Setting the tone

I arrived at the address Patricia gave me right on time. Although Patricia and I barely knew one another at that point, I already knew I wanted to taste more of her. I like a girl to adapt; to do things how I like them done. In order to have Patricia cognisant of time and punctuality I needed to set an example for her. A man doesn’t need to bark orders at a girl to have what he wants. He can influence her in subtle ways, too.

In fact, Patricia did not open the door to the little house but rather a girl about her age. She was a very friendly sort of girl. “You must be Max!” she said, and led me inside. “Patricia will be with you in a moment.”

Moments later, Patricia arrived from her bedroom and welcomed me; introduced me to Susan. Patricia told me that she and Susan were sharing the little house along with another girl who was currently on holiday in New York. It helped them to make ends meet, she said, since they were both fresh out of college in their first jobs. This made perfect sense, of course and it was pleasing to see that the two girls seemed to be house proud. It was a humble home but not without appeal and I noticed the roses in the vase on the side table. I am very partial to fresh flowers in a home.

We were soon on our way to the restaurant where I had made a reservation for us. I ordered us both the nicoise salad and a glass of white wine. I think that Patricia was rather surprised when I did not ask her what she would like to eat, but she needed to get used to that right away, I decided. She is a most attractive girl but I felt that she would be even lovelier once she had lost a few pounds. I wanted to see a bit more definition at her waist line but that was a longer term project; far too early to introduce her to a corset! I did, however, already have in mind to supervise her food choices somewhat.

Over the salad, she asked about me. I had told her at the dinner party that I had taken over the family farm but she asked more about that. I answered her in general terms. In fact, the farm is a rather big enterprise and I have a number of people working for me. There have been lean times along the way for my family, but it is a successful operation now and quite lucrative.

I enquired of her first job and learned that she was an English teacher at the high school; her first assignment since she had left college. It made sense. Patricia is a well spoken girl with a good vocabulary. She enjoyed the work very much she said and the interaction with the students, but felt very unsure of herself when it came to ‘discipline’. She suspected that she was much too easy with them and apparently her supervisor felt the same way, encouraging her to toughen up her approach. I made a mental note to see what I could do for her in this area. It was clearly bothering her.

We both enjoyed the movie, though at this point I honestly cannot remember what we saw. As we left the movie theatre I put my arm around her to direct her through the crowd and once we were out of the theatre I took her hand in mine.

When I drove her home she asked if I would like to come in for coffee but I reminded her that it was a Sunday evening and time for her to get to bed for the week ahead.

“Yes, I suppose I should...”

“Off to bed with you!” I replied.

It was at this moment that I first saw the feisty, rebellious side of Patricia. Out of nowhere, she riled.

“I am not a child, Max!” she said, with a tone of defiance.

“No, but you are a young working woman who needs a good night’s sleep,” I said, calmly.

This seemed to settle her somewhat and she simply said, “Yes”.

“Good night, Patricia.”

I leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. That was enough for now.

“Good night, Max,” she responded.

I had the sense that things were going well.