Ken was checking out when a bell-man brought him a note. He looked at it, and turned to the clerk.
“Cancel that check-out, please. We´re staying another night, at least.”
Mary looked at him sharply; he handed her the note.
“Saul, Anne,” she said, “something good´s come up, but we´ve got to rush. We´ll be along tomorrow probably, okay?”
“Fine. Thanks for your help. Keep in touch.”
Ken led Mary to a corner and took out his cell-phone. “Let me have her note, will you?”
Mary gave him the small piece of paper. He opened it and began to dial. Mary leaned against the wall opposite, looking sharply about. Among the noises of the lobby, another cell-phone rang.
“Iris, this is Ken Chance. We got your note. Where are you? ... Yes, of course we want to see you. We love you too ... Where are you?”
Mary walked away around a corner toward the restaurant. Soon she returned with Iris by the hand. “She´s here, Chance, she won´t get away this time.”
Mary hugged the red-haired woman long and hard, then stood aside while Ken took his turn.
“Iris, can we talk? Do you have time?” Mary asked.
Iris tucked her phone away and looked at them both, tears in her eyes. She wore green silk that clung to her breasts and thighs. She smiled through her tears and her nipples rose.
“Yes, I have time. The rest of my life, maybe. Can we go somewhere? I need to say some things, and ... well, not here.”
“When I got your note, I cancelled our check-out. The room´s still ours. Do you want to go there?”
“Yes, that´s fine. How did you know I was here, Mary?”
“Some spy you´d make, writing a cell-phone number on hotel stationery.”
In their room, Mary hung out the Do Not Disturb sign. Ken went to the telephone and cancelled their flights. Then he said, “Anyone want coffee, food?”
“No, Ken, I´ve eaten.”
“So have we.”
Hesitantly, Iris came toward the two of them. They took her in their arms and snuggled and hugged and kissed. Their hands began to roam over each other, and Mary murmured, “Iris, if you don´t take your clothes off, I´m going to do it for you.”
Later, they lay on the bed, tangled together, the sweat of loving cooling on their bodies.
“You two, I need to tell you what happened.”
“No rush, love. You´re here, now, and I don´t think you´re going to leave us again,” Mary said.
“No. I won´t unless you don´t want me ... Oh, Ken, I didn´t mean ... Again?”
Finally, Ken called for food and wine, told housekeeping not to make up the room. When the food arrived, they settled picnic-style on the bed, sitting naked and cross-legged while they ate.
“When I left you, I came here to L.A. I know some people here, and I got a job at NBC doing fashion coordination for a couple of their shows. A friend of mine from school ...”
“What school?” Mary asked, using her finger to lift a drip of mayo off Iris´s thigh.
“Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Anyway, a school friend got me the interview, and that´s what I´ve been doing. Then, this week, another friend in New York ...”
“How come you´re not in the fashion racket?” Ken interrupted.
“I graduated on a Thursday, and on Friday I decided I couldn´t stand the viciousness and stupidity of that business. All the ‘great´ designers seemed like phonies and opportunists who took other people´s work and called it their own, and made clothes no sane woman would wear. I don´t feel that way so much now, but ...
“Anyway. Monday, this other friend sent me a clip of your Still Waters Fashions introduction. After I quit laughing, I decided to pass it around. I showed it to the News Director and the guys at the Night Show. They loved it. News wanted to cover it, the Night Show wanted an interview. But nobody could get hold of any of you to arrange anything, so I called the stables and talked to Sarah. She told me where you were staying in L.A.”
“You mean, you´re the reason we went live and national yesterday?” Mary asked.
“Not me, I just passed the word along. And, I had no idea you were involved. I´d always thought you and Still Waters were separate. Horses one place and art in the other, or something.
“Anyway, I got a ticket to the show, and I sat there and laughed along with everyone else. What a wonder! And so great for Anne and Saul to play it straight down the middle. I just loved it. All the shit they throw at you about fashion and style and stuff, and you guys spoofing the crap out of it. But then, I got a real kick in the ass.”
“What do you mean?”
“Mary, you came out in that wedding dress, and I almost fell off my chair. You looked so great, so beautiful, so sexy, so strong. I know you didn´t see me, but I watched you every second you were on stage. And I knew I´d made the biggest mistake of my life when I left you two.”
“Well, I think so, too, but why do you?”
“At first, it was just the wonderful sex with two beautiful people. Then, I saw how much you love each other, and how you love the people at Still Waters, even though you don´t live there any more. But you loved me, too. You had room in your love for me. I didn´t believe it, at first. And then, I said to myself, ‘This can´t be true, they´re faking it´.”
“Why would we do that?”
“Shit, Ken, how would I know? I´m telling you what I felt, not anything logical.”
“Sorry. Go on.” Ken leaned over and kissed the nearest part of her.
“Well, I realized you really did care for me, both of you. And I just couldn´t handle it. And I ran. And now I´m sorry. I´m miserable, lonely. There´s a zillion guys who are great in bed out here – that´s how they get ahead in L.A. – but I couldn´t hardly let them touch me. When I did – nothing. Nothing but two bodies rubbing.
“Now, I´ve found you again. And I need something from you.”
“What do you need, and what can we give you, Iris? Just tell us.”
“Mary, can you and Ken take me back? I think I can get my job back at FedEx. Can I come and spend some time with you, when you want me? I´m through running away. I love you, both of you – you, Mary as much as Ken. Is this possible?”
“Iris, of course ...” Ken began.
