Just then, a car pulled into the driveway and shut off. We heard the car door shut, and within a minute, our daughter Madison was walking into the living room like it was HER house. We really didn’t spoil her or anything like that, but she did sometimes have a high opinion of herself. It didn’t mean we loved her any less, just that sometimes she could be hard to live with. She was showing signs of maturing out of that attitude though, so we had hope. My wife wouldn’t admit it, but I think Madison got some of it from her. Caitlin had a pretty severe temper, but thankfully it only reared its ugly head when things got really bad. I think I had seen it maybe five times in the entire time we had been together.
“Hey Maddy, how were finals?” I asked. We sometimes called her Maddy, which is what she told us she preferred to be called. That happened sometime mid-sophomore year in high school.
“Ugh! Thank god those are over with. I can’t believe that I have three more years like this one to go!” she exclaimed, plopping down on the love seat.
“True, but at least you can say you have one fourth of your time done, right?” my wife asked. “Besides, you’re on break now, and in a few days you will have the whole house to yourself. As long as you don’t throw a raging party while we are gone, you should have a good time.”
“Oh yea, that’s right. You guys are going off to some tropical paradise… WITHOUT ME!” she complained, with a smile to let us know she was kidding.
“Honey, you know that we’ve been stressed around here a LOT lately, so we really need this time away,” my wife replied.
“I know, I know. I really hope you guys can really relax out there. I hate it when you guys fight.”
“OK… now that that’s settled, can you tell us where you want your post-finals dinner at? We HAVE to celebrate!” I asked.
“Well since you asked, I have been dying to try this one place out. I think you guys might have been there once or twice. It’s called Lemaire Restaurant, over on Franklin St. The place has these huge marble columns, and looks so fancy inside, at least the pictures I saw looked nice.”
“Oh, yeah I remember that place. Honey, didn’t you have some kind of crab cocktail there?” I asked my wife, as she simply nodded. “Sure, we can go there.”
My daughter jumped for joy, ran to her room to make some all-important phone call. I am shocked she is even calling someone, seeing as how she spends nearly 90% of her time using her fingers. She is on her phone, using text messages, Facebook, Snapchat, and probably at least two or three more that I don’t care to count. Funny how times change, I mused to myself idly for a second. When I was a kid, the girls spent all their time on a phone line they just HAD to have installed in their room. I spent almost all of my time out playing with my two brothers, and one sister, in the backyard. Even as we all got into middle school, we still hung out. High school changed most of that, but in a way it has to. I just wondered how much today’s technology would have changed my childhood….
Anyhow, as she got ready, my wife got up and sat in my lap. “You know what eating seafood does to me…” she said in a sultry voice. It was a statement, not a question.
“MMMhhhmmmm, why’d you think I mentioned the crab cocktail?” I asked in a playful tone.
As she got up, I gave her a slap on the ass. Did I mention already that I really liked her ass, and liked to slap it whenever I could? She jumped a little, turned around and grabbed the back of my head, to give me one of the hottest lip-lock kisses I’d had in a long time. Someone was wound up, and I would definitely be reaping the rewards tonight!
I was imagining the things that we would do later, when the doorbell rang. I wondered who that could be. I got up, and walked to the door. As I looked through the peep-hole, I heard my partner and friend yell out, “Let me in, it’s me you asshole!” I opened the door, and in walked Cyrus.
How do I begin to describe Cyrus? Well, for starters he is an asshole, and it’s one of the things about him that has helped our business be so successful. When it came to contracts and customers, he was tough as nails, and worked for every dollar we earned. He and I started a company together, around ten years ago. That was back when we both worked for the same government agency, FEMA, flying supplies around to different parts of the country when needed. We realized that there was a need for smaller scale logistics, that didn’t make sense for the government to run by itself. We started our own business, and contracted to take on the smaller, but more frequent, flights of supplies to all over. The government had gotten a huge black eye for the way it handled the fallout from Hurricane Katrina, back in 2005, so there were reviews done on all sorts of things. Handling logistics for the relief supplies was one of the areas that we decided we could monopolize on. We called ourselves, “Rapid Relief Logistics, LLC”.
