chapter 1
fiction
HUFFINGTON
09.23.12
hallway, legs crossed, bustier pressing her breasts out like
beach balls, the little hooks fastened one notch off in the
back so that she seemed a bit crooked.
Daniel paused in the doorway with his briefcase. “Oh
my,” he said, “what’s this?”
She felt her upper lip twitching. “Hello, Daniel,” she said.
“Welcome home.”
She stood awkwardly and approached him. She tried to
remember: be slow. Don’t rush. Removing his coat and vest
and laying them evenly on the floor, she reached into the
back of his pants and pulled out his walnut-colored wallet.
He watched, eyes huge, as she sifted through the bills until
she found what she wanted. That smart Mr. Franklin.
He usually used the hundred-dollar bill to buy his best
friend Edward from business school a lunch with fine wine
on their sports day.
She waved it in his face.
“Okay?” she said.
He grabbed her waist as she tucked the bill inside the
satin between her breasts.
“Janet?” he said.
She pushed him onto the carpet and began to take off
the rest of his clothes. Halfway through the buttons on his
shirt, right at his ribs, she was filled with an enormous terror and had to stop to catch her breath.
“For a week, Daniel,” she whispered, trembling. “Each
time. Okay? Promise?”
His breathing was sharp and tight. “A week,” he said,
adding figures fast in his head. “Of course, I would love a
week, a week,” and his words floated into murmur as she
drove her body into his.
They forgot about dinner. They stayed at that spot on the
carpet for hours and then tumbled off to the bedroom, his
coat and vest resting