Interlude (9 page)

“What was that all about?” Cal asked in
silent awe as she let go of the bar and slid into his lap. She
grabbed his hair again and kissed him with vigor. Her own taste on
his lips only served to drive her into frenzy again.

“I've always wanted to do that!” She said
with a prideful grin as she fumbled for his manhood. Finally
grasping her prize, she lifted up and drove her body onto him like
a soldier falling on a bayonet. Cal held her, gently sucking her
nipples as she began another round on her own personal jungle gym!
He buried his face in her ample breasts as she came again, this
time a more satisfying conclusion as Cal burst inside of her in his
own long-needed release.

“Well, that's one way to get discharged
early.” Cal joked later as they stood outside the hospital's front
entryway. In their furious reconnection, they had neglected to lock
the door to the PT room. While they were going at it like animals,
a group of nurses were watching them cautiously, not sure whether
to let them finish, or call security. After Karen emitted a quick
shriek, Cal looked over and saw that they finished with an
audience! One of the nurses brought Cal his gown as Karen slid off
his body timidly. That same nurse flashed them a knowing smile as
Cal was discharged shortly after.

“If that's all it took, I would have been
here days ago.” Karen joked as they walked to her car.

“I'm glad you're here. I hate to say it, but
you really saved me.” He said seriously, adding, “I’ve wanted to be
the manly hero all my life, but it seems that card will have to be
played later.” Cal said.

“Our little physical therapy session was
pretty heroic of you.” Karen said, recalling how he had eschewed
his own embarrassment to cover her naked body with his gown.
“Besides, I think the nurses liked your little show.” Karen said,
bumping his hip playfully with hers.

Cal blushed. He shifted the weight of his bag
to his other arm as he checked the contents. His new, ascetic life
all crammed into it.

“I don't get why those burglars left my
laptop. It's the only possession I have that's worth anything.
Hell, it's worth more than my car.” Cal reflected.

Karen regarded him sheepishly. He looked at
her, then at his bag. “This wasn't a normal robbery was it?” He
finally asked.

“Not really.” She said meekly. Somewhat
defensively she added, “It's not like I had a hit put on out you or
anything.”

“What?” Cal asked in confusion.

“Look, we have a nice long drive ahead of us.
Why don't we discuss this when we get to my house okay?”

“Agreed.” Cal said acquiescently. He was just
happy to be with her. He would have gladly suffered through ten
more royal ass-kickings to be able to see her again! He made a
mental note to move his gym membership to the Santa Barbara
franchise. He needed to take some Akihito classes or something!
Getting jumped so easily was kind of emasculating. Lost in his
thoughts, he startled Karen with his random outburst.

“Oh, I forgot my car at Jeremy's house.” He
said slapping his hand to his forehead.

“It’s fine. I had Soren pick it up for you.
Didn't you notice your car key was gone?” She asked with a
smile.

“In case you forgot, I was a little
distracted this morning.” He returned with his own little
smile.

She reached across the seat, placing her hand
on his leg with a light squeeze. She was happy to have him with
her. She had cried the whole way back to her house that evening
after the coffee shop. She missed him so much! As she checked her
email through dashed tears, she noticed a story on the local news
about a home invasion. Her tears of emptiness morphed to fear as
she saw his name on the news report. She lay awake all that night
pondering what to do. She knew who did this. She also knew that she
had brought this on her man. This was her fault! She anguished over
what to do.

In the morning, she arranged to have some
flowers sent to his room. Standing in the florist's shop, she was
surrounded by the scents of the trade. As she bent down to write
some kind of anonymous condolence, she stood there looking at the
slip. Tears began to form again as she struggled with her rational
thoughts and her girlish needs. He was her man! They knew each
other so well. Corresponding through text and email had given them
both the bravado to open up and share like no two lovers ever
could. Their familiarity that built from this unorthodox beginning
served to make them closer than either of them could have ever
imagined. She knew what she had to write! She had to see him. As
she strode out of the florist's shop, she was both scared and
happy. Did she dare call this what she thought it was?

