Table Talk

"Touché. But... did your parents really have the books or films in mind, or is there a French relative somewhere?"

Emmy was smiling again. "My parents are kind of artsy post-hippie types. I think they saw the films with Sylvia Kristel at an art cinema in the '90s, or maybe it was on cable. They probably thought they were arty and sophisticated compared to run of the mill softcore porn. I don't think they ever really expected me to use the full name -- they've called me Emmy forever. My mother even apologized to me when I was 21. She said I should feel free to change it legally." Emmy shrugged. "I just never did. I've hardly ever told anyone." She looked at him, still smiling. "I'm not even sure why I told you."

"I guess then I shouldn't ask if you've had any erotic encounters."

Her eyebrows raised in challenge. "That's dangerous territory, Marc. Should I ask you whether you're writing erotic stories from your own personal experiences?"

Marc chuckled. "You are quick, Emmy." He paused a bit, then looked at her. "What do you think about going for a walk in the woods with me on Sunday?"

Emmy had her chin in her hand. "That kind of sounds like a date."

Marc nodded. "Yes, I think it is a date. I'd like us to have some relaxed non-library time together." Marc paused and took Emmy's free hand. "Emmy, you're a fun, smart, attractive woman. You don't need to wear a killer outfit or spend a lot of time on makeup for me to enjoy being with you."

Emmy was surprised. Marc's frankness was refreshing, but she wasn't sure how to react. Part of her agreed that the whole pressure of dressing up made formal dating stressful, almost competitive. She pulled her thoughts together and gave him a smile. "A walk in the woods sounds like fun. It's spring and it will be nice to see things greening up. And there will be birds singing, not loud music or wall to wall bodies."

Marc nodded. "That's right. Since I left college I avoid the club scene like the plague. Also, I love to see my favorite wildflowers. Sunday is the 24th and most of them will be blooming by now."

"Oh, so now you're a botanist too? What else haven't you told me?"

Marc laughed. "There's a very long list of things you don't know about me. And, I suspect, vice versa. But yes, I do study botany -- strictly as an amateur."

"All right then, Mr. Multilayer. I look forward to a lesson on spring wildflowers. But if I'm getting a free botany lesson out of it, maybe we should up the ante on our bet and say that it's for dinner."

Marc looked thoughtful. "I've heard that it's sometimes hard to get into Tutti Verde for dinner, but I'll look into getting us a reservation."

Emmy smiled. "You, sir, are a good sport. If we can't get a dinner reservation we can still do lunch."

She glanced at her phone. "Marc, I'm meeting up with a friend for lunch today so I have to go soon. Let's talk tomorrow to firm up our plans for Sunday, ok?"

"Sounds good. Can I call you around four? I have a bunch of errands to run tomorrow."

She nodded. "I'll expect to hear from you at four."

Emmy pulled her backpack together, got up and came over to Marc's chair. She leaned down. Suddenly she felt Marc's hand behind her neck as he pulled her down to kiss her full on the lips. Emmy felt herself yielding to the feeling as her hand went to his shoulder, but she then remembered that this was still the library. She reluctantly broke the kiss and stood up. Her face was flushed and her eyes were shining. "I'll see you Sunday, Marc."

He smiled. "Count on it." He watched her walk away, with that graceful sway of her slim hips.

*******

Emmy picked up her phone when her ringtone sounded. "Marc, you're late. It's already 4:02."

"See, this is one thing I didn't know about you. You're a time tyrant."

Emmy's silvery tones of laughter came over the phone as Marc smiled.

"I don't think I'm a tyrant, but I can be a bit of a tease."

"I've noticed. I'll do my best to handle that gracefully."

"You can tease me, too, you know."

"I'll keep that in mind. Should we meet at Norris Woods, or would you like me to drive?"

"I've never been there so I would prefer that you drive, if that's ok."

"Sounds good, I'll pick you up at 10:02."

"Jerk!" She was laughing.

"You can dish it out, but you can't take it?"

"You've no idea yet what I can take," she teased back. "I'll text you my address."

Marc chuckled. "I'll see you tomorrow, Emmy. Oh, do you have sturdy shoes?"

"Oh no, I was planning on going to the woods in three-inch heels."

He laughed. "It's a good thing I like you!"

Emmy giggled. "I'm kidding, but I think you knew that. I'll see you tomorrow. Text me when you're on your way."

"Sure thing. Bye, Emmy."

