Vivian Laaning Ch. 56

Rod had not made a reservation beforehand, so when he entered the restaurant with his date around 6:30, he was advised that there would be a half hour wait. So he and his date took seats at the bar to have a drink while waiting to be seated. And that is when he spotted Erica, apparently conferring with the bartender! His memory of Erica was so vivid that he had no doubt that the blond woman was Erica. He tried to make eye contact but to no avail, since she had no occasion to glance towards his direction. Once Erica had left, the bartender came over with their drinks, and so Rod asked:

"Who is that blonde woman, you were just talking to?"

"Oh! That's Erica Laaning. She is the general manager here. Quite good looking isn't she?"

"Damn straight!"

Rod remembered Erica's last name to be English, so briefly he wandered if he was mistaken in believing that this Erica was his Erica. He was cognizant of the fact that for a farmer's wife in Wisconsin to suddenly transpose into a manager of a very popular and trendy restaurant in Chicago was quite against all odds. But then he recalled that the other woman involved in that wild weekend four years previously, was Erica's sister who had a different surname. He had forgotten what it was, and for that matter forgot what her first name was, but the name "Laaning" seemed familiar enough. Then happy thoughts flooded his mind! This truly is his Erica after all, and she now had a different last name. That must mean that she's no longer married to this English fellow, and that would mean she was available!

As he was sipping his martini and contemplating some very happy scenarios, his date was getting very annoyed as he was paying no attention to her. Finally when he refused to acknowledge, never mind even answer a direct question she had just posed to him, she became furious and blurted out:

"Rod you're not listening to a word I'm saying. You're not paying any attention to me; you are completely ignoring me! What's the point of my being here at all? I might just as well leave."

Rod then broke out in a huge smile and fished out a hundred dollar bill from his wallet. Giving it to his date, he said:

"So leave! Here's cab fare for you, although I suggest you break it at the cash register, so you can retain something extra for your troubles."

And so she stomped out of the restaurant in a huff. Rod of course did not leave the restaurant but instead waited to be seated. He ordered a sumptuous steak which he enjoyed leisurely with a bottle of an excellent Cabaret Sauvignon. He entertained himself by observing Erica flit here and there throughout the restaurant room, ensconced in her managerial duties. He realized that his time was being more pleasantly spent than had his date remained to share this meal.

Sometime halfway through his meal, he saw an elderly black lady with a toddler in tow, enter the restaurant while simultaneously Erica moved towards her to greet her. There was an alcove right beside the hostess station to allow patrons to conveniently hang up their overcoats during their stay. Rod got up from his table to go there. He pretended that he was fumbling around his coat for some reason or other. However, his main purpose was to overhear the conversation between Erica and this black woman, as his instinct suggested the same would be worth his while. And this is what he heard:

"I'm so sorry to disturb you at work, Erica. But as I told you on the phone, I just learnt that my favorite niece was involved in a car accident a few hours ago, and was taken to North Central. I just have to be there for her, and I can't take Tony with me. And your sister was not available."

"Yes Vivian is gone for the night, and has turned off her phone. Don't worry Estelle. I've got a small office, where I can keep my eye on Tony, until my shift is done. I can also alternate some of the kitchen help to watch him when I have to be on the floor. So just go now to the hospital to look after your niece. I hope she is going to be all right."

"Thank you Erica, and I'm so sorry for the inconvenience."

"Don't give it a second thought. I'll pray for your niece."

When this conversation ended, Rod peered out to take a peek at Erica and at the child. He was a toddler about three or four years old, and he was black. Then he saw Erica take the boy by hand and lead him away presumably to her office. "Curiouser and curiouser" was Rod's reaction in his mind as to the outcome of the conversation he had overheard. He returned to his table to resume eating his meal. When he finished his entrée he ordered desert and a coffee liqueur to complete a marvelous feast, made even more marvelous by the realization that he had spotted the woman he had yearned to see again for the past few years. As he was partaking in his alcoholic coffee drink, he summoned his server:

"Could you please get your manager, Erica is her name isn't it?"

