Scene 10
New Year’s, Part 3
Erica went over her appearance more than once the next morning. She had already removed her sparse makeup twice, convinced that it was applied inappropriately and sending the incorrect message about who she was as a woman and as a businessperson. It took Natalie rolling out of bed, already gorgeous – matted hair included – and immediately fixing her girlfriend’s wardrobe malfunctions to get Erica out of the master suite and interacting with the few guests who couldn’t help but get up as early as she did every day.
She had missed the first round of buffet breakfast provided in the dining room. It had given three women ample time to come up with a plan, which they promptly presented to Erica the moment they saw her come down the stairs in a ruffled blouse and a pair of custom made skinny jeans. (One of them would later take her aside and demand to know her tailor.)
“So we’ve been talking about this pitch of yours, Ms. Mann,” Adrienne said, buzzed on enough coffee to power the chandelier in the foyer. “And those of us with the funds to concede that you make an excellent pitch have a few demands of our own.” She gestured to present company, comprised of Maxine and Eva.
“God,” Eva muttered to Maxine, “I don’t recall saying she could talk first, do you?”
“Ladies.” Erica fought back the furiously instilled mannerisms that asked her to take Adrienne by the elbow and lead her back to the dining room. No touching. Right. Women didn’t actually like that. Couldn’t Erica speak with her own authority on that issue? Don’t touch Ms. Thomas. That was a great way to lose the funds she sought. “I would be more than happy to hear your plans as soon as I’ve had some coffee. Care to join me in the lounge?”
They reluctantly followed. Erica asked one of her staff to bring in fresh coffee and an assortment of breakfast foods from the buffet. The other women had already eaten, but Erica’s stomach grumbled. They could deal with her sipping caffeine and sampling fruit while they spoke at eight in the morning.
“It’s just that something like this is so sudden,” Adrienne said the moment Erica had her modest breakfast. “Most of us didn’t even know you were a woman, let alone asking us for money to open an exclusive getaway all the way out here.”
Maxine rolled her eyes. East coast people were so dramatic about the west coast definition of countryside.
“I don’t really consider the money as the most important thing,” Erica said. “My main concern is finding a few like minds to share my vision with. I could easily find the money outside of my own accounts to refurbish this place into a playground for the rich and those I wish to do more business with. But I don’t want most of the people I already know.”
“You mean men,” Eva said.
“Men, and women who don’t understand what it’s like to have no place to be yourself.”
“You mean straight women.” Eva clasped her hands together. “Leeet’s just get that, um…”
Adrienne sighed. “Just say it.”
“Let’s get that straight.”
The awkward pause that ensued made it all the easier to hear Eva laugh at her own stupid joke.
“Cute.” Adrienne promptly stuck herself between Eva and Erica, as if Eva had lost all talking privileges for the next few minutes. “So you want to create a little hideaway for LGBT women of certain means.”
“They don’t have to be certain means. If an up and coming businesswoman happens to jive with our persuasion, she should be more than welcome to use this place as a destination for her needs. I would certainly love to include a room or two in a subsidized plan for women who would not usually be able to afford the membership fee. Transportation, however, would be on them, although a shuttle service from the local airport shouldn’t be too hard to swing.”
Maxine wasn’t about to point out to anyone that the “local airport” was a private landing strip. The odds of a non-wealthy woman flying in anytime soon were seriously none to zilch.
The details could be hashed out later.
“My goal,” Erica said, now feeling the breath of life from the coffee she drank, “is to create a place where women of like persuasions can come to work on their businesses or restore their mental health in a safe, supportive environment. I know there are many resorts out there for women in general, but I think it’s imperative to create a space where we can rest assured that male-related drama won’t seep into our already stressful lives.”
“Sign me the fuck up,” Eva said, pushing Adrienne aside. “I’m gonna need a place like this just to get away from my family.”
“I’m assuming our partners would be allowed to reserve their own names as well,” Maxine said.
“Yes,” Erica assured her, “each membership would include a +1 who can come and go as they please, as long as there is room. They will have to be registered, of course.”
“Sounds like you’ve thought this through quite extensively.” Adrienne swung one leg over the other. She was the only one wearing a skirt that morning, and her bare legs caught the half-interested attention of everyone present in the lounge. Too bad her own girlfriend was still picking at her food in the dining room and lethargically scrolling through social media on her phone. Amber would love to hear that her unemployed ass would be welcomed at this place, whether with Adrienne or not. “Did you come up with the details on your own?”
