sir, I am quite sure, your wife will be satisfied. Good bye."
Marty hung up the phone, thinking he had just secured the best gift for his wife. What more could a woman want than to have a designer give her the personal treatment and create some outfits especially for her.
Julie was reading a magazine when Marty cruised in the front door an hour ahead of schedule.
"Hey good lookin'!"
"You're home early," said Julie with a smile.
"I got your anniversary present today and I'm excited!"
"Well, then I'll take it today," she replied.
"Nope, you don't get it until Thursday."
"What is it?"
"No way, Jose! This one you have to wait for."
"Well, what if I'm busy on Thursday."
"Well, your appointment is 1 pm on Thursday. So, hopefully you can keep the afternoon free from there on."
"Appointment? For what?"
"Not gonna trick me. You'll just have to wait."
Julie bugged Marty the rest of Tuesday and all day on Wednesday with about 20 phone calls. Marty had even made arrangements to have a friend watch their two kids all afternoon. He had told Julie to relax and enjoy the attention. Julie had always been the anxious type and was anything but relaxed leading up to the appointment.
Thursday afternoon arrived and her kids left with Marty's sister. This left Julie alone for 30 minutes to ponder over what this surprise would be. At 1 o'clock sharp, a spotless, black Escalade pulled up in front of the house.
Julie watched the man take 4 cases out of the back of his vehicle. She could see no sign of what this gift would be, but caught herself studying the man as he made his way up the sidewalk. His hair was thick and silver. Julie guessed him to be around fifty-five and appeared to be in extremely good shape. He wore a black, pin stripe suit, with a red tie. He looked important and Julie got even more nervous as he rang the door bell.
She opened the door slightly.
"Hi. Can I help you?"
"It is I who will help you, my dear," said the man in a very soothing, deep voice.
Julie was taken aback by his confidence and felt a sense of calm. She opened the door a little more.
"If I could come in, perhaps we can get started."
"Oh, alright," replied Julie as the man entered the room. She wasn't sure what to think but his voice seemed to compel her to relax.
"My name is Mark LaRose. I am a designer for my own firm downtown. I specialize in women's clothing and have been retained by your husband to design something especially for you.
"Really? Wow," she said as she thought out loud. Julie was quite impressed with this gift that Marty had come up with.
"First, I need you to tell me what types of clothing make you comfortable," stated Mark as he began to open his cases.
"Oh, uh, I enjoy the robe that Marty bought me. Then, I suppose the little black dress that I bought in college is one of my favorites, but I don't get to wear it very often."
"Fine, now, I need you to get both of those items for me. Would you be more comfortable doing this work here in the living room?"
"Well, I think so," she said, trying to figure out what he meant.
"I am going to need to take measurements for sure. So, I need to know if we should do that here in the living room. I want you to be as comfortable as possible, Julie."
His strong, but calm voice caused her to relax again and she felt a tingle. No man had ever caused that feeling in her with just his voice. Julie had always been easily turned on, and her husband had taken full advantage of that over the years. She had never cheated on her husband and had never had the desire to do so, but this guy's voice was getting to her somehow.
"Well, I don't want the whole world to watch me get measured," she said with a chuckle. Mark just smiled as he could sense her nervousness.
"You know, I just have to ask you something, Mr. LaRose."
"Sure," he replied in his comforting tone as he stopped gathering materials.