Avery

As surreal as it was, being with Luke in the Bahamas after a year of interacting with him through a monitor or phone, being with Luke in Manhattan was even more so. To be clear—it was really fucking awesome to have walked onto a plane at JFK, being all cold and pale and anxious, and then stepping off a plane at the same terminal with a tan and my favorite handsome Englishman on my arm, the skin on my chin rubbed raw from kissing him so much, a smile on my face that surely screamed to anyone who paid attention: I’VE BEEN HAVING TONS OF VACATION SEX WITH THIS MAN AND NOW WE’RE GOING TO DO IT IN MY APARTMENT!!!

We shared a cab to midtown and he got dropped off first for his meeting with one of his clients. He wasn’t kidding about that list of New Yorkers who wanted to meet with him. I trusted that I was the only one he was meeting with in bed.

I took his suitcase, as well as my own, up with me to my office. It was after lunch, it had just started to snow, and I had no meetings set for the day, but of course I assumed I’d be expected at work. I hadn’t explicitly told Natalie that I’d be in the office as soon as I returned from the airport, but her jaw dropped when she saw me approaching. I realized, finally, that it was the extra suitcase that surprised her. “Oh my God you’re here! Hi!” She jumped up and followed me into my office, shutting the door behind us. “You look amazing—like a whole new woman! Tell me everything! Is he coming to the office? Can I meet him? Is he wonderful? Are you in love? This is so exciting!”

I hadn’t told her that Luke was in New York.

Natalie responded to my confused face with: “Oh, I’ve been in touch with William. Luke’s assistant. He mentioned that Luke had him schedule some meetings here, so…I assumed. You don’t have to tell me anything, it’s fine. Unless you want to. Do you want to? I’m dying to hear about if you do!”

I had decided that I wouldn’t tell anyone at work, including Natalie. It was so adorable that she was so excited, but I couldn’t. “Bucket’s wedding was so wonderful,” I said.

“Oh right! Bucket’s wedding! What an amazing surprise! So you were both there? You and Luke?”

“And a few other people. And the villa was incredible. Like, beyond amazing.”

“Uh huh? So you had a good time?”

“I did. I had a good time.” I tried really hard not to smile. And then I smiled and my face basically exploded and Natalie started clapping and jumping up and down. “Natalie you can’t tell anyone anything! I haven’t told you anything!”

“I know I know you haven’t and I won’t and I’m super psyched for you even though there’s totally nothing to tell!”

“Okay okay okay. It’s not that big of a deal.” I blushed and covered my face.

She squealed. “It’s so not a big deal! Is he staying with you? Obviously he is, because he didn’t ask William to book him a hotel.”

“Well you two have certainly shared a lot of information.”

Now it was Natalie’s turn to try to keep a straight face. “Oh, we just work really well together, you know, I’m very interested in transatlantic business deals, so I’ve been…picking his brain.” She smacked her lips together. “Anyway—I rescheduled all your meetings for today and Howard told me to send you home if you actually showed up, so…”

“Uh, do I still have a job or what?”

“Of course—he’s just really into that whole R&R thing, and he was worried that you never would…R or R.”

“Right. Well, I did both, but I have to get back to work again eventually.”

“Yes. Oh my God Luke’s going to be here tomorrow—do you have Valentine’s Day plans?!”

“Shhh! No. I mean, no plans. I don’t think. He’s here for meetings and I’m working. It’s business as usual, except Luke’s doing some business here in New York.” Saying his name out loud made my face erupt in smiles again.

Natalie squeezed my arm. “Word. Although if you do want to make special romantic Valentine’s Day plans with someone special, for business reasons, it’s probably almost too late to book a table anywhere decent.”

I normally went home right after work and went to sleep at eight o’clock on Valentine’s Day. “I mean. I wouldn’t want to be rude. He’d probably enjoy dinner out on…a Tuesday.”

I shooed her out of my office and called one of my clients. Rebecca was the executive chef at one of the hottest restaurants in town and she’d always told me she’d get me a special table if I ever wanted a romantic dinner reservation. Turns out she meant any night besides Valentines Day. I honestly never understood why people made such a big deal out of V-Day—it was the most obnoxious holiday of the year—but I suddenly wanted to show Luke how much it meant to me that he was here with me. Rebecca offered to cook us dinner herself and have it delivered to my apartment. She’d be cooking it at four o’clock, so it wouldn’t be super fresh, but it would have to do. I sure as hell wasn’t going to cook for Luke for the first time ever on Valentine’s Day and I wasn’t going to bring home a roast chicken from Whole Foods or order pizza.

