Page 19 of Lorenzo

“Sorry! I forgot about the time difference,” I lie, unable to resist telling Anna the whole story.

“Okay. Okay. In your last text, you wrote you were wedded and not yet bedded. Are congratulations in order?”

“Very funny. I told you that wasn’t part of the contract,” I say, struggling to unzip my suitcase.

“And I’ve taken steps to make sure he won’t take advantage of me in the middle of the night.”

“He’s not with you now?”

“No. I stayed up late, waiting for him to come home from the nightclub. I wanted to speak to him. I need to understand more about this ridiculous deal my uncle made.“

I hesitate.

“And even though he said I didn’t need to worry about him taking advantage of me, I wanted to make sure he wouldn’t even try. So I’ll show you what I have planned.”

On my phone screen, I see Anna prop herself against the headboard, looking like she’s settling in to hear a good story.

I fish a floor-length flannel nightgown from my suitcase and show it to her via my phone.

“What’s that?”

“The nightgown my great aunt’s been saving for my marriage.“

I shake the nightie out with satisfaction, then I slip it on.

“Not quite Victoria’s Secret,” I say.

She laughs, seeing the old-fashioned gown with its high neckline and sack-like construction.

“You can say that again,” Anna says. “That nightie’s more like something a Victorian ghost might wear while haunting an attic.”

“And I bought these on sale at Kmart to complement the look. Like them?”

I rip the plastic off the three-pack of utilitarian underwear. Then I wiggle into one of them until the elastic band hits my waist.

“Granny pants!” shrieks Anna.

Just then, I hear Lorenzo’s heavy footsteps enter the apartment. I can’t let him catch me like this.

“Gotta go,” I tell Anna, rushing into my bathroom.

I keep silent as I hear Lorenzo open our bedroom door, then head into his own bathroom and turn on his shower.

Hmmmm. Could he have forgotten that he has a ‘wife’ at home waiting for him?

Possibly. But I’m not going to take any chances.

I hear him crank up the water pressure of his shower until it’s going full force.

Good. Seems like he’s a long-shower kind of guy. I’ll have more than enough time to smear a thick coat of cold cream on my face.

Then I put one of those old-fashioned nightcaps on my head to cover my hair as the final deterrent.

As I walk toward the bed, I hear his shower still pounding full blast.

I’m about to pop under the covers when I notice more than a dozen decorative pillows artfully arranged against the headboard of the enormous bed.

Excellent. That’s exactly what I need. Grabbing the pillows, I make a pillow wall cleanly dividing the two sides of the bed.