Sookie:
"How old is this guy anyway?" Tara asks me as I apply some blush to my cheeks.
It was Friday night and Dr. Northman, Mikael, was coming to pick me up in an hour.
"I don't know Tara," I say exasperated. "He could be seventy for all I know, but in my opinion he would be the hottest seventy year old on the planet."
"Ewww..." she says, her face all scrunched up.
"Trust me, when you get a look at him, you'll be wanting to go out on a date with him too," I say. I lay my dress on my bed before crawling around the floor trying to look for my other brown sandal.
"Well I hope you know what you're doing," Tara says. "You don't have a lot of experience with men, especially older, mature men."
"Tara why are you on my case about this?" I say. I spot my sandal underneath my jeans under the bed. "This is my first date since the whole Remy Savoy disaster."
A little over a year ago I went on a date with a man named Remy Savoy who was probably in his early thirties. He was from Shreveport and I had met him through Jason. He was handsome and I thought I was lucky to find such a nice guy like him. We went to the movies then he took me to a bar afterwards where he proceeded to get shit-faced. He tried to grope me, especially my boobs. The date from hell was capped off when his wife, Hadley (whom I didn't know about), showed up. She accused me of being a homewrecker and a whore. Afterwards she punched me in the face and walked out with her husband. I never went out with any of Jason's friends or acquaintances again.
"You see? That's why I'm worried about you," she says. "He could already have a wife and five kids that he's hiding."
"Don't worry Tara I'll be fine," I tell her reassuringly.
Tara goes downstairs and I put my pink, paisley printed dress with spaghetti straps on. I flick my hair back a few times to give it some extra volume.
"Sookie, honey, Dr. Northman is here," Gran says loudly from downstairs.
"I'll be right down," I yell back. I grab my purse and white sweater and head downstairs.
I can hear Tara's flirty laugh and talking coming from the family room. I walk into the room to find Tara sitting beside Mikael and Gran sitting on her chair listening to them talk.
He stands up right away as soon as he sees me and smiles. "You look beautiful Sookie."
"You don't look so bad yourself," I smile back. And he didn't. He was wearing a casual tailored suit in charcoal gray.
He comes up to me and kisses my hand. "These are for you and your Gran," he says pointing towards the bouquet of flowers that were sitting on the coffee table in a vase.
"Thank you, they look beautiful," I say politely.
"Are you ready to go," he asks.
"Yes I am," I smile.
Gran and Tara follow us to the foyer.
"Sookie, you are a grown woman now so I don't need to tell you what time to come home," Gran says.
We all lightly laugh. "Mrs. Stackhouse, I promise to bring your granddaughter back home at a decent hour," he says.
He opens the door for me and we walk down the stairs towards his car, a red corvette.
"Nice ride," I comment.
"Thank you, it was a gift," he says.
We drive towards Shreveport. He turns off to another road just outside the city. We drive down the narrow road for about twenty minutes before reaching a beautiful white plantation style house. He parks in the drive way and turns off the engine.
"Is this your house?" I ask him curiously.
"Yes. I bought it about ten years ago. I had it fixed and completely remodelled three years ago," he answers.
He leads me inside and gives me a tour of the first floor. It was wonderful. I stare at the pictures in his study. I examine one closely. It was him as a young man holding two small cute kids in each arm.
"Pardon me sir, but dinner is ready," an older man says standing by the doorway.
"Come Sookie," Mikael says holding out his hand for me.
"I hope you will like it," he says as we both settle down into our seats in the screened porch on the other side of the house. "My chef prepared some sea food for us."
The butler brings out our first course. It smells delicious.
"It looks yummy," I say smiling down at my plate.
We finish the first course and the butler brings out the main course, lobster.
I dive right into my food.
"So tell me a little bit more about yourself Sookie," he says.
I chew and swallow a piece of lobster. "Well as you know I live with my Gran and have one brother. I'm 23, going to be 24 in about four months. I went to university in New Orleans for four years and I got a job at the school in Bon Temps. I have a few good friends, Tara is one of them. Other than that, there really isn't much else to say. What about you?"
"I just turned 49 a couple months ago. I am originally from Stockholm, Sweden. I moved to the states about 15 years ago after my wife died," he says sounding a little sad.
"I'm so sorry," I say.
"It is fine," he says. "She died of ovarian cancer after a long battle. She remained positive and happy for us despite the pain that she was in."
"Are those pictures in your house of your kids?" I ask referring to the photos in the study.
