Chapter 8

Hugh was determined to do everything he could to make up for his hateful remarks earlier. And the best way to a man's heart is through...

And so, accordingly, he had purchased all of the ingredients for traditional Irish lamb stew and it was bubbling on the stove as he got dressed.

Dressing for this evening was difficult. He wanted to be casual, but stylish. Sexy, but not overt. He almost called Fenway to get her opinion. 'But no, ' Hugh thought, 'I can do this on my own.'

In the end, he chose a cotton button down shirt with a linen skirt and open-toed sandals. After dressing, Hugh looked down he saw his toes were just out in the open where they looked so plain! The sandals were OK, but he painted his toenails to make them look sexier.

For earrings he chose simple gold studs. Now that was strange. Finding a hole in his earlobe, and pushing this post through it, and then securing it to his ear with the fastener. Somehow it felt like his earlobe was being restrained or bound. Such a small thing, and yet it felt almost like an act of obedience.

Finally, Hugh put on a gold chain necklace with a simple gold Claddagh ring as a pendant. The sales lady at the department store had told him it was an Irish tradition.

So, when Erin got home at 7:30 that night, Hugh was ready. He ran to the door, took her briefcase away and gave Hugh a big hug and a long kiss.

"Oh, how I missed that!" Erin exclaimed. "And what do we have here?"

She held Hugh at arm's length. "You've dressed up?"

"No, not really. I just thought a skirt might be more comfortable for tonight," Hugh lied.

Erin reached out and held Hugh's Claddagh pendant in his hand. She gave Hugh a puzzled look for a second, but then noticed the smells wafting from the kitchen. "And what's that?" Erin disentangled herself from Hugh and briskly walked to the kitchen. "Lamb Stew! Hugh, you shouldn't have! It smells wonderful!"

Hugh was beside himself, grinning impishly. "Well, it's my way of saying sorry for this morning," Hugh pouted for a bit. "Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?"

Erin smiled a broad smile and walked over and gave Hugh another big hug. "Of course, Hugh. But now it's my turn to apologize, and after all you've done to make this night a special one! I've invited John over here to work. We were going to do employment contracts, so I thought you might want to listen in - since we'll be writing your future job description. Anyway, he's on his way over and he'll be here in just a couple of minutes. He's anxious to meet you."

Hugh's face fell. It was hard to be enthusiastic. "Oh, no, that's fine. We have plenty of food. It's just..."

"Just what?"

"Well, I was planning on giving you a backrub and a foot massage ... Because, you know, you had such a hard day."

"Well, I don't see why we can't..." and just then the doorbell rang.

Erin looked frantic for a second. "There he is. Please, please remember this one thing:"

"Anything!"

"Call me Hugh! Don't forget! And I'll have to call you Erin."

And then Hugh met John again, but had to pretend like it was the first time. Trying to act like the girls he had met in Ireland, Hugh leaned forward and lightly kissed John on the cheek. John was surprised, and held a hand to his cheek for a second, staring.

"Ahem, ah, Irish custom," Hugh explained. Erin just grinned.

Conversation over dinner was lively, the stew turned out just right, and John was amazed at how much Hugh (disguised as Erin) knew about the company, the people in it, and the contracts.

Hugh explained "Oh, Hugh," he said, indicating Erin, "tells me everything. He just goes on and on about the company. It quite boring, frankly. And his jokes about network protocols are just dreadful."

John laughed. "Yes, it does seem to consume our lives, especially these days."

Erin looked at Hugh with an amused and curious expression. Was Hugh teasing Erin? Or was he teasing himself? Or teasing Erin pretending to be himself? Or teasing himself, as expressed by Erin? Things were definitely becoming way too weird.

Eventually, everyone finished dinner, and while Hugh was cleaning dishes, the two 'men' withdrew to the living room and started to go over each point in the contracts, one by one.

Hugh finished cleaning up and then went to join them.

Hugh was conflicted. He wanted to participate in the discussion, but he didn't want John to become suspicious. How could he provide his input without appearing to be too knowledgeable?

Finally, he decided on a plan. Hugh slid over the couch until he was right next to Erin, then he reached out, hugged her, and then leaned close to her ear. Hugh then whispered in Erin's ear, "tie the non-compete to the payments", then he lightly bit on Erin's ear, and giggled.

Now, if Hugh had been in a meeting with a beautiful girl nibbling on his ear, he would have been absolutely embarrassed, and after turning beet red, he would have pushed her (gently) away.

But it was Erin (in Hugh's body) who was receiving the attention, not Hugh. And she was used to public affection, since that is part of Irish culture, which has always included hugging and kissing as a form of greeting. So Erin thought it was nice, enjoyed the attention, and especially enjoyed that it was coming from Hugh.

And for Hugh, being in Erin's body gave him a freedom to be more forward and open, and less uptight about public affection. Also, he enjoyed teasing Erin since she had ruined their evening alone together.

"So I was thinking," Erin said to John, "shouldn't we tie the non-compete clause to the payments, somehow? I mean, if we are being prevented from competing with them for a period of five years, shouldn't they continue payments for five years?"

Naturally, this caused another wave of discussions about the feasibility of the plan, and would the company go for it.

Meanwhile, Hugh continued to hug and be affectionate to Erin. After a second, Erin looked back and said: "Erin, you promised me that backrub. How about now? My right shoulder is killing me."

"Um..." Hugh replied. He was embarrassed. It was one thing to hug your boyfriend in front of someone else. It was quite another to do a backrub in public. 'What was I thinking?' He thought, 'I shouldn't have started it.' And there was Erin, completely oblivious to the turmoil going on inside Hugh, thinking it was perfectly normal in America for men to ask (command?) their strong-willed, independent, female partner to give them a backrub in public.

Hugh knew that he was crossing a threshold. If he did this, he would be showing John that he was an obedient woman, complying with Erin's request that way. John would put her in the role of the infatuated girlfriend. If only he hadn't made dinner for them! That made it ten times worse.