Honor longed to feel Josh’s naked body next to hers again, but she knew she needed to be alone tonight, to sort out the day’s events. After dinner, she announced, “It’s getting late. I think we need to call it a day and go back to the hotel.”
“Yeah, I know,” Josh grumbled.
They hung up another piece of Cody’s abstract artwork, packed a box of paperwork for Honor to review and then climbed into Josh’s truck. Again, Cody promptly fell asleep.
They trudged to the hotel elevator, with Cody sound asleep on Josh’s shoulder and Honor pushing the box of paperwork on a luggage cart.
When the elevator doors closed, Josh begged, “I don’t want to say goodnight, yet. Come stay with me a while.”
“That’s not a good idea. What would Cody think if he woke up and found me in your bed?”
Josh pretended to be shocked. “It’s just an innocent invitation to watch TV. Wait a minute...did you think I had ulterior motives?”
“Innocent, my butt. I know exactly what you had in mind!” Honor shot back.
Josh broke into song, “I am an Innocent Maaannnnn… oh yes, I am…”
Honor rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. Keep your day job.”
When they reached Josh’s floor, he stepped halfway off the elevator, holding the door open with his back. “Last chance!” he declared, trying to disguise the longing in his voice.
“Not tonight. I mean I really want to, but I’m going to stick to my guns. I need to sort through this paperwork and get some sleep. Call me in the morning, okay?”
She gave him a quick kiss and a gentle push the rest of the way out the door. As the elevator doors closed between them, Josh’s exaggerated pouty expression made her laugh.
Alone in her suite, Honor filled a hot bath. “I can’t believe I slept with a man I’ve only known a couple of days,” she moaned. Feeling a bit sleazy, she began to rationalize. “If I count our breakfast as one date, and ice cream at the playground as our second date, that means today was technically our third date. Having sex on a third date isn’t horribly promiscuous.”
Honor closed her eyes and pictured Josh naked. She replayed every luscious moment of their rendezvous over in her mind, still amazed by the intensity of the experience.
Until today, she had always thought sex was overrated. After all, making love with William had been so repetitious that Honor created a mental checklist of steps in the process and often checked off items while William panted on top of her, oblivious to her dissatisfaction with his rubber-stamp performance.
Thinking about William reminded Honor about the rumor that he was, as Julie put it, “cooking the books”. While toweling off, she decided to contact Leon Goldstein, their corporate attorney, to confirm there was no reason for concern.
Honor sat on her bed while sorting through the box of paperwork. Soon, her thoughts drifted to Cody’s assertion that ‘a nice lady’ told him to call her ‘Grandma’. Was it possible her mother’s spirit said that after she saw them having sex on the floor this afternoon?
Honor threw herself back against the pillows to consider the horror of this possibility.
“Yuck!” she wailed.
After some uncomfortable visualization, Honor finally concluded her mother’s spirit would have respected her privacy just as she had done while she was alive.
She relaxed and drifted off to sleep as the familiar chill settled over the room.