Chapter 16: Breakfast in the Hotel

I woke with filtered sunlight streaming into our bedroom. Tara’s eyes were on me, and she was smiling.

“Hey, sleepy. You need to get ready for breakfast with Paul. Want to shower with me?”

What a great idea! Although we wore caps, as there wasn’t enough time to wash our hair.

Tara dropped to her knees, soaping my pussy and backside. “I agree with Ariel, you have a spectacular ass.”

“It seems like everyone says so. Paul practically burst into song praising my bottom. It’s crazy. It’s not like I personally sculpted my body artistically. My butt just developed that way. I always liked my breasts. They’re shapely C-cups with big sensitive nipples. But nobody cares about them.”

“Nora! That’s not true. Your body is delightful, front and back, coming and going. It’s just how people react when they see you draped in an elegant dress. Now get out of here before I attack you again. Don’t forget your breakfast date with Mr. Dreamy.”

At seven o’clock I was standing at the hotel restaurant’s entrance. I was surprised to see Laura instead of her son. “Paul asked me to stand in for him, temporarily, while he was having trouble getting ready. Let’s go in and I will order his favorite breakfast while we wait, OK?”

“Sure, we can have a little chat.”

At the table: “Laura, Paul said this is a special occasion for you, but he said it was your story and he couldn’t tell me anything. Can you tell me?”

“OK, Nora, but please don’t tell Paul or anybody else. This was years ago, when Paul was pre-school age. I had a woman friend with a child of matching age, who was keeping Paul for me while I attended a weekend training.”

“At the retreat I met this perfect guy, who just overwhelmed me. I was a single mother, who hadn’t even been on a date for years. And this wonderful man suddenly dropped into my life. And, forgive me, he was a fantastic lover. I was thinking he might marry me and adopt Paul. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier in my life.”

“But before we could make a life together, he dropped dead suddenly of an aneurysm, a burst artery in his chest. I cried and cried. But this long weekend in that Hyatt hotel is how I remember those happy happy days with Louis, who I can never tell Paul about.”

“We have to leave the day after tomorrow. But I’m so glad Paul met you. And I hear that we live near each other, so you two can keep seeing each other.”

“And here he is.”

“Mom, thank you for standing in. I hope Nora didn’t mind.”

“Not at all, Laura and I had a nice little talk, nothing bad. Mom and Tara are eating over there, I’m sure they would welcome your mother at their table, I’ll see you later, Laura.”

“Come sit with me, Paul, your mother ordered your favorite omelet for you.”

Paul and I had a nice chat over our breakfast. He tried to inquire about Dad and his injuries. But I dissuaded him “for now,” explaining that his employer was asking for confidentiality. And, hopefully, I could explain further in the future.