Simone had a glass of wine with Mister S and Mistress Nora. When she reached the bottom of her glass, she was feeling mostly okay again, thanks to Mister S (and Mrs. Merlot). Mister S and Mistress Nora shared a taxi with her and Mister S even walked her all the way to the front stoop of her building.
“You’ll be all right?” he asked her.
“I will,” she said.
“Give him time,” he said again softly. “I’ve been in his shoes. I never want to wear them again.”
“Thanks for everything,” she said and rose up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek.
“Simone?”
She gasped and turned. Jason stood on the sidewalk, hat in hand and staring at her in shock.
“Jason?”
She glanced up at Mister S who seemed to be trying not to smile.
“That didn’t take long,” Mister S said under his breath. Then he slowly drew himself up to his full height. She saw his expression alter slightly from one of concern to one of cold-blooded, dead-eyed sadism.
“Behave,” Simone whispered to him.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, Simone. Sir,” Jason said, and Simone admired him for the quick recovery of his manners.
“Not interrupting,” Mister S said, his voice calm and cold, an assassin’s voice. Poor Jason. “Shall I walk you up, Simone?”
“I’m fine,” she said. “Thank you.”
“Goodnight, Jellybean. Call if you need us.” He bent and kissed her cheek. Then he met Jason’s eyes and simply looked at him. She had a brief flashback to the movie Terminator. Same expression. Jason took a step back. Mister S walked on.
When they were alone, Jason took a step forward into the light of a street lamp.
Jason. Here. At midnight. On her street. What on earth…
“So…that him?” Jason asked.
“That’s him,” she said.
“He’s, um…”
“Tall? Handsome? Scary?”
“I felt like I needed to salute him or something. Should I have saluted him?” Jason asked.
“He wouldn’t have minded,” Simone said.
“Glad he didn’t take a swing at me. Think I’d rather ride Demented again than tussle with that old boy.”
She smiled. “He’s my friend. Doesn’t mean he’s your enemy.”
“Did you tell him that?”
“He’s just messing with you,” Simone said. She was so relieved Mister S had been there for her. Now she could have this conversation without falling to pieces at the mere sight of the man she loved more than anything.
“I guess, you, ah…you spent time with him,” Jason said.
“I needed to talk to someone about you. I was upset. He helped me feel a lot better.”
“I thought that was my job,” Jason said.
“Yeah, well, you weren’t here.”
“I am now.”
“Why?” she asked. Her voice was steady but inside she quaked with fear and excitement, but mostly fear. If Jason was really the good guy she thought he was, he could be here for a couple of reasons. Either he wanted to make up. Or he wanted to break up, and he felt obligated to do it to her face and not over the phone.
“Katie and her parents picked up Cupcake,” he said.
“Was she happy?” Simone asked.
“Cloud nine, ten, and eleven,” Jason said. “And you should have seen Cupcake strutting around like she’d invented strutting. Katie even said a few words. God, we were all in tears. Even Franco. Even me.”
“I wish I could have been there,” Simone said.
“I wanted you there so bad,” Jason said. He took a deep breath. “Then Aimee showed up with her girls and she, ah…she’s not too keen on the idea of you and me.”
“She hasn’t even met me,” Simone said.
“Mom raised her as tough as Dad raised me. Be modest. Don’t tease boys. Girls who wear tight clothes are just asking for trouble.”
“I guess I’m asking for trouble,” Simone said, pointing at her corset dress. Then she remembered what Mister S had said about those lies that stick in kids and rethought the sarcasm. “I feel bad for your sister being raised to think there’s something wrong with women living their own lives, dressing the way they want and all that.”
“I was raised to think more of others than I do of myself,” Jason said. “Family first. Work first. Put others before you. Don’t be selfish.”
“It’s a good thing to be selfless,” Simone said. “But dating who you want to date doesn’t make you selfish. It just makes you an adult.”
“With you and me together,” Jason said, “there is a real chance my sister and parents won’t…well, there’s a real chance it could get very ugly, and, um…Aimee said she might not let me see the girls if you and me…well, you know.”
“I don’t want you to have to choose between them and me. I really don’t.”
“I appreciate that,” he said. “But it’s all right. It is what it is. And if it comes down to that, I want you to know something. I want you to know…I’ll choose you every time.”
Simone’s heart jumped so high and hard in her chest that it hit her ribs. She put a hand on her chest as if to keep it from bursting out.
“You will?” she asked, tears springing to her eyes.
“I will, baby. I swear I will. From now on. I will never screw up like I did today again. I got bad thoughts in my head and got spooked. You just get this idea in your head of who people want you to be and you can forget real easy that who they want you to be and who you are, well, they aren’t the same person. And you can’t be two people so I’m just going to be the man who loves you.”
Simone couldn’t speak. She could barely even stand.
“Now, I suppose this is when you tell me off,” Jason said. “And I deserve it. Give it to me good, Spanky.”
Simone would do just that.
She took one step and then the next one and stopped on the bottom step and met Jason eye to eye.
Then she gave it to him good.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.