She went to her closet to dig out her hiking shoes, still smiling. It's a very good thing that we like each other.

*******

Marc pulled into the small Norris Woods parking lot, still on a high from their pleasant conversation during the car ride. Emmy got out and started for the paved bike path, but Marc stopped her. "Let's go over here."

Emmy looked where he was pointing and saw a narrow footpath with a wooden sign: "Eleanor's Path."

"Who's Eleanor?"

"I wish I knew, Emmy. I haven't been able to find out anything about her online. Obviously she is, or was, someone who enjoyed this rustic little path."

The first section of the path meandered down a small hill, and they picked their way down the slope.

"Look Marc, this is a trillium, right?"

Marc came up and examined the flower Emmy had pointed out. It had petals with a rich maroon color and three blotchy green leaves. "Yes, that's prairie trillium, Trillium recurvatum."

"Why is it recurvatum?"

"That's an excellent question." Marc knelt in front of the plant and Emmy knelt beside him. "See these green projections under the flower? They're called sepals. In this species they point down, but in most other trilliums they're spreading or ascending -- pointing up. Another word for bent backward is recurved, so its scientific epithet is recurvatum."

"You've really studied this, I can see."

"Yes. It's been fun to learn things in a completely different field."

Emmy took a photo of the trillium with her phone as Marc got to his feet. She followed but her foot stumbled on a rock. Marc caught her around the waist before she lost her balance.

"Whoops!" Emmy's eyes were shining at the contact. "Thanks for the rescue."

Marc smiled at her and they continued down the path.

Emmy was really enjoying their outing. She kept taking photos as Marc described the wildflowers.

"This one is spring beauty, Claytonia virginica."

"It's so delicate. And it has little candy stripes on each petal."

"It's a common spring flower, but that doesn't stop it from being lovely."

Emmy knelt for another photo, taking her time to get the tiny pink stripes in focus. "Oh, look at this little bee!"

Marc leaned over. "That's called a bee fly. Genus Bombylius. It's a fly, but a bee mimic. They often nectar on spring beauties."

"I guess I have some studying to do to catch up with you," said Emmy.

Marc laughed. "We're here for fun, not competition. I bet you know this one, though."

Emmy smiled. "Blue violet, of course." Emmy looked closely at the violet. "Oh, it has stripes too, inside the flower where it's white."

"Yes, only in the throat. There is some speculation that they may be nectar guides for pollinators."

Emmy looked up at Marc. "This is fascinating. I've never looked at flowers this closely, they all have something unique."

Marc nodded. You're a unique flower yourself.

The path reached the bottom of the hill and turned along a level stretch of ground.

"Oooh, what's this one?" Emmy was leaning over a brilliant white flower with large petals. The blue-green leaves had two large sections that looked like elephant ears.

"That's twinleaf. Jeffersonia diphylla. You'll only see this species in high quality woods."

"You don't expect me to remember all these Latin names, do you?"

"Maybe if I repeat them enough, you will."

She smirked. "Keep telling yourself that."

Emmy got up after taking another photo with her phone. She stretched out her arms, feeling the warm sunlight bathing her through the opening in the trees. "Marc, this is awesome. Thank you for asking me here."

Marc stared as Emmy's stretch highlighted her lithe curves. He stepped closer to her. Emmy's eyes opened wide as he leaned in. She put her hand on his chest as she felt his lips on hers, caressing them, then giving her a full kiss. This time there was no urgency, no need to pull away. It felt so natural. Emmy looked at Marc when the kiss ended. "That was really nice."

He smiled at her. "Yes, it was nice. Shall I do it again?"

Emmy put her arms around his neck. "This one's on me." She pulled him down to her. Their kiss lingered, and their tongues probed each other as Emmy ran her fingers through his hair. She felt stirrings in her lady parts. When they finally pulled apart and continued along the path through the woods, Emmy took Marc's hand.

The chorus of birdsong began to wane as the sun climbed higher in the sky. A shrill piping came from a tree in a nearby clearing.

"Yellow warbler," Marc observed.

Emmy swung his hand in hers. "You're a birder too?"

"I'm trying. I have a lot to learn in that field."

"You just can't help learning new things, can you?"

He chuckled. "I like to expand my horizons. Maybe someday I'll figure relationships out, too."

She stopped and turned him to face her. "The most important thing about relationships is that both partners are putting in the effort to make it work. That's something I've learned the hard way."

