We both sigh, and she says sadly from LA, “I’m gonna miss you.”
“I know, you too,” I say, “but I need a change.”
“You do, but just remember. You are about to work for some wealthy old recluse on some fancy estate, you won’t get out much. Get laid before you arrive. It’ll be healthy for you.”
“I get laid,” I say,taking offense.
“Right! In your imagination doesn’t count.”
I sigh, knowing it has been some time. “Alright,” I say.
“Good girl.”
“Okay, now, back to you. Go have a wine, put your feet up, and read a naughty romance.”
“About?”
“I dunno, some grumpy bastard who pulls some woman’s pants down and makes her come.”
Cassidy sighs. “Like me in the old days, before Netflix, Zoom, and kids.”
“Exactly.”
We both laugh, and there is a pause. “Good luck, babe, and call me in a few, okay!”
“I will,” I say, “Love you.”
“And get some, and also send a pic!”
“After what I’ve been through?”
There is silence and it goes on and on.
“Babe, not all guys are toxic. And not all guys will hurt you.” I sigh, and she is likely not wrong. I just need time to heal.
“Just take a chance.”
“Goodbye!” I say with a smile as I hit end.
Feeling slightly better, I look ahead and think about sex. Then, how long it has been.
I am already on a couple of dating apps, but who knows what they are like in remote upstate New York. I sigh, yawn, and drive on.
1
SAMANTHA
I check into a small-town motel, using some of my last money to pay for it. A long shower helps, and outside the rain starts bucketing down.
I likely won’t be able to leave the remote estate, for a week or two if I really want to impress my boss. I have to get there to cook tomorrow, and the immobile recluse has supposedly not left the house in months.
Deciding to have a quiet beer, I walk down the road in the cute, safe town. It’s classy and it’ll be my last taste of reality before I go off the grid. Well, off the grid and to some supposed chateau.
I take an old book my mother gave me when I was young, and I run through the light rain.
Inside the small-town bar, I mind my own business and read.
The now tattered book is about the struggles of a strong pioneering woman. I don’t know what it is about the heroine in the book, but she is wounded, flawed, and compassionate. She somehow keeps going through whatever lifethrows at her.
