Friends, Sexcapades and Love Affairs Ch. 11

"Will you show me to the little girls' room?" The client batted her eyelashes at him.

Jared exchanged a glance with Sam, who shrugged and sipped from his glass like it was entirely reasonable for middle-aged ladies to ask such things.

"Sure," Jared said and stood up. He also needed to ask one of the employees to guide them in that direction, but he didn't want to offend the client.

As they were there, Jared chose to remain at a respectful distance. He studied the large fern that served as a functional divider so that nobody could observe the clients going in and out of the toilet. From behind the greenery, however, one could have a good look at the reception desk; behind it, a man with a caricature mustache was inspecting the patrons quietly and wrote something in a little book.

For Jared, it was a common pastime to observe people. As he tried to say stories when taking pictures, it helped him to note down mentally the tiniest transformation that happened on a human face.

In this case, the caricature mustache stretched and curled up as its owner smiled affably. A couple of men in suits then blocked Jared's line of sight.

"Oh, certainly," the mustache man said in an exaggerated voice. "A table for Mr. Reeves and," there was a short pause, "Mr. Reeves."

Jared froze and took in two strangers. No mistake, that was Chris. Was he there with a business partner? But Mr. Reeves and ... Mr. Reeves?

The other man turned, and Jared stared at his profile. He was handsome, as they say, in a classic way, and he could be in his thirties by how he carried himself. He leaned toward Chris and laughed. "I've always loved the sound of that. Mr. and Mr. Reeves."

When Chris turned, any doubts Jared might have had disappeared from his mind. "As I do, too."

The two shared a smile that spoke of a long relationship and tacit understanding. Jared felt the ground under his feet shaking. Chris and the other Mr. Reeves followed the receptionist's indications to reach their table, luckily in a part of the restaurant that was out of sight.

"Are you all right, dear?"

Jared shook his head and turned to face his client. The lady seemed genuinely worried.

"I'm fine, Mrs. Daniels," he murmured.

"You look a little pale. Please don't tell me you can't hold your liquor. I should have never forced you to drink with me."

"No, no, I'm fine, please don't worry," Jared said politely.

Polite. That was what he was. So polite that he had failed to ask Chris for some semblance of commitment, the way he saw it. And now, Chris was sitting somewhere in the same restaurant, with his -- what? Husband? -- having the time of his life.

He could confront him, make a scene, but that wasn't him, Jared thought. No, for now, he would go back to his table, see about his business meeting, which was real, and pretend that all was fine in the universe. His crumbled dreams played no role in all of this.

TBC