“Do I look like an old fool with you?” I turned to Jeri who was driving us back to Davidsonville.
I had called Mrs. Lambert to tell her I would be working remotely and if any emergencies came up, she should call my cell. I had her purchase hours with a private helicopter service in DC so I could get to town a lot faster than driving back to the office. It seemed like a viable option.
“Old fool? Where’d that come from? You’re forty, and I’m thirty. That’s only ten years. That’s far from old-fool territory.” He reached over and took my hand that was resting on the console.
“Harmon Collins is dating a young woman named Brandy. She’s in college at Georgetown where he teaches Economics. He was on the Bush Economic Council back in the day, and she’s twenty-five years younger than him.”
“Wow! What’s that saying about getting your meat where you get your bread and butter?” Jeri joked, making me laugh.
“Yeah, be careful about that biting you in the ass. You were assigned as my bodyguard when we met.”
“Clearly, it was the universe’s way of getting us together. Anyway, is she going to drag him through the mud?” Jeri lifted my hand and kissed the back of it.
I loved his affection more than I ever thought I would. I’d always imagined it would be embarrassing to hold hands or kiss another man in public, but with Jeri it wasn’t at all.
“Oh, Leslie wants to, but I had to remind her that some scandals take on a life of their own, and it might affect her committee memberships if she’s too much in the press, so she agreed to back down. I also reminded her that she has a son and a daughter with the man and asked her how much embarrassment she wanted to cause the kids. She agreed.
“We left it that he was going to have to live with his choices and she should take the high road and let him flounder all on his own.”
I understood her desire to humiliate him, but men like Harmon Collins seemed to be good at doing that all by themselves. I could point the finger at myself and my current predicament, but I told myself our relationship wasn’t like Harmon’s.
“Have you ever cheated on anyone?” Jeri’s voice sounded a bit wary. I was sure he didn’t want to ask but felt he should.
“No, but I’ve never had anyone to cheat on. That’s not to say I haven’t been with married men. I’m ashamed of it now, but until you came along, I didn’t care who I hurt.”
Jeri turned onto I-295 to take us to his house. “Do you think you’ll be tempted to cheat on me? I mean, uh, you’re certainly within your rights to do what you want. We haven’t said we’ll be exclusive.”
Fuck no. That wasn’t going to fly with me. “I promise I won’t cheat. We’re exclusive, you and me. If we’re not, this will never work. I’m toying with the idea of keeping the helicopter service on retainer and using it to take me to DC on Monday nights and bring me back to the ranch on Thursday evenings, unless you want to come to DC on occasion and spend the weekend.” I’d been toying with the idea while we were loading the truck. It wouldn’t be cheap, but it would be the most efficient way to travel back and forth and cut down on the time I was away from him.
“That sounds expensive. I’d be happy to drive you down on Monday night and pick you up on Thursday.”
The sweet man would go out of his way to do whatever I needed, but that wasn’t fair to Jeri. He needed to be at the ranch to work with the horses and look out for Gayle.
“Nope. You need to be at the ranch, not driving my lazy ass around. Besides, the time it would take to drive it twice a week is time we could be spending in bed. It’s like a fifteen-minute flight, then I’ll get a rideshare out to the ranch.”
Jeri got a gleam in his eye. “Can’t they land elsewhere? Does it have to be at an airport?”
“I don’t know. I’ll have to ask. Anyway, I won’t need a car at the ranch, and if I need to run to town, I can use your mom’s. Maybe I’ll buy a car or a truck— Can you imagine me owning a truck? You know, we could replace your truck, and I could drive this one.”
Jeri turned, and the grin on his face was a mile wide. “I’ll make a country boy out of you yet.”
We both laughed. I didn’t want to tell him how difficult a task that would be, but the sexy man behind the wheel certainly looked like he was up for the challenge. He appeared to be ready for any challenge I’d throw his way. I was sure there would be plenty of them.
We arrived at the ranch to see a pickup truck parked in the driveway by the house. “Oh, John and Cody are here. Good, I don’t have to feed.” Jeri pulled around the truck and parked by the tool shed where he usually parked.
We got out of the truck and when I got to the front, Jeri pulled me into his arms. “Been wantin’ to do this since we got on the road but I didn’t want to kill us. Welcome home, baby.” Jeri kissed me senseless before he picked me up and swung me around, both of us laughing.
The back door opened and a loud whistle sounded, prompting Jeri to put me down. We both turned to see Gayle standing in the yard with a handsome older man by her side. “Oh, that’s the guy Mom was talking about. That’s John’s dad, Kenny. Mom has the hots for him.”
I chuckled. “I can see why. Well, let’s go meet him. I hope he’s not upset by our display.”
“I don’t give a fuck if he is. This is my farm, and he can go the fuck home if he doesn’t like it.”
Was that a little jealousy in Jeri’s voice, and was it because I said the guy was hot, or because Gayle was spending time with him? Hey, if Gayle found a gentleman to spend time with, I would be more than happy for her.
“Mr. Langer, it’s nice to see you. It’s been a while. This is my boyfriend, Sean Fitzpatrick. Sean, this is Ken Langer.” I stepped forward and shook the man’s hand. The handshake was firm, but not aggressive, which probably meant there was nothing to worry about.
“Call me Kenny. Gayle tells me you’re some hotshot from DC,” the man said.
