The Reign Of Vause

Business dinner with Wyner

(Piper's POV)

I woke up cuddling Alex's pillow tightly, the hot water bottle I had put in it was partially out and was now cold. I stretched over to Alex's nightstand to check the time on her clock. 11:32AM. Fuck. I had slept in. I was meeting Wyner for dinner at 12:30PM. I guess it was lunch but she insisted I called it dinner. I had just under an hour.
Groaning, I let go of Alex's pillow, tracing the "Mrs Vause" that had been sewn onto the pillowcase as a wedding gift from our prison friends with my finger and headed for the shower. I made it quick since I was running out of time, after all, this was the reason why I wasn't currently lying in bed in the Presidential Suite of Caesar's Palace Hotel in Las Vegas being held in the warm embrace of the love of my life's arms.
15 minutes later I emerged from the shower, dried off and pulled on a pant suit with black heels. This was business after all.
While I was taking care of this, my incompetent best friend was taking care of contracts in her office. I insisted I took the rest of the day off since I was being forced to do this. Wyner was, difficult.
I went to the kitchen and made myself a cup of coffee from the Nespresso machine, I didn't have breakfast since I was about to have food.
Once finished, I put the coffee cup in the dishwasher, grabbed my phone, keys and purse and headed out, locking the door behind me and getting into the elevator.
I hailed a cab which then pulled up for me and I got in.
"Eleven Madison Park please." I told the cab driver who immediately began to take me there. While I was in the cab, I checked my phone hoping there would be anything from Alex. She had texted me 2 and a half hours ago with a simple,

"Morning schnookums. xxx -A"

I smiled and replied,

"Morning lovemuffin. xxx- P"

About 20 minutes later, the cab pulled up to the restaurant,
"Here we go, Eleven Madison Park. That'll be 20 bucks." The cab driver told me.
"Thank you." I said handing him the $20 bill and got out.
Now inside the restaurant, I was approached by a waitress asking if I had a reservation.
"Hi, yes, I have a reservation for 2 by the name of Vause."
I remember Alex used to say that all the time when we were dating a decade ago and now, actually, considering we were back together and married.
"Of course, no problem Miss Vause, the other party hasn't arrived yet but I will point them in your direction when they do. This way please."
"It's Mrs Vause actually but thank you." I corrected her and followed.
"My apologies Mrs Vause. Would you like to see a menu while you're waiting?"
"Yes that would be lovely thank you." I smile at her as she hands me a menu she had tucked beneath her arm. She also left one for when Wyner arrived.
This was one of the reasons I had a better rapport with Wyner, she was always late. Polly had next to no patience and Alex couldn't stand lateness and was out of town meaning I was the one stuck with this.
Half an hour later she finally arrived.
"Piper! Hi! Sorry I'm late, you know what the traffic's like at noon in the city."
It was now 1PM but I flashed her my false yet understanding smile, anything to pass the time away from Alex I guess,
"Don't worry about it Wyner, you're here now."
As soon as she sat down the waitress came over again,
"Are you ready to order?"
I looked at Wyner but she didn't seem phased,
"Yes I'll have the duck with a white wine spritzer and Piper?" She told the waitress looking at me,
"Oh, um, yes I'll have the coq au vin please with a red wine, thank you." I smiled at the waitress as she took the menus.
"So, just us today." Wyner said somewhat happily and put her hands under her chin, gazing at me. Maybe Alex was right to feel defensive.
"Yes, just us today." I reply nervously.
"Coq au vin though Piper? Not the kind of thing you would usually order." She tells me as if she knew me. I narrowed my eyes subtly.
"It's one of my wife's favourites, she ordered it the night before we got married and let me try it. I liked it, plus, she's out of town right now so I ordered it out of pure and simple Alex withdrawal." I tell her.
"Oh. Your wife. How is she?" She asked somewhat curtly. Yes, Alex could definitely be on to something here.
"She's great, thriving actually, she's setting up-" I start to reply.
"Oh good great anyway." She interrupted and started talking. I stopped with my mouth open, wide eyes and eyebrows raised, staring at her, shocked.
"Everything seems great. I just have a few small issues with the order I'm placing." She starts and the drinks arrive, I quickly grab my wine and took a large gulp of it before setting it down and watching her again, holding the stem of the glass as I watched her, preparing myself for my next gulp which I would probably quickly need.
After 2 long hours, we had finished our food. Alex was right, coq au vin was delicious. I had solved Wyner's problems with the order, she complained a lot about Polly keying her in for 200,000 units when she only wanted 2,000 but after a while of convincing, she finally accepted that it was simple human error and thanks to my helpfulness she would place another order of 2,000 more units. The total of this being a nice $240,000.
I finished my wine when I felt her foot rub my ankle under the table,
"Would you like a top up of your wine?" She asked hopefully. This woman knew I was married and wasn't interested. I didn't even know she was gay, Alex had picked up on it instantly though and predicted exactly what she would try to do. Her gaydar I suppose.
"Oh, I um, I have to go actually, stacks of work in my office but thanks again Wyner. I'll be in touch." I said grabbing the jacket of my pant suit from around the back of my chair and quickly left.
I texted Alex as promised.

"Baby. Guess what? xxx- P"

She knew I had to have dinner with Wyner today and suspected something was up. She replied instantly.

"What babe?" xxx- A"

"You were right. Wyner is gay. xxx- P"

"What? Seriously?! What the hell did she do?! xxx- A"

"Rubbed my ankle with her foot under the table, ignored any conversation I tried to make about you, oh and offered me more wine. xxx- P"

"Well, guess it'll be me she deals with next time. xxx- A"

"I'm still Mrs Vause. xxx- P"

"Oh you better be. You didn't take her up on her offer though did you? Just out of curiosity. xxx- A"

"No. But I did get her to place an order for 2,000 more units, getting us $240,000 for PoPi in one lunch. xxx- P"

"That's my girl. xxx- A"

"I miss you. xxx- P"

"I miss you too babe but hey, at least it was worth it. Alright babe, I gotta run, need to meet the owner now and Daniel's getting antsy that I'm delaying the meeting. Love you so much. I'll call you later. xxx- A"