Lucy put the chicken bone on her plate. “Why? Jesus. All you had to do was go to bed with him a few times and he would have made your life so much easier. I don't understand you. Think of your mom.”
That was something Tonya hadn't stopped thinking about. She dared not tell her mom, because she knew what she'd say. But by refusing Marcus she did feel guilty. “But what sort of man does that to a younger woman?” she asked.
“An interesting man. A man who likes to play games, who demands things. A man who makes you feel things. Has he made you feel anything?”
“Yes. He's made me feel cheap and worthless.”
Lucy sighed at Tonya's lack of enthusiasm for a game she would love to play herself. “He's playing a game with you. Do you think he really believes you are cheap and worthless? Of course he doesn't.”
Tonya finished her beer and twirled the bottle around in her hand.
“Why don't you do it, Tonya? He's rich, he's handsome, and he's a doctor. Just swallow your pride and do it.”
Ivan burped again, and some of the others laughed. Tonya looked at the men at the barbecue. There were six in total. Steve was the best looking but married. Jeff was moderately good looking but neurotic and needy. The other six were all overweight and seemed to have an unhealthy interest in beer. Was this the future? Tonya thought. Saturday afternoons at Lucy and Steve's, being ogled by Romanian truck drivers?
She walked across the lawn to a quiet place and took out her cell phone.
“Half the money for being your girlfriend without sex,” she said when Marcus picked up.
“Four thousand a month until half is paid. If I give you half in one go, you'll leave me after a week.”
“Okay.” Tonya hung up. Now she wanted to get drunk.
When Tonya arrived home, she had grazed knees. Riding a bicycle under the influence of alcohol wasn't easy, and she'd ended up in Mr. Johnson's well-manicured leylandii hedge. She'd go over the next day and apologize for the hole she'd made in it.
*****
On Monday morning Tonya walked into work as usual, but it felt like a different place. It belonged to the man she was going to date.
After morning surgery, before Marcus went to do his home visits, Tonya knocked on his door. She handed him a piece of paper. He looked at it. She'd written her bank details down for him.
“So you can make the transfers,” she said.
“Thanks. Very thoughtful. The first amount will go in at the end of the month,” he said.
“Thanks. So what do you want to do? Dinner or maybe a movie?” she asked.
He reached down and took out a brochure from his bag. He handed it to her. Caesars Palace, Las Vegas.
“Great joke,” Tonya said.
“It's not a joke. This weekend I'm taking my new girlfriend to Las Vegas.”
Tonya looked at the brochure and then at him. “But Marcus, that wasn't the deal. The deal was no sex.”
“Who said anything about sex?”
“But this is a weekend away. What do you expect from me? It's all too soon.”
He took the piece of paper Tonya had given him and threw it in the trash. “What are you doing?”
“If you don't want to continue with our deal, fine.”
She took the paper out of the trash and placed it on his desk again. “Okay, but no sex, and stop blackmailing me. It doesn't endear you to me.”
When she was gone, Marcus put his hands behind his head and thought. He was being a bastard; he knew that. But he loved the game, and he'd played it so often that he knew exactly how it would develop. She'd be begging him to make love to her soon enough. If not, he'd find someone else to play with. There were a lot of women in desperate financial circumstances in Sandpoint. He had to admit, though, not all of them were as beautiful as Tonya, and he did really fancy her.
Tonya didn't know what to take; she'd never been to Las Vegas before. And how was she going to explain her sudden departure to her mother?
Lucy told her that she should take several different dresses and jeans and T-shirts in case he wanted to do something crazy, like horseback riding. Lucy had been to Vegas a few times. Her report of it didn't fill Tonya with enthusiasm.
She told her mother Marcus needed her at a weekend conference and set off in her VW for the airport. When she got to the meeting point in the airport, she was exhausted. It had been a huge effort to carry her bag from the parking lot all the way to the airport lounge.
Marcus was waiting for her under the neon sign. He looked very attractive in jeans and a blue shirt.
“Hi. I see you travel light,” Tonya said, looking at his bag.
“It's only two days. You've come prepared for all weathers by the look of it. I can tell you, it doesn't snow in Vegas.”
She was grateful when he picked up her bag and took it to check-in. While they were waiting for the plane, they sat at a cafe and drank coffee.
“How's your mom?” he asked.
“As well as can be expected, I suppose.”
He liked what she'd done with her hair. At work, she wore it in a ponytail or up, but now it flowed down past he shoulders in long waves. She was certainly worthy of the Cosmopolitan cover, he thought.