Paul Kohler - The Borrowed Souls, A Novel

“Go ahead. It won’t bite,” Luke said. “I want you to have it, and I’d like to remind you that you’re more than welcome to use it anytime you want.”

Meghan picked up the key and closed her hands around it. “Thank you, Luke. I… really am speechless.” Meghan looked at her watch, and frown lines spread across her forehead. “I only wish that you’d have given this to me sooner so that I might have been able to thank you properly.”

Luke blushed again. “Oh, I don’t know. I’m not sure I’m man enough to handle you three times in a row, all before lunch,” he joked.

Meghan moved around the table and dropped herself into Luke’s lap. “Oh, I think you’d do fine. I would’ve done most of the work anyway,” she said before kissing him deeply.

After several minutes of the passionate embrace, Luke pulled away and said, “Well, I guess I’m willing to give it a try if you are.”

Meghan pecked the tip of his nose before standing up. She looked at him, her smile waning. “But there’s no time. I’ve already called for a cab, and the driver will probably be here any minute.”

“That’s okay. Just call and cancel. I’ll have my driver take you anywhere you need to go,” Luke offered.

Meghan began to clear the table and said, “I don’t know. I feel weird imposing on a US Congressman’s son like that.”

“There’s no imposition about it. He’s my personal driver, and he’ll do whatever I ask of him,” Luke said, rising up to distract Meghan.

Before Meghan could consider his offer, the sound of a honking horn echoed up and through the open window. Meghan peeked through the drapes and saw a yellow cab double-parked in the street, right in front of the townhome.

“Well, it’s too late now. You’ll just have to wait for your reward until the next time we get together.” Meghan walked around the kitchen island and stopped in front of Luke. She leaned in for a final kiss good-bye. Their embrace would have lasted longer if the cabbie hadn’t honked again. Finally, she pulled herself away and headed for the door. She lifted her overnight bag and paused before stepping outside, then turned toward Luke and smiled. “Thank you again for the drawer. I left you a little surprise inside, until next time.”

A moment later, she was gone. Luke stood in the middle of the entryway, looking like a lost puppy.

“I give you an E for effort, my friend,” I said, standing next to Luke. “But to me, it felt like that cat couldn’t leave fast enough.”

Oblivious to my presence, Luke rushed in to the bedroom and opened the top drawer. Inside sat the very same silky lingerie that he’d worn not more than an hour earlier. He smiled fondly.

“Well, sorry chap, but I have to go. If it hadn’t taken me more than a week to track you down, I’d have more time to sit here and get to know your life better. But I have to follow your girlfriend and see what she’s all about first,” I said, standing next to Luke.

A moment later I vanished from his townhome.

I popped back into reality in the backseat of the cab, right next to Meghan. The taxi driver was waiting patiently for a destination.

“It’s 155 West 84th Street,” Meghan said.

Without another word, the taxi sped off down the street. Visualizing the map of the city in my mind, I anticipated no less than a fifteen-minute drive. Seeing as it was the middle of a Sunday, traffic might be a bit lighter. But then again, this was New York. There was no such thing as light traffic.

Refocusing my attention on Meghan, I studied her persona. She wasn’t much older than me, possibly in her mid-thirties. Having just recently seen her completely naked, it was quite apparent that she was a fan of exercise. And from the brief time that I’d been around her, she flaunted it proudly.

As the driver merged into traffic on the next street, Meghan pulled her smart phone from her purse. A quick finger swipe and her screen was unlocked. Seconds later she’d brought up her messaging app. As her fingers danced across the screen, I leaned in close to see who she was texting.

There were no recent text conversations to continue from, so she began tapping a few letters until her contact list populated. She typed D - A - N , and the first contact up was Dana. She picked the name and tapped out the message, On my way. Got delayed, then hit send.

She rested the phone in her lap and looked out the side window of the cab, blankly. A few minutes later, her phone came to life.

Ding.

Great. I’m starved. Waited for lunch till you got home. Chinese?

She smiled briefly, then tapped in a reply: Yes, please. Sriracha Beef for me. You know I like it hot.

Seconds later, Dana replied: Ordering now.

Meghan once again rested the phone in her lap as a look of deep concentration passed over her face.

After a few moments, she lit up her phone again and tapped in a new contact, J - E - N - N . When Jennifer appeared, she selected the contact and tapped out a message, grinning from ear to ear as she went . OMG! Luke gave me a key!

As Meghan waited for Jennifer’s response, she beamed continuously, like a giddy school girl. Ah, young love.

Ding.

R U 4 REAL?

I snorted out loud at reading the abbreviated text acronyms. Before she could reply, her phone dinged again.

I miss you already, read the text. There was no personal name associated with the message, just the word OFFICE along the top.

As a heart attack! She tapped to Jennifer. And aww! He’s so sweet. He just txtd that he misses me.

After a few more girl talk messages back and forth, Meghan replied to Luke that she missed him too. I assumed that OFFICE was her nickname for him. I wondered if it had anything to do with him being the Congressman’s son.

As the texting conversation began to slow, I started to recognize our surroundings and knew we were moments away from our destination. Eager to find out more about Meghan’s life and clear up some of the confusion I was having from reading her texts, I fidgeted in my seat like an impatient child on a long road trip.

When the driver turned onto 84th Street, I noticed Meghan quickly clear her texting history. Her motions were well rehearsed, and witnessing the deceptive task deepened my confusion.

Once the cab stopped, I vanished from the backseat, popped onto the front step of Meghan’s apartment, and waited. She paid the driver and climbed out of the backseat, her overnight bag trailing behind. Within moments she stood next to me at the front door of her apartment. Interestingly, she rang the doorbell instead of simply walking in. A moment later though, she twisted the door handle and stepped across the threshold.

“Chinese delivery,” she announced in a playful tone.

I stepped through the door after her and moved to the side of the entryway. I scanned the foyer and saw that it led toward the back, most likely to a kitchen and family room. To the left was a dining room, and to the right appeared to be a study. There was a narrow stairway ascending to the upper levels of the residence.

Meghan dropped her bag and purse at the base of the stairs and walked into the study.

“You’re not the Chinese delivery person,” a man said as he sat at a desk covered in paperwork.

Meghan smiled and walked up to him, then leaned in and kissed him on the lips. “No, but we can only hope that it gets here soon. I’m famished.”

“I’d imagine so. How was the flight in?” he asked.

What the hell is going on here, I wondered.

“Oh, the usual. Getting a cab at JFK is continuing to prove more of a challenge than you might imagine,” Meghan said as she began to retreat from the study.