Chapter 3

WE DIDN’T GET MUCH SLEEP Thursday night. I laid out the letters I’d received on the dining room table and went through the rest of the mail. There were four more letters that looked like junk mail or utility bills that had offers or requests in them. Two were offers for Rhapsody Suite. One offered $5,000, but said he’d double it if I could deliver the four companion pieces with it. Apparently, he was taking Bob Bowers at his word. I wondered if anyone else had received offers.

There were two requests for proposals for public art—building murals—in Bellevue and Tacoma. And a total of five handwritten letters that included nude photos of women in artistic poses asking if I would consider a commission to paint them. I had no idea how to respond to any of these letters. Thank god no one knew my email address. I could just imagine the kind of messages I’d be getting. At least these people had to be interested enough to write a letter and send it to the school.

“You definitely need to talk to an agent,” Jack said. “I really have no idea what to tell you about pricing these pieces or how to go about creating your proposals.”

“Do you know someone?” I asked.

“I think so. Lissa, what do you think about Clarice?”

“Grrr! You know I don’t like her.”

“That was just a misunderstanding that was quickly set straight,” Jack chuckled. He turned to Melody and me. “Before anyone knew Lissa and I were married, Clarice thought I was just an eligible middle-aged bachelor. I was never quite sure if she was acting as an agent for someone else or on her own behalf.”

“She invited you to Rome with her.”

“She retracted the invitation when I told her we were married. We’ve had a cordial relationship ever since. She’s never even suggested anything since the divorce,” Jack chuckled. “But she knows the art world. I can’t think of anyone who would be better at negotiating with these women who all want to get naked in front of Tony.”

“Strangely enough,” I said, “those are the projects I feel most comfortable with. I know how to paint nudes. But planning out a full mural proposal? I can’t even conceive of it.”

“I’m going as your chaperone,” Melody said. “I know what happens after you stop painting.”

“Only with my darlings,” I whispered. “You can trust me about that.”

Both Lissa and Melody kissed me. Sweetly, not passionately.

“Even when we’ve told you to play around,” Lissa whispered. “We know how much you love us, Tony.”

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea for Tony to have an assistant with him if he does this kind of painting, though,” Jack said. “It’s not about how trustworthy you are; it’s about your clients. It’s quite possible that Clarice would insist on being present for some of them.”

“That’s true,” Lissa agreed. “She is protective of her clients. She wouldn’t want Tony accused of inappropriate behavior just because he wouldn’t have sex with one of his models.”

“My god! That could happen?” I asked.

“The reason you have an agent is because the world is full of unscrupulous people and you shouldn’t have to worry about them when you are practicing your art. You wouldn’t believe some of the things producers and designers tried to pull when I was rep’ing Lissa.”

“I’m sure I only heard about half of them,” Lissa said.

“Speaking of which,” I said, “how do you think having me take on some of these projects would affect our new business? I wouldn’t be able to do as much if I was painting commissions.”

“I see it as being another contributing factor. Maybe we can even use your art in the advertising campaign,” Lissa said.

“I wish I had something to contribute,” Melody sighed. “At least I can babysit.”

“Oh, sweetheart!” Lissa exclaimed as I folded Melody in my arms and Lissa petted her hair.

Jack quickly disappeared into the kitchen, leaving the three of us alone. A tear had escaped from Melody’s eye even though she was valiantly trying to keep it back.

“I just want to help,” she whispered.

“Darling, I will absolutely take you with me as my chaperone,” I said. “I didn’t mean to play that down.”

“Not only that, but I foresee a lot of work for you in the business if you can do it,” Lissa said. “What would be better in our fashion line than our own fabrics, designed by our own personal textile artist?”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. I thought it would be obvious, but I should have said something sooner. We’re the three musketeers. All for one and one for all,” Lissa boomed.

I pulled Melody with me over to the sofa and sat down with her in my lap. Lissa curled up next to us and for a minute I was distracted by our image reflected in the fireplace doors. Someone needed to paint that. But I quickly pulled myself back to the moment.

I reached up and touched Melody’s necklace with my finger, just to remind her that it was there. Then I did the same with Lissa’s. They both put a hand on my bracelet.

“You know, we’re going to have to make it legal,” I said.

“How? We can’t get married,” Melody said.

“I meant, our business arrangement,” I said pausing, “but now that you mention it, maybe we can cover both parts at once.”

“What do you mean?” Lissa asked. “I assumed we’d have to create some kind of legal entity for the business.”

