City Mouse

Chapter 20: The Aftermath

He knew that his thoughts were ridiculous, but he couldn't help it. He rose abruptly.

"I'd better get to work," he said, more sharply than he'd intended.

"Already?" Leo said, his disappointment obvious.

"Sorry, Leo, I have to go over some stuff from yesterday before we get started on today's shoot," Henry explained.

"Okay, daddy," Leo said, nodding. 

"Kiss," Henry said, bending over.

Leo obliged, and Henry left, leaving Leo and Mouse alone. 

"Are you too sore to swim?" Leo asked.

Mouse shook her head. "Swimming will be good for me, I think," she answered, smiling.

So they spent the morning practicing in the pool, ate lunch, then went to the beach.

Oskar found them, and when Mouse didn't send him away, he stayed, and actually turned out to be a lot of fun, and very good company, for both Mouse and Leo. And Mouse found that having Oskar around made a nice distraction, and having Leo with them kept everything on an innocent, platonic footing, which was nice.

After a few days, it just became an accepted thing that he would join them at the beach.

*************

"I noticed that young man is spending a lot of time with you and Leo," Henry said one evening.

Things between Mouse and Henry had been cordial but distant since that night. Leo had noticed that they weren't as friendly as they used to be, but he was only four, and there wasn't anything he could specifically point to, so he just figured it was because his father was tired from shooting all day. It didn't really affect his life very much.

Mouse looked up from where she was coloring with Leo.

"Oskar? Yeah, he's usually at the beach when we are," Mouse replied, keeping her voice neutral.

"He's really nice," Leo added. "And funny. He speaks lots of languages. They sound interesting."

"I just want to make sure you're keeping your focus on Leo," Henry said, looking back at his laptop.

Mouse raised her eyebrows, but kept on coloring. "Oh. No worries. I always keep my focus on Leo," she answered. 

"Yeah, daddy, she's always careful," Leo added, nodding. "Mouse loves me more than anyone. She told me so. Right?" He looked at her with confidence.

"Right," she answered, smiling.

"Well, that's nice, but I just want to make sure you're not forgetting why you're here because you're flirting with a good looking Danish guy or whatever," Henry pressed.

"No, daddy, Oskar's Swedish, like the meatballs," Leo corrected. "That's what he always says, isn't it, Mouse?"

Mouse put her crayon down and looked at Henry. "Are you worried about something, Henry?" she asked. "Would you prefer that I tell Oskar not to come around? Because I can do that?"

"No," Leo interjected. "I like him, he can throw me way farther than you can, Mouse!" Leo had gotten very confident and competent in the water, to the point where Oskar could toss him in the ocean, somewhere in the vicinity of Mouse, and he could surface and kick to wherever she was. It was an endlessly diverting game for him.

"And I can assure you that, however it might appear, all I do is talk to him," Mouse continued. "I don't flirt, ever."

She looked steadily at Henry, who looked back at her unblinkingly. He closed his laptop.

Leo looked at Mouse, then at his father. Something strange was happening between them.

"No," Henry finally answered. "I'm sure you don't. And I'm sure you'd never do anything to put Leo at risk in any way. I know that."

Henry rose abruptly. "You don't mind if I go out for a little while tonight, do you?"

Mouse looked up at. him, surprised. She shook her head wordlessly.

"Where you going, daddy?" Leo asked, looking back at his coloring. Henry had been sticking pretty close to the villa at night since they'd arrived, so this was unusual.

"Lila asked if I wanted to go out for a drink," he replied. 

"At her house?" Leo queried. Lila was one of the models, who was staying in the second house, farther up the hill.

"No," Henry answered. "In the village, actually."

"Like a date," Leo said, continuing to color. "Like you did with Madeleine."

"Not a date, Leo," Henry said with a laugh. "Just a drink, not a big deal."

Leo shrugged, his mind already back on his picture, his tongue poking out to help him concentrate.

"See you later," Henry said, bending over to kiss Leo.

"Bye, daddy," Leo said.

Mouse continued to color, trying hard not to cry.

Henry walked up the hill toward the models' house, taking deep breaths, trying to compose himself. He didn't know what had brought on the outburst about Oskar, and he'd felt ridiculous about it. He had to get out of the house after that, and this was the first thing that had come to mind.

Besides, why shouldn't he go out with Lila? She'd been coming on to him for weeks. All of them had, more or less. Lila had just been more direct about it.

Desmond, his assistant, had given him a few warning looks, looks that Henry understood. It was the worst, stupidest kind of mistake for a photographer to sleep with a model, but of course it happened all the time. Henry hadn't done it in a long time, however. He'd met Josie when he was twenty-seven, and obviously he hadn't been with anyone but her until her death, when he was thirty-two. He'd gotten together with Madeleine a year later, and had only been with her until they broke up. 

Then there had been the one time with Mouse. He wouldn't think about that.

And now there was this group of girls; Lila, Sofia, Linda, Corinne, Neve, and a few others whose names he didn't even know, though he'd been shooting them for weeks. All of them were constantly on display, making themselves available to him, turning this way and that, brushing against him, inviting him out, it never ended. 

He might as well, he figured. It couldn't be any worse than spending every day watching Mouse on the beach with that blond hulk, seeing her talking to him, laughing with him, swimming with him. The evenings were almost worse, being in the same room with her after she'd showered, when she smelled so good, and looked so adorable, lit up in the glow of the lamp as she played with his son. All he could think about was how, after Leo was asleep, he could invite her to his bed, and she could steal over on silent feet, soft skin, shining hair, and lie down with him, and envelope him in her warmth, and make him feel so good, so good...

He wrenched his thoughts away from Mouse, and sent a text as he stood in the dark street in front of the models' beach house.

"You still up for that drink? I'm out front."

A few minutes later, the door opened and Lila emerged, wearing a raw silk blouse that showed off her beautiful breasts and a microscopic black leather skirt.

"Hey, so glad you texted!" she called in her exotic accent. "It's boring as fuck in there tonight." She went up on tiptoe and kissed Henry on the mouth, pressing her body into him, giving him a whiff of her very expensive perfume. "Beautiful night for a walk, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is," Henry replied. He held out his arm. "Shall we?"