Chapter 9

I went home and thought about the situation. It was almost obvious that Anita still had some feelings for me. I wondered if I would dare to look her up. All I really risked was that she would throw me out. I would still have her as invisible. So I went to bed that night with the plan that I would look her up tomorrow.

I was up early the next day. Went to the barber to get my hair cut, I didn't want to show up with a hairdo that would awaken her suspicions. Then I made a trip to the florist and bought a bouquet of flowers. First, I had thought of roses but I changed my mind. I didn't want to look too self-assured so I settled for a fresh bouquet of summer-flowers.

While I waited for the day to pass I puttered around on my machine but time passed slowly anyway.

Finally, it was just after six o'clock. I knew that Anita would be home from work about now. A little nervously I rang the bell and after a while it opened and Anita stood in front of me for the first time in almost twenty years.

"Yes?" She said as she first saw me, but then her expression changed. "Ro-Robert?"

"Hello Anita. How are you?"

"Oh, it is you. I'm fine. And you?"

"Great."

We stood there looking at each other for a long time without saying anything.

"Did I come at a bad time?" I finally had to break the silence.

"Oh. Sorry. No. It's just that I was surprised... So much have happened the last two days. First... Never mind. Come in. For me?" She asked when I handed her the flowers.

"Yes. I didn't know if..."

"Thank you, sit down while I put them in water."

While I sat down, she disappeared and came back a little later with the flowers in a vase. She put them on the table in front of me.

"They are lovely. I just love the summer flowers. They have an air of fragility about them, and then you can usually smell them, and that is nice."

I answered with some nonsense, and we chatted for a while, well almost an hour, before she looked at me.

"How come that you come around now?" She asked a little noncommittally.

"Oh, I met an old friend and he told me where you lived so I thought I would look you up. I didn't even know that you lived here in town. I thought you move away... years ago."

"I did. But, I always loved it here so I moved back about, what... nine or ten years ago and have lived here since."

I didn't want to ask the question that burned on my lips. I knew the answer and would have been deeply disappointed if she had lied.

"So. What have you been up to since I saw you last?"

"Oh, a little of this and a little of that, you know."

"Wife? Girlfriend?" She asked as if she didn't know, but I didn't let her know that I knew that she knew.

"No. Neither. Never seemed to meet anyone that could be special. How about you?"

"No, me neither. It's hard when you are a single mother, you know."

"Oh?"

"No, you don't know that, do you? Yes, I have a daughter."

"So, is she coming home soon?"

"Oh no. She's eighteen and moved out a few months ago. Two and a half months ago."

"I bet you worry yourself sick about her."

"At first. But, she is very responsible so I know that she'll be all right. You never told me what you've been up to. What do you do for a living?"

I told her freely about all the trivia but as soon as I was about to tell her about my invention I hesitated. Took a deep breath and decided to risk it all.

"I've been working on inventions too. That takes up almost all my time, took rather. I don't have to work for a living any more."

"Oh, anything exciting?"

"Well, I think so."

"Tell me!"

"I've invented a Time Machine."

I sat silent and looked at her as it slowly sank into her. First, she looked just mildly interested, then it dawned on her what I had said and her eyes grew big, her face flushed.

"Oh my God! It's - it's you!"

I just shook my head yes while she looked at me. Slowly getting to accept it. Then she suddenly smiled.

"Oh, Robert, that's - that's just wonderful! You know why I didn't know when I first saw you? I didn't recognize you with your clothes on!" She burst out laughing at that, and I laughed with her, partly out of sheer relief. This had gone much smoother than I could have hoped for.

"So that explains one thing but not why you are here now."

"I - I," I stammered as I was about to tell her. "I still love you!" I blurted.

She stood and came over to me and sank down on my lap.

"Oh, Robert. I've been feeling so sorry. So... I felt so guilty. So ashamed. At first, but when I had Chris I forgot all about the shame and guilt. She's just lovely. So beautiful."

She looked over at a picture that stood on a shelf in the bookcase, and I followed her glance. My God! I recognized that girl. It was Christina! I had fucked my own daughter!

"She looks beautiful," I managed. "Just like you at that age."

"At that age?" Asked Anita raising her eyebrows in a menacing manner.

"Oh, you know what I mean. You're beautiful at any age. And you know it."

"If you say so." She looked hard at me for a while. Then she licked her lips. "Aren't you going to prove to me that you love me?"

I just looked at her for a while, and then I bent forward and kissed her.

"You know it's nice to see you again. And I mean see."

"Mm, and I love to see you too, without any need for hiding. Oh, Anita, I'm so sorry for what I have done! For everything."

She kissed me softly.

"Don't be. You couldn't know. How could you? Just to imagine all the ramifications your Time Machine would have on your life. And on those that came into contact with you when you used it. We'll blame it on bad luck and not talk about it anymore. Well, I want to know all about the machine and what you've been up to with it."

I told her everything I had done except the women. When I came to my investments, she nodded her approval.

"Yes. It all shows that you are a sensible man and I can see where our daughter have got her sensitivity from. But don't lie to me and try to dupe me to believe that you haven't had any other women. What woman could possibly resist an invisible man? Are you going to take me on a trip?"

I laughed a little at her eagerness.

"We'll see," said I noncommittally and tried to ignore the first part of her request.

"OK, we'll see," she agreed too easily. "Now, the women."

"Well. OK, there's been a few."

"A few? You beast! Tell me!"

"The first one was... Debbie's mother."

"No! You don't mean that she... How could she? Where?"

"In Debbie's bed!"

"Where was Debbie?"

"In her bed."

Anita almost doubled over at this.

"Oh. How could you?! How could she... I mean she must have been terrified. What if Debbie had woke up? Or her husband came in to look for them. Was she any good? In bed I mean."

"I can't possibly tell you that. I can tell you that she was very willing, and actually suggested that she could sleep in her daughter's bed for a week without waking any suspicions, but after that she had to go back to the marital-bed."

"Oh, how I envy her!"

"What?!"

"Yes, you can never start to imagine what it felt like!" She giggled a little embarrassed. "You make me blush! I haven't blushed for years!"

"OK, we'll leave it for the moment, but be assured that I'll come back to the subject."

"Only if you tell me all about your women."

I couldn't understand why she was so interested in my conquests.

"Than there was, is, Miss Nordstrom."

"Nooo. How did you ever get her to..."

"I tied her to the bed!"

"You did what?! Did you rape her?"

"Oh no, she even helped me tie her up and even gave me a key when I left."

"She didn't?"

"Yes, she did."

I told her almost all of my first night with Nina, and she listened intently. Occasionally she silenced me with a kiss but urged me on as soon as it ended.

"Oh," she whispered when I had finished my tale about our teacher. "Oh, shit. Is it that late already? I have to get up early. Some of us have to work you know. You must tell me the rest tomorrow."

I was more than willing to oblige her that request. It would let me think about how I should break the news to her that I had been screwing our daughter.