“What if we formed a partnership among the three of us, and then the partnership owned the business, or businesses if it makes sense to separate painting from textiles from fashion? What’s a marriage, anyway? It’s a partnership that’s had some kind of blessing as far as I can tell. We already got our blessing. We could make our partnership the basis of everything else. I’ll bet we can even get some kind of documents drawn up that give us like medical power of attorney for each other so that we can be admitted as next of kin.”

Both Melody and Lissa looked at me. Then they looked at each other. Finally, there were lips, hands, and squirming girls all over me.

“I’m going to go home,” Jack said from the front door. “You seem to have your hands full. I’ll call tomorrow morning after I’ve talked with Clarice.”

We scarcely heard him leave.

Two bundles of boy-power jumped on us at 7:00 a.m.

Fortunately, Molly was there by eight. She’d taken a few days off to spend in the mountains with her boyfriend when we got back and it looked like the time away had done her a world of good. She looked really happy. The boys were fed, scrubbed, and dressed for a morning at the beach and would be going to Jack’s for the weekend when Molly dropped them off. I loved having them with us, but as soon as they were out the door, the three of us were naked and back in bed.

I had visions of hot, loving sex in my head right up to the moment I fell asleep, which was about two seconds after Melody and Lissa. We woke up two hours later to the phone ringing.

“Tony Ames? This is Clarice Bortelli. I understand you have need of an agent. We should meet. Are you available for lunch?”

“Uh ... what time is it?”

“It’s ten o’clock. Meet me at Carmine’s Cucina at noon. Just ask for my table.”

And she hung up. I guess I had an appointment. But it was two hours away and I had two incredible wives to satisfy before then.

When I got off the phone, Lissa had the spa filling and Melody was brushing her teeth. I joined her and got minty fresh, then we joined Lissa in the tub.

“We all have lots of work to do today,” Lissa said as we cuddled together in the jets. “Melody, there’s all the papers for the company in Singapore that you need to get familiar with. They’ve got a great website, but they’re really struggling at the moment. We’re going to need a firm order for them and you are going to be in charge of it.”

“Aye-aye, Captain. Warp speed, full ahead.” We all laughed. Then we all kissed. And then we kissed some more.

“I know I sound like a boss, but I’m not,” Lissa apologized. “I’m just so excited that we’re really going to do this.”

“Well, this part is your idea,” I said. “It makes sense that you have to get us up to speed on it.”

“That’s fine for me,” Melody said, “but you have to meet with an agent and start signing contracts. While I’m reading fabric specifications, I’ll also call Sandra, Amy, and Kate. We need to alert them that there’s an offer on the Rhapsody Suite.”

“Okay, boss,” I said. “I’m going to love having two bosses who are so cute.” We were all feeling high. “But you, Ms. Grant, have training this afternoon. If you’re going to win the Women’s Open, you have to be ready. At the club and on the court at 3:00 sharp.”

“Is that in your Daytimer?” Lissa asked. “That should be perfect. I have an appointment with John MacDonald at 12:30 to go over our legal needs. He’s only expecting to incorporate the fashion business. I wonder how he’ll respond when I tell him we want partnership papers.”

“There’s one other thing about that, Lissa,” I said. “You guys convinced me last night that we were equal partners and we would put everything we have into the partnership, just like a marriage would be in a community property state like Washington. But we missed one thing. I couldn’t say anything last night because my tongue was otherwise occupied.”

Suddenly both my girlfriends took a deep breath and disappeared beneath the surface of the tub. I felt two tongues start at my balls and work their way up my stiffening shaft. I almost lost my train of thought before the one blonde and one auburn head rose above the water again.

“Oh god,” I sighed.

“What did you forget to mention when you were otherwise occupied last night?” Lissa purred in my ear.

“Oh yeah,” I said. “Otherwise occupied ... The boys. You are putting more upfront capital into our partnership. Melody and I have good prospects; you just have a head start on us. But making all our assets into a single entity doesn’t consider how the boys get provided for. Plus, I’m not happy about you having a one-third share when you are putting in the house and 90 percent of our assets. That’s silly.” Lissa started to object and I held up my hand. “But I understand. That’s what would happen in a marriage. But a marriage has special considerations for the children and the way we’ve talked so far, they would only have a right to the one-third of the total that is your share of the partnership. Melody and I can’t adopt them because there are too many stupid laws and that just wouldn’t work. But, I was thinking, somewhere between dreamland and blowjobs, that there’s another solution. We could set up a trust for our children that owned part of the partnership. Not just the two boys. We might want more children ... um ... sometime.”