Page 33 of Afternoon Delight

Meg

I was dying to tell Georgia that Zak and I had taken turns wanking in her shop’s bathroom, but I doubted she’d find it as titillating as I had.

She was in such good spirits, though, she might just laugh herself right out of her wheelchair.

At least she was home with her sister again. It was Sunday. Gail and her family were out, but she’d encouraged me to come sit with Georgia so she wouldn’t worry.

It was great to see Georgia smiling, even in pajamas and still a little dopey from pain meds.

“It’s a different pain,” she told me. “I can tell it’s healing pain. I can live with that. What’s all this?” She peeked into the bag of samples I’d brought. “I have my trusty-reliable.”

“I registered for an online trade show. I wanted the education workshops, but that was the swag bag they sent attendees. I thought you might want to test drive a few, or tell me which ones are worth stocking.”

“I’ll look through it later.” She set it aside. “Tell me what’s been going on.”

“It’s so hard and so fun, pun intended.”

I told her about the long hunt for a replacement charger for an older toy and how excited one guy had been when he found out there was a product to replicate his penis for his girlfriend.

“He wanted me to help him take the cast of his erection. Literally. I was like, ‘Read the box. You can do it yourself.’ He was so sure something would go wrong.”

“That poor girl. His dick sounds like the only useful part of him.”

“Right? Oh. You’re going to die when I tell you what happened the other day.” I told her about the swing incident.

She laughed so hard, she kept saying, “Oh, shit,” and clutched at her lower back. “Please tell him to send me that photo.”

“I will not. He asked me what my plans were for today. ‘Robbing the Bellagio?’ He thinks he’s so funny.”

Georgia chuckle-winced again. “But you like him.”

“I do,” I admitted sheepishly. “Not that I see it going anywhere beyond flirting. Maybe a little torrid sex.”

“Just a little.”

“A teensy bit of extremely vigorous boning while I’m in town, but eventually I’ll go home and...” I shrugged, wistful.

“Will you?” She sobered.

“Yeah,” I said reluctantly. “Roddie expects us to. Joel does. Even if I stayed here, there’s no guarantee Zak would stay here, too.

Or that he wants a relationship. He’s only here for his Dad and that situation is pretty heavy and unpredictable.

Even if none of that was a factor, he’s too young for me. ”

“Not that you’ve given it any thought.”

“None,” I said facetiously.

“I thought Zara was our age. How is he too young?”

“Thirty-two or three at most. It’s more about the fact he doesn’t have kids yet. He’ll want some. And this factory...” I pointed to my abdomen. “Is no longer in the business of making those.”

“Did he say he wants kids?”

“It’s implied. He was engaged last year to someone who lived with him. If he wants anything from me, it’s rebound sex and I’m here for it. But tell me about Bruno.” I leaned forward.

“Ah, Bruno.” She looked to the ceiling. “We hooked up a few times, but it was complicated with his work hours and he had some family stuff. Then I opened the business and had my own stuff. We couldn’t get on the same—” She see-sawed her hand.

“Time zone? He told us he works nights.”

“I was going to say wavelength, but that, too. Then we had this Romeo and Juliet moment one day when he threw open his window as I was leaving the store. He yells, ‘Are you looking for me?’ and I said, ‘Nah, dawg, I work here.’ It was pretty funny when we realized that he lived upstairs from my new shop, but I was already having problems with my back and...” She shrugged.

“I think he really likes you.”

“He texts me sometimes. I answer sometimes.”

I left it at that, and we went on to talk about how Afternoon Delight might offer workshops and which topics to cover first.