Chapter 19 - Invitation Only

TREVOR

“I’ll see you soon, Dad,” I hug his frail body again in his gloomy hallway, “You look after yourself. I’ll give you a call next week, OK?”

“That’s fine Trevor. Thanks for coming to see your old man. At least someone gives a shit.”

I ignore the thinly veiled attack on my brother. The son who’s always ‘too busy’ with his legal career and I wave goodbye to my Dad.

“You sure you don’t got a girlfriend yet?” he shouts after me like he didn’t already ask me once this afternoon. That same question I get asked every time I see him now. But I’m surprised my pressed shirt and clean jeans haven’t given the game away to him tonight. I’m on my way directly from here to a first date. “No Dad. But when I do, then you’ll be first to hear about her.”

“And see her too I hope,” he shouts, “You need someone to take care of you again when I’m not around no more.”

“You’re going nowhere any time soon,” I wave again and get into my cab.

He never says it, but I’m certain he’d be perfectly happy if me and McKenzie’s Mom got back together again.

But he’s not the one who had to live with the witch first time around, is he?

One thing’s for sure. The old man wouldn’t feel the same affection anymore for his granddaughter’s best friend. He knew Lanie when she was a kid. He’d be fucking horrified if he knew what I’d done with her.

But then again, sometimes so am I.

Except when I cut myself some slack and just enjoy the memory. I smile to myself and check my watch. If he saw that ‘kid’ now, maybe the old man would understand exactly how it could have happened.

I pop a couple of acid tablets for my gut and then start the engine. I refocus my thoughts on ‘Jennifer’ tonight. I’m still in plenty of time to get into town to meet her. Let’s hope she’s at least a little like her online profile. That would make a change from the last couple of first dates. I’ll have around three hours with her before I need to leave and start my shift.

I arrive in town where it’s quiet like most Sunday early evenings, especially at this time of the year. I park up behind the bus terminal with a few minutes to spare and then a short while later find the pretty brunette nurse already waiting at ‘The Manor’ cocktail bar.

She’s a pleasant surprise. And not just her big brown eyes and slender figure. She has an infectious laugh and soon seems as interested in hearing about my life as a divorced cab driver as she is at ease talking about hers. It doesn’t take me too long to start wondering how her ex could have walked out on a woman like this and their two teenage boys.

Or what her ex’s ‘other woman’ must be like.

Jennifer tells me her boys are staying with friends overnight and a little later when I ask her if she wants to move on to another bar for the last hour and a half or so before I have to start work, she surprises me again.

“Or we could go back to mine,” she shrugs and then sucks on her straw as she peers at me with those brown eyes.

Woah.

“Well yeah,” I say, “If you’d prefer to?”

“Uh-huh,” she sucks again and nods her head.

I pay the bill as fast as I can and fifteen minutes later we’re in her first-floor apartment on the edge of town.

“Can I get you a drink?” she asks me near a chrome fridge that’s decorated with magnets from vacation destinations in her little kitchen.

“Coffee would be good,” I say.

And as she fixes that, she tells me a little about her apartment. About how long she’s been in it and what her neighbors are like. But even though I’m excited to be here with her (and for what I may be about to receive), I find myself wondering whether she invites every first date back here.

There are some things though that you shouldn’t ask a woman at a time like this.

My phone rings in my pocket and I pull it out to turn it off.

Lanie? We’ve had no contact since the morning I took her to get her nails done. The morning after that night.

“I better take this,” I hold the phone up to Jennifer and leave her kitchen for the hallway.

“Hi,” I say into the phone. She must need a ride. If she can wait a bit, I’ll do it.

“Hey,” she says and even one fucking word of her voice does something to me. “Are you able to pick me up?”

“I’m not working right now,” I say and glance back toward the kitchen and Jennifer, “I will be soon though. Where do you need to get to?”

“I’m not sure yet,” she says and sounds stressed, “I’ve just got to get out of here now, Trevor.”

“What’s up?” I glance at the kitchen again but Jennifer is scrolling her phone.

“It’s this place,” she says and a door there slams, “Home. Him from next door again. I need a ride into town. See if one of my girlfriends is working tonight at Patcher’s bar. I’ll drop by there and sit with her for a while. But I can’t reach her on the phone. The service there sucks. It doesn’t matter now Trevor, if you’re not working. I’ll call an Uber.”

Jeez, how crappy must it be for her at home if she wants to get out of there and just sit around watching her buddy work?