Marc pulled her to him and nuzzled her forehead. "Here's another one -- learning who is worth the effort." He kissed her again, sweetly, caressing her lips with his own. She looked at him with glistening eyes.

"It seems to me that you've become a fast learner."

"Not before now." His arms wrapped around her and caressed her back as she rested her head on his shoulder.

Emmy whispered, "Now is what really counts, Marc. Let's keep learning together."

*******

"So now you're making out with this dude in the woods?" Cecilia smirked at Emmy.

"We kissed a bit. It was nice, totally unpressured. I really like him. He treats me like I'm special. And he's totally a good kisser."

"I thought you didn't know if this was going anywhere. Suddenly it sounds like you two are ready to hop in the sack and jump each other's bones." She giggled.

"Celia! Don't be a bitch. I want to give this a real chance, and I'm pretty sure that he does, too."

"And what about your crazy-ass bet? Are you really trying to suss him out, or was that just a ploy to get another date?"

Emmy shook her head, laughing. "You're really impossible sometimes."

"That's why you love me, girl." Cecilia was smirking again. "At least I got you back out there so you could meet a decent guy."

"True." Emmy looked thoughtful. "I think I'll work on the great unraveling tonight. I might as well find out whether I'm a good detective."

"Well, win or lose, be sure to wear something sexy on your big date. You need to reel this guy in, and not keep him hanging."

"I know he's interested, I just don't know if we're... ready for that."

"Oh, he's ready, Em, trust me! This is a guy who kissed you the last two times he saw you. Wear some really sexy underwear and you'll find out just how ready he is."

Emmy smacked her friend's arm. "I might need to go shopping then."

"Hey, I've got you covered! Do you want to go now?"

"Sure! We can get some lunch too." She glared at her friend. "Your treat, of course."

Cecilia laughed. "Now who's being a bitch!"

Emmy and Cecilia went to an upscale mall. They tried the best department store and wandered through the intimates section. Emmy found a deep blue lacy bra that she liked. The pattern was called 'Cherry Blossom.' Emmy giggled.

Cecilia frowned. "What's so funny?"

"Well, maybe it's a pattern a botanist can appreciate."

Cecilia rolled her eyes. Then she examined the bra and said, "That's a pretty sexy design. Most guys with a pulse would appreciate this. It even converts to a racerback. But you can't wear this dark color with a white top."

"I'm thinking of wearing my black dress with the v-neck."

"Oh! Well that'll get his attention for sure. But we need to find you matching panties."

Emmy looked through the racks. "Ta-daa!" She held up a sexy brief in the same pattern and color as the bra. The panties had a front gusset but the back was sheer.

"Oh, girl, that man is going to be in trouble -- big trouble -- when he gets an eyeful of you in these. Especially if you wiggle those cute lil' butt cheeks in that sheer lace."

Emmy grinned. "I would hope he appreciates this. It's a good thing I got a nice little bonus at work for helping out with tax season. I don't think I've ever spent this much on undies!"

"Worth it, Em. Totally worth it." They both giggled.

*******

Emmy dropped Cecilia off and hurried home to make her Zoom class. After she signed off from the class she heated up some leftover meatloaf and made a small salad for dinner. While she was eating she pulled up the Inkblott site on her Macbook. It was time to do some serious investigating.

Emmy created an account and looked for the search function. She figured out how to search author names and stared at the screen for a time. He won't be obvious. He certainly isn't going to use a variant of his name or anything related to his career, so it will maybe be one of his side interests.

Emmy began searching using words like botany, botanist, botanical. She stopped after finding those terms unproductive. That's still too obvious anyway. On a hunch she tried a search using flora. Only three screen names appeared: flora17, floradora, and passiflora. The first two writers were women based on their profiles. The author passiflora hardly had anything on the profile page, only "I'm here because I love to write my fantasies."

Emmy googled "passiflora" and her eyes widened in surprise. "The passion flower genus," she mumbled. "This could be interesting." She returned to the profile page and began sifting through the author's stories.

An hour later Emmy had finished reading two of the stories. She stretched and got up to get a bowl of grapes and some water. She realized her cheeks were flushed. The author passiflora wrote real romances, with well-drawn characters, convincing plots and some steamy sex scenes that had held her riveted. This author wasn't crude; the women characters seemed real, not sluts with 36DD's and 24/7 'fuck me' libidos like those she saw elsewhere on the site. But she wasn't yet positive this could be Marc.