The drive passed quickly as both of them made
small talk. Cal regaled her with his tales of woe and suspense in
the world of IT. Karen made small talk about the gun club. Cal was
so fascinated to hear how complex it was to run a shooting range.
Karen had taken over her dad's spot on the board when he had
passed. She was responsible for the insurance and legal aspects of
the place's upkeep. It was very exclusive. Some of its members
struggled to keep a low profile, especially when it came to owning
guns. As the coast of Santa Barbara rolled by on their right, Cal
finally recalled his revelation from last night.

“Hey, remember that big packet of papers my
wife dropped by?” Cal said.

“You mean your snarling banshee?” Karen said
with a little laugh.

“Heh, yeah. It turns out her family isn't too
good with investing. I had a bunch of neglected tech stock in my
portfolio that my father in law, slash financial adviser, totally
forgot about. The companies I invested in were all little research
firms working on next generation stuff. He laughed at me when I
wanted to buy into them. He said that I didn't know what I was
doing investing in those risky dot com failures.” Cal looked out
the window in vindicated recollection, adding, “I guess I knew
something after all. Long story short, Most of the little companies
got bought out by larger conglomerates when their tech matured. I
moved over my entire portfolio over this morning to another firm
before you came in. I have a rather large dividend payment making
its way to my bank account tomorrow, and more after that. It feels
sort of good not to be poor anymore.” Cal reflected.

He had struggled with money his whole life.
His mom and dad were good people, but they both had Cal very early
in life. Since their careers revolved around the care and feeding
of a squishy little infant, they had to take whatever jobs they
could to scrape by. Cal was always raised to be happy with what he
had, but to always strive for more. He didn't mind being frugal,
and it helped when he had to pay his way through college. Like a
mind reader, Karen queried about his parents to match his internal
dialogue.

“Do your parents live locally?” She
asked.

“They used to. They both died in a car
accident when I was in my sophomore year at college. That was when
I started dealing with depression.” Cal admitted with a twinge of
embarrassment.

“Oh?” She asked.

“Yeah, the campus physician decided to put me
on Xanax to stave off the misery. I was a mess. The only problem
was that nobody told me that that stuff is so addicting! I ended up
taking more and more just to not feel anymore. It was kind of weird
finally graduating with a degree in Computer Science and not
feeling anything. I knew then that I had to taper off the stuff,
but with Alice and her family taking control of my life, I ended up
taking more and more to deal with things.” Cal finished. He was
amazed at how easy it was to talk to her.

“If you were so miserable why did you stay?”
Karen asked.

“When your immediate family is dead, and
you're addicted to anti-depressants, you don't know how to process
emotions anymore. I was living in a state of shock, and living
through an addiction at the same time. My doctor issued me a
prescription six years ago for the stuff, and it's been on auto
refill ever since.” Cal finished as they started the climb into the
hills of Montecito.

“Do you still take it?” Karen asked out of
curiosity.

“No.” Cal said simply, adding, “I stopped
taking it when I met you.”

She squeezed his leg a little tighter as a
wave of happiness washed over her.

They climbed higher into the hills above
Santa Barbara. Karen pointed out the houses of celebrities as they
drove deeper into the opulent neighborhood, her finger occasionally
jutting in front of Cal's face as they would pass one.

“So where’s your house?” Cal was puzzled as
to why they kept driving up into the hills.

“It's way up there.” Karen said, craning her
neck to point at a large, two story house sitting on its own scenic
outlook.

“Wow.” Cal said quietly.

“It was daddy's. I inherited it when he
passed away. It came with the family business, I guess you could
say.” Karen pulled up to a driveway with an ornate iron gate. She
pulled down her visor and entered a code onto the device clipped to
it. The gates shuddered, and then groaned slowly open as she drove
through slowly, the tires crunching on the gravel. As the driveway
wound its way up the hill, Cal could see the coast as a distant
horizon of aquamarine in the clear summer day. As they came to the
top of the hill, Cal saw the house in full detail. It was designed
with the feel of an Italian villa. The outsides were a stippled
yellow plaster that rose up to the tiled roof. The landscaping was
a lush thicket of local flora. Large rosemary bushes nestled into
the ornate iron fence that followed the property and continued
around the large, kidney-shaped pool on the side. There was a truck
parked by the detached garage. Standing by a low hedge was an
elderly Hispanic man holding a gas powered trimmer. He waved to
them with a smile as Karen pulled to a stop. As they stretched out
from the long drive, Karen introduced the man to Cal.

