Chapter 4: Aunt Linda Takes Charge

“Hey girl, you?re looking hot this morning,” she greeted me rather sarcastically but the smile on her face disarmed her remark. She liked to tease me and I guess I was usually an easy mark for her. It’s not like she was dressed all that hot herself as she tossed her winter coat over the back of the love seat. She was wearing a pant outfit - something I rarely saw her in so evidently she wasn’t planning on entertaining any clients today.

One of the reasons it took a lot for my aunt to step in and convince her daughter to quit the “escort” business was that in some ways, my aunt wasn’t all that different. Sure, she was a licensed Realtor and all, but in today’s housing market there’s a ton of competition and my aunt wasn’t afraid to use every “Asset” she had to her advantage. She specialized in upscale homes typically purchased by executives moving in from out of town or those that had been promoted and were looking to upscale their homes. Thus she worked with a lot of “Alpha” type males, accustomed to knowing what they wanted - and getting it, especially when it came to women.

Sure sexual harassment and sex discrimination are supposedly gone or at least on their way out but try telling that to the real world executive. They may not put things in those terms but they DO know where a woman’s place is, at least in their opinion. While it may have irritated her sensibilities, my aunt was more than willing to use their sexist attitudes to turn quit a pile of commissions at a time when most realtors were crying. Listening to her describe some of her clients and what she? done to get a sale, I don’t think she really minded it all that much either.

Actually, my aunt has even come to me a couple of time for some “Help?. It was sort of fun, although a bit surreal as well, to do it in a strange house with someone who didn’t even live there just so he would sign a purchase agreement with my aunt. I knew that Kristi often helped as well and when I first heard that she was trading in her mattress for a gold jacket I cynically thought all she was doing was changing her client base. To give her credit, she put I a great effort on her classes and she had passed her initial exams with flying colors - not something I was used to seeing in her in the past.

“So are they going at it now?” she asked, nodding her head towards the stairs leading up to our bedrooms.

“Looked like it last time I checked,” I said with a frown.

“Oh lighten up Kelly, it’s not like she’s raping him or anything.”

“Well, LEGALLY she is.”

My aunt frowned herself now. She had said it lightly but still, I couldn’t help but wonder what she meant by it and she certainly didn’t seem to like my response. I’d assumed the reason she had come back home this morning was to straighten Kristi out once and for all but now I wasn’t so sure anymore.

“You said it was Todd, right?” she asked. I just nodded and she grinned slyly, “Mmmmmmm, I remember him. God he was a cute one. Been a while since he’s been over though.”

This was the second time she? mentioned him being cute so I was starting to wonder what her motives REALLY had been in coming over here. Something was telling me that it wasn’t what I was hoping for, no indeed.

“So you’ve seen him before?”

My aunt smiled naughtily, “Oh yeah, he used to be one of Kristi’s regulars but then when school started it seemed he stopped coming over. Oh ... that’s right ... today’s the start of Christmas break so no wonder he’s over today.”

She paused and then continued, “I know, I know, that’s not what you meant. Let’s just say for now that we’ve both seen a lot of each other, if you know what I mean.”

“Aunt Linda! You?re kidding me!? I exclaimed, unable to control myself completely even though I’d already more or less assumed this was the case based on her remarks so far.

“Hey girl. just because you pass the forty milestone doesn’t mean you turn into some old maid,” she said, wagging her finger at me, “It never hurts to indulge now and then. Look at your mother and your cousin Rick.”

“Yeah but you?re forty-one and he’s what ... fifteen?”

“Oh gosh no Kelly, what kind of woman do you think I am? He’s at least sixteen by now.”

Like THAT made any difference but she didn’t seem to see the irony in her remark. Maybe so, but he certainly didn’t SOUND like he was sixteen and certainly no older. All I knew was that things were definitely NOT going as I had planned.