As Ian prepared for work the next morning, his stomach was a ball of knots. He wasn’t sure how long hangovers lasted or if he was just conflicted about last night’s events. Maybe he just didn’t get getting it.
On the front porch, uh afterward, Susan turned to Ian and asked if she could call his secretary to set up a meeting, she wanted to discuss some business matters. Ian said of course, and with that the Tysons waved sweetly, Susan blowing a kiss, piled in their Jag and sped down the road.
Was Ian that bad a sexual partner? He had never had a three way before, let alone one that contained a member of the same gender. Maybe, this was how that sort of thing was done, acting as if you had come over for cake and coffee instead of hot and sweaty sex.
It was probably just the alcohol he’d had Saturday night. He never was much of a drinker. He could usually handle three scotches though without struggling like this. He knew alcohol was a depressant. But, shouldn’t it be depressing him instead of making him take up every horny superstar who showed up on his doorstep on her sexual invitations?
He looked down at his crotch as he drove toward the office, “Bad penis! Bad penis!” He was kind of queasy. Was it possible to get pregnant the first time in a three way?
“Holy crap!” he thought. He had many times dreamed of the words that Susan said to him, and pleasured himself thinking about the things they had done. It was Jeremy being thrown into the mix that perplexed him.
Ian’s cell phone interrupted Ian’s train of thought; he reached into his backpack, thankful he’d remembered where he’d put it, and flipped it open.
“Hello.”
“Ian?”
“Yes…Billy?”
“I’m sorry is it too early? I can call back later.”
“No, no man, I’m up, on my way to the office as a matter of fact.”
There was a sigh on Billy’s end. “Good you haven’t gone totally Hollywood.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? You know me, Bill. I may be here, but the Hollywood thing isn’t really my thing.” He bit his lip, a flash of exactly how Hollywood he had gone last night crashing back into his brain.
“Just wondered…” Billy sighed again.
Ian pulled to the side of the road and put the car in park, letting it idle. “Billy are you alright?”
“Oh…I’m okay.” He sighed.
“Are you sure? You sound funny.”
“Yeah, everything’s cool.” Billy put some cheer back into his voice. “What’s up?”
“You called me, man.”
“Oh...right.” There was a pause, like Billy was searching for something to say. “So they’re making a big deal on the news about the porn star thing.”
“What are you talking about?”
“That porn star they found dead last night, Barbie something…” he said.
“Bambi?” Ian asked. “Bambi Helton?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. They found her dead of an overdose yesterday. It’s all over the news. Doesn’t the big TV exec ever turn on his television?”
“Actually, on weekends I try to avoid it. I even let the newspapers pile up and I won’t look at them until I get in the office later this morning.”
“I just wondered if they were making a big deal of it there or if it was just being played up by the Bible belt here as a warning against all things ungodly.”
“To be honest, Bill, I haven’t heard anything.”
“Well dead druggie porn stars must be right up there with jaywalking and cheating on taxes where you are, but this chick was big.”
“In more ways than one.” Ian said. “I can’t believe it.”
“You sound upset.”
“Just shocked, Bill. Believe it or not Bambi Helton was in my office just last week.”
“You’re kidding? In your office?”
“She was trying to pitch an idea for a television show.”
“Obviously, you turned her down.”
“Actually, I hope I encouraged her.” Ian’s mind was racing back examining the details of the meeting with Bambi looking for signs and reasons. “I wasn’t interested in her initial idea, some reality show that was only half serious. I told her to come up with something else and I’d listen.”
“They’re saying it was an overdose, probably a suicide.”
“No, that has to be wrong.” Ian was firm. “There are a lot of things Bambi was into, but I can pretty much assure you that any kind of drug wasn’t one of them, unless they were connected to cosmetic surgery.”
“All I know is what I hear on the news, and how would you know? You haven’t been around a lot of drug users. Those people are good at hiding it, especially in your business.” Billy reminded him.
“You’re right.” Ian had to admit. “So you just called me to catch up on the tawdry headlines?"
“Oh, uh…sorry. Have the tube on and it flashed across again.”
Ian wondered why Billy was up watching the news. With the time difference it had to be three or four in the morning in Virginia. He started to ask him, but Billy interrupted.
“I got a call from my sister…”
“Which one?”
“Baby sister, Sparky…”
“So how is Sparky doing?”
“Good, but they’ve got her back on the phones. It’s driving her crazy. She says they still get calls from people asking about you every day.”
“Not sure if that’s sweet or psycho.”
“She says both.”
“Wait a minute, why have they got her back on phones? She’s a good little reporter.”
“Something about a story that didn’t pan out.”
“Serving time.”
“Something like that.”
“Tell her to hang in there.
“Sure. Listen Ian, she said something to me in passing and I thought you might want to know.”
“This isn’t about Clare again, is it?”
“No, uhm…Janie Osbourne called about the boy.”
Ian sat straight up in the car seat. “Is everything okay?”
“Fine, fine…Janie said he has some project at school and he wanted to send a letter to you for his class. Sparky didn’t have a home address, so she sent it directly to the network.”
“Sure. That’s fine.” Ian let out a deep breath.
“The more I thought about it. The more I thought you should know.”
“Yeah, sure…thanks.” Ian’s mind was going a mile a minute. “Billy, I’m pulled off the side of the road, and the morning traffic is getting pretty heavy, so I should go. I’ll give you a call back later and we’ll catch up.”
“Okay.”
“Give my love to Renee and Vonnie.”
There was another long silence.
“Billy? Are you there? I said give my love to Renee and Vonnie…”
The silence continued. Ian checked to make sure the little bars showed an active connection. “Can you hear me? Billy…?”
“She left me, Ian…Renee left me…”
“Oh, man…why didn’t you say something?”
“Don’t know. It seems strange. We’ve always been there for each other, and now all of a sudden you aren’t here any more.”
“You gonna be okay?”
“Sure. No one to get drunk with though…”
“Billy, buddy, I wish I could come back there, but I’ve just gotten things going at work.”
“Yeah, I understand. I’ll be fine. Call when you have a chance to talk.”
“Wait, Billy, can you take some time off of work?”
“I guess, why?”
“Look, I’m going to make a plane reservation for you with no date on it. As soon as you can take some time off, come out here. Stay as long as you like, I’ve got plenty of room.”
There was another pause. “You mean it?”
“Just call me and let me know when to pick you up.”
“Okay. You want I should call Clair and tell her that I’m quitting my job because we’re getting married in September?”
Ian laughed, that was the Billy he remembered. “See you soon, Bill, and thanks for calling.”
“Bye Ian, I’ll call when I can get away.”
“Just call from LAX and I’ll come pick you up.” And they hung up.
Ian put away his phone and put the car back in gear. He pulled back out on the highway and thought of the many times he and Billy had pulled each other through rough times. Billy was the one of few people Ian thought came close to being family, although he wasn’t really sure what that was supposed to be.
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