After her break Emmy looked for passiflora's latest story. Like most of the stories on the site it was uploaded in chapters. She saw that only five chapters had been posted so far. It will be easy enough to get through these.

The story involved a financial consultant whose hobby was painting watercolors of seascapes. It was set in a coastal town in Massachusetts. Unfortunately the man had a girlfriend who was a whiny, entitled brat who managed to push all of his buttons. In the third chapter the main character finally had enough and threw her out. Emmy shook her head. Finally he grew a pair. No guy should be desperate enough to put up with that shit.

Emmy was getting sucked into this story. She reached the fifth chapter and found it was posted only ten days ago. The main character was down on the waterfront working on a painting when a woman jogger stopped to talk to him about his picture. In their conversation it came out that they had noticed each other once before. Hmmm. Their conversation was spirited and they decided to grab lunch at a food truck near the waterfront park. They sat down at a picnic table and continued talking.

The story reached a point where the man was looking closely at the woman and relating his impressions of her. "She had the slim curves of a woman who kept herself fit, but was still unmistakably feminine. Her tousled brown curls poked out from under her baseball cap. But the most striking thing about her was her eyes -- they riveted me. Their color held a complex richness, as if thousands of shining emeralds were being tossed about in the blue waters of the bay." Holy fuck.

Emmy felt her heart racing now and her face was flushed. She said to herself, a bit breathless, "Oh my god -- except for the cap, he's... describing me!"

*******

Emmy was feeling upbeat on Thursday as she texted Marc.

'R we on for library tomorrow?'

'Yes. My turn to get coffee, right?'

"U bet. I told u I would keep track!'

'lol well don't be late or ur coffee will get cold!'

'ur the one who's always two minutes late lol. Text me when u leave ok?'

'Sure. U have anything else to tell me, Emmy?'

Emmy smiled. She had decided it would be fun to string Marc along.

'I always have something to tell u, haven't u figured that out yet?' She giggled to herself.

Marc came into the library to find Emmy already at the table. She was wearing a simple blue hoodie sweatshirt and jeans, but Marc still thought she looked great. He brought their coffees over and sat next to her.

"You look nice today."

"Thank you, but I'm totally dressed down."

"That doesn't matter to me one bit."

She blushed. "So, do we have a reservation for Tutti Verde?"

"Yes, I managed to get one for 6:30 tomorrow. Um, Emmy, are you going to tell me who's paying for dinner?"

Her smile was downright wicked. "Let's save that for tomorrow, ok?"

Marc looked at her. "You really are a tease, aren't you?"

"Don't worry, I know when it's time to stop teasing."

"Why do I have the feeling that I'm in over my head here?"

"Probably because you are." They both began laughing.

*******

Emmy went to her hairdresser on Saturday morning. Tatiana greeted her.

"What do you feel like this time, Emmy?"

"I'd like to keep the same basic style, but dress it up a bit. I, um, have kind of a special date."

Tatiana raised her eyebrows. "Oh, a special man? Does he like your hair this way?'

Emmy thought of Marc's story. "Yes, he does."

"Well then, maybe we do a bit of trimming, shaping and tapering, and sharpen up the edges. Then spruce up the curls in front with some heat. You have such lovely natural curls; I don't think we will need to do much else."

Emmy looked in the mirror when Tatiana had finished. "Oh my god, that looks great!"

"Your man should think so, too. Just put a bit of spray on the front curls before your date to hold them and you should be good."

"Thank you so much, Tatiana!"

Emmy added a generous tip to the bill. Then she hurried home because Cecilia was coming over to help her get dressed.

Cecilia came through the door and stared at Emmy. "Oh my god, girl, you are smoking!"

Emmy smiled. "Tatiana is a genius."

"I hope you'll wear your special undies!"

Emmy blushed. "Yes, then I just want to get into my dress and do a little bit of makeup without messing up my hair."

Cecilia smiled. "You're going to be the hottest thing there!"

Cecilia helped Emmy with her dress, a V-neck affair that was simple and sexy but not too daring. It was sleeveless, flatteringly flared, with a ruffled hem two inches above Emmy's knees. Cecilia was excited about her subtle but sexy look.

They worked carefully on Emmy's eyes, trying for just a hint of definition without making them raccoon eyes. Emmy added a bit of blush to her cheeks.

"Celia, I don't think I want the neon lipstick look."

"If he's not into the slutty look, maybe just this pink lip gloss? It's pretty subtle."