“My girlfriend played a huge part in helping me come up with the finer points. To be sure, there is still much to go over, but I wanted to hear everyone’s opinions before setting things in stone. I admit, I’m still new to a lot of this. Or at least being open with it.”
“Why don’t we hash out some of those points right now?” Maxine put her phone away after receiving a message from her finance manager,. “I’m sure we all have places to go later.”
“Let me gather a couple other people. I’m sure you’re not the only ones who want in on this discussion.”
Natalie ambled downstairs just in time to find her girlfriend gathering her electronics and putting a contractor on speakerphone. Coffee and pastries were barely in Natalie’s hands before she was roped into a morning-long meeting about the amenities women wanted the most, how much memberships (or investments, in this case) should cost, and how widespread knowledge of the location should be. After all, there were a lot of women Erica either didn’t know about or had forgotten about in her hunt to find likeminded individuals. When should they find out about it, if ever? And would it be solely accomplished via word of mouth, or would it be injected into the grapevine everyone eventually picked from and did with as they willed?
The first pair of guests had to leave early in the afternoon. Victoria and Madison expressed regret that they couldn’t stay longer, since it was a long ride to the (commercial) airport and they had two First Class seats with their names on them. Not the kind of thing they could delay for more than a few minutes. Besides, Victoria assured her hostess, anything that needed to be gone over for the upcoming articles about Erica’s plans could be done via video chat or email. They would keep each other posted.
Maxine followed them to the front driveway, where the rental care waited to take the couple to the airport.
“What do you think?” Victoria asked, knowing damn well what Maxine wanted. “Are you going to give her some money for this place?”
“Are you going to write articles kissing her ass and telling all your lezzy friends that this is the cool, hip place to come if you’re feeling the Dyke Drag in your heart? Because then it might be worth it.” Maxine rolled her eyes. “Besides, ‘tis the season of giving, isn’t it?”
Victoria started up the car. Madison buckled her seatbelt and burrowed inside her plush winter coat. “This isn’t the kind of charity you usually get involved with, though.”
“A part of me keeps thinking about my ex-wife and how much it would piss her off to know she’s not invited.”
“Does your girlfriend know you harbor those kinds of thoughts?”
“Does my girlfriend know we fucked back in the day?”
Madison choked on the water she had been drinking.
Victoria patted her on the back. “Does my girlfriend know that I know she once went to a nipple-twisting party with Erica Mann?”
“There was no nipple twisting involved!” Madison asserted through her coughing. “Never saw ‘em!”
“She’s hot, huh?” Maxine lowered her arms from the rolled down window. “If we were both single…”
“You’d do everything but actually sleep with her, I know.” Victoria pulled her sunglasses down from the visor and shoved them onto her face. “Unfortunately, you both seem like the conflicting kind of dominant, so I guess you’ll never know.”
Victoria rolled up her window with a twiddle of her fingers. Maxine took three steps back and sighed.
One by one, each couple brought their luggage down to the foyer and hopped into their cars. Eva made the executive decision to send her family’s plane back to Montana and instead “carpool” with Adrienne and Amber back to New England in their plane. As soon as they heard Jenny and Nicole were also heading back there, they invited them along. It was too late to stop Victoria and Madison from taking their commercial flight back east, but Adrienne’s plane was only comfortable for up to five people, let alone six… or eight! Adrienne had the fastest plane among them, anyway. Freshly purchased with her new mega-billions that came rolling in faster than she knew what to do with.
Like throwing some money at Erica Mann’s ranch, because why the fuck not?
The last ones to linger were Jade and Stella, who were going to drive as far as Chico and spend the night with the Moores before driving back up to Portland the next day. Stella and Erica needed to have an extensive meeting about the job the one had for the other, anyway. Perfect excuse to have an early dinner while Jade sat by the window and took pictures of the wintery Californian countryside. Natalie approached with an offer for some dessert, but Jade turned her down.
“By the way,” Jade said. “Who the hell is that coming up the driveway?”
Natalie squeezed up to the window and peered into the twilight. “What are you talking about?”
“Right there. There’s a car coming. Were you expecting someone else?”
