The Lover's Children novel Chapter 56

PAT

How do you come to be here?

Tall and willowy, she’s wearing just that touch of kohl and lip gloss that says it’s there for form’s sake. She doesn’t need it. The liner, subtle as it is, and even under the flickering kaleidoscope of lights, highlights large, dark expressive eyes. The lips are full and her skin is smooth and clear.

Her hair is long and loose. Under the strobes, I can’t make out the true colour, but it’s dark and glossy and gorgeous, swinging and swaying with her movement like spun silk. And no matter how closely I look. It seems to be the genuine article.

No cheating here…

I’d say she works out. Most of the ‘dancers’ are flabby, just using the pole as a prop to display what passes for their charms. And whereas most of them are too thin, this one’s toned, athletic. As she gyrates and pivots on the pole, she wears her muscles like jewellery.

Her biceps are like leather straps. Her abs say she does crunches for fun. I’d like to see more, but she’s wearing just enough of a costume, a black micro-bra and thong, to cover her tits and crotch. A necklace hugs her throat, a close enough fit not to dangle and interfere with her movement. The spots reflect off it, mirrored too by the shifting glint from small earrings. I think they must be crystals of some kind. At this distance, I can’t see properly, but they fracture the light into rainbows that dance with her as she swivels and pirouettes.

Entranced, I watch her performance. She’s good. Really good. Good enough that she gets the effect she wants without being lewd about it. My jeans tighten. And I’m not the only one. The perv next to me is all but drooling. I regard him with disfavour.

She’s not for the likes of you…

Her act finished, the dancer leaves the podium, moving like the queen she is; no swagger of too much alcohol; head high, spine straight, shoulders back. She could have trained for the catwalk. Maybe she has. Maybe she models during the day. She has the figure and the poise for it.

You’re so beautiful.

What are you doing in this place?

I’ll take you out of here.

I check my watch.

Too late for tonight.

Still…

Better to plan

I flag down the barman. “Got the dancing on every night?”

“Thursday through to Sunday. We’re closed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.”

“Same girls?”

“Should be.”

“Sounds good. I’ll be back, then.”

“Great. See you soon then.”

“Sure. No hurry.”

The pleasures of anticipation…

*****

GEORGIE

Borje is waiting in the reception area, rising to meet me as I enter. “Sorry, am I late?”

“You’re not late, no. I’m early.” He stoops to kiss my cheek. “You look lovely.” Then, gesturing to the door, “Shall we?”

“Where are we going?”

“It’s a beautiful evening. I thought we might take a walk down by the river. There’s plenty of bars and restaurants down there. When we see something we like the look of, we can stop and take things from there. You choose what we eat. That work for you?”

“Sounds good.”

*****

It is indeed a beautiful evening, warm for the time of year, and the weather has brought out the strollers, the joggers and the loungers. We’re not far from the river mouth, where it merges with the harbour and the marina.

We amble along, Borje holding my hand loosely in his. Rowers skull over the water. Joggers and cyclists use the waterside path. Ahead of us a futuristic, almost Utopian building, half-built yet, rises by the riverside, a dream in steel and glass. Much of the area around has been cleared, to soon be a water park and sports facilities. A boarding stands twenty feet high. Haswell Constructions. Shaping the Future.

“It’s coming on, what they’re doing here, isn’t it,” remarks Borje. “When you think what this area used to be like, before they cleaned up the river and demolished those old slums.

“My Dad’s building all this.” Borje regards me coolly… “I don’t mean brick by brick. But the plans are all his.”

He muses. “Not too many actual bricks involved are there? That one there…” He directs a finger toward the half-constructed building… “… looks as though it’s growing out of the landscape.”

“That’s going to be a Science Museum. That area behind it is where the library will be. I think there’s some plan to twin it with the University. Have a campus here.”

“He’s a busy man, your father.”

“You have no idea.”

Borje tightens the hold of his hand on mine. “So, how has your day been?”

“Oh, you know. Same old, same old. Yours?”