5
Joseph slipped off his two-thousand-dollar Berluti shoes after entering his two-level Pennsylvania Avenue condo. He set his briefcase inside his study to the left of the foyer and then took a few steps down into the large open space comprising the main level of the modern condo. He crossed to a wet bar beside the kitchen, pouring himself a glass of scotch. The condo’s main level hosted a large great room with an unobstructed view of the Capitol Building, and an ultra-modern kitchen done in various gray tones.
Joseph frowned as he removed the latest issue of Money magazine from his pile of mail, his eyes on the image of Richard Eastman III displayed across the cover. He glanced at the table of contents and then was opening the magazine to a specific page, his eyebrows pulled together as he read.
“You fucking bastard,” he said aloud minutes later, tossing the magazine on his coffee table. “Fucking bastard.”
The intercom beside the front door buzzed and he crossed to the foyer before pushing a button and speaking into the intercom. “Yes?”
“Ms. Paige is here to see you. May I send her up?” the doorman asked.
“Yes.” He unlocked the door and opened it slightly before retracing his steps back into the family room and dropping down onto his large leather couch. He picked up the stereo remote and within seconds, the Boston Pops’ rendition of the 1812 Overture filled the room.
When Kathy entered the condo a few minutes later carrying a bag of Thai food, Joseph was stretched out on the couch, his hands linked behind his head. “Hi,” she practically yelled. “Could you turn that up a little louder?”
“What?” He touched his ear.
“I said,” Kathy began, pausing as she set the bag on the coffee table and picked up the remote, “could you turn that up a little louder?” She began to push the down arrow on the remote.
“Don’t.” Joseph grabbed the control and turned the music back up. “I want it like that.” He brought the hand holding the remote to rest on his chest and lay back down, closing his eyes.
“Well, I don’t! It’s hurting my ears.” She took the remote from him and again turned down the volume. “Why do you want it so loud?”
“Because,” he said, sitting up and glaring at her, “that’s the way I like it.” He took the remote, turning it off altogether before coming to his feet.
“Where are you going?” Kathy asked.
“To take a shower,” Joseph answered.
Moments later, he dropped down on the gray comforter on his bed and lay back against his pillows, throwing his arm over his eyes. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”
“Joseph?” Kathy came into the room. “Are you okay?”
“No. Would you get the prescription bottle from the cabinet in my bathroom?”
Within moments she was back, sitting down beside him on the mattress, a glass of water in one hand and a bottle of pills in the other. “These?”
He lifted his arm from his eyes and squinted at the bottle she held towards him. “Yes.”
“How many?”
“Two. Thank you.” He took the pills from her hand, placed them on the back of his tongue and swallowed them down with water.
“Are you sick?” She touched his forehead.
“Your perfume is making me nauseous. I have a migraine. I need to be alone.” His eyes were closed and he didn’t open them as he spoke. “Would you turn everything off before you leave?”
“Do you need anything else?”
“Quiet. I just need quiet.”
When he next opened his eyes, it was 9:00 the following morning. After brushing his teeth and using the bathroom, he left his bedroom and walked slowly, gingerly across the hardwood floor leading to the stairs.
Moments later, he was leaned back against the counter in the kitchen, watching the coffee brew.
“How’s your headache?” Kathy came into the room dressed in a short silk robe.
“It’s gone.” His eyes swept the length of her body as she approached. “Where did you sleep?”
“In the guest room.” She stopped before him, moving her hands up over his bare chest. “You were mean last night.”
“I’m sorry.” He kissed her forehead before stepping around her and taking a mug from the cabinet. “Do you want some?”
“Have you ever seen me drink coffee? How long have we been dating?” She watched him pour coffee into his mug. “What happened last night?”
“I had a migraine.”
“You were also in a terrible mood.” She moved up behind him, running her hands up and down his bare back.
“A migraine will do that to you.” He took a swallow of the hot liquid, one hand resting on the counter, the other holding the mug.
“If you had a migraine, why did you have the music so loud? I would think that would make it worse.” She began squeezing the muscles of his shoulders.
“I didn’t know I had a migraine then. God, that feels good.”
“What happened in a forty-five minute period to put you in such a foul mood? When I called to get your order for the Thai food you sounded fine.”
“Could we get the oil out and do this right? I need a good massage.”
Five minutes later he was stretched out, completely naked and facedown, on his bed as Kathy’s oil-soaked hands worked the muscles of his shoulders, neck and back. “Are you going to answer my question?”
“What question?”
“The one about the terrible mood you were in when I arrived yesterday.”
“I’d rather just enjoy your hands right now.”
“Joseph, I’m not going to let this go,” she said, her hands pausing. “You’re always shutting me out.”
“Please don’t stop. It felt so good.”
“Then talk to me.” Her hands were once again moving. “What happened last night?” When he didn’t answer, she stopped the massage. “I’m not going to do this unless you talk to me.”
“We’ll talk when you’re done.”
“No. If you want me to do the massage, you’re going to talk to me now.”