“Wait, Chance. Let me say something ... Iris, you´ve got a good job here. It probably pays three times what you made at FedEx. You´ve got opportunities to go where you want with fashion as you see it. You´ll find a guy you can love. How can you say you´ll give it up to come spend a few hours a week with us and schlep packages the rest of the time?”
“That´s fair, Mary. The reason is that I´ve never felt so whole, so happy as when I´m with you and Ken. Not just one of you, both of you together. Leaving and living here made me realize that. Yes, there are jobs here I´d like to try, and there are opportunities. Men galore. But after a week away from you two, I decided that love, respect and good sex are more important to me than job opportunities. I´ll find a way to do the things I like about the fashion business. Maybe there´s something for me at Still Waters.”
“That´s what I wanted to know. Iris, I know what it is to be head-over-heels in love. That´s how I am about Chance. But I probably wouldn´t feel that way about him if he weren´t a horse person too. There has to be more than just ‘bodies rubbing´ as you say, and more than just subsistence work. We are smart women, and we need more than that.”
“I´ve spent a lot of time not accepting that, Mary. You´re right.”
Ken asked, “Are you supposed to be at work today?”
“Yes, but not ´til later. Don´t worry, I´m going to keep my job for a while until I can get something lined up back where you are.”
“Can you get a couple of days off? A long weekend?” Mary asked.
“Sure. I work long hours; I´ve got plenty of comp time. After all, I don´t go out with guys ... Do you believe that?”
They all laughed. Mary began clearing the lunch things away and Iris helped. Giggling, the two naked women slipped the room service trolley out into the hall. They settled on the bed again, Ken in the middle at first, but they kept rolling about and playing until it was hard to tell who was where.
“Iris?” Mary asked, a little breathlessly. “Kiss me, then tell me if you can do clothes like our VeeCees.”
Quite a bit later, Iris said, “Virtual clothes? Sure. I got a dozen ideas just watching the show. What a kick!”
“Heather´s our designer. She needs help. Think you could handle that?”
“Hell, yes. Why are you so hesitant about it? Something wrong?”
“Of course not, just thinking. And trying to recover from what you did to me. Can you work with computer graphics?”
“Sure, CAD´s what we use in fashion design now.”
“Come back with us this weekend. Meet Heather and talk with her. Get to know the rest of us. We´ll get you a ticket for tomorrow.”
“Stay with us.” Ken said.
“Okay ... I get off work at midnight. You guys be here still?”
“Sure. Knock on the door.”
“Ken?”
“Hold still ... There, is that what you want? ...”
“And this?” Mary asked.
“Yes ... Yes ... Oh, God, I love you.”
.oOo.
On the plane, Iris sat in the middle seat.
“Mary, last night I talked to one of the people from the Night Show. Their guest last night was Linda Moore, the actress. Linda asked about the outfit Anne wore on the show Wednesday. She wants to get some VeeCees and throw a party. Start a new wave. I gave my friend the catalog, but Linda will probably call and want something special.”
“Why don´t you call her now?”
With a look, Iris took the phone from the seat-back and dialed. “Hi, Nadine, Iris. You hear anything from Linda Moore? ... Right, give it to me.” She wrote a number down. “Thanks, hon, I´ll call her right away.”
She dialed again. “Linda, Iris Schmidt. Nadine at NBC told me you wanted to talk to me about Virtual Clothing ...”
When she hung up, Iris said, “She wants to have a party next weekend or pretty soon. Everyone´s to dress Virtual. You heard me tell her I´d come out with some stuff on Monday. I´ve heard her parties are pretty wild.”
“Let´s call Heather and Anne. I think Anne´ll want you to handle it, since you already know these people.”
Mary called and got Anne, explaining who Iris was. After the discussion, she said, “Anne, ask someone to get some of Linda Moore´s movies this weekend. The ones where she takes her clothes off, like what was it - ‘Stripper´? ... Yeah. We ought to include some stuff that´s just right for her ... Good. We´ll be home in an hour or so. Tell Heather to wait for us.”
Ken said, “I think you´re going to be spending some of your time being a PR person in L.A., Iris. Get the rich and famous wearing VeeCees at their parties and everywhere. What a laugh that will be.”
“May even start a trend,” Mary said.
.oOo.
At Still Waters, Iris met the rest of the group. Saul and Anne recognized her immediately. “Hey, FedEx. We´ve missed you. They´ve got some ugly guy in your place.”
Heather came forward, wearing the diagonal virtual blue moiré sash of a royal order. “Heather Huxley. I hear you´re a fashion designer.”
“Wow, I love that. What is it?”
“Anne wanted to recognize me for the work I´ve done on this. She gave me the Order of the Bath. It´ll last until I take one.”
“You earned it. I saw the show, it was wonderful.”
“Come in, for God´s sake,” Saul said. “Mary says you´re the one got us on the Night Show.”
“Well, in a way. And you really did a great job with it. Anne, when you flashed the camera, I nearly died.”
“Got away with it, too.”
“Well, now I see why. You´re bare there. That´s why nobody caught on ... Does anyone mind if I take off my clothes? You´re all bare, or nearly.”
“Of course not, clothing´s optional here. If you notice, Mary´s bare already.”
“Sorry, Iris, I never had a chance to tell you how we live here.”
Heather said, “Iris, I can´t wait to get my hands on you. Your coloring is so wonderful, you´ll look great in VeeCees.”
Iris went to Heather and took her hands in hers, looking her body over. She put Heather´s hands on her waist and said, “You´ve got a deal.” Heather began an enthusiastic exploration as the two women embraced.