“No. Not at all.” Natalie’s face was pale. “Excuse me. I’m gonna check in with someone.” It was no accident that she immediately went to security.
None of the guests had seen many men over the past twenty-four hours. Most of them were outside, patrolling the perimeter and watching the gates, while the few inside kept a careful eye on the goings-on from a respectful distance.
Now five men in suits descended through the foyer, each one of them on Bluetooth devices, either receiving or relaying orders to swarm the unmarked car pulling into the front driveway. Sherman, the head of security, demanded that the front gate explain themselves.
There was no explanation other, “If you saw who I saw, you’d let them in too.”
It could’ve been the damned president, and security still should have held them up until either Sherman or Erica cleared it!
“Making a great case for your ideas here,” Jade said to Natalie. “I can really see this going places.”
A Bentley with Californian plates dodged the security guards amassing around it. The driver remained unbothered as he whipped the car into a perfectly parked position and hopped out as if a half-dozen tasers weren’t pointed in his direction.
“Oh, no,” Erica muttered. She went to the front door with hardly a skip in her step.
“Do you know who it is?” Natalie called after her.
Irony had come to the ranch. After two weeks of tracking down and interrupting the daily lives of her guests, Erica was about to now know what it meant to feel the same discomfort come raining down upon her. There were few women in the world who had that few fucks to give when it came to going up against Erica Mann, the woman who sent her bodyguard halfway around the world to harass guests in Italy and Hawaii. The ex-Secret Service agent who doubled as the newcomer’s driver was not only covered in bulletproof wear, but might as well have given the middle finger to Sherman and his crew in the driveway.
Another car door opened. Out stepped a woman dressed in a sharp, Italian suit and a heavy winter coat that had no place in mild California.
“Whoooooa.” Stella watched from the dining room window, where Jade also pressed her nose to the glass. “I love ya, babe, but I’m leaving you for that hottie.”
“How can you tell she’s hot?” Jade crossed her arms in a huff. “She’s clearly wearing a wig.”
Erica stayed at the top of the front steps, flanked by two bodyguards who were soon told to stand down. The woman approaching unannounced was merely a pain in the fucking ass. Not a real threat. Maybe.
“Ms. Mann!” The coat came off. Erica stood at the top of the steps, but this woman was tall enough to almost come up to her flustered hostess’s head. Her short brown wig blew in the evening breeze, and her meticulously kept nails grazed her cheek when she tossed an errant synthetic hair out of her face. “I do hope I’m not interrupting your evening!”
Erica was no longer wary of showing off her appearance to the world, but even she shook in her boots to see Margaret Sloan standing in her driveway. In the countryside. The day after New Year’s.
“How did you get past my front gate?”
“That’s neither here nor there, sweetheart.” Ms. Sloan came up the steps without invitation. “As soon as I heard you were having a lesbian orgy without me, I simply had to come running.”
“Lesbian orgy,” Erica repeated. “I regret to inform you that no such thing is taking place.”
“Oh, honey,” Sloan said with a sigh. “You dared to have a party without me. That was offense enough as it was. It’s like you don’t even want my money. Now are you going to let me into your quaint little ranch house or not?”
Sherman, who had just finished checking Ms. Sloan’s car for contraband, nodded that everything was clear. The driver brusquely ignored the head of security when asked for identification.
“I didn’t invite you for reasons you’re quite familiar with.”
“You’re going to hold a woman’s family status against her?” Sloan chuckled. “That’s rich, coming from you.” She pulled out a small present wrapped in Christmas paper and ribbon. “Merry belated Christmas and a happy new year to you. Trust me. You want to open it.”
Erica gruffly received the gift and opened it while half her staff and her remaining guests looked on.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Sloan said. “You’re acting like I personally planted a bomb or something in there.”
That raised more than a few hackles from security.
The only thing in the box, however, was a diamond tennis bracelet and a card that said, “I want in.”
Because that’s how Margaret Sloan was. She heard her birdies tweeting, saw the worms coming out of the morning ground, and swept in. She would’ve Christmas dinner out from under them if she had heard about the party in time.
What a grand way to start the new year – enough drama to kick off more interpersonal conflict. Erica hoped, for everyone’s sake, that Sloan would get a girlfriend of her damned own and leave her the fuck alone!
Happy new year, indeed.
The End
Merry Christmas, and a happy 2018!
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