Excerpt from "Midlife Isis"

Isis was literally just blocks away when she hung up the phone. She knew that Clive wasn’t only interested in drinking Cognac with her. They had had sex a few times in his office and this was probably a booty call. Although Isis was seeing multiple men, she wasn’t about to have sex with more than one a day. And since Parker was in town and staying with her, if anything was hopping off this week, it would be with him. Isis could just tell Clive that this was the week of her cycle. They weren’t that close that he would keep up with that. Terrance normally did. But they were married.

Clive’s assistant instructed Isis to go right in when she arrived. Clive had obviously told her that Isis was expected.
When she walked into his office, she noticed that Clive had started without her. He had lit up a cigar and poured a glass of Remy Martin 1738. He ran a snifter under the warm running water from his office wet bar. He then poured a glass for Isis.

“Well hello Ms. Robinson,” he said just before kissing her on the cheek. He handed her the snifter.

“Hello Mr. Young. How was court yesterday?” asked Isis.
“Um…we will see. The jury is still out, literally. I hoped that it would be over by now but it was a bit complicated.”
“Well Mr. High Powered Attorney, I am sure you will be victorious,” said Isis as she sat next to Clive.

Isis enjoyed being in Clive’s company. He was a very attractive man who kept himself in shape. No one believed that he was 52. He looked a lot like a younger Richard Gere; like the Richard Gere from “American Gigolo” back in the day. Clive was fun and adventurous. Like Isis, he liked to travel and he loved art. The two of them spent a lot of time in art galleries and museums in several cities. In the short time of their relationship, they had traveled quite a bit domestically for law conferences and bar association conventions. Clive had been married but had been divorced for over 10 years. He had two adult children who had both finished college. He had a good relationship with them. They were as adventurous as their father and spent time traveling. Clive was a little disappointed that neither of them had gone to law school as promised. They wanted to travel first and “find themselves.” Clive was a good “catch” for Isis because he wasn’t interested in having anymore children. She was self-employed so Isis was pretty available whenever Clive wanted to do something. On the rare occasions when she couldn’t drop everything and leave, Clive was understanding and never exerted any pressure on Isis. He knew a little about her marriage to Terrance but they had limited conversations about that. Isis had never mentioned Parker to Clive. It wasn’t that Isis was attempting to be deceptive. It was just that the relationship between her and Clive didn’t seem that significant to her. It seemed to be a whirlwind that definitely had a shelf life that was approaching expiration.

As Isis predicted, Clive wanted to be with her physically right now in his office. As usual, he started kissing her ear lobe. The left one was the closest one to him so that was his focus now. It felt good, really good but Isis knew she had to stop it. She wanted to save herself for Parker. But why? What made Parker so special that she needed to not be with Clive? They were all adults and all parties involved used protection. Isis had decided to abandon the lie that she had planned. She was gonna let it do what it do. Clive and Isis shared deep kisses. He kissed her as if she meant more than a casual fling. He kissed her as if she was more than just an occasional travel buddy. He touched her between her thighs as he kissed her. After a few minutes he stopped and looked at Isis. “You are so beautiful, you know that?”

Isis looked back at Clive and smiled with her eyes. She could certainly see herself caring about him enough to have a relationship based on more than sex and travel. He was smart, successful, and confident…all traits that Isis liked. When they first met, she was a bit unnerved about him being white but she was okay with that. Khandra would die, but Isis thought she could deal with that, too.

Clive kissed her lips gently. His kisses were warm. Isis liked them. “I want to be with you right now.” His kisses became more passionate. His cell phone rang; he didn’t answer it. After a few minutes, his assistant buzzed that he had a call on line 2 that he needed to answer. Frustrated, he picked up the phone.

 

“Yes,” he answered. He paused for a few minutes. “I will be right over.”

Clive hung up the phone. “Sorry baby. The jury is back with their verdict. I have to head over to the courthouse,” he said as he grabbed his briefcase.

“I understand. Duty calls,” said Isis. She felt relieved in a way. She didn’t lie and they didn’t have sex.

“Can I call you later? I would love to see you,” said Clive as we rushed to the elevator.

“Sure. If I’m available, we can work something out,” replied Isis.

“Perfect. I am falling in love with you, Ms. Robinson,” Clive said as he kissed her in the elevator.

Love, Isis thought. No! That would mess up everything. Love wasn’t supposed to be in the cards. Yes, Isis loved Parker but that was more of a school girl crush. She accepted that it wasn’t going anywhere. And Isis loved Terrance but that was attributed to years of being together. She didn’t want to love Clive. That certainly wasn’t a part of any plan.

Fortunately, he was caught up in his own courtroom saga now and didn’t require a retort. But Isis knew that it wasn’t the last time that she would hear this. Maybe the next time would require a response.

 

“I will call you,” was the last thing that she heard as Clive made a mad dash out when the elevator doors opened. A bullet had been dodged…two in one day. Whew!

 

 

About the Author

Ra does not claim to be an author. He approaches writing by simply jotting down thoughts. Throughout his journey to know himself and understand his motivations, he thinks and seeks answers from within, from the universe, and from the Creator. He “jots” down those thoughts as he listens for clarity from those sources. Educated by life, he resides on the East Coast.