Luke

---

The following Wednesday, John and I had sausages and eggs at Barney's Deli down the street from my apartment. He'd been out of town for two days, working with a client in Silicon Valley and flew back that morning and so we met for lunch to catch up.

"So, you talked to Alexa? She’s coming with you after all?”

I forked a sausage and chewed for a moment. "Yeah. She caved to my manly charms.”

“Probably more like the prospect of a weekend a the beach with all the trimmings. It’s great this happened, in a way. Better than if she’d been the real Lexxi.”

“One wrong letter in an email. That'll teach me to rely on my memory."

"It's so bizarre," John said and bit a piece of toast. He chewed for a moment. "It's one of those fate moments, I guess. You know, when wires get crossed and your life changes."

I frowned and watched him dig into his home fries. "What do you mean?"

"I saw you with her. You like her."

"She's nice," I said and thought about Alexa. "She's beautiful and smart. But she wants a real relationship."

"Like every other woman in existence, Luke," John said, narrowing his eyes at me. "Get used to it."

I sat up straighter. "I happen to know several women who are only interested in a good time."

"Yeah, sure…That’s what they tell you, but deep down? They want you to put a ring on it. Don't kid yourself."

"No, really," I said and thought about the three women I'd been seeing on and off for the past couple of months. "None of the women I’ve been hooking up with want anything more than a good hard fuck now and then. They're too busy trying to slay dragons in the business world to get tangled up in a marriage."

"That'll change once they hit thirty and they hear that tick tick tick,” John said. "Then, you'll have a harder and harder time finding women your age who don’t want a commitment."

"I made a commitment last year – to never get serious about anyone. I am very faithful to my commitment."

"But you liked Alexa," John said. "I could tell."

"I like a lot of women," I said and sipped my coffee. "I like women. I just don't plan on getting married. Ever."

"Tell me another one. You were all ready to get married last year to she who must not be named."

I failed to hold back a grimace. "That was clearly a mistake. No, I'm dead serious. I plan on dying a crusty old bachelor living alone in my lonely old mansion by the ocean, cared for by a bevy of beautiful young nurses. Now that I've tried it, I like being independent."

"Independence is good," John said. "But the love of a good woman is better."

"To independence." I held up my cup of coffee, unwilling to give in to him.

John made a face. "To love," John said and held up his.

"To having a fucking good time with beautiful women."

"Now, that I can toast to as long as there's love at the end of it."

"You are a total romantic. You must have never had your heart broken."

We clinked coffee mugs and went on with our meal.

While we ate, my thoughts returned to Alexa, and how pretty and smart and funny she was. What a good sport she was to go along with everything that night. She was someone I would like to see again, and see naked, but that was the extent of it.

“Really, though. What made her change her mind?” John asked, his eyes wide.

Around us, the other customers were talking and eating, and the noise level was high. Barney's was a busy deli and so I had to lean in closer to John so he could hear over the din.

"She was won over by my promise of fresh seafood and cold beer. She’s going to continue the pretense of being my girlfriend. That way, Mrs. B will set her sights on someone else."

"Why not me? I'm going to be super rich soon, too," John said, winking.

"If you want to come along, do. I'm sure Felicia would love to have someone to talk to."

"She's beautiful. I'll take her off your hands no problem."

"I'll put in a good word for you with Mother. She'll be pleased to be able to match you up with someone."

Just then, my cell rang. I had the sound setting on cluck, denoting my adoptive mother was calling.

"Oh, great, speak of the devil. It's Dragon Lady," I said and answered. "Hello, Mother," I said, trying to sound pleased to hear from her.

"Hello, dear," she said, her voice sounding flustered. "I was just speaking to Eloise Blake about Saturday night. That girl Alana that you brought along?"

"It’s Alexa, Mother..."

"Why are you bringing her? We invited the Blakes because we thought you and Felicia were a great pair. Why didn’t you tell me you had a steady girlfriend?"

"Mother, I don't tell you every intimate detail of my private life," I said. "I'm a fully-grown man. I look after my own relationships. I don’t need any matchmakers."

"I understand that, but you haven't been serious about anyone so far since last year. I was just surprised to meet this Alicia girl. She's pretty, if you like full-figured girls, but really…"

"She's not full-figured. She's curvaceous. She's not a girl either, Mother. She's a woman. She's a Master's student at Columbia studying International Relations. She's very smart. And her name is ALEXA."

"Well, whatever," my adoptive mother said and I could hear the impatience and disapproval in her voice. "We're inviting the Blakes to the beach house. I hope you're bringing along John at least. The Blakes have made plans to spend the entire weekend and so I don’t want poor Felicia to be all alone."

"Don't worry,” I replied dryly. "John is coming and he's very eager to get to know the lovely Ms. Blake better."

“He is? Oh, good," she replied, sounding pleased. "That's one thing I can cross off my to-do list then."

"Was there anything else?" I asked. "My eggs are getting cold. We're at Barney's for lunch."

"No, that's all, dear. See you on Friday night."

"See you then," I replied and ended the call.

"Evil Dragon Lady problems?" John asked with a grin.

"As usual, meddling in everyone's affairs. She's glad you’re coming, though. She was worried that poor Felicia would be without a dinner companion at the table. You don't mind?"

"Not at all," John said and smiled eagerly. "Count me in. The Blakes are a great old family. My mother will be so pleased to hear I spent the weekend with her."

"Your mother," I said with a laugh. "So different from Dragon Lady. No meddling."

