Her Billionaire Toy Boy

“What if—what if this wasn’t just a cougar,” said Sam. “What if—what if I didn’t want to play—“

“What, Sam?” Damien was looking at him with a mixture of horror and pity. “You think that you’ve really fallen in love with an older woman? Not gonna happen, bro. I won’t let you do that to yourself. Nah, you’re just playing the game,” he said, bracingly. “It’s good to see that you’re having fun while you’re doing it, though!”

Sam did not know what to say to this, so he walked out of the room without saying another word.

He slumped back into an armchair in the corner of his own room, grateful for the solitude and comfort it offered. He couldn’t believe the odd situation in which he had found himself, and he wanted to jinx or punch Damien for the part he had played in getting him there. He certainly didn’t think of Mira as a cougar or as a means to get points to win a silly game he barely wanted to be playing anymore. This weekend, well, he’d love to spend it with Mira, but it was becoming increasingly clear that putting Damien and Mira in the same place for too long was an increasingly terrible idea.

He sighed and ran an arm over his head.

Mira probably wasn’t going to accept his invitation, anyway, he comforted himself by thinking. It was way too soon. It was borderline inappropriate.

But then he frowned. But what if she didn’t accept? Would that mean that their relationship was over before it began?

Sam brooded until he figured that it was time to go to sleep. He checked his phone: no texts or calls. He got into bed and tossed and turned all evening.

*****

Mira was also tossing and turning. She didn’t know what to do. On the one hand, she really wanted to spend more time with Sam. She found him hilarious and wonderful, and she liked how she felt when she was with him. She also liked how adventurous he was and the high standard to which he seemed to hold the life he lived. She could see how, by spending more time with him, she might be on the route to becoming a happier version of herself, and she very much liked that idea.

But what was this?

One of the things she liked least about their current situation was how little she knew about how Sam felt. Sam, who had been so transparent about his feelings and about hers, so forthright – and now she had no idea what he was thinking. She didn’t know if he was happy that the invitation was given or if he was angry and resentful. Given that, she didn’t know how to respond at all.

Mira slept only in fits and spurts until the next morning when she woke considerably less rested than when she had fallen asleep.

She slowly went about her morning routine, but she shortly realized that if she was going to get any real productivity done today if she was going to do anything other than walk around in a haze and wait for Sam to call her, she was going to have to be proactive. She took a deep breath. She could do this. She’d been having awkward, intense conversations for many years now. This wouldn’t be easy, but she had to do it.

It was only eight in the morning, but Sam seemed like the kind of person not to fritter away half his day by staying in bed. He was probably preparing some gourmet omelet with scallions and gruyere, or something like that, Mira thought. She pulled up his contact information and pressed CALL before she could have the chance to talk herself out of it.

Sam answered on the second ring. “Hello?”

“Um. Hey, Sam. Good morning.”

“Good morning,” said Sam graciously. Which made Mira wonder, suddenly.

“Did I wake you,” Mira asked anxiously. She instantly berated herself for her now incredibly inconsiderate feeling idea of calling so early in the morning. Even if he hadn’t been asleep, she knew how precious the quiet morning hours could be; and here she was, barraging her way, klaxon-like, into his morning—

“Nope,” said Sam. “I was just making breakfast; I’m glad you called.”

He made her feel so relaxed, Mira thought. She could feel her body unclenching just at the sound of his voice.

“Really?” She had to test this. She pulled her phone away from her ear for a second and glanced at the screen, then shook her hair out and spoke back into it. “At 7:57 in the morning?”

She heard a chuckle. “I’m a morning person,” he said. She smiled.

“What’s up?”

She swallowed. She had to be direct about this. It was the most responsible, polite, and empathetic thing to do. For all she knew, he was just a great actor and was as shaken about their current situation as she was.

“So,” she hedged, “I think—I wanted to talk about our conversation yesterday.”

“How very meta,” Sam said. She heard him walk a few paces and a soft thump announced that he had sat down. This action settled Mira. She looked around for a chair as well and sat a moment after he had.

“Yeah, I suppose,” said Mira. “Well, it was a bit awkward, wasn’t it?”

“Very,” said Sam. “I’m relieved that you brought it up.”

Relief was an understatement, Mira thought. The fact that she was not alone in her nerves about what had happened yesterday was causing a wave of relief to wash over her.

“Oh-okay,” said Mira. “Well. Do you have any thoughts?”
So much for being direct, she thought. However, she wasn’t sure that she wanted to drive their conversation and drive the resultant decision. She wanted to get a feel for what he was thinking, first.

“Well,” said Sam. “For a lot of extremely rational reasons, I wish Damien wasn’t so forthright.” He paused. Mira’s heart raced. “I wish that I had had the opportunity to invite you to Farrow Valley myself, in my own way, in my own time…you know?”

“Yeah, yeah, I definitely know,” Mira said. Her heart was plummeting. She hadn’t realized how much she didn’t want him to rescind the invitation until just this minute. It was inappropriate. It was too much. It was something she really wanted to do—and now, she worried that it was tanking their relationship—something which someone else had done! Suddenly her tongue seemed to grow fuzzy and too large for her mouth. She was glad she was sitting down.

“However, he did have a point,” Sam said easily. “I’ll go out of my mind if I have to be up at the estate with just Damien and his girlfriend.”

“Don’t like her much?”

“Don’t like him much, honestly,” said Sam. He paused. “I mean—okay. Let’s just be upfront about the fact that he put both of us in a super weird position, eh?”

“Super weird. Shame on Damien,” said Mira. She could no longer feel her feet.

“Yeah, I’ll yell at him later,” said Sam. He paused again. “And you should feel free to yell at him, too—next weekend—in Farrow Valley. If you want.”

Mira said nothing.

“What I said earlier stands,” said Sam. “I’ve got a large place up there. We wouldn’t have to spend any time together, really. Don’t think of it as a three-day date, or anything. It’s exactly as much pressure as we want it to be. Which, I think, for both of us, is zero.”

Mira took a deep breath. “Well, then. What should I pack?”

She could hear Sam smile. “Books. Lots of them. And your smile. And…you.”