A Whisper

10: Yale For Doms

"So where is Gran today?" Amanda pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head. It was fixing to be a hot day, the hottest of the year so far. There were sundresses and rompers everywhere I looked.

"Gran has a boyfriend," I informed her.

"Nuh uh! Who? When?"

"Her eye doctor," I chuckled. "They've been sweet on each other for as long as she's been his patient. I'm not sure how they started seeing each other since Gran's been tight lipped about it, but she seems happy. Dr. Brigant is speaking at a conference at Johns Hopkins this weekend and he asked Gran if she was interested in being his plus one, so she's on her way down to Maryland."

"Wow. Good for her."

"Right? I'm happy for her. I feel better about spending time with Eric knowing she's not sitting alone in that apartment night after night. She's tried to make it homey, but I know it's not really home to her."

"Is she only here for you?" Amanda sipped her mimosa. We each ordered one and a salad. She got the shrimp taco salad and I got the sweet and spicy chicken salad. It came with grilled chicken, goat cheese crumbles, raspberries and fresh peaches on a bed of arugula.

"I think so. Well now maybe for Dr. Brigant, too. She followed me up here because I think she was afraid I'd get sucked into the ether. I know she'd prefer to be back on the plantation but I also know it feels haunted to her for the first time," I explained.

"That sucks. Hopefully the good doctor will turn her frown upside down."

"That would be nice," I sighed. "Oh, so speaking of turning frowns upside down, Eric sent me a massive bouquet of flowers on Thursday."

"Carnations or good ones?"

Personally I liked carnations, but no.

"Roses, blue and white irises, blue thistles, green hydrangeas and then pretty greens all mixed together. It's a stunning arrangement."

"Sounds like the date went well."

"It did. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant on Lexington. Then he took me on the long carriage ride around the park," I told her.

"It's a little predictable but not bad for a first date. Meeting for a drink before getting your fuck on doesn't count," she said. "Did you sleep with him?"

"Yup," I smiled. I didn't regret it either.

"Ooooh that face tells me something happened..."

Our waitress brought out our salads.

"Thank you," both of us said.

"Multiple orgasms happened," I told Amanda as I drizzled the poppy seed vinaigrette that came with the salad onto the chicken and lettuce.

"I've met one guy who could give me those and the son of a bitch was a married pathological liar. He had a terrible personality but a great dick. If I just could have duct taped his mouth shut we could have made it work longer," she said wistfully.

"What about the wife?" I snorted.

Amanda shrugged. "She's his problem, not mine."

"Well anyway, I let Eric tie me up. I'll spare you the play by play but I have zero regrets about letting him do it. I enjoyed every damn second of it," I confessed.

My best friend was clearly impressed and a little skeptical about the admission I'd just made.

"So it was good?"

"I mean, I'm not saying it's for everyone or his methods are employed by anyone who tries to take the role he did, but I feel sorry for everyone who doesn't get to experience something like it," I told her.