"Ever," John said. "Just polite questions and patient waiting for me to meet Ms. Right. Unlike you, I want to get married. Start my own dynasty."

"You'll have no problems, if that's your goal in life. I'm sure there'll be dozens of women lined up eager to be your princess."

"One of my goals," John said. "Marital bliss like my parents had."

I nodded. John's parents were like Alexa's. Happily married for three dozen years. Then Mr. Andrews kicked off after a massive heart attack and left Mrs. Andrews alone. I liked John's family. A lot more than mine.

But John was a romantic. Always falling in love with every tall woman he met. At barely six feet, he was shorter than me, and he had a preference for tall dark-haired women.

"I like to see them eye to eye," he said one day when we were sitting in the park during lunch watching the people go by.

I preferred petite women.

Night and day, the two of us, but we'd been friends forever.

---

I left John and went back to my office, spending the afternoon working on several reports, trying to distract myself from the upcoming meeting about the deal. It kept me busy for a while, but soon, my stomach growled and I decided to take a few reports home so I could read them over that night after supper.

When I got back to my apartment, I felt at a loss. I didn’t know what to do with myself when I wasn't at work or working out. I paced my apartment, listening with half an ear to the game on television, thinking about the upcoming meeting with JL Investments, the parent company of the tech giant that wanted to buy Chatter. We'd already met once and discussed options, and this meeting coming up would be the clincher. We'd either have a deal or it would be off, but I was sure it was on.

Still, I was tense, wondering whether the deal would go through. I wanted to do something with my life, not just live idly off the money my family's money created and passed on from one generation to the next. When the money from the Chatter deal came through, I wanted to invest as much of it as possible in ethical stocks and investments.

Then I thought about Alexa.

She was a political type, and I figured she'd know about things like human rights and labor laws.

It was something I could talk to her about. She was a student in international relations and would know her way around that kind of issue.

So, I took out my cell and texted her.

LUKE: Hey, what do you know about ethical investing?"

I sent the text and sat back on my sofa, half my concentration on the game and the other on my cell, hoping that Alexa would respond. I wanted to talk to her about ethical investments.

Hell, who was I kidding? I wanted to talk to her.

Period.

She texted back in a few minutes while I was flipping through an edition of the Wall Street Journal.

ALEXA: I know next to nothing. Are there investments that are ethical?

LUKE: Haha. You're not serious are you? If so, you must think I'm a total creep because I plan on being an angel investor.

ALEXA: No, it's not that. I wish I had money to invest. Honestly, I don't have any money for investments and I can barely afford tuition and the cost of living. There’s nothing left over. A beer or three on the weekend. Maybe someday when I'm older and I'm actually working, I’ll have time to think of what I could invest in and what might be ethical. Right now, not so much.

I smiled when I saw her text. Of course, she was a student. She barely could afford to spend money on entertainment, let alone investments. I'd been lucky all my life and had never been without money. I was lucky that my father and then adoptive father ingrained in me a respect for creating a budget and sticking to it, even if it was a pretty generous budget. I loved playing the stock market when I was growing up, and had a practice account when I turned fourteen under his tutelage, and when I turned eighteen, I invested one hundred grand, which turned into two hundred, and then half a million.

What can I say? I inherited a fortune and a knack for numbers. From the time I was a kid, I loved math, computers and coding. I loved buying and selling stocks. I loved to watch investments grow and then reinvest to build a bigger better portfolio.

LUKE: Do you know about anything international labor legislation? Trade?

ALEXA: Zip. Zilch. Nada. I specialize in war and peace rather than international trade. Although the two are connected, but that's a very long discussion.

LUKE: I have time.

ALEXA: LOL Maybe for another night. Right now, my eyes are almost crossed from studying. My comp is tomorrow.

LUKE: Oh, yeah. I won't bother you. We can talk when you come to Westhampton with me. We can sit on the beach and drink beer and talk international relations.

ALEXA: Sounds riveting. ;)

LUKE: You know you want to…

ALEXA: You really want me to come?

LUKE: I need you to come. Mrs. B and Felicia will be there. If I don’t have you at my side, Dragon Lady and Mrs. B will conspire to push poor Felicia next to me every opportunity they can find. It would be hell. You must rescue me.

There was a pause and I wondered if she'd pull out or still agree to come with me.

ALEXA: If you really think you need me there, okay. But it's all a performance. No a la carte ordering.

LUKE: I'll be the perfect gentleman. Scout's Honor.

ALEXA: Okay. I'll probably really need the escape after my comp is done. I've been studying straight for weeks now.

LUKE: You deserve a break. Our beach house is nice, very comfortable, the ocean is right there, a nice beach, all the amenities.

ALEXA: Sounds wonderful. Welp, I gotta go and finish reading my journal article on the ICBM Treaty and the Iran Deal.

LUKE: SNORE…

ALEXA: No, seriously, it's very good. Very exciting.

LUKE: ZZZZzzzz

ALEXA: Goodbye, sir.

LUKE: Later. ;)

I read over our texts, smiling to myself. She was smart but she was also playful. I liked that in a woman. She could be serious, but she could also have fun. I couldn’t stand people who were uptight or couldn’t take or tell a joke.

The truth was I actually liked Alexa. I looked forward to spending time with her, just talking. Well, I'd really like to fuck her brains out, but afterwards, I'd like to pick her brain about politics so I could check out that angle for ethical investing.

Plus, she was really easy on the eyes. She was pretty. She had a great smile. She was smart. She had a hot body that I wanted very much to explore.

I should have known better than to keep seeing her.

But I didn't.