I went home, did a quick clean up of my apartment, and texted my sister to tell her that Luke would be staying with me for a couple of nights. The last text I’d sent her was the day before, of Luke and me on the pink sand beach. I wrote: And yes that is pink sand, not worn-out clitoris dust from Magic Wand over-use. Xo

She had responded with about a thousand exclamation points, and tried FaceTiming me five times, but I had been too busy to get back to her. Now, apparently, she was too busy to get back to me, which was fine.

When Luke got to my place, he was so exhausted he could barely keep his eyes open. He had a bad case of jet lag and No-Sleep-From-Shagging-Avery-Non-Stop-itis. It had finally caught up with him. I ordered a pizza and he lay down on my sofa, his legs in my lap.

“I like your flat,” he said.

“Oh shut up, it’s boring. I’m hardly ever here.”

“Where does Mr. Potter live?” His eyes were closed.

“Who?”

He opened one eye. “I think I should meet him.” He was grinning.

“Absolutely not!” I smacked his leg.

“I think it’s only proper if I meet your other boyfriend…I mean.”

Other boyfriend?

He blushed. “I mean, I assume you’re still on speaking terms with him.”

“Yes, but it’s none of his business who I’m spending my time with now. It’s important to have boundaries with exes.”

“So you don’t expect to be intimate with him again?”

“Well…never say never.”

“At least let me see it!” He sat up, like a sleepy little boy demanding a bedtime story.

I pushed him back down. Fortunately the pizza delivery man had arrived, so I could change the subject.

We sat on the floor around my coffee table, eating pizza. He was so tired that it seemed like me ordering pizza so we could stay in was just good manners instead of laziness. It also sort of felt like we’d been dating for a year, but I tried not to think about that. I asked him if there was good pizza in London.

“I know a place you’d like.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. When you’re there. New York-style. Thin slice. You’ve been to London, yes?”

“Yes, but just one time a year and a half ago, when I was looking at country houses for one of our actress clients who was obsessed with Jude Law in The Holiday. I spent two days being driven around by a realtor named Agnes and it rained the whole time.”

“Did you find a country house for your client?”

“There was nothing within her budget, so I had a DVD of Cold Mountain sent to her and recommended a summer home in North Carolina.”

“My goodness, you are good at your job. I hope you have a better time in London the next time you visit.”

“So do I. I really want to ride on top of one of those double decker tour buses.”

He wrinkled his nose. “You do?”

I nodded. It was something my mother had once talked about wanting to do. Unfortunately, she never made it off the North American continent.

“You are full of surprises. I’ve never done that.”

“Maybe you’ll go with me.”

He shrugged. “Maybe.” He polished off his slice of pizza and wiped his fingers. “Now will you introduce me to Mr. Potter?”

I shook my head. “What about you? Do you have any significant lady friends that I should know about?”

He didn’t look away, he just smiled and held my gaze. “I don’t. There hasn’t been anything serious for quite some time.”

“Just ladies you’ve been out with a few times?”

“Indeed, yes.”

“And how does that work, exactly? Do you go out with them a few times and then decide it’s not a match and part ways, amicably? Do you leave it open-ended?”

“It’s always amicable. On my part, anyway.”

“Is that so. How nice. And these amicable women, are they from your neighborhood? Do you meet them through work, or?”

“Oh no, I’d never date a woman that I knew through work.” He was grinning.

“Smart man.”

“What is it exactly that you’d like to know, Avery?”

“Only wondering how a busy man such as yourself manages to juggle his work and social life with such…je ne sais quoi.”

He studied my face for a minute, then took my hand. “Look, if you’re wondering whether or not I’m a bachelor—I am. If you’re wondering whether or not there’s someone special waiting for me back in London—there is not. You and I are not so unlike, believe it or not. I am very much work-focused. I must admit I’ve only been dating women who don’t live in England lately, so there would be an easy excuse for the relationship not working out.”

My heart sank. “Oh.”

He suddenly realized I wasn’t from England. “But that’s not what this is!”

