On Top

Paul and I were lovers for months after that. We had delicious little conflicts about who was to dominate. Most of the time I won if I really wanted to. Some of the time, I just laid back and accepted.

We have remained friends but the love making tapered off after a while. That was consensual. Or perhaps it was mostly at my instigation. I think he may have speculated about a future for us. But I was more than a dozen years older than he was and consumed by my work. He needed to be free to find his own future.

I went to their wedding. I'm not sure what he told her about me. Whatever it was, it was fine. Their third child, a daughter, was named Paula. I was her Godmother.

My revery was interrupted when the chairman of the board said my name. I vaguely wondered what it would be like to have his job in addition to my own. "Perhaps in a few years," I thought.

"Next on the agenda," he announced, "we turn to our CEO, Laura Brackettt, who will give us a progress report about getting out from under our accounting problems."

I gathered my papers in front of me and began. I was in charge. I was on top.