He grabbed some socks and headed out again into the livingroom. His sister was back, pulling on some low heeled shoes and wearing a cream colored silk blouse with her khaki shorts.
"I hope you're hungry. We were thinking about going early, if that's OK?" his sister said.
"Sure, let's go. I'm starving." Jim said, noting the strange look on Julie's face. She was obviously wondering why he was acting so distant.
They cabbed to the restaurant, a place called Domingo's, which was in the lower level of an office building somewhere across the East River. The interior was done in an adobe like wall covering with a mixture of Latin art work and neon lights on the walls.
They were seated at a booth in the back and Elizabeth scooted in first so she was between him and Julie.
"Can I get you any drinks?" the waitress asked as she lay their menus in front of them.
"Yeahhh!" Elizabeth said. "Let us have three Cadillac margaritas with salt on the rims. Thanks…ever had a Cadillac before?" she asked him.
"No, not a Cadillac..I've had margaritas but I didn't think they were all that great," Jim said as he dug into the chips and salsa the waitress had left.
"Oh, you probably had some horrible mix…I'm not sure they can make a decent margarita in Nebraska," she kidded.
The drinks came and Jim had to admit they were a lot better than the ones he'd had previously; pouring the shot of Gran Marnier in the drink really gave it a nice zip.
The waitress came back and asked if they wanted another round and they ordered another round and that came soon along with their meals. And then during the meal, Jim ordered another margarita while the girls sipped their second drinks. At the end of the meal, Jim was feeling mighty good.
Elizabeth reached in her purse and pulled out a cigarette and lighter. She lit up and Jim was surprised.
"I didn't know you smoked?" he said.
"Well, a girl's got to have her secrets," Elizabeth said with a laugh and Jim saw Julie and her exchange a glance. He knew what his sister's eyes were saying: 'Poor Jim, he doesn't know about you and me, Julie…he doesn't know about the fun we had with him today…how we fooled him…'
Jim decided to air out some of his sister's secrets.
"Sis, I know a lot of your secrets."
'Oh, shit.' Julie stiffened when Jim uttered that sentence. She'd gotten a bad feeling when she'd come out to find Jim gone…it was so unlike him. Up to that point, she'd had him jumping through hoops. Now he was sitting there with that 'I know something I shouldn't' grin on his face and three Cadillacs to boost him on. She just hoped he was talking about her and Elizabeth being lovers; she could do some damage control on that. But if he'd found out who Kitten was…
Jim watched his sister's smile waver, then she took the bait he'd laid.
"Yeah, right! What secrets of mine do you know?" Elizabeth said playfully. "Well, let's see…there's you and Julie being lovers…you stripping in that club of yours…and that great time you cooked up this afternoon. I tell you, when I found out it was you…"
Jim stopped when his sister put her hands to her face and looked at Julie. He had expected her to be surprised but her eyes began to tear up.
"Liz, he knew right away we were lovers," Julie said tenderly as she scooted closer to his sister. "I told you it was a risk inviting him."
"Beth, I'm sorry, I thought since we, you know.." Jim tried to apologize.
"All right…" Elizabeth said through a sniffle. "How did you find out about where I work?"
Jim did not know how to answer that one. He wasn't sure he should say Julie had taken him; apparently things weren't as he thought.
"I took him there," Julie confessed.
"What!" How could you?" Elizabeth said as she pushed away Julie's arm. "Julie, you had no right to do that!"
"I'm sorry," Julie said, "He knew about us and I could tell he would enjoy it….I mean, he's not hung-up…"
"You thought he would enjoy watching me…" Elizabeth's eyes were flashing with anger now. "And did you tell him I would be there or did you just surprise him?! No, don't answer that..I know the answer."
"Lizzie, don't be like this." Julie said.
"You be quiet!" Elizabeth said to Julie, then turned to her brother. "And you mentioned this afternoon…what do you know about that?" Jim now realized that his sister did not know he had been the one that had enjoyed her charms. He'd misread the whole thing; it had been Julie working alone. He didn't answer her, just looked at Julie. He wasn't going to spill the beans to his sister, let Julie make up something if she could.
"Come on, Jim. Look, I'm not mad at you…." she placed her hand over his, "How did you find out about this afternoon?…What? Did Julie let you watch?!.."
"Beth, I didn't know it was you…" was all Jim could say. He saw understanding appear on his sister's face and she whipped her head at Julie. Julie just sat there, using her fork in the remnants of her meal and looking at Elizabeth in resignation.
"It was him, wasn't it?…God, Julie!" Elizabeth was sieving now; she grabbed her purse and scooted against him, wanting to get up and out of the booth. He quickly stood and she slid out to stand by him, all the time watching Julie, who just sat there.
"Beth, I'm sorry, I thought you knew it was me…I never would have brought it up…" Jim said.
"We'll talk about it later…don't worry, it's not your fault…I got to be alone for awhile…I'll see you back at the apartment" She kissed him on the cheek and then turned to Julie.
"You, I don't want to see!…You find somewhere else to stay!" Then she walked away, not looking back.
"Well, Julie. Would you like to explain what the hell has been going on?" Jim said as he sat back down. His anger was back up; instead of looking forward to continuing his sexual activities with what he thought was a wild and willing sister, Julie now had probably just ruined his whole relationship with her.
"I think you see what happened…after getting to know you, I decided that you would like to screw your sister…was I wrong?" Julie was back to her calm self again.
"How could you think that?" he said weakly. "Well, most brothers would probably leave a strip club if they saw their sister up on the stage…you certainly didn't leave." Julie put a credit card on the bill and pushed it to the edge of the table. "I could tell you liked her for more than a sister."
"All right, let's assume that I did," Jim said, leaning over to lower his voice. "Why didn't you tell me it was her and give me the option? Who gave you the right to make me and my sister….commit a crime?
Because that's what it is. A crime." "If I'd given you the option, you'd have chickened out. As much as you wanted it. My way was perfect….you could both get it and not have any hang-ups. I must admit that I started the whole thing with the intention of getting all three of us in bed before you left….does that shock you?"
Jim had to admit that before he'd seen Julie and his sister through the mirrors, he would have loved having his sister and her buxom lover in a three-way. But he knew now that Julie was not a woman.
"No, what shocks me is that you are not a woman…a female." He saw Julie's face lose her composure and he liked seeing her be hurt for a change. "I got to admit, you really had me fooled. Were you laughing to yourself when I was fucking your ass?" He wished he could yell it at her but he wasn't sure that their voices weren't carrying as it was to the adjacent boothes.
The waitress came and picked up the bill and went away. "Look, Jim…I should have told you. I'll admit that I take liberties that I shouldn't…I think of myself as a woman and always have, since I was in my early teens…I was just in the wrong kind of body. When I could get away from home, I started to make myself into the woman I wanted to be. You don't know how much work I've had done to get to this…" she swept her hands down her body. "I just never the guts to go all the way with my sex change. I don't have to tell you what it's like to have a woman like a man….I'm attracted to men and women. I can get my share of guys that want a dick and a woman in the same package. And women, like Liz. But when I can have a man like you, a real heterosexual, and he doesn't know…yeah, it's more exciting. But believe me, I wasn't laughing to myself….I was just wishing that I wasn't such a…freak."