After the kiss, Rosie turned and asked, “Wanna pet my tail?” They were alone in the kitchen and Bill had no indication that his partner would be joining him there soon.
“Why not?” he said. He stepped close to her reached down. Of course the tail was not what he went to pet and Rosie, not shy with him at all anymore, leaned a little forward to make his petting her a bit easier.
“It’s gonna be really slow,” she said. “Wanna meet up? It is Christmas Eve.”
“Sure,” Bill said.
He took only a quick feel, an inside, intimate one, one to let him know that Rosie was already expectant. Primed might be another way to have thought about it, or, the well was already running and all he had done was kiss her and prime it a bit.
“I have to finish setting up,” Bill said. “Have to make a couple more trips to the kitchen. Jimmy doesn’t look like he’s gonna be helping any.”
“Well, I’ll see you in a bit,” Rosie said.
Bill’s espresso was waiting for him when he went back out to the truck and where Kalista was. His partner, he saw, was fast asleep there by his aunt and when Bill went to take up his coffee, Kalista gave him a look.
“What am I to do?” she said.
“It’s okay,” Bill said.
“Is not okay,” said Kalista. “Is anything but okay.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere. But it does get tiresome, and I’ve only been here two months now.”
“Yes,” Kalista said. “Sooner or later, the chef has to do something. I tell Victor and my other Jimmy to talk to him, but this one,” she said nodding toward Jimmy G, “he don’t care and he’s lazy.”
“There was a time not too long ago I’d have killed for a job,” Bill said. He sipped his espresso quickly, finished it and put the cup in the bus box.
“I have to go back to the main kitchen,” Bill said. “Let him sleep.”
Edelgarde was waiting for Bill down the ramp where no one from The Falstaff Room could see them. She surprised Bill and he was startled.
“Rosie said you petted her tail,” Edelgarde said. “Mine is just as soft.” She smiled at Bill and turned so he could see the tail attached to the uniform.
Bill locked the wheel on the truck and stepped away from it. He took a moment to look all around them. Not only were they alone and isolated, but from what he could see and understood, it was like a ghost town there.
He did not pet her tail. He pinned Edelgarde against the wall and kissed her. He did not kiss softly or easily or even passionately. He kissed roughly, forcefully, a kiss that was meant to tell her he was taking control and she should yield to him, which she did and not unhappily.
He pressed her there, kissing her all the while, forcing her tongue to do what his wanted her to. As they kissed he reached between them and let himself inside her skimpy uniform bottom and her panties underneath.
Edelgarde kissed back now more greedily, more hungrily. She moved gently with his fingers as they manipulated her. “Don’t stop,” she whispered.
“Say please,” Bill said.
“Please.”
He didn’t stop. He kept on until it was done, fait accompli, le petit mort.”
“I’m breathless,” Edelgarde said. “I need a moment to recover.”
Bill stepped slightly away from her and lit a cigarette. He took a long drag on it and held it out to her. She puffed it from his hand.
“My God,” she said leaning heavily into the wall.
“Merry Christmas,” Bill said.
“It’s not Christmas yet.” Eddie smiled at Bill. “Not by a long shot,” she said.