"Oh yes!"

"Well could you get her to come to my table, I'd like a word with her."

"Is there anything wrong sir?"

"Oh no! Not at all! l actually just want to complement her on the fine meal I've had, and for the great service I've enjoyed."

"Oh no problem sir! I'll get her right away. She is always delighted to hear from satisfied customers."

As Erica approached his table, Rod's heart began to pound faster as he watched her walking towards him. Her female gait was about the sexiest he could ever imagine, and yet it was ever so subtle and understated so as not to make an obvious spectacle of herself. Rod anticipated a most stimulating encounter that would make this evening especially...well special! Once Erica arrived at the table she started:

"You asked to speak to me?"...Then she gasped as she recognized Rod, and so she stammered, "Oh my God! It's you! Rod Koeninger! It's really you!"

Rod was pleased to realize that Erica had instantly recognized him despite the lengthy absence of any contact between them. However, he thought he would tease her a little bit to diffuse any awkwardness that might follow as a result of this unexpected reunion. So he said:

"Oh I see that you're a Bears fan. I'm gratified that I'm recognizable despite being merely an unheralded defensive end on the team."

Erica was at first non plussed by Rod's quip, but then she remembered that at the time, he had just been traded to the Chicago Bears. Thus she surmised he had obviously not recognized her at all, but instead thought of her as a football fan who was aware of him for that reason only. Erica was not pained by such an unflattering supposition. She had believed even from the beginning that for those three men involved, that weekend was just a sexual lark. It represented nothing significant in their lives except for possibly savoring an ephemeral pleasurable moment, but easily forgotten. So she sat down next to him and answered:

"Oh yes I do know that you are a player with the Bears, although I've never seen you play, since I haven't been to a game during all the time I've lived here in Chicago. I guess you don't remember me, but we have really met before. We spent a wonderful weekend together four years ago in May in Madison, Wisconsin. I truly experienced a fabulous time on that occasion, and I believe you must have enjoyed the experience as well."

Rod chuckled at Erica's euphemistic description of the hot sex they had engaged in during that weekend. So he thought he would tease her some more as he coyly responded:

"Oh yes, now I do remember something about that weekend. But as I recall, it wasn't just the two of us. I think your sister was there as well as my brother. And if memory serves there was yet another fellow involved not related to either of us."

Vivian blushed as she replied:

"You could say we had a party."

Rod pressed further:

"Yes indeed a party. A very hot party. I recall we all got naked at the time."

It was her turn to reply coyly:

"Like I said, I had a wonderful time. I can't speak for the others, but no one seemed bored on that occasion."

Rod now laughed heartedly, admiring Erica's pluck in refusing to apologize or make excuses for her participation in raunchy sexual behavior. He decided to drop the pretense of hardly knowing her, so he said:

"I've been pulling your leg a little bit. Of course Erica, I remember you vividly. Not only did I have a wonderful time but I had a marvelous time. I did admire your sister but it was you that I was most enchanted with. I've never forgotten you and I gave you my phone number just in case the opportunity for us to meet again should occur."

Erica was astonished by those sentiments. She could not help but blurt out:

"But Rod! You must have concluded that the weekend must surely have been a one night stand! I was married for God's sakes. I even told you so at the time. How could you ever possibly have envisioned a future between us?"

"So you're not married now are you?"

"No I'm divorced now. I live with my sister who just graduated from law school at the University of Chicago, and will be taking her bar exams next month."

"The same sister of that notorious weekend in Madison?"

"Yes of course. I have only one sister plus one brother. By the way not to change the subject, but are you actually dining alone here? I don't see an extra place setting, and of course no one has come back to this table since I joined you."

"I did have a date when I came in tonight, but she decamped as soon as it became evident that I was not so desirous of her company, and was actually concentrating on some other female."

"Do you mean me? Am I the focus of your attention tonight?"

