The Contract: A Woman’s Story

"How was your day?" I asked in what I hoped was a normal voice.

"Don't ask," he said, his voice surly. "I lost another one. If this keeps up I'll be out on my ass for sure."

Then I remembered something else Sarah had said. "He can't very well fire your husband if he's fucking you." She seemed obsessed with fucking Dan and in her mind job security was just another advantage.

I leaned over and put my hand reassuringly on Walt's arm. "Don't worry darling, you are not going to lose your job. I know I'm right about this." But I didn't dare tell him why I was so sure.

Friday morning I got a call from Dan inviting me to "lunch" at his apartment. I picked him up at the corner and he gave me a clicker that opened the door to the underground garage. He showed me his reserved parking spaces and gave me an elevator key and showed me how to get up to his penthouse apartment. He had ordered in a delightful quiche accompanied by "your favorite wine." We had lunch in the dazzling sunshine, on his patio overlooking the city.

After lunch we sipped the rest of the wine in silence, admiring the view, until he said, softly, "Your robe is in the bathroom closet."

I took the hint and changed into that beautiful, transparent gown he had bought me on Monday. I was not, of course, wearing pantyhose. I had on my best spikes and my sexiest garter belt and bikini pants. I decided not to wear a bra. I walked back out on the patio and he looked me up and down very slowly, just like in the dressing room. Then staring at my bush, which was easily visible through my gown and bikini panties, he chuckled.

"If you ever shave that damn thing I'll never speak to you again. That is the most beautiful beaver I have ever put my face into."

We made love all afternoon, as we had on Monday, and it was just as exciting and satisfying. Our lovemaking over, we shared a shower and I discovered a big new ladies hair dryer, plus a set of French toiletries, which he had acquired for my side of that big double bathroom. I left at four and hurried home to change into my usual clothes and fix supper for Walt.

Walt arrived home grinning from ear to ear, sat down in his chair and said, "You'll never guess what happened this morning."

It was the first time I had seen him happy in over a year. "What happened darling?" I asked with a smile matching his.

"First thing this morning the boss calls me and Bill Moody into his office and sits us down. He's looking at a big page of numbers. He tells us we are carrying more than our share of the load, we've been with the company longer than anyone without a contract, and then he hauled out two five-year contracts, which he signed and passed to us for our signatures. I'm gonna keep my job!"

I walked over and sat in his lap and gave him a big kiss. "I'm so happy for you darling. I knew the boss would see how valuable you are to the company."

Walt had two drinks before dinner and several more afterward. I had to help him to bed and he went right to sleep. I lay next to him listening to him snore and thinking about Dan.

Saturday he didn't touch his computer. He went out to the club for the first round of golf he had played in months. Then he came home and got drunk again. Sunday was a repeat of Saturday except that he complained about his golf swing. Walt was happy and I was afraid to tell him to ease up on the booze. I just put him to bed, lay beside him, and listened to him snore.

Monday morning Walt headed to work smiling and cheerful. I sat in the kitchen thinking and wondering about my life. The phone rang about ten. It was Dan.

"Dan, I want to thank you very much for giving Walt that contract," I said. "He'll be a valuable member of the firm."

"I know he will," said Dan. "But that's not the reason I gave him the contract. I did it so you would not feel you had to ... you know ... do anything. So you wouldn't feel that you had to ... you know."

When I told Sarah that Dan was "not like that" I had seen in him a kind of basic decency. I had not been wrong. What had happened to us had been an accident, not part of any scheme on his part. I had wanted it to happen. I had needed it and not to protect my husband's job. I stood there in the kitchen, holding the phone to my ear, thinking about my life. I didn't have to protect my husband's job. Dan had set me free. He was that kind of man.

Finally I said, "Dan, do you have a quiche on order from that little French restaurant?"

"Yes I do," he said. "But I can cancel it."

I paused only briefly, then said, "Don't cancel it. And put some wine in to chill."

Then I headed upstairs, hauled my spikes out of the closet, and began picking out a sexy underwear and garter belt set that would look good through that lovely silk gown.