It was late the next afternoon and she finally was able to convince Cole to go home and get some sleep. Alone, Nicole looked up at the ceiling and realized that what Lou told her last night might be coming true. She was beginning to think clearer. Not clear, or sharp, but not the hindered fuzz and slow recall of last night. "At least, at this point, I could live with this. If this is as good as it gets, I can accept this." A polite knock on the doorframe drew her attention and there was a beautiful redhead woman, who Nicole had never met before. "Yes?"

"Hi, Nicole; we've never met. I'm Max's assistant, Cathy. May…may I talk to you for a few moments?" she asked, trying to sound polite, but Nicole also felt that it was important to this woman, Cathy.

 

"Yes, sure. How can I help you?"

 

"Well, first of all this might not be the time, how are you feeling? I mean, after what you went through--"

 

"Please, Cathy. I'm fine. You feel nervous and it feels like a nervousness about something you want, something important to you. So, talk to me and if I can, I'll help, all right?"

 

Cathy nodded and her body language smoothed into something Nicole almost envied. Cathy was now an executive level power-woman and not the bundle of nerves she was at the doorway. "Wow, I wish I could do that," Nicole said with a smile.

 

"What?"

 

"That, what you just did. You're so… powerful now. Like you could just say 'do this' and most people would be doing it before they realized they didn't know who you were."

 

Cathy studied her and then laughed, "Really? Max makes me feel like that sometimes. He's just so…"

 

"Commanding. Like you just believe he knows what he's doing so you want to follow, because you're so sure it will be safe."

 

Cathy nodded eagerly, "Exactly. The nice thing is, he normally does know what he is doing."

 

"So, what can I help you with?" she asked.

 

Cathy studied her and said, "You know, in just the last few minutes, I'm … maybe you just are natural and can't ‘cause you don't know. But… sorry… anyway, I've been with Max since before his wife died. I was with them when she passed and then with him in New York and all points in between. The core of us, his personal staff, who travel with him – Bill, James, Sally, and myself – we could see…we could see he wasn't Max anymore. He died with her. He loved her so much that he just died with her." Cathy looked at her hands, "I tried everything. We all did. I even tried sleeping with him. I don't think Sally ever did, but, well, I love Max and seeing him like that was really hard. But even sleeping with him didn't help."

 

She looked at Nicole, "And then he spent two days with you. Well, three I guess, but he came back walking like a real man again. I was so happy that I could have screamed and hugged him in public. I swear. It was so hard not to break out the wine glasses and dance on the plane as we flew to Portland. Anyway, you've been really good for him, but now you're retiring, obviously. I don't want him to slip back. So, I was wondering if, if what you did could be taught? And if it could, would you teach me?"

 

Nicole thought about that, "Most of what I did, I taught myself. I don't think any of it was natural to me. I may have some natural empathy or something like that, but what I did was very specific and based on sound studies about sex and psychology, and my bubble theory. I haven't run across anything yet that matches my bubble theory. I built it from several schools of thought by taking one piece from one and another piece from another, so it's not wholly mine. But to answer your question, yes. I think it can be taught. I don't know if I'm skilled enough to teach it, but it can be learned. I know that because I learned it. And yes, definitely, especially for Max, I would try my best to teach you."

 

"My schedule is fairly tight --" Cathy began.

 

"Mine isn't. And there is Skype and email," Nicole offered. "It might be good for me to really sit down and go through it, to write it out, to focus that kind of energy into it."

 

"I want to pay you for this. We pay our own way and there's nothing more valuable than knowledge, especially knowledge from experience that works." Cathy told her. "So, let's work that out, too. All right?"

 

"Max means a great deal to me; it feels odd, but all right, because I know he would demand to pay me, as well. I'm guessing we're going to be hush-hush about this until you are confident in your skills."

 

"I think that would be wise, don't you?" Cathy asked.

 

"I never, ever, let them see the woman behind the curtain. It wouldn't, and I really believe this, wouldn't help them to know what is going on, and having them know would only make it harder to pop the bubble."

 

"You've used that term several times now, bubble. Can you explain that much to me today?" Cathy asked.

 

"Sure," Nicole said and sat up and began teaching Cathy about wealthy, powerful men. A subject that Cathy, until this moment, really believed she had a clear understanding of.

 

Two hours later, Cathy was taking notes and slightly flabbergasted, "I have to say that this isn't what I expected to be learning today. I mean, you were a call girl, so I expected to be taught -- "

 

"Pussy tricks?" Nicole smiled.

 

"Um, yes," she blushed. "Pussy tricks."

 

"We'll get to those, but I'm sure you understand that they're useless without this happening first. This is what broke down the wall and let Max grieve. As soon as his bubble popped, as soon as he was in the present, he broke down. He stayed with me because I told him to after that. He was shattered. I couldn't just let him walk out like he was the next morning. By the second day, I could have let him go and felt all right about it, but I still had another day off and it felt good to be with someone who was being so human with me."

 

"You didn't have sex with him at all?" Cathy asked, a little amazed.

 

"The third day, before he left, we had sex. Then I showered him, got him into clean clothes, and he called his driver," Nicole told her.

 

Cathy looked down at all of her notes, "Wow, you could make a fortune selling this."

 

"I have a fortune. Cole, Max, you, Lou, Jim, Brian, even Rat, came into a firefight and saved me from a lunatic. How much is that on the spreadsheet?"

 

Cathy grinned at her, "Cole seems very serious about you."

 

"So I've heard. I'm very serious about him."

 

"Kind of a frightening man, though. I mean, he's got the same kind of vibe going on that Max does, but so much more…savage," Cathy estimated.

 

"Once you hit the wild side, you never go back," Nicole told her with a laugh, "and yeah, savage is a good word. Wow."

 

Cathy laughed and put her hand to her lips, "Oh you are bad."

 

"Do you have your laptop to with you?" Nicole asked.

 

"Yeah, sure; what do you need?"

 

"Look up Ben Wa balls and get some for our next lesson. Also look up pompoir, which is a pussy technique you can learn from using the Ben Wa balls." Cathy, Nicole noted, was nearly a computer herself the way she took in and processed information.

 

"Is this… real?" Cathy asked a few minutes later.

 

Nicole looked down at herself in her hospital gown and shrugged, "Here, put two fingers inside me."

 

"What?"

 

"We're not lezing out; just do it," Nicole told her.

 

Cathy hesitated for a moment and then did what she was told to. Once her fingers were in, Nicole began pompoir and Cathy's eyes turned into amazed saucers. "How… I mean… holy shit!" Cathy stuttered.

 

"That's exactly what they say," Nicole laughed.

 

Cathy sat back in her chair again, staring at her, "Oh, I have got to learn how to do that. Have to."