Anyhow, Cyrus was one of my better friends, and as I said, my business partner. He was a dedicated bachelor, who loved to date, but was, as he put it, ‘not marriage material’. I had to agree, he wasn’t cut out for married or family life. He was too in love with himself to share his heart with anyone else. Caitlin and I had double-dated with him a few times, when he needed a wingman. I never wanted to go alone with him, so it was my wife’s idea that we double-date. In the end, it worked out pretty well.
“Hey James, thanks for letting me in. We need to talk for a minute, so I figured I would just stop by instead of call.”
“Damn, what are YOU doing out here tonight?” I asked.
He looked like he had stopped at the bar first, before coming over. His shirt was un-tucked, and his breath smelled like a distillery already. I decided to get a drink, and offered him one too.
“Hey jackass, you want a drink?” I asked with a snort.
“Sure, got any Scotch?”
“Oh, hey Cyrus. I was wondering who was at the door. Yeah, we have a Single Malt, it’s up in the cupboard,” she said to me, pointing at it.
“I know where it is… sheesh,” I said to her, slapping her on the ass again. She just grinned and walked back down the hall towards the bedroom. I went to get the scotch and two tumblers down from the cabinet, and poured us each two fingers worth. I knew he liked it on the rocks, but I preferred it neat. I got two cubes of ice for his out of the freezer, and reluctantly added them to one of the glasses. To me, once they melted, it just ruined the flavor of the Scotch.
I took the glasses in to the dining room, where he had sat down at the table. “Here you go,” and handed it to him. I sat across from him, and asked, “Ok Cyrus, what was so important that you had to come over instead of call or text me?”
“James, I think we have a problem with one of our contracts. We need to meet with some Senior Director named Christopher Hood, about the deliveries on the last contract, as well as a possible new contract for that relief effort getting underway down in Mississippi and Missouri.”
I was a bit shocked. We usually never had problems with our contracts, although the possibility of the new one wasn’t as much of a shock. There had been record flooding in the south again, and the Mississippi river floods had caused a lot of problems for people over the last twenty-four hours.
“Well, that’s unusual, isn’t it? When is the meeting with that guy? You know I am leaving for the Cayman’s on Sunday, for our first real vacation in years, right?” I asked him all these in succession.
“Yeah, I didn’t forget about your vacation. You deserve it, man. The meeting is tomorrow at four pm. At first they wanted to meet at their offices, but I convinced them to meet us at ours. I hate making you do some work right before you leave, but with the two of us together, I just know we can knock it out of the park.”
Cyrus always had a way with words. He was both a great motivational speaker, and sometimes a bit over-the-top with his use of cliches. I really wasn’t that pleased with having to go, but he had a point. We were a dynamic duo, and had done some pretty incredible business together.
“Ok man, count me in. Let’s just make sure we get it done quickly, so I can get finished packing for my trip.”
“You got it man. Say goodnight to Caitlin for me, after I’m gone of course,” winking as he said ‘goodnight’. With that, he left my house, shutting the door behind himself.
I went to the bedroom to join my wife, and get ready for dinner. After looking through the closet for something to wear, I did what all brave and fearless men do, I asked my wife. She just laughed, knowing me all too well, and pointed out some nice grey slacks and a light blue button-up. I put on the items she picked out, and splashed on a bit of cologne. It was her favorite kind, Calvin Klein Obsession.
Caitlin was just finishing the shimmy into her tight fitting dress, that showed off all her wonderful assets. I still have no idea how women fit into those, but appreciate them all the same. “Zip me up hon?” she asked.
Of course, I obliged. I stood behind her, and zipped up her dress to the top. Once there, I leaned down and gave her a very gentle kiss on the nape of her neck. When I retreated, I blew lightly on the spot I had just made contact with, knowing that would really get her going. She shivered a bit, then turned around and mashed her breasts into my chest, pulling herself to me tightly. I had a feeling this would be a great night.
We kissed, and then she pushed me away so she could finish getting ready. I walked out into the hallway and past my daughter’s door. I knocked, asking if she was ready yet.
“Almost dad, one more minute OK?” she replied.
“No problem honey. Take your time.” I was pretty sure it would be longer than one minute, but really didn’t mind.