Page 25 of To Feel Like This Again
“And that’s my study.” She points to the room beside Lisa’s office. “Although, I kinda don’t live here anymore. I just visit on the weekends when I don’t have any plans.” Okay, so she used to live here.Why?
“Now, I live rent-free in the Davis’ penthouse,” she snickers, “although, in my defence, I’ve begged them many times to let me pay something. But they won’t have it.” Again.Why?
“Over here, we have the exercise room.”
Given the sheer size of this ‘palace’, one definitely needs a tour guide.
Wait, hold on a second, it hits me that her face is well made up — foundation, eyeliner, blush and lip gloss. Did she pretty up for me? (As far as I know, and can see, I’m the only guest).What’s happening here?
And did she just ever so slightly pull on her dress to magnify her boobies?
We continue down the hall and as we enter the living room, Alex gets up from the couch, introduces himself with an unnecessarily firm handshake, practically crushing my fingers. “Hi Nick, I’m Alex.” This pussy is definitely insecure about being married to a woman who in 2023, according to theWall Street Journal, earned US$11 million.
“Good to meet you, Alex. You have a really nice house.” But what I really want to say is: Lisa has a really nice house.
“Thanks, I’ll show you the squash court after dinner. You play?”
“Nah, I’ve never played before.”
“You watch the NBA?” he asks, pointing to the game on the TV.
“Yea, but I only watch teams who’ve won the title more recently than 1973.”
“Touché, man,” he laughs. “The knicks never fail to disappoint us.”
“Hi, Nicholas. Welcome to our home.” I look up to see Lisa coming down the curved staircase, her hand gliding along the rails. Speaking of curves. Damn. Seeing her again does something to me.
“Hi Mrs Davis, thanks for having me over,” is what I resort to saying.
Lisa walks over and hugs me. “Call me Lisa, like the thousands of colleagues at head office and elsewhere. Even Emily has finally learned how to call me Lisa, after years of asking her to do so.”
Emily chips in, “Yes, Nicholas. You don’t want to make Ms Wanna-be-cool over here feel old.”
We all laugh, because what else can you do in this situation.
“My son, James, lives in Italy, so it’s just the four of us. Let’s go to the courtyard,” Lisa instructs.
The indoor courtyard is well lit and overlooks a man-made lake. In the middle of the courtyard is the most unique live edge slab table I’ve ever seen. The table is laden with several dishes containing various types of meat and fish.I love octopus. Gimme some ah dat.
We sit — Alex at the head of the table with Lisa to his right. I sit beside Emily, across the table from Lisa.
Halfway into my steak, Alex reaches out and takes Lisa’s hand. “So, do people at work think Lisa is a cool boss?” From her reaction, I can tell he’s not usually affectionate. Although I already know this.
“Yea, I think she’s generally viewed as cool. But, you know, you always have the haters.”
“If only they knew Lisa … all she ever does is work. She never does anything fun. When was the last time you even went to a party and danced?” Emily teases.
If only Emily knew. If only Alex knew.
“Leave Lisa alone, you know she’s shy on the dancefloor. Plus, she does other fun things like Kalooki, where she’s the champion. Right hun?” Apparently Alex thinks this is funny.
So, again, we all laugh because what else can you do.
And while they continue to poke fun at Lisa, ridiculing her for missing a step at her nephew’s wedding in the Cha-Cha Slide song… my thoughts drift.
“Thanks for last night,” Lisa had said, kissing me on the cheek on the drive back to Kingston. “For taking me to the party, of course… not the sex,” she giggled. “It’s the first time I’ve really partied and danced. It was fun. Alex never takes me out to dance and whenever we are invited to a wedding or birthday party,he’s always more interested in having drinks and chatting with the guests.So, I just float around the dance floor and do my own thing.”
“Nick… speaking of dancing, my friends and I are going to the club tonight, you should come… it’ll be fun.” Emily threw out an invite, bringing me back to the conversation.
