Chapter 82

Book:The Neallys Published:2024-5-28

It was hard through his trousers. Kate could almost feel it pulse through the material. She wanted to touch it and she wanted it to be inside her. As much as he wanted to fuck her, she wanted him to fuck her. He reached behind her back and unzipped her dress, stepping back so she could remove it. She stood in her lingerie and shoes in the foyer.
“I need water. Can I get you some?”
“Thanks.”
He stepped aside so she could pass to her kitchen, and she was conscious of walking across her apartment in just her lingerie. It felt awkward. That he was staring at her ass as she walked felt awkward. She reached into the cabinet and took two glasses down, letting the water run for a minute to get cold and then filling them. “Ice?” she asked over her shoulder. “Sure.”
When Kate turned to head back, she saw that Martin had closed the curtains in the living room and removed his shirt, and she knew he was posing for her. He was not in bad shape for a man in his late forties or early fifties, but his paunch was noticeable. She could just catch the outline of his erection, not quite as hard as it had been. She handed him his glass, and they both took long sips. After the glasses were put down on a table in the living room, he reached to her. Kate was aroused and now she ran her hand to his crotch voluntarily and felt him harden.
She undid his belt and unsnapped his trousers and…stopped. She took a step back.
“I’m sorry. I’m just not ready.”
“What do you mean not ready? Why’d you bring me up here?”
“I thought—”
“We can slow it down if you want.” His arms reached to her.
“No, I’m sorry. I’m just not ready.”
“Come on, Kate. I can tell you want me and you can see that I want you.”
“I know I ‘want’ you but I also don’t, if that makes any sense.”
He grabbed his things and began to get dressed.
“I thought we could have something. You brought me up. I just can’t figure out what you want. If you do, and it’s me, call.”
He finished dressing and she, standing in place, watched him leave. As he opened the door he turned and said, “Well goodnight then. It was…interesting.”
Before he left the building, Kate was on the phone to Eileen, explaining what happened and trying to justify what she knew was a pretty shitty thing to do. And Eileen explained to her friend that if she did not want to do it, it would have been pretty shitty to have done it.
“Look. I know I told you just to get laid, no-strings, but you’re not wired that way. I’m not either, truth be told. I guess the lesson is that if you want to do it, it’s because of a connection. It’s not just sex for you. That is probably a good thing, but I know it may not feel that way now.”
“Can I call him now?”
Eileen waited a breath or two.
“You could do worse. Far worse. Call him.”
A minute later, she was on the phone to Simon.
“Simon, this is Kate. What are you doing Saturday?”
“Wow. I’ve nothing planned. What do you have in mind?”
“I want to take you for a drive.”
“Do you have a car?”
“My daughter has an extra. I’ll pick it up and then head up to Greenwich.”
“No you won’t. I’ll drive down and pick you up and we can go from there.”
“Ten o’clock. I’ll pack a picnic lunch. You remember where I live right?”
Saturday
The car that double-parked in front of Kate’s apartment—an address burned into his soul—shortly before ten on Saturday was a cut above the aged Camry that Kate planned to use. It was an Aston Martin DB11 convertible, dark blue with a dark-tan interior. It was one of Simon’s few indulgences. He rushed to help her with two Zabar’s bags and put them in the back seat. It was warm enough, just, to have the top down and he handed her a broad-brimmed hat with a chin strap. She also carried a sweater, as he suggested. Soon they were out of Manhattan and on the parkway into Westchester and the nearby country to the north.
They did not speak much. For each, it was enough to be next to the other, their hands occasionally touching on the gear shift as the aired whizzed over their heads. About an hour north, they headed west to a park along the Hudson that Kate discovered online. They found a parking spot, and Simon removed the blanket from the trunk and a bottle of white wine that he stowed in the back seat and after handing them to Kate he took the bags, which were filled with cheeses and crackers and an Italian Hero and tomato-and-mozzarella on a baguette. Plus several cupcakes, with both vanilla and chocolate cake because Kate did not know which Simon preferred. She also put silverware, glasses, and napkins in the bags. The Zabar’s logo branded them as city-folk to the others scattered about.
Simon led Kate to an open area of grass that had a view across the river and to West Point on its western bank, high above a palisade, its large, stone buildings like sentinels. She spread the blanket and they sat and spread the food and wine out between them. Simon told Kate more of his background, about his brief marriage when he was in his twenties, including how they both quickly realized it was a mistake. How he liked the semi-retired life and felt he paid his dues to enjoy it but was focused on settling down with someone. He confessed to being devastated for having lost Eileen. Something he never admitted to anyone.