Seven weeks after we had watched enormous sums of money spill out of the one armed bandit, Jessie and I moved into our jointly purchased, exquisite penthouse at The Sentinel building on the frontline of the city’s beachfront.
The penthouse had been expertly furnished and decorated by Diane and Jessie, working together over a period of just a few weeks. There was still a bunch of things to be done, but as new millionaires we felt that living in the south end was becoming a bit of a security risk, so we moved in earlier than originally planned. We didn’t really have to move much because everything in the penthouse was shiny and brand new, delivered by various exclusive supply companies. I brought the few records and tapes I had accumulated since my teenage years, along with some books and Jessie brought most of her clothing. In spite of her previous low income situation she had amassed a decent wardrobe of items that she wasn’t ready to part with yet.
I packed my things into my army issue duffel bag. I had this over my shoulder when I rang the intercom at her old building. She answered quickly.
“Be right down, Danny.”
“Do you need any help carrying stuff?” I asked.
“No, it’s already in Daddy’s car in the basement. We’re on the way down – wait by the garage entrance, my love.”
“Okay.”
I lit up a smoke, rested my heavy brown duffel against the wall of the garage entrance and took a look around the side street where I had grown up. It was a place of mostly cheerful memories, but there was also some heartache mixed in with them. I remembered my Dad buying me a half a litre orange juice from the greengrocer when I was 8 and had scored the winning goal in one of the few matches he had come to see me play in. We’d sat on the big concrete bollards in the car park of the shopping centre drinking the OJ, me with my face flushed red, Dad with a cigarette in his one hand and a look of satisfaction on his face as he rested his other, oil stained free hand on my scrawny shoulder. I remember wanting to down the sweet juice as fast as possible, but because it was a real treat I sipped it slowly, not wanting that moment to ever end. It’s not that Dad wasn’t interested in my sporting life, it’s that he seldom got the chance to go to my games because he was always working on Saturday mornings.
There was also a time I remembered where the neighbourhood skank, Brenda had flat-handed me when I tried to feel her up while she was playing pinball outside the Café. That had put a dent in my confidence with girls, for sure. I may have been the only guy she did that to and it taught me a lesson I have never forgotten: a woman’s body is her own, not yours.
The garage gate began to slide sideways and Tony’s shiny new Cressida approached the exit. He was driving and Jessie was sitting in the passenger seat, a smile so big I thought her dimples might separate her from reality. Tony pressed a button on his dashboard and the boot swung open.
“If you can find a spot back there chuck your bag in, Dan.” he said. I walked around to the back of the car, looked inside the boot and realised that there was no ways my duffel was going to fit inside there.
“No space.” I said and got in the back seat of the Toyota, putting the duffel across my lap.
“Sorry Babe.” I may have gotten a bit carried away with the clothes boxes.” Jessie said, leaning through the gap in the front seats to give me a kiss.
“s’okay.” I said. “At least now I get to see how you intend packing your new space, since I wasn’t allowed to see the old one.”
“Ah, right!” she chuckled. “I’m going to be a good girl in the new spot, I promise. You can hold inspection every week, lieutenant Dan.”
I grinned back at her.
“Ok, let’s go, Daddy.”
Tony put the car into drive and we set off up the road towards The Sentinel, Saturday morning full of bright promise.
Inside the lift in our new building Jessie let me use my security disk to unlock our floor for the first time. She had been in and out of the place constantly with Diane while they decorated it. I had had very little input in that regard, trusting Diane and Jessie to pull it all together. Walking into the now fully furnished penthouse was even more astonishing than the day Rhonda had first shown it to us. It looked amazing. I felt like a movie star.
They had gone with a very modern, but timeless series of furniture pieces, interspersed with bits of pop art and some Americana. There was a matching set of modern black leather sofas and occasional chairs in the living room, along with an enormous black leather bean bag that I would claim as my own spot to watch the Formula One races and other sports on my giant Sony television. The TV was too big to fit in the built in wall unit, so it stood in its own space in the corner of the sunken living room. I thought it looked very swanky. At least it didn’t clash with the rest of the decor. Diane was lukewarm on TV’s in the living room, especially big ones like the one I had picked out.
A bright red 1950’s Esso petrol pump stood guard near the entrance to the wet bar that overlooked the ocean. I was glad to see that there were no tacky alcohol branded wall adornments that you would normally find in home bars. It looked five star. There was a pink neon sign on the far wall as you rounded the corner to this area. It said;
# 2 Winner’s Place
This made me smile.
