King of Her Desire

41

I peeked into the Zen room and went, "Psssst! Gerri! C'mere right quick!"

They called it the Zen room, because it had all these huge pillows and a bunch of those singing bowls, some huge crystal ones, even, in it. She was watching a spectacular sunset from up there—it's on the roof. Incredible view.

But she turned and smiled and said, "The Armani tux, right?"

"I let her pick one. I'm clueless about that kinda stuff. But I've got this kinda cool after-party idea I wanna run by you—don't tell her anything, okay? I want it to totally blow her mind."

And she smiled and said, "You're really getting into this, huh?"

"Well, she's trying so hard, you know? So...well see, one day she told me how she didn't get to have the kind of childhood experiences kids have. And one of my friends from back home sent me the poster for this thing we do back in Tucson every year—it's this 90s prom thing. All 90s music, too. New Jack Swing, that sort of stuff—I have friends who never miss it. It's hilarious!"

"It's the same night?"

"No, I wanna do that here. Like...a costume thing, you know? Only everybody'd wear all these cheesy prom dresses and tuxes and do their hair all crazy..."

She did a few pensive nods and then the eyes lit and she smiled and said, "It's growing on me..."

"I wanna go all out, though, okay? I mean, just totally nuts. I can get us a few low riders, even. I've got friends who have serious connects in that world."

"And you know Ben was just complaining that unless you can guarantee the Second Coming will happen after dessert, there's pretty much nothing new you can do. Only, it's so close now, sweetie. Could we actually pull that off?"

"I'm thinking we could get some help from the guys who do it in Tucson. I mean, they've been working with all the bands and DJs for years. So I'm sure they can call in some favors. And the bands we need, they're not getting top dollar or top billing anymore—the decorations and things are kinda low rent, too. You know prom stuff. Only the swag bags'd still be serious."

She let out a laugh and said, "This could either be really good or really bad, but nobody'll ever forget it for sure!"

So I gave her a little hug and said, "I wanna talk to you about Sochi, too—c'mon down with me. She's in the sunroom, I think."

"What's up?" she asked, following me out.

So I started texting Ben's assistant while we were in the elevator—yes, the house had elevators—and told her, "Well, Abra scared the hell out of me the other day. Do you think we should bring her here?"

"Why would we do that?"

"She says there are going to be all kinds of people pestering her—press and stuff. My family, too. Which could be dangerous with all the guns and shit those guys have. They hear somebody snooping around outside they'll shoot first and ask questions later."

Gerri smirked and said, "What's she up to, I wonder? Abra..."

"Well, I was already thinking I should bring her here the week before the event because I won't get home that weekend. The sibs'll live, but..."

"You just don't like being away from her so long anymore."

I laughed and said, "There's that, too."