She shrugged. “What’s available?”
Marilyn sat down next to me on the couch and we went through the directory. I had never heard of any of these places, but I jotted down some names and addresses on a piece of stationery and figured I could always ask down at the desk. The leading candidate was what seemed to be a nice Italian place. I wanted to take Marilyn to a nice place, where she could dress nicely. We split apart to dress, since all of her stuff was in her room. I pulled on some clean slacks and a dress shirt, along with a sports coat I had packed. I was fairly sure Marilyn had something decent to wear since she had cleaned out her closet before coming down here!
Marilyn came out in a calf-length black and pink print dress with lace at the hem and short sleeves, along with a pair of medium high heels. “You look lovely,” I told her.
“Is this all right? I didn’t pack anything all that fancy. I really don’t have anything all that fancy?”
I smiled. She brought down enough bags to cause her car’s front end to lift off the ground, and she didn’t pack enough! I did, on the other hand, believe her about not having anything fancy. That really wasn’t her style. “Well, if we go out later on to a fancy place, I’ll just have to buy you a fancy dress.”
“Carling, that isn’t necessary!”
“Oh, it’s not that bad an idea. The rule is, though, that if I buy you something to wear, I get to take it off of you later,” I replied.
She gave me a smirk. “That sounds more like you.” I just tried to look innocent and we went down to the lobby. The girl at the front desk agreed the Italian restaurant was a good choice and gave us directions; the valet brought the car around.
Tonight, instead of drinks, I ordered a bottle of Chianti Classico from a cellar I was familiar with. Marilyn prefers sweeter wines than I do, but the Classico was a good compromise. Then we started reviewing the menus while waiting for the waiter to return. It was then that Marilyn asked, “I wanted to ask you about what Hamilton said the other day.” I must have looked blankly at her, because she then lowered her voice and said, “You know, what he said right before you punched him.”
“Marilyn, my brother is a horse’s ass, and I’m probably insulting horses by comparing him to them. Forget about him. He deserved it.”
“It’s not that, it’s what he said. I wanted to talk to you about it.”
Okay, I was still confused. I lowered my voice so that it wouldn’t carry, and responded, “Marilyn, I know you’re not a lying slut.”
“No, not that, before that. He said I was just another one. That.”
My eyes opened wide. DANGER, WILL ROBINSON, DANGER! “Marilyn, I’ve never dated any girls like that. My brother is a very disturbed individual.”
“I believe you. However, you have to admit, I am not the first girl to, you know…”
The danger signs were flashing in bright red for me now. If anybody here was a slut, it was probably ME! “Well, perhaps not. Is it important?”
“How many? I think I need to know.”
Oh shit! Not only was I under fire, I was taking artillery fire! “No you don’t. It’s really not important. You’re the only person I’m with anymore.”
“That’s not an answer, Carling.”
“No it’s not, but I don’t want to get into numbers or details. That is the past. You should only need to know that I have no diseases and am responsible about that sort of thing. You already know I’m responsible about not having children just yet.”
“Carling, I want to know if I’m number 2 or number 200.”
I just rolled my eyes. “No. I’m not going there. You have no need to know. I won’t hurt you or embarrass you. Nobody is ever going to come up to us in public and demand a paternity test. I was just a friendly kind of guy.”
“Is that what you call it, being friendly?”
“Well I’d certainly hate to do it with somebody I wasn’t friendly with! Remember, a Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly… That’s number four on the list.”
“And not what I’m looking for.” She was looking a little peeved with me.
“Okay, I’m going to give you a brief history. I want you to keep a few things in mind.” She nodded solemnly. “First off, very important, it doesn’t matter how many girls I’ve known before I met you. Since the day I first met you, you have been the only girl I have been with. Period.”
That sort of woke her up. “You mean, since February…”
“Longest six and a half months of my life, lady!” I answered with a smile. “But worth it!”
That got her to blush. “What else?”
“Another important thing is related to the first thing. I don’t fool around. I won’t cheat on you. I don’t see two girls at the same time. I’m not going to have a Utica girlfriend and a Troy girlfriend.” This was a major change since my first trip around the universe. Back then I had cheated on her right up until we got married. Never after, though, but I figured, I hadn’t made a promise yet, so it didn’t count. If Marilyn had ever caught me, though, she would have dumped me like a hot potato! “The third thing is that I don’t force myself on women. My friends have all been willing volunteers, so to speak.”
“Tacky!” she said. “So, how many?”
I just shook my head at her. “Not getting into that.”
I continued. “Listen, you’ve heard the rest of my life story. Here’s this portion. Ever since I figured out that I could use Mister Happy for more than just writing my name in the snow, I have been very happily doing so with young ladies of like mind. I have been very careful about that, but the fact is that girls enjoy it just as much as guys do. That ended my junior year in high school when I started going out with this one girl on a steady basis. We stayed together almost two years. I never messed around on her, not once. We broke up after graduation. Since then, I met one lady for one night in the fall semester, long before you and I met. And that, my dear, is my history.”
I could see the wheels and gears turning in her brain. I knew what the next questions would be. “So, if there have been only three of us since junior year, you made all those friends before that?”
I couldn’t help it. I gave her a big smile. “I really enjoyed junior high and high school.”
“I can’t believe it!”
“You’re looking at it all the wrong way,” I said.
“Oh?”
I reached out and took her hand. “You aren’t my first love, but you are my last. Those other girls simply trained me to be the best possible person for you. Forget them. I’m with you. You’re all I ever wanted.”
“They trained you?”
“I’m a very quick study.” I rubbed her calf with a toe. “I’ll give you another lesson tonight.”
“I can’t believe this.” She said this with a smile, so I knew I was past the worst of it.
“Just remember, it doesn’t matter how many were before you, only how many now, and the answer to that is one, you, and I don’t want anybody else. Only you.”
That must have satisfied her, since she leaned over and kissed me softly. She also had a wicked gleam in her eye afterwards. “Junior high, too?”
“Let’s just say that my growth spurt in the ninth grade made everything bigger.” Marilyn blushed fiercely at that. Thankfully she let the topic drop and we finished dinner without my feeling like I was wandering blindly through a minefield. Later that night I taught her a few new techniques. Education is a good thing.
By Thursday morning the storm was blown out to sea and the day was sunny and warm. We used another of the dwindling supply of rubbers and then cleaned up and dressed in our swimsuits and cover-ups. Marilyn was heading for the beach, and no matter how I tried to entice her back upstairs, she headed for the ocean as soon as breakfast was over. Even my entreaties that she needed to lie down for a few hours after every meal failed!