chapter nine

great expectations

Guillermo sits on Maryam’s phone number for almost a week. Each day, instead of putting all his attention into his work, he lobs the idea of calling her back and forth. He’s certain she likes him, but he’s still not sure if he wants to mix pleasure with business. And the fact that he is hopelessly attracted to her might lead to something more explosive in his life than the occasional sexual romp with Araceli.

One Tuesday morning, when he finds himself especially distracted at his law office working on some incorporation papers, unable to concentrate and sporting a formidable erection, he texts her.

Maryam.

A minute later. He receives a Who is this?

Guillermo, your father’s lawyer.

Oh hi.

Would you consider going out to lunch with me?

There, he has taken the plunge.

When he doesn’t receive an immediate response, he begins agonizing. Was his message too formal, or baffling in its purpose? Should he have been a bit more direct? He might have said something more urgent, like, Maryam, I need to discuss a security issue about your father in private. That certainly would have piqued her interest, but it might have also worried her.

Guillermo is certain that Ibrahim has not discussed the threats, the hang-ups, and the static noises on the phone lines with his daughter, since he also made Guillermo promise not to. But she has to be aware that he has been making himself a nuisance at the Banurbano meetings by asking very provocative questions—discussion of this has taken place during their Wednesday lunches. Her father, she must know, has a sturdy moral soul and is the type of person who will question discrepancies—even those committed by his own family—until the truth about them is revealed.

By noon, Guillermo is in a panic. He wishes there was a way to retrieve the text he has sent and that he had called Araceli instead for an after-work rendezvous. Why hasn’t she answered him? Has he offended her? Is she on the tennis court?

He decides to text Araceli and hopefully hook up with her at the Stofella for a quick lunch fuck. He hears back from her immediately that she will be at the hotel at one.

Perfect, he answers her, and then he calls Rosa Esther. The maid answers the house phone. “Tell the lady of the house that I won’t be coming home for lunch today.”

“Yes sir.”

“I have an emergency meeting. And I will be coming home late tonight. Please tell her that,” he adds as an afterthought, not knowing why the maid needs to know this.

“Would you like to tell her yourself, Don?”

“That won’t be necessary.”

As soon as he says this Rosa Esther gets on the line. “Lucia has prepared veal Milanese and buttered potatoes,” she says rather abruptly.

“I really can’t make it. Sorry. Enjoy it.”

“You know I’m eating vegetarian.”

“Of course. You had her make that veal for me. Thank you, but I’ll have to take a rain check.” He is so distracted. “How are you?” he asks, as if talking to a distant relative.

“What’s wrong with you, Guillermo? Do you know who you’re talking to?”

“Of course. Sorry. I’ve been extremely busy this morning. How was the French conversation class today?”

“You know my teacher is a bore. She loves to tell us how fatigué she always is. Everything has to do with quel dommage.”

“Yes,” he says. “I know she only talks about herself.”

“That’s it. How great Paris is, blah, blah. As if we’re all Indians living in the cornfields.”

“So, why not tell her?” He wants to get off the phone but feels these questions will earn him points.

“What for? Madame Raccah is oblivious. I can understand exactly what she is saying, but Claudia keeps interrupting her to ask her to repeat everything because she can’t follow the dialogue. After class she told me she’s going to drop French. I don’t know if I want to study alone. Claudia wants to start taking Pilates with me.”

“What’s Pilates?” Guillermo asks, wondering if it is some kind of Italian dialect.

“It’s an exercise. I’ve been doing it the past five years at the Pomona. How can you not remember?”

“Like yoga?”

“It supposedly tones your muscles and enhances flexibility,” she answers flatly.

Guillermo sees his cell phone vibrating on his desk and looks down. He unlocks his phone and reads a new text: I thought you’d never ask.

Without thinking, Guillermo looks up at the ceiling, smiles, and says, “Yes!”

“Did you just win the lottery or something?” Rosa Esther asks.

“I’ve been courting a new client for some time and he has just decided to go with our firm. This could be lucrative. I have to go, amor.”

“Well, good luck, Guillermo,” she says, and surprises him by blowing a kiss into the phone. He should feel guilty about all his maneuvering, but he doesn’t. He has successfully managed to compartmentalize his life to the point that his own wife accepts all his cubby holes as normal.

As soon as Guillermo hangs up, he texts Maryam.

What about today? Now.

Are you joking, Guillermo?

What about tomorrow?

Instantly he receives a text back: I can’t.

He is beginning to feel annoyed, the I-call-the-shots annoyance. He is about to tap out Let’s forget it! when he receives, I’m free Friday.

Your apt at noon? he answers.

??????????

Where then?

Better at a restaurant.

La Hacienda Real?

No! 2 many people. The Centro Vasco at 1.

See you there. And then.

;-*

* * *

Guillermo drives to meet Araceli at the Stofella singing the Cuban bolero “Dos gardenias para ti.” He feels almost childishly elated. It has not been as easy as he imagined, and her spunk makes her even more sexy. Clearly, though, Maryam is sweet on him. There’s no other explanation. She has been bold, what with her What took you so long? or I thought you’d never ask. Which was it? He can’t remember, but either way she has taken the bait. Still, he has the nagging feeling that he needs to change his way of thinking from She has taken the bait to She wants to see me. She is a woman with her own thoughts and resources, not a stupid fish.

So he must wait three days to finally be alone with Maryam. Almost an eternity. And he is not about to change his routine based on the supposition of what might or might not happen in three day’s time.

He receives a text back from Araceli saying she is running a few minutes late. Normally he would be angry at her lack of planning, but he is so excited to see her that as he walks into the Stofella he trips on the front steps and almost falls. The clerk at reception gives him the key for his reserved room: number 314, top floor, at the end of the hall, away from the elevator, with no connecting door and only one neighbor.

He lies in bed wearing only his underwear. He knows that he and Araceli are going to have a grand time. He will fuck her hard, really hard, and will imagine he is fucking Maryam for the first time.