Apart from my big TV the only other things I had splurged on were some very expensive hifi components. I had a custom made tube amp with a Lin Sondor turntable and one of those new CD players, also made by Sony. A Nakamichi tape deck just like the one Mickey Rorke had in the 9 1/2 Weeks movie he starred in with Kim Bassinger sat on top of the CD player. I also ordered a reel to reel tape machine by Revox which was the most incredible thing to listen to and watch playing with its mesmerising aluminium reels and VU meters. The tape reels were ridiculously expensive but I had to have them.
I offloaded my duffel near the wall unit and began pulling out my new and old records to put into the storage shelf specifically designed for them. There weren’t that many, but I had plans on changing that. My hifi components were hidden behind a set of tambour doors that I opened now to see if the experts who delivered them had set everything up properly. There was a specific record I wanted to play. Then I thought of something that made me stop what I was doing.
“Do you need help with your boxes, Jess?”
“Yes please!” she said as she and Tony were making a return trip down the stairs to where we had deposited everything outside of the lift door. I helped them carry the rest of the boxes to the master suite, putting everything on the floor next to the king size bed. The room looked a bit smaller with all the furniture in it, but it was still probably bigger than my entire flat down on the south end.
“Okay kids, I am going to leave you to enjoy the rest of the day.” said Tony, dropping the last of Jessie’s boxes in the bedroom. He hugged and kissed her on the top of her head. “I am meeting a friend for lunch.”
“Ahh, so who is this mystery person who even has you going to gym now?” Jessie asked. Tony’s cheeks flushed a little and he chuckled.
“Nobody you know, Jess. Just a friend from the soccer club. I’ll bring her around one of these days so you can meet her, I promise.”
“Daddy! I am so proud of you!” said Jessie, burying her head in his chest, hugging him even tighter than before. Tony beamed. This was a big healing step for them both, for Tony in letting go of the past, looking toward new beginnings and for Jessie in seeing her father make these big positive changes in his life.
She walked him to the lift, said goodbye and then came back to where I continued putting my records and tapes away in the wall unit. She looked both happy and sad at the same time.
“You okay?” I asked. She nodded, not saying anything. I knew this meant that she was close to tears. So many things were changing and it was beginning to overwhelm her. She flopped down in the giant bean bag and let out a sign that matched the air escaping from it.
“I have a record I want to play for you, if I can get this system working.” I said.
“Oh cool, who’s it by?”
“You’ll see.” I replied now, looking for the disk I wanted to put on. My usually alphabetically sorted records were all over the show. I found the disk, opened the turntable cover and put it on. There was a satisfying thump as the needle dropped into the groove and the first track of The Church’s album Starfish began playing. “This is the album I played for you on the day you first came over to my place.”
She smiled that captivating, dimpled smile of hers and beckoned me over to where she was spread-eagled on the bean bag. Who could resist.
“You’re so sentimental.” she said, drawing me into her embrace. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
We lay together for the entirety of the first side of the record, she got up when I went to flip over the album.
“I have some unpacking to do, Mr P. I don’t want to fail the lieutenant’s inspection.” and she was off up the stairs, her little pony tail, bobbing along as she went. My duffel was still on the floor in front of the wall unit. I unzipped it fully and put the small black box I had hidden in the tape case behind my record storage in the wall unit. That was for later.
We spent the entire remainder of the morning packing Jessie’s clothing into various sections of her immense cupboard space before we realised we were hungry for lunch.
“ I don’t suppose we have any food in the house yet, right?” I asked.
“No, we need to visit the supermarket, Babe. You up for it?”
“Hmmm, never been a fun pastime of mine, but let’s do it together and maybe we’ll find new ways to amuse ourselves.” Shopping for fresh food was like torture for me, but this was something we had to learn.
“Bonnie or Clyde?” she asked.
“Has to be Clyde!” I said, reaching for my keyring at the special key rack Jessie had commissioned for the front door.
“Let’s go!” she said, slinging her favourite bag on her shoulder. While we waited for the lift to arrive, she was taking in the magnificent western views from the full length glass pane of our private foyer. I was taking in the beautiful shape of her body. Tight blue jeans and white Adidas tee shirt. I moved closer and turned her towards me, kissing her fully. She returned it with enthusiasm and if the lift hadn’t chimed its arrival right then things might have gotten a bit out of hand.
We were home.
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