"Yes," he says, his eyes twinkling. "Although they are no longer small. Pamela is the name of my daughter. She lives and works as a model in New York. My son is named Eric. He still lives in Stockholm and runs a few nightclubs there. He was the one that bought me the corvette for my birthday a few years back. They're twins and turned 26 last year."
Great, his kids were older than me.
"This does not bother you does it?" he asks with questioning eyes.
"No, no," I say. "I was just a little shocked that you have grown-up kids. You don't look that old."
He laughs. "I'm still in shock everyday as well that my kids are now adults and on their own. I was 23 when my wife gave birth to them."
We finish dinner and dessert is brought out to us.
"I'm stuffed," I groan happily after chewing on my last bite of cake. I wash it down with a sip of champagne.
We take a walk outside to his garden. We sit down on a bench and talk and laugh for a couple hours about everything. He said that he was going to retire in about six years. He told me a little more about his family. I talked about my parents. Time flies by and before we both know it, it's almost midnight.
"I should be getting home," I say glancing down at my watch. "Gran will be worried."
"You're probably right," he says. He holds my hand and walks me back to the house. We get into his car and he drives me home.
He opens the car door for me and walks me up to the porch.
"Thank you for the lovely evening. I had a really great time," I say turning around to face him.
"No, thank you Sookie. It has been awhile since I had last enjoyed being with someone else," he whispers to me.
I tilt my head upwards to him. He leans down and places his lips on mine. His lips are so soft. I open my mouth slightly and his tongue caresses mine. We stand there holding each other and making out for several minutes until I hear the door creaking open. Gran peaks her head out and shuts the door right after.
I giggle as he leans his forehead against mine.
"I should probably go inside," I say breathlessly. My arms are around his waist. His are over my shoulders.
"I hope you will let me take you out again Sookie," he says.
"I would like that," I respond grinning.
And that was it. For the next five weeks we were together at every moment we could find. Mikael would drive up Bon Temps almost every night just to come see me. He had dinner at my house with me and Gran and sometimes Jason. Of course Jason would tease me relentlessly about our age difference, but I didn't care. He was perfect. He was so well-mannered and cared about the same things that I did; on top of that he was so gorgeous and strong. He worked out everyday by lifting weights and running and ate healthy foods. We got to know each other more and more as time went by. I even spent a couple nights at his house. I slept in the guest bedroom. We hadn't taken the next step and he never pressured me into sex. I hadn't told him yet that I was a virgin. Of course he probably knew that already, given that I had told him all about my track record when it came to dating.
We had become so close that I wanted to take that next important step in our relationship. I wanted him to be my first. I spent all of Saturday morning thinking up ways on how to bring the issue up.
I could lay spread eagle naked on his bed and offer myself to him. I giggle at myself. Yeah he would either think it was hot or that I was nuts.
I drink a glass of apple juice and sit at the table waiting for Mikael. He was taking me out for an afternoon picnic outside of town. I take the last sip and hear a car pulling up in front of the house. I put the glass in the sink and walk to the front door.
"Hey!" I say loudly greeting him as he gets out of the car.
"Hello," he smiles at me. He walks up to me and picks me up, laying a passionate kiss on my lips.
"Is your grandmother inside?" he asks as he puts me down on my feet.
"No, she went to town to run some errands. Jason is driving her around today," I say, playing with the collar of his shirt.
We kiss a little bit more before heading into the house. I grab my things and lock the door.
"So what did the cook make for us today?" I ask. We are in the car going to our destination.
"Nothing. I made our lunch myself," he smiles as he puts on his sunglasses.
"Oh no, I hope you packed the tums," I joke. He had one minor flaw; he couldn't cook at all. I had wondered why he employed a chef when I was first getting to know him. Esther was about his age. She was not only his cook but also his housekeeper.
"Don't worry. Esther supervised as I prepared the salad," he says grinning.
We stop on the side of a dirt road. We walk for about ten minutes. He carries the picnic basket and I carry the sheet and white wine.
We both lay out the sheet and he spreads the food out. The food didn't taste too bad, although the luncheon meat was a tad too salty.
Afterwards I lie against him enjoying my glass of wine and the cool summer breeze. This was heavenly and nothing could make this moment even more perfect; or so I thought.
"Sookie there was something that I wanted to discuss with you," he says.
I turn around to face him. He has a serious look on his face.
"Okay," I say worriedly. Was he dumping me? Did he think I was too young for him? I knew this was too good to be true!
"Don't worry Sookie, it isn't anything bad. At least I don't think it is," he smiles taking my hands in his.
"Sookie you have made me the happiest man during these past five weeks. I didn't even realize how unhappy I was before I met you. I wanted you to know that I love you. I fell in love with you the moment I first saw you," he says.
