Mrs. Wrong Last Name

Chapter Two

She made no visible reaction to his directive as she had grown used to this type of behavior from him. The beginnings of their meetings were all fireworks and tenderness and the endings were always bittersweet at best. So she simply continued watching Sports Center in her robe as if she hadn't even heard him. He got dressed and made coffee and then joined her on the couch. There was no playful banter or interesting conversation in the morning and perhaps she thought, that's how it should be.

After almost an hour of ESPN's rundown of the game the night before there was a knock at the suite door. Mr. Wrong Last Name in his custom tailored Kiton suit and tie shifted his work papers and removed his glasses, then got up to meet a sweet lady named Lupe who was delivering breakfast right on time.

"Would you like for me to serve you and the Mrs., Mr. Wrong Last Name?" she asked with a smile. Lupe seemed very pleasantly surprised with the specimen of man that had opened this particular door.

"No, I've got it," he said, and tipped her.

Lupe left with a bow and a few niceties, but not before looking Mr. Wrong Last Name up and down appreciatively. He shut the door behind her then rolled the room service cart over to the suite's table. He flicked open a folded cloth napkin and then placed it gingerly on her lap. She leaned forward and stretched her neck towards the cart to see what was there and a crooked smile emerged on one side of his mouth. Her interest clearly amused him. He placed the plates out one by one and then lifted the lids up. It looked like he had ordered eggs, bacon and hash browns for each of them (she didn't remember him saying anything about hash browns last night), an English muffin for him and a croissant for her. There were also various homemade butters and jellies and a silver coffee pot full of hot water for tea. She saw cranberry juice and coffee for both of them as well. He poured her a cup of coffee and a glass of juice while he was still standing and then asked if she was all set before sitting down to start his meal.

So as he sat down she thought for the second time in two days how odd this entire thing was. Where to start... him serving her. Him ordering hash browns(!) Her even being here in the first place.

With the exception of him asking her if she needed cream and a few other such things they ate in silence for several minutes. She stared at him with interest and he acted as if he didn't notice. But finally she just had to ask. "Hash Browns???"

"Yeah well, I thought you might like them." he commented casually without looking up.

She ate some of them (he ate all of his) and then she offered him the rest of her bacon. He declined. She ate the croissant and was so thankful for it. He left the English muffin. A couple minutes later she started stacking up her plates as he finally looked up and watched intently. "I guess if you aren't going to eat that bacon I will," he said.

She picked it up off her plate and he took it right out of her hand. He smiled and stuffed it in his mouth. She smiled back. Intimacy and familiarity were abundant.

Was his earlier behavior some form of self-protection? Who could say. She allowed herself to think for a moment how he must have been hurt nearly as deeply as she was back then. If not, he wouldn't still be reaching out to her after all this time. Clearly if it was simply an affair he wanted there were women in his area code that would be much easier to coordinate with.

So why did he reach out to her, someone removed by twenty years and three states? If only she knew. She really didn't want to speculate (who was she kidding, all she DID was speculate) but it must be that he still shared these deep feelings she had. Right?

She looked at him as if he could validate the things she thought in her head. But she got nothing.

And really, what of it? There was nothing they could do about the feelings now. Nothing. And truth be told and all feelings aside they had never worked out. Not apart and especially not together.