“No, I know, it’s not even a relationship.”

“That’s not what I meant, I mean I’m not hoping that it won’t work out with you.”

“You know what we don’t have to talk about it it’s fine.”

“Avery.”

“No really, I totally get it. That’s a brilliant strategy. You go out of town for your little mini-breaks or whatever you call it, with your out of town lady friends and then you go home to work during the week. Cut and dry, black and white. Very smart.”

“It really is different with you.”

“Uh huh.”

“Sorry, I know that sounds like a line. Please believe me.”

“I don’t want to ruin things by talking about it—let’s just—hey you want to meet Mr. Potter?!”

In an attempt to evade a discussion regarding the future of our relationship, I brought out the Magic Wand. I had only intended to hold it up so Luke could see what it looked like, but Luke had something else in mind…I almost passed out…From laughing so hard.

I unplugged Mr. Potter, hid him in the back of my closet, and was about to let Luke give me an orgasm the old-fashioned way when I realized I’d left my laptop at the office. I’d never been without my laptop before. It was like losing a limb. A limb that contained all of my most important documents and contact information for our wealthy clients.

I had only been sleeping with Luke for a few days and I’d already lost my mind.

I was so panicked I couldn’t form sentences. “Nuh! Laptop…office! Ommigod.” I jumped up and ran around like a maniac, putting on my heavy coat, my snow boots. It was still snowing. I was trying to decide if I should order a car or take the subway. “Can’t…you stay. Sleep. I go.”

“You left your laptop at the office? God. I’ll go with you.”

“No! You stay and sleep! I’ll order a car, I’ll be like half an hour.”

“Of course I’m coming with you. I’m fine. I feel rejuvenated in your presence. I’m positively buzzing with energy, just like Mr. Potter.”

“Oh no you didn’t.”

He took my hand. “Oh yes, darling. I did.” He pulled on his coat, wrapped his beautiful grey cashmere scarf around his neck and suddenly I didn’t feel panicky anymore.

The city was quiet and blanketed in snow and I walked my favorite route to my office hand-in-hand with Luke, because he wanted to walk around town with me. It was romantic and cold, but cozy too—like sharing a hot fudge sundae with your sweetheart. I was so happy and it was easy to imagine what it would be like if he lived there, but it made me nervous to even allow my brain to form those images. Luke always seemed to notice when I was starting to tense up. He’d squeeze my hand, wordlessly reassuring me that all was well.

He was even more excited to see my office than he was to meet Mr. Potter. He said he’d imagined what it might look like, having only ever seen the scene behind my desktop computer. When he saw my sofa, his eyebrow raised. He removed his coat and scarf, removed mine, put his cold hands under my sweater, and said he would do all the things he’d fantasized about doing to me on my office sofa…after he had a quick nap. He could barely see straight, the poor chap. We both managed to lay down on the sofa—spooning.

It was around four-thirty in the morning when we were awoken by Magda the cleaning lady. She had turned on the overhead light and gasped. “Oh thank God! Yes! Thank God!”

We were not naked—we had much more than a quick nap. There was nap drool involved. Fortunately, I was able to wipe it away before Luke could see my face. Regardless, I think Magda was even happier to see me with a man than my sister would be.

“This is what I have wanted for you, Avery Davis! Yes. This is good. Hello. I leave now, sorry to wake.”

“No no, it’s very good that you’ve woken us, thank you.” Luke’s voice was gravelly from sleep, but still somehow delicious. He stood up, ran his fingers through his hair while walking towards Magda, and held out his hand. “Hullo, I’m Luke Mason. Avery and I work together.”

“Ohhhh.” Magda giggled. “I see, okay. Hello, yes, good.”

“Luke, this is my friend Magda. Luke is just in town for a couple of days.”

“Oh? You are English?”

“Yes. I live in London.”

“London?....Ohhhhhh!” I could see her remembering that I’d mentioned being at the office to Skype with London. I could see her understanding why I was so excited about it, and I could see that Magda was about to ask Luke to marry me.

I jumped up, put my hands on Magda’s shoulders, and gently ushered her out of the room. “Hey Magda, we actually have some more business to discuss, so…”

“Happy Valentines Day, Magda!” Luke called out. What a suck-up.

She clutched her chest and gave me the thumbs up as I shut the door in her sweet hopeful face.