“Cal, this is Pedro. Pedro, this is my
boyfriend Cal.” She said, as she put her hand on Cal's arm.

“Encantado,” Cal said, shaking the man's
hand. Pedro smiled and gave Cal a burst of Spanish that he
struggled to keep up with. Walking toward the house, Cal felt
Karen's hand loop through his arm.

“I didn't know you spoke Spanish.” She said
as she looked for her house key.

“A little, I had a girlfriend in high school
that was from Brazil. Her parents only started warming up to me
when I started learning their native tongue.” Karen gave him a
teasing glance.

“A Brazilian ex-girlfriend eh?” She said,
adding, “Was she hot?”

“I, uh, guess? It was years ago. Wait, are
you jealous?” Cal grinned at this revelation. Karen looked at him
with feigned indifference, failing to hide her feelings

“No, I mean, it's cool you're experienced and
all.” Karen gesticulated with her hands, trying to express herself
while not looking like a complete wacko.

“I was an epic nerd in high school, so I
didn't date much.” Cal offered, trying to calm the weird tension
they were now swimming in.

“Yeah me neither. I played sports I high
school.” She said indifferently, inserting the key into the ornate,
carved wood door.

“Jock,” Cal said with a smile as he bumped
her hip with his.

“Dweeb,” She giggled as they entered the open
living room.

Cal swiveled his head around to look at the
impressive surroundings. The house had an open layout, with an
elaborate stairway leading up to the second story. The living room
was furnished in a similar manner as her home office, with
Tuscan-style aesthetics running throughout. Light spilled in from
large, square windows as Karen led him to the kitchen around the
corner. Cal set his large gym bag on the granite counter. “She
spared no expense here.” he thought to himself as she reached in
the fridge. Pulling out a bottle of wine, she turned to him with an
apprehensive look. It was time to tell him the big family secret!
That thing that almost caused their end. She ran through different
scenarios in her head. She needed to do this right, or she might
scare him away for good. She bit her lip in concentration as Cal
waited in the awkward silence.

“Could you take these out to the patio? I
have to get something from upstairs.” She said, handing him the
bottle and two glasses.

“Yeah, are you...okay?” He asked.

“Yeah, sure, I just think this will go easier
with visual aids.” She said, as Cal gave her a quizzical look.

Cal found his way out to the patio. It had a
similar tile motif as the flooring in the house. This created a
sort of outdoors-brought-indoors sensation as he sat down at the
rough iron pub table to wait. His mind was still racing. What was
all the fuss about? Was she into weird, kinky stuff? Illegal kinky
stuff? Child slavery? Prostitution? Cal had been processing this
whole encounter the whole drive here, but to be on the precipice of
what she considered to be so terrible, so illicit that she was
willing to break up over it, really had Cal freaking out!

He heard Karen at the patio door. He got up
to help her with a stack of photo albums that seemed to be too tall
for her to look over. With all of the albums on the table, she sat
down heavily. With a deep breath to calm her, she pulled out the
cork from the already-opened bottle of wine and poured both of
their glasses to the brim without saying a word. Karen took a deep
drink from her glass and set it on the table with a “clink” that
seemed very loud in the silence of her sprawling, hilltop estate.
Cal followed suit with his own glass, not wanting to be
ill-prepared for what she was about to say. He still resolved to
work through whatever this big issue might be with her, no matter
what it was.

Karen took an album off the top of the stack
and carefully opened it up. As the cellophane-covered pages creaked
and crackled, she smiled with recollection as she showed Cal the
photos within.