“Is everything OK?” Jennifer whispers and comes toward me from the kitchen with a mug of steaming coffee.

“Won’t be a second,” I mouth the phrase back at her and take the drink out of her hand. She smiles and I watch her slender hips as she walks back to her kitchen.

“Sorry,” Lanie says in my ear, “You’ve obviously got company. I’ll try someone else. Thanks anyway.”

“Wait,” I say hurriedly. I can’t turn this down. I have to see her. “Can you hang on for about twenty-five minutes? It’ll take me that long to get over to you.”

“I guess. But Trevor, you don’t have to. If you’re not even working right now.”

“It’s no problem. See you soon.” I take a single mouthful of coffee before I head through to the kitchen to tell Jennifer I can’t stay.

I drive back the way I came earlier tonight with part of me still wondering ‘why?’ I could have just told the girl I was busy. I could have stayed with my date and I’m certain I’d have gotten the good-looking Jennifer into bed.

But a way stronger pull wouldn’t let me. I couldn’t resist. Even if resistance is exactly what I should have offered.

Yeah Trevor, maybe you should have fucking resisted.

Even if you disregard the hurt you’d cause Kenzie if she ever found out what you did with her friend that night, do you honestly think a young kid Lanie Machin’s age sees you as anything other than a reliable old ride into town?

She was wasted that night in her bed. Off her head. You just happened to be there when she rebounded from her boyfriend. It could have been fucking anyone.

I pause at a junction and my mind drifts back to the journal of Lanie’s that I read when she was staying over at mine with Kenzie that time. How she’d written wondering whether she needed an ‘older’, more ‘experienced’ guy.

And what about later that same night? When I brought her and Kenzie home and my daughter teased her friend about a ‘crush’ she supposedly had on me when she was younger.

My heart rate is up, but that only confirms that what I’m feeling is the sorry obsession of an old guy who should know fucking better.

Even if the girl did have a ‘schoolgirl’ crush on me at one time, she’ll have rinsed that right out of her system now she’s all grown up. Right after she made the ‘mistake’ of inviting me into her bed.

But then again, if she thought that night was so awful, why try to book my cab now? And she was happy enough to let me take her to her nail appointment the morning after.

I pull away from the junction and then over a roundabout towards Lanie’s estate. No matter how often you’ve relived what happened in bed with the girl since then, any speculation now is irrelevant. She’s almost twenty-five years younger than you and she’s your daughter’s best friend. Forget it.

I pull up outside her home and pick up my phone.

‘Am outside now,’ I text and send it.

Lanie appears a moment or so later. She’s in a pale bomber jacket and tight jeans with little ankle boots.

Fuck me. I’m never prepared enough to see her.

“Hey,” she gets in with her golden-blonde hair all lush around her shoulders. And when she smiles – man, when she smiles... But she smells so good too. Like Jasmine and coconut.

“Trouble?” I gesture at her house with my head.

“Oh, my Mom and that pig from next door,” she groans and looks down to fasten her seat belt.

I laugh at her word choice for the neighbor and pull away.

“Thanks for coming for me anyway,” she looks across at me with those smoky blue eyes.

Don’t even think that way about her.

“No problem,” I shrug like it’s nothing to be here with her, “I was due to start work soon anyhow,” I smile and focus on the road.

“Have you been anywhere nice?” she asks and when I peer back across at her she indicates my shirt.

“Oh,” I laugh, “You mean ‘cos I’m not dressed like a tramp tonight?”

“I didn’t say that,” she laughs too.

“You didn’t have to,” I smile back.

“You weren’t on a date, were you?”

“I was actually,” I shrug and even though it’s a crazy notion I wonder if she might be jealous.

“Was she nice?” Lanie smiles and if she is jealous then she doesn’t show it.

“She was OK, yeah,” I nod.

But not nice enough to stop you wanting to race away from her like a fool for this young kid.

Lanie looks out at the night.

“How come you didn’t ask Roy to rescue you?”

“It’s complicated,” she sighs.

“Again?”

“Always,” she says.

I’d love to know if she’s told him about the night she and I got together. But I don’t want to mention that night to her. She might freak her out here in this ‘confined space’.

And you’re trying to act cool. Do you have any idea how ridiculous this is? She’s your daughter’s age!

“Here’s great,” she says a few minutes later and I pull the cab up on the side street right opposite the muted amber lights of Patcher’s bar. It’s a quiet spot that doesn’t get a lot of rowdy crowds.

