Getting Back at Tyler Wilson

Chapter 10: A New Light on Things

Chapter 10:

After seeing Tyler’s office, his home shouldn’t have been much of a surprise. But Lynn was still taken aback by the sheer decor of the living room.

His condo was in a prime area down town and reflected his masculinity well with understated, earthy colours.

“So this is your bachelor pad,” Lynn commented as she took in the living room area. A large sofa sat in front of a wide, flat screen television, while a table that had photographs and the telephone sat behind it. A couple of easy chairs were placed facing each other on either side of the coffee table that separated the sofa from the television.

A bookshelf was by the wall at the far side of the sofa area, and a fire place completed the space in the area between the two. A large rug was the sole occupant in front the fire place.

In all, the entire place was simple, yet impressive. It wasn’t the boastful show of money she had thought it would be. The only show of money was probably the few art works that lined the walls. Not that she was a judge on those kind of stuff to know the difference between the real thing and a fake. But he was an art agent, so she gave him some credit.

“Yeah, this is it,” Tyler said.

Lynn turned to look at him and saw him gauging her reaction. What did he expect her to do? She wasn’t sure what he wanted, or why he was looking at her, so she decided to go for the honest approach; a first, in her recent dealings with him.

 “It is beautiful,” She sighed. “Be honest, did you do this yourself, or did you have an interior decorator?”

She was gesturing to the finishing touches, like the pillows and the crystal figure on the coffee table.

He relaxed a little and smiled at her. “Those were my sister’s doings. The beer coasters as well, she said I’d ruin the table with water marks.”

Lynn laughed at his air quotes.

He led her down the hall, which housed more art works, and into the guest room where she could use the bathroom.

The cool water felt good against her sweaty skin. She relaxed, and didn’t dread accepting Tyler’s invitation anymore. She was clean, and she was about to be fed. What more could a girl ask for?

His shirt dwarfed her, but she was able to adjust the drawstrings on the sweat pants to get a somewhat snug fit. Once she was decent, she folded her dirty clothes into a plastic bag, and went in search of Tyler.

She found him in the living room just as he was ending a call.

“I didn’t know how long you’d be, so I took the liberty of ordering the pizza already. Hope you don’t mind cheese and pepperoni?”

“No... that’s okay.” Really okay, given that pepperoni was her all time favourite pizza topping.

Tyler sat on the sofa and indicated for her to sit down beside him.

She made to join him, but stopped by the table behind the sofa to look at the photo frames that littered the top. She picked up one that had a group of little boys sporting huge grins, and suffering from serious grass stains. Tyler was plump in the middle of the little group.

“Is this your team?” She asked, turning the photograph for him to see.

“Yeah,” he answered, still seated on the sofa, but turned to face her. “It was taken last year when we brought third in the junior football tournament.”

The pride in his team was evident in his voice and also in the smile he had as he recalled the event. His face was that of a proud coach.

Lynn was touched by his genuine affection. “Oh, that’s great.”