"Yes indeed. We were directed to the bar to while away the time before a table would be ready. Then I saw you for the first time in four years talking to the bartender, and I immediately recognized you. You bewitched me that weekend four years ago so that I forgot all about my date and concentrated on watching you."

"But I don't understand. You don't know me at all. I'm assuming you're not married so I would imagine you've had your pick of beautiful women to play with. Hell even if you were ugly as sin, which of course you're far from that, just by being an NFL player would give you access to all kinds of gorgeous women who would be willing to jump in bed with you at the drop of a hat. I bet your date tonight was not too shabby."

Rod admitted:

"She was OK in the looks department. And yes I've had my share of fine looking females for companionship. But their beauty was the only thing to recommend them. Otherwise they were all completely empty headed not capable of offering anything other than sex. Mind you for a lot of men that is the complete and only satisfactory desire they need from their women folk, but then again those men tend to be just as shallow.

"Now in your case Erica, you are even more beautiful, but more importantly you are a woman of substance. I instinctively knew that four years ago, and tonight proved my instincts to be correct."

Erica protested:

"How in the world can you say that? So far tonight we have been together only a fraction of the amount of time we spent together in Madison. And yet you suggest that only instinct was what made you conclude that I was a worthwhile woman then, but now with such a short conversation tonight you have solid evidence to confirm your initial assumption."

Rod replied:

"Well look at it this way. Four years ago you were a farmer's wife. So it's fair to say that you probably had no restaurant experience at that time."

"Yes that's very true. I grew up on a farm and did only farm work. After I split from my husband, was the first time I did any work not related to farming."

"So it's also safe to say that when you started working here you began as a server if not even lower."

"Yes that is true, and I was lucky to even get that since my experience as a waitress was very limited."

"Quite so, and yet here your are now, the general manager of this fine five star classy restaurant. And you've achieved all that within four years time."

"I've actually been employed here for only three years."

"Even more impressive! The owner is not a relative of yours?"

"No"

"You didn't sleep your way to the top?"

Erica snorted, and replied haughtily:

"Of course not! The owner is a woman in her seventies!"

"Well there you have it. A bimbo or a scatter brain could not have advanced so far in such a short time. Ergo by deductive reasoning you must be a woman of substance to have achieved what you have achieved."

"Great detective work Sherlock!"

"Well speaking of detective work, one thing about you has puzzled me."

"Oh?"

"Yes about half an hour ago I saw a black woman come into the restaurant and hand over a child to you. What connection do you have with that child? Is he related to you?"

"He is my son, and the black lady is my babysitter. She had an emergency to tend to, so she couldn't continue looking after my son, while I was still here working. My sister has gone for the night, and it was impractical for my babysitter to get a hold of her. So I had no option but to have Tony stay in my office until I'm ready to leave here."

"Your son is black."

"Very observant of you."

"You're white."

"True."

"Therefore you must have had a black man to impregnate you."

"That would be a logical conclusion, since Tony is not adopted."

"Was your husband black?"

"No. He was a white man."

"Well then, are you now restricting your sex life with black men? You know there is a cliché that says: 'Once you go black you never go back'."

"I can honestly say that I've never heard of that expression before. In any case at this point in my life, the only sex I've had with black men, were confined to three different men."

"But that weekend in Madison you had sex with me, with my brother and with one of my brother's college friends. And all three of us are black. So you're saying that we three black men are the only black men you've ever fucked?"

"I am saying that."

"And none of us have ever fucked you since?"

"I can confirm that."

"Then the conception timing for the birth of your son must have occurred during that wild weekend in Madison."

"It would seem so! Since no wisemen bearing gifts came to my son's birth, nor was there a big star seen shining from the east. And I did not submit to an artificial insemination procedure either."

"Then one of the three of us must be the father of your son."

"Bingo!"

"We need to discuss this further, but not here."

"Why don't you go to the bar and have a drink. I'll arrange for my assistant manager to close the restaurant instead of me. And I can then finish off in a half hour. Then we can go to my place to discuss the matter thoroughly."

"OK"