“How much do I owe you?” Lanie pulls her purse from her leather shoulder bag.

“Forget it. You can buy me a drink when you start work. When you get that apprenticeship you were telling me about.”

“I can’t do that,” she shakes her head and colors up a bit, “I want to pay you now.”

“Well, I don’t want you to,” I wave her protests away. A free ride is the least I can do. “You don’t know whether your friend’s actually in there though?” I peer out at the night and the bar opposite. “What will you do if she isn’t?”

“I don’t know. But she probably will be,” Lanie shrugs.

Maybe it’s true what they say. The prettiest girls can be the loneliest.

Or maybe she’s just one of those people who prefer not to cultivate lots of friends. Plus I bet other girls see her as a threat around their boyfriends.

“I’ll wait here while you check inside,” I say to her.

“What do you mean?” Lanie peers at me over her shoulder with both her hands on the door handle.

“Well, if your friend’s not there, I can take you somewhere else,” I check my watch again. “My shift doesn’t start for another thirty minutes.”

“It’s OK. I can walk to wherever from here.”

“I wouldn’t let Kenzie walk around town on her own at night,” I shake my head.

“I do a lot of things Kenzie wouldn’t do,” Lanie looks right into my eyes.

Like sleep with an older guy?

“I’ll wait anyway,” I say and struggle to swallow. “I’ve got nothing better to do for the next half hour,” I smile at her and she smiles back.

And who knew a smile could give a guy a semi fucking erection?

Lanie gets out and I sit low in my seat to watch the sway of her hips and her legs in the tight jeans as she sashays up to the illuminated entrance. She smiles at the doorman. He nods his head and pulls the door open for her. Then he watches her tail as she disappears inside.

And as I start to wait, I give in again to the memory of that night in her bed. In all the detail I can muster. But an idea surfaces in my head.

Let’s just hope her friend isn’t inside there.

It’s less than five minutes before Lanie appears outside again and when she does, it’s started to rain. I blast my horn and she hurries over. I gesture her back inside.

“You friend not there?”

“She called in sick,” Lanie says but she doesn’t do her seatbelt backup. “Look, Trevor..”

“Listen, I’ve been thinking,” I interrupt her and ignore the internal voice of my better judgment. She looks right into my eyes again and it’s real hard to stay focused when she does. “I don’t like the thought of you wandering from place to place around town trying to find somewhere to hang out.”

“I’m a big girl,” she smiles, “I texted one of my other friends. She’s in town tonight too.”

“Oh,” my heart sinks. “Right.”

“What were you going to say?” her eyebrows rise.

“It doesn’t matter now,” I shrug.

Who was I trying to kid?

“No, tell me,” she reaches across and squeezes my arm.

Her touch electrifies me.

“Just that if you weren’t sure what to do now, then you’d be welcome to sit at mine while I’m working,” now I’m expressing the idea, the whole fucking thing sounds dumb. Why would a girl who looks like her…? I feel my face on fire. It’s probably fucking shining red. “You know,” I continue, to try and salvage what’s turning into a car crash of an invitation, “Watch TV, or try out the Playstation like you talked about.”

Brilliant. Now you’ve reminded her of Kenzie’s teasing about her ‘crush’, and Lanie supposedly admitting that she wanted to ‘Play with me’ on the console.

“I’m sure Freddy would love the company,” I add the comment about my dog in a last ditch attempt to save the situation. And to reduce my embarrassment.

“You wouldn’t mind?” Lanie’s eyebrows arch.

‘Mind?’

“No,” I shake my head and try not to laugh. “There’s plenty of food and drink in the apartment too and I can take you home as soon as I get back.”

“Or I could get an Uber,” she shrugs.

“No you won’t,” I smile at her, “I’ll drive you.”

Lanie gives me a big smile and then leans across and kisses the side of my face.

Author's Notes

Has Lanie accepted Trevor's offer purely out of convenience, or do you think there's any kind of a connection between them?

And if a relationship is developing, could it last? What about when Trevor's daughter is back on the scene? Or if Lanie's upcoming interview with Richmond's company is successful?

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Next week we're with Trevor again as he gets Lanie settled at his, and then later, when he returns from his shift...

© 2025 Tinto Selvaggio. All rights reserved.

 All characters portrayed in this ebook are consenting adults eighteen years of age or older. As a work of fiction, any similarities to any situations or persons living or dead are entirely coincidental.