“Please.” He turned his head and met her eyes. “I don’t want to talk while I’m getting the massage. It’ll ruin it.”
“Do you promise we can talk when I’m done?”
“Yes.” He turned his face back into the pillow as her hands once again began to move. “I promise.”
“I have to get up,” Joseph said several hours later, his arms tightening around Kathy.
She moaned as she turned her face into his chest. “It’s Saturday.”
“I know.” He kissed the top of her head. “You can stay in bed. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
“No you won’t. Where do you have to go?”
“I have a meeting with the Angels,” he said, referring to a small investment group he oversaw. “We have a few business plans we have to evaluate.”
“Why can’t you ever stop?”
He ran his hand up and down her bare back. “We can have a late dinner. You can wait here or I could come to your place when I’m done.”
“Wait a second.” Kathy pushed herself up to a sitting position. “You never told me why you were so upset last night.”
“I have to go to work.”
“You promised.” She leaned back against the pillows. “You can’t leave until you talk to me.”
He rolled onto his side and propped himself up on his elbow. “What do you want me to say?”
“I want you to tell me what upset you yesterday.” She touched the side of his face. “I want to feel like I’m part of your life.”
“You are part of my life.”
“I’m part of your sex life. There’s a difference.”
“That’s not true. Don’t say that.”
“Why were you so upset last night?”
“I read about someone retiring. Someone I possibly wanted to do business with.”
“And that brought on a migraine?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“It just did. It’s complicated and I don’t want to talk about it.”
“So that’s it? That’s all you’re going to tell me?”
“Yes.”
“Why is it so hard for you to let me in? I’m in love with you. I want to share your life.”
He turned his head and kissed the inside of her palm. “You are sharing my life,” he said deeply, his gaze returning to hers. “As much as I’m capable of. You know more about me than anyone.”
“Not Tony.”
“I’ve known Tony my entire adult life. I was referring to women, and you’re going to have to be patient with me. I’m doing the best I can.”
“I know.” She leaned in and kissed him lightly on the lips. “I just love you so much.”
“I love you too.”
“They loved you,” Kathy said, looking up from her cell phone. It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and she and Joseph were driving south on I-270 towards Washington, returning from her parents’ place in Pennsylvania, where they’d spent the past four days.
“Did they?”
“Yes.” She held out her cell phone. “You can read the text from my mother if you want.”
“If they loved me, why wouldn’t they let me share a bedroom with their daughter?”
“They’re just conservative.”
“Do they really believe we aren’t sleeping together?” He picked up her hand and brought it to his mouth, kissing the inside of her wrist.
“I’m sure they know,” she said, moving her hand behind his neck. “They just don’t feel it’s respectful to have sex with their unmarried daughter under their roof.”
“If I had known that, I wouldn’t have let you sneak into my bed.”
“Right.” She began to massage the back of his neck and shoulders. “You wouldn’t have stayed longer than one night. You should have seen your face when you realized we were in separate rooms.”
“I’m thirty-four years old. It took me back a bit. But it was fine.”
“Of course it was fine—I was in your bed every night. We may as well have been in the same room.”
“True.” He leaned his head to the side, giving her hands better access to his neck. “God, that feels good.”
“You’re so tense.”
“That’s probably because I have about six hours of work ahead of me tonight.”
“Tonight?” Her hand stilled on his neck. “You mean you have to work tonight? I thought we could unwind and watch a movie.”
“Seriously?” He glanced sideways at her. “We’ve been unwinding for four days. Did you really think I wasn’t going to have to work tonight?”
“No,” she sighed, again massaging his neck. “And you didn’t unwind for four days. You were on your computer and cell phone half the weekend.”
“Kathy, I’m doing—”
“I know,” she interrupted. “You’re doing the best you can.”
“I am.”
“I know.” She leaned across the seat and kissed the side of his cheek. “And I appreciate you spending the holiday with my family. It meant a lot to me.”
It was past 1:00 a.m. when Joseph took off his reading glasses and set them on his desk. He leaned back in his brown leather swivel chair and moved his hands over his face, rubbing his fingers over his eyes. He hadn’t seen Kathy for several hours, since she brought him a large plate of Chinese food and iced tea.
He picked up his empty plate and glass and opened the door to his study, walking out into the darkened foyer and then to the kitchen. After putting the dishes in the sink, he went up to his bedroom and found Kathy asleep in his bed.
He crossed to his bathroom, emerging several minutes later, freshly showered and naked. “Hi,” Kathy said huskily, her voice barely intelligible.
“Hi.”
“What time is it?”
“Late.” He lifted the comforter and stretched out beside her.
“I missed you.” She snuggled up beside him, her head on his chest, her hand moving over his muscled stomach.
“Do you want to go away with me between Christmas and the New Year?”
“Go away?”
“I’d like to take you to Switzerland. Do you think you could get off work?”
She lifted her head from his chest, meeting his eyes in the darkened bedroom. “You want to go away with me for Christmas?”
“Yes, I want to go away with you.”