Chapter 16: Reunited

The three of us spent the rest of the evening talking about old times. Meg did not say anymore about her current life but only talked about times past. We separated when last call arrived and I carefully drove home, not wanting to get a DUI. I tossed and turned the whole night unable to sleep. Bright and early the next morning, I packed my bag. I told my parents I had run into an old friend and been invited to go visit. After a tearful goodbye with my Mom, I had gotten a ride to the airport with my Dad. He offered to come in with me but I told him I would be fine and said goodbye.

I made my way to the United ticket counter and sat on my suitcase to wait. I was early as usual. Sid joined me a few minutes later. Even her makeup could not hide the bags under her eyes and I knew she too had spent a sleepless night. We did not wait long before a cheerful voice greeted us from behind.

"Follow me," Meg said when she reached us.

We picked up our suitcases and trailed after her. As we left the commercial ticket area, I told Meg. "Meg, we don't have tickets,"

"Follow me," was all she said.

We walked down a hallway and through a door onto the tarmac. There parked in front of us was a twin-engine plane.

"Geez Meg, you didn't need to hire a pilot and private plane for us. It must have cost a fortune." I said.

Meg laughed, "Well ... I told you I make a good living. I own the plane and the pilot. Well, the pilot comes very cheap. I'm the pilot."

"Now there are a few drawbacks," she joked. "I will ask you to stow your own luggage and I don't have a sexy stewardess or steward to serve you drinks during the flight. On the plus side though you can take turns sitting next to the sexy pilot and watch her fly the plane," Meg finished and laughed at the expressions both Sid and I wore on our faces.

Meg lifted off and winged toward her home in California. We landed at a small airport and walked to her car. When we had climbed in, she drove toward home. I had no idea where we were other than somewhere in southern California. We drove for almost an hour and then turned into a drive blocked by two iron gates. Meg leaned out of the window and entered a code in a box with push buttons beside the drive. The gates swung open.

I looked in the back seat and saw that Sid was as speechless as I was. I looked at the house we were coming to. It was huge, mansion huge.

"Meg ... who's house is this?" I asked.

"Well mine silly. It set me back quite a bit but the view of the ocean is breathtaking. It's worth every penny I paid, I think." She laughed.

"Meg, you didn't ever tell me you were rich. You only said you made good money," I said and gulped.

Meg giggled. "Well now I don't consider myself rich. I do make good money and I guess some would say that I am wealthy. I guess I'm a little modest. As far as the two of you are concerned though, I am just Meg. You remember the horny little bitch that tried to get us all in trouble," she laughed and pulled into the garage.

Meg led us in the house from the four-car garage. The interior of the home was even more impressive than the exterior. The door from the garage led into an entry foyer that contained a closet and a bench seat. It opened onto a very modern kitchen with a hardwood floor that had an almost mirror finish. Marble counters, every appliance you could imagine, in stainless steel, and a huge island that overlooked the room beyond, which was a formal dining room with a large table, ten chairs and place settings for each set out. A fancy crystal chandelier was positioned above it.

Meg saw us looking at this opulent setting and laughed. "It impresses the few visitors I have and makes them think I am very refined. To tell the truth I have never even used this room."

She turned and went through a double door into another entry foyer this one larger than the one opening into the garage. A large door that was the front entrance took up most of the opposite wall. We turned and went into a long hallway. Along the side to our left were four closed doors. At the end was another closed door. The right side of the hall contained two sets of French doors that were currently closed and curtained and a stairwell leading down.

"Each of these doors leads into a bedroom. You may choose any of them to sleep in. Each one has its own bath. The door at the end leads into my bedroom. I will show you the downstairs later after I have given you time to unpack. I'll wait for you in the great room which you haven't seen yet but it is through those double doors." Meg finished and pointed to French doors on the other side of the hall and walked through one of them.

Sid opened one of the bedroom doors. "See you in a little and we'll let our hostess continue her tour," Sid said to me stepped through the door and closed it.

I went into the room next to hers and started to unpack. When I finished I left the room. When I went back into the hallway, I saw that all the doors leading into the great room were now open. I stepped through them and stopped in disbelief. Great room was an understatement for this room. It was huge. Scattered around the room were no less than six couches and an equal number of overstuffed chairs and still the room seemed under furnished. The entire wall across from me was covered with drapes. The white carpet beneath my feet had so much padding that my feet almost sank into it as if I was standing on a bed. A doorway on the right led into the dining room. On the left, against the wall was a sunken conversation pit and large fireplace. Sharing this wall was a bar that would have put many commercial ones to shame. Four bar stools stood against a padded bar with marble top and a variety of crystal glasses hanging upside-down above it. A sharp intake of breath beside me told me that Sid had arrived.

I had failed to notice the small figure of our host standing behind the bar until she spoke.

"Name your poison you two and then we will continue on the tour," Meg said.

"How about bourbon on the rocks," I said wanting to make it easy.

"The same," Sid said.

Meg sighed and said, "Too easy. I expect your requests to be more of a challenge in the future. I didn't stock this fucking thing this way to make simple drinks like those."

She took three glasses down from above, reached below, filled each with ice and took a bottle from behind her. She poured each half full of bourbon then handed a glass to each of us as we came near. She lifted her glass with one hand and picked up a remote from the bar with the other.

"Now we can continue with the tour," she said and pressed a button on the remote. The drapes on the wall began to part. When they had finished opening, I gasped. The entire wall was made of glass and afforded a fantastic view of the beach below, the ocean and the setting sun. Meg had said the view was breathtaking and she had not exaggerated in the least. It was beautiful. Sliding doors in one corner of the wall of glass led out on to a huge attached deck with a retractable cover.

"This is what really sold me on this place," Meg chuckled. "I spend a lot of my time on the deck," she added. She led us out onto the deck, let us take in the view for a moment and then we followed her down a winding set of stairs onto a smaller deck below. Before we had descended the stairs I had noticed another set of sliding glass doors and Meg told us these led into her bedroom. Two large doors opened up onto an indoor pool. Meg led us around the pool and showed us a room dedicated to exercise equipment and another with billiard and air hockey tables along with other game tables and pinball machines. A third room was another combination dressing room and bathroom. She led us up a set of stairs that put us back into the hallway that led into the bedrooms.

"So that is a tour of my house. I hope you like it and that it will meet your standards while you visit," Meg said.

We both assured her that it would more than do that. We went back out on the deck, seated ourselves at the table and talked the rest of the night. During our conversation, Meg told us that she owed a lot of her success to Richard.

"He got my foot in the door and introduced me to the right publishers. He helped me through my first book. As I said before, he is a wonderful man and will always be a good friend. We were just not meant to be married. He lives about a mile from here and I see him frequently," Meg said then added, "Not for sex, just for conversation."

The evening ended and we all retired to our separate rooms for the night. The next morning I woke up, went to the kitchen and was not surprised when I found two cups set out and coffee ready. I poured a cup and wandered out to the deck.

I found Meg there working on a laptop computer. She folded the top down and smiled up at me. She was garbed in a short bathrobe.

"So where is your office?" I asked not really being familiar with writing.

Her smile grew wider as she opened her arms and said," You are looking at my office. I work here or in the great room. This is also my work attire," she said as she indicated her bathrobe, "or ... this attire," she said and pulling the cloth belt that held her robe closed, opened it to show that she was nude underneath.

I had not seen Meg nude for many years. She no doubt wondered if I still found her attractive. The sharp intake of my breath and the look that came to my eyes told her everything she wanted to know.

"I'm relieved you still find me attractive," Meg giggled as she closed and retied her robe.

"Meg, I thought you were beautiful when you were a teenager and now that you have become a woman you are even more so in my eyes," I said.

"Thank you Steve. You are very good looking too. I find I am getting very wet just thinking about what we used to do," Meg giggled.

I turned away to hide the redness that came to my face. Meg laughed.

"I may not be a teenager anymore Steve. But I am still Meg and I'm very blunt around my friends." She said.

"I don't know if we can ever have what we had before but it certainly won't be because I don't love you. I will not even attempt to force you to love me. I don't want you to be with me because of my material things either. If you can't love me for me then I don't want you to pretend. That is why I invited you and Sid here. To find out if we still care for each other the way we did in the past. We will always be friends and now that we have found each other, we can stay in touch. If we become lovers again ... well only time will tell," Meg finished.