I am shocked but also ecstatic. Did he just say that he loved me? Tears of joy fall down my face as I realize I felt the same way. "I love you too," I whisper. "I've never met anyone as wonderful as you."
He laughs nervously and clears his throat. "Good, because I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I know it seems too soon, but I am absolutely positive about this."
He sticks his hand in the basket and pulls out a black velvet box. I hold in my breath.
He opens the box. Inside is a beautiful, platinum ring with one large, round white diamond. There a clusters of smaller diamonds around it.
He takes the ring from the box. "Sookie will you marry me?"
I almost hyperventilate. "Yes!" I say completely happy and excited. I practically jump onto his lap and wrap my arms around his neck. We kiss and he puts the ring on my left hand.
I wipe the tears from my eyes and we make out again. He loved me completely. I lean against him afterwards and trace my finger across his chest. I had finally gotten what I wanted after years of being alone and thinking that no one wanted me. I look into his eyes and think to myself this was it. How could I love anyone more than him?
Eric:
I hate numbers. I re-add the totals again but they don't match up. I was still trying to balance the books and I also had to finish the payroll. It was almost 4 am and the waitresses and bartenders were still out there in the bar waiting for their pay cheques.
I punch in the numbers on the calculator again but still I get the same damn figure. A minute later my phone rings. I look at the number; it's Pam.
"Hey there little brother," she says. She was older than me by ten minutes.
I sigh, "Hello Pam. What's up?"
"Nothing. Do I need a reason now to call you?" she says.
I smile. "No, but usually when you do call me, you only want something or to tell me gossip that I could care less about," I respond.
"Ahh well you might be interested in this," she says. "Have you talked to dad lately?"
"Ahh no, I have been busy," I say as I punch in some numbers again.
"Well he called me earlier and said that he's been trying to get a hold of you for the past week."
"I was out of town," I answer back.
"Okay who was she and please don't tell me it was Sophie-Anne," she groans.
Sophie-Anne was my on again/off again girlfriend of the past eight years. I had met her in our first year of university. I was young and I wanted to date other women still. She accepted that. I guess it was because she loved me. I cared about her but I couldn't tell if I loved her back. Currently we were off again.
"No Pam and for the record, there was no woman. I went up to the cabin alone to clear my head," I tell her.
"Oh," she says. The cabin was a part of our family and had been for years. My grandfather and his father built it. We went up there every summer with my dad and mother. Pam hasn't been up there since our mother died.
"Well I've got some news," she says cheerfully. "I'll wait till you're sitting."
"I'm sitting down already," I say.
"Ok here it comes. I talked to dad today. Apparently he was trying to get a hold of me too but I've been busy with Amelia and work. He had some news for me, for us." She pauses.
"Well what is it?" I ask punching more numbers into the calculator.
"He's getting married," she says. Right away I drop my pencil and sheet of paper. Words cannot describe how stunned I am. I lean back on my chair trying to process the news.
"What?" I finally say. "To who?"
"I don't know. He just gave me her name. Snooki or Pooki, something like that. Sounds like she's a redneck with parents who are first cousins. Apparently she's the granddaughter of one of his patients."
I stare at the family picture that is on my desk. It was one of me, Pam and dad that was taken three years ago. It was a rare photo; we hardly took family photos ever since my mother passed away.
"How old is she?" I ask.
"I don't know. She must be young, maybe in her thirties. I didn't ask him," she says.
Great! Sounds like a gold-digger. We were wealthy. We were wealthy enough that we didn't have to work, but we did. We each found careers that we loved, well most of the time.
"He wants us both to come down to Louisiana to meet her and her family," she adds.
I'm still shocked, unable to speak.
"Hello? Are you still there?" she asks sounding annoyed.
"Are you going?" I finally say.
"Yes but not for another three weeks. I have photoshoots in Hong Kong that have been scheduled months ago. So me and Amelia will probably fly down after that." Amelia Broadway was her girlfriend. She was also a model.
"I can leave in two days," I blurt out. I didn't want to leave but I needed to find out about this woman. I had already taken a week off of work just recently. I guess I will be handing out more bonuses to my employees.
"Great! See what you can find out about this woman. She better not just be after his money," she says in a furious tone. We thought alike, my twin and I.
"I love you Pam," I tell her.
"I love you too," she says.
We hang up and I stare at the picture again. The old man was getting married. That was a shocker. I think he only dated one woman after mom died and that was years ago.
I take my wallet out of my back pocket and click on the internet browser. I typed in the airline website and book a plane ticket to Louisiana with my credit card.