Episode 13
Chapter Seven Continued
Mandy shared no other traits with Amanda and lived in a two-bedroom bungalow near downtown Torrance, California. She’d been an important and tragic part of Don’s life for almost as long as he’d been an English teacher.
When Don turned off the Mustang’s engine, Mandy appeared on her porch.
“How’s she doing?” he asked as he left the car and climbed the steps.
“She’s eating everything in the house,” Mandy replied. “I think you’re going to have to double her room and board.”
She studied his face and touched his arm. “How are you feeling about losing your grandfather?” She had a genuine look of concern, but that was Mandy.
Taking two steps back, he inspected her from head to foot. “You look great,” he said. Mandy was dressed in a knee-length black skirt and white blouse, with a string of black Tahitian pearls around her neck—one of Don’s many gifts. She held a black satin sun hat in one hand. “Thanks for going with me to the burial,” he said.
“Jonah was my friend, too,” she said, “although it frustrated him no end that he couldn’t add me to his long list of conquests. Every time I rejected him, he looked like a long-lost waif.”
“Looking lost and helpless was his way to break down challenging women. He knew that seventy percent of communication is nonverbal and took advantage of it. Every woman he was attracted to was a target, and, to tell you the truth, I don’t think Jonah had a depressing or frustrating day in his life. He could lose at the game of seduction with a hundred women in a row, and then score once and be on cloud nine until the next conquest. He never went without, though. There were always the girls who lived on the boat with him. Their bodies were their rent.”
Cut appeared in the doorway on the other side of the screen. At the sight of her, Don’s heart leaped into his throat and blocked his ability to breathe. With the shorts she had on, she was almost all leg, and the halter top revealed a mouthwatering abdomen. Even her belly button was sexy.
He asked himself why he had been such an idiot to give her up for celibacy, and he briefly considered moving her back into his house and bed.
The screen door squeaked as she came out of the house and hugged him, which aroused him, and he knew she would notice because this was a total body hug.
“Lunch and dinner are already in the fridge,” Mandy told her. “Don’t eat it all at once, or you’